BRUSSELS, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- While green energy is making gains, it's unlikely that world consumers will wean themselves from oil any time soon, a scientist said from Brussels.
Paul Crutzen, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1995 for his work on the hole in the ozone layer, told the European Parliament he didn't see major improvements in the global environment despite the push for a green energy future.
He said the "ideal solution" for the environment is to limit the amount of harmful greenhouse gases reaching the atmosphere.
"However, this argument has been going on for many, many years and I don't see much progress," he told lawmakers.
Crutzen, a critic of conventional efforts to curb global warming, advocates the geo-engineering of the atmosphere by releasing sulfur particles into the upper atmosphere to deflect the sun's heat.
The Nobel laureate, who works at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany, said if carbon dioxide emissions aren't brought under control, more radical measures are needed to slow global warming.
He raised similar skepticism over the possibility of an oil-free future.
"I hope it would be possible but I remain skeptical as oil is used everywhere," he said.
