[baron_harkonnen]

So far it looks like, at least in the US, renewables are being used to expand energy capability, not replace fossil fuels. It's also worth that 45% of US "renewables" are biomass, so biofuels and wood burning.

Even if we do see replacement we still haven't solved the problem with wind and solar which is that they are intermittent power sources. You seriously cannot have a majority solar+wind for the foreseeable future, the storage necessary for a majority wind+solar grid is not a solved problem yet.

Then you haven't touched on the transportation energy problem, which is a much bigger problem. Efficient transport of resources around the planet is the essential ingredient in global capitalism. You need high-energy density fuels to do this (otherwise the fuel becomes the cargo). We have absolutely no solution for this currently.

Finally the fact that any suggestion that sustainability necessitates a drastic change in quality of life gets immediately downvoted is further evidence of how much trouble we are in. If, on HN, in a discussion of climate change, you can't say "maybe our lifestyle is inherently unsustainable" just shows how impossible the change necessary is to achieve.