If I continue to exist as a living organism until the year 2050 I'll be ninety-eight-years-old and it would be quite likely that the only shit that I'd be giving about anything at that point in time would be found in my adult diapers. For now, even during the frequent moments when I truly don't give a shit, I try real hard to at least give a damn. I'll continue my attempts to believe that politicians and activists setting ostentatious goals isn't necessarily just for their self-aggrandizement.
Plans can change with the ebb and flow of technological and political failures and successes. After all, this entire interwebz thing wasn't the idea of world governments; it evolved because some folks dared to dream different. Lest we forget, it was a wild-ass dapper-dude from South Africa who made the cumulative years of the USA, Russian, and Chinese space programs look amateurish. Further still, that same dude was the tipping point of electric-cars becoming a commercial reality (hey, those e-cars may not yet be ideal for interstate travel but in my area they seem to have become the de facto commuter car / grocery getter; they may soon qualify as the perfect "city car"). What I am saying is that (IMHO) there will be many great strides in clean energy that will come from unforeseen sources rather than from the grandstanding politicians and the vociferous zealots. Mankind has made fantastic strides during my existential presence and most likely will continue for centuries afterwards. You betcha, I am forever an optimist.
Okay, let's say humans somehow figures out how to power jets, trucks, etc. without burning fossil oil derivatives. How will mankind produce all of the other essential stuff currently made from fossil oil? Well, it could very well happen.
Politicians and zealots gonna hafta figure out some measure of compromise. Some offshore wind generation projects were recently abandoned; things just didn't work out as planned. Nuclear power is going to have to make a comeback writ large in order for the USA to live without burning coal and natural gas to generate electricity. What about the phenomenal number of homes and businesses in the USA that use natural gas for warmth during winter? There is a lot of natural gas infrastructure that will need to be abandoned and replaced with cables. Forgive me for saying so, but the current state of solar power is still in infancy; at present, it is mostly a feel-good fad. Hopefully the technology will evolve but solar replacing large amounts of fossil fuel is currently more of a wish than a plan. Maybe the aforementioned South African American feller will be the nexus to make it all work out.
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In short, I have my doubts that the USA will be "fossil fuel free" by 2050.
I do foresee that coal will be the first fossil fuel to go away in the USA, but coal will remain a major power fuel worldwide for many decades to come.
Natural gas is the flatulence of Mother Earth. Burning it for warmth and to power electricity is (IMHO) the least environmentally offensive use of any fossil fuel.
(Topdown view of a liquified natural gas (LNG) transport ship.)
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