The global economy is unsustainable in its present form. At the current pace, resources will eventually become more and more scarce until some kind of a gradual or sudden collapse takes place. The present world order depends on the presumption that technological advancement will prevent this from happening.

The idea is that renewable energy will become more and more efficient until the entire world economy can run on it. Yet technological advancement itself is closely correlated to energy consumption. We’ve actually been using renewable energy very effectively for a long time. The nature which Allah, subhanahu wa t’ala, created is very efficient at capturing and conserving energy and making it available to humans. We access this energy in different forms, including plant and animal
life.

Consider hydroelectric dams. They currently account for about 60% of renewable energy produced worldwide, but people rarely talk about the energy losses they cause. Damming rivers leads to a decline in soil fertility, because high quality silt is no longer deposited in floodplains by seasonal floods. Instead, synthetic fertilizers are manufactured and imported in a very energy intensive manner.

Likewise, solar farms block sunlight that could otherwise cause plants to grow underneath, which in turn could feed livestock and generate manure, milk, and meat. This doesn’t happen in arid areas like deserts, of course, but desert areas are usually sparsely populated, so you have to solve the problem of transporting the energy over long distances.

Currently, manufacturing, transporting, and installing this transmission infrastructure is a very energy intensive process.
All of this infrastructure, whether wind, solar, or hydroelectric, also has a limited lifespan. To continue operating it needs spare parts, lubrication, and repairs. The entire supply chain that makes this possible is completely dependent on non-renewable energy sources. Electric cars and even electric freight trucks are currently gaining popularity, but no viable alternatives exist for heavy industrial processes, mining, and large scale ocean freight.

When people try to argue that a fully renewable economy is viable, they do so by looking at the pace of technological development over the last hundred years, and then extending that pace into the future. They usually overlook that these developments were entirely dependent on an explosion in the amount of available energy in the form of petroleum products.

There is no way this rate of growth in energy availability can continue, especially considering current demand levels and the rising cost of extraction. In other words, innovation is dependent on excess energy— people who are busy with bare subsistence cannot dedicate themselves to developing new technologies.

Even if we have large amounts of excess energy, the basic subsistence requirements of humanity are much larger than they were in the past. This means that even if the amount of available energy increases, there will not necessarily be enough to fuel innovation at the same rate we’ve seen in the past hundred years.

At the same time, innovation is getting more difficult and resource intensive. As time goes on, more researchers are required to achieve the same level of productivity growth achieved in the past. For example, doubling the capacity of computer chips today requires approximately 18 times more researchers than doubling the capacity of computer chips 50 years ago.

These patterns are consistent across diverse fields including computers, agricultural productivity, and medical technology. All of this suggests that the likelihood of a miraculous technological breakthrough that makes renewable cargo ships or mining technology possible is extremely low, and grows lower as the demand for energy relative to supply rises.

Even assuming we create cargo ships and power mines with nuclear reactors, the world supply of uranium is estimated to last for less than 100 years at present rates of consumption. If we begin to power cargo ships and other heavy equipment with uranium, these supplies will dwindle more quickly.

Historical records of major civilizations also indicate that when energy extraction rates begin to decline, centralized concentrations of political power break up into fragments. These smaller units of organization are typically less capable of extracting energy and maintaining technology and the productive capacity to maintain technology. Allah asks:

أَوَ لَمۡ یَسِیرُوا۟ فِی ٱلۡأَرۡضِ فَیَنظُرُوا۟ كَیۡفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلَّذِینَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡۚ كَانُوۤا۟ أَشَدَّ مِنۡهُمۡ قُوَّةࣰ وَأَثَارُوا۟ ٱلۡأَرۡضَ وَعَمَرُوهَاۤ أَكۡثَرَ مِمَّا عَمَرُوهَا وَجَاۤءَتۡهُمۡ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلۡبَیِّنَـٰتِۖ فَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِیَظۡلِمَهُمۡ وَلَـٰكِن كَانُوۤا۟ أَنفُسَهُمۡ یَظۡلِمُونَ 

Have they not traveled through the earth and observed how was the end of those before them? They were greater
than them in power, and they plowed the earth and built it up more than they have built it up, and their
messengers came to them with clear evidences. And Allah would not ever have wronged them, but they were
wronging themselves.

30:9

The pyramids of Egypt, for example, are a feat of engineering that is in some ways unsurpassed until today. In spite of the great power and technological prowess that they had, their civilization collapsed, so how is it that people today somehow think this instance of technological civilization will continue to grow forever?

The promise of renewable energy somehow staving off a collapse is a complete lie. The idea that we will not have to face a reckoning for the wasteful lifestyle we are currently living is based on corrupt aqeeda in which the creation is assigned the attributes of the Creator, leading people to view material reality as infinite or everlasting.

This is the essence of Satanic deception, as with Iblis’s promise to Adam in the Garden, when he promised Adam that if he violated Allah’s command, he could become immortal.

وَقَالَ مَا نَهَىٰكُمَا رَبُّكُمَا عَنۡ هَـٰذِهِ ٱلشَّجَرَةِ إِلَّاۤ أَن تَكُونَا مَلَكَیۡنِ أَوۡ تَكُونَا مِنَ ٱلۡخَـٰلِدِینَ

He said, ‘Your Lord did not forbid you this tree except that you become angels or become of the immortal.

7:20