Our planet can be powered fully by renewable sources of energy in only two decades. Research is even showing that renewable energy can be cheaper than conventional coal energy.
The question clinging in our mind is certainly – How can that be possible? The key solution is in the scale of solar, wind and water projects. There is also a need for strong political will to enforce such an advent to occur.
In last November issue of Scientific America, an article was published on “A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables”. The magazine did earlier in December 2007 publish a similar article on a solar grand plan. The plan gave the schedule for solar energy to provide approximately 69 percents of the electricity that would be required by the American population by 2050.
The recent research carried out was conducted by Professor Mark Z. Jacobson from Stanford Civil an environmental engineers and Mark Delucchi from University of California-Davis. They came to the conclusion that clean energy will be having a fruitful future. It was even proclaimed that a fossil-powered future would not make economic sense in the upcoming years.
The authors pinpointed strong reasons why renewable energy would take the upper hand in the years to come. First, technology required to turn the world’s supply of energy totally green is already available. Moreover, the total cost of producing and transmitting alternative sources of energy will be less than the cost per kwh for nuclear or fossil-fuel power. It is expected that with a shift towards clean energy, the global energy demand would also fall with approximately 30 percent. This would be a result from more refined and energy efficient technologies.
The study projected that 16.9 TW (terrawattts or trillion watts) of energy would be required to power the world by 2030. Today, the world’s demand for energy is 12.5 TW.
However, based on Jacobson-Delucchi’s plan, the demand for world energy would decrease to 11.5 TW. They support their case by giving an example of electric cars, to show how electrification is more effective than conventional energy combustion.
For a car to move, roughly only 17 to 20 percent of the energy of gasoline is used. The remaining is wasted in terms of heat. On the other hand, electric cars use up to 75 to 86 percent of the electricity, simply to produce a motion to the vehicle. This is a classic example of energy efficiency.
The up-front cost to revolutionize the 100 percent renewable plan will require at least $100 trillions of dollars invested in only constructions over the two decades to come. This does not include any investments in transmission and R&D., Nonetheless, there are several benefits. It would practically eradicate greenhouse gas emissions.
It is being suggested that the investment would pay for itself through the sale of electricity and energy. They also highlight that not investing in clean energy could turn out to be even more costly. New coal plants would have to be set up, which would equate to an estimated amount of $10 trillion and rampant cost would be fostered in terms of health, environmental and other externalities. The cost of NOT investing in renewable energy might be much higher than the investment cost itself. Investing in renewable energy might thus be the only wise option.
Today, renewable energy is already taking some stance in global supply. However, according to the plan solar, wind and water energy must provide:
1. Wind Energy 51%.
Wind energy would have to supply 51 percent of global energy demands. This would require that at least 3.8 million new wind turbines are erected worldwide. Today, less than a percent of 3.8 million turbines is operating.
2. Solar Energy 40%
Solar energy would have to supply 40 percent of world energy demands. There would be a drastic need to install 89,000 photovoltaic installations as well as Concentrated Solar Farms, where each farm would have a capacity of at least 300 megawatts. Nowadays, roughly less than one percent of the target has been reached.
3. Water energy 9%
Water energy would have to meet 9 percent of the earth’s power needs. This would call for the development of water technologies. It would include 490,000 tidal turbines, 900 hydroelectric plants and 5,350 geothermal plants. Nowadays, 70 percent of the hydropower goal has already been met. However, for geothermal energy roughly only 2 percent of the expected 5,350 plants are available. Lastly, for tidal turbines less than a percent of 490,000 has been established.
The researchers say that fossil fuel transportation can be superseded with batteries. They also affirm that resources are widely available; Land for solar and wind farms; water for tidal, geothermal and hydroelectricity.
The quantity of renewable energy we are actually reaping is:
1. Wind energy 0,02 TW
2. Solar 0,008 TW
Government Framework to Support 100 % Renewable Economy
- Remove subsidies for Fossil Fuel, like tax benefits given for extraction and exploration of fossil fuels
- Implement Feed-in tariff (FIT) schemes covering the cost of producing electricity as well as the price of electricity.
- Impose tax on the use of fossil fuel, due to their environmental damage.
- Prevent misguided promotion of renewable energies.
- Increase government and private investment in transmission systems
- Establish smart grid systems to monitor power consumption during peak and off-peak hours.
The report claims that the greatest hurdle is to ensure the political will for the above measures to be taken. The next obstacle is the limited availability of materials. Some materials are scarce and others are subject to price manipulation. Some of the rare-earth materials like, for example, neodymium is necessary for wind turbine gear boxes. The neodymium is most concentrated in China.
There are many countries that might be trading Middle Eastern oil for the key materials. Therefore, most manufactures are trying to construct gearless turbines, to surpass this dependency on particular raw materials.
The photovoltaic solar cells do also have some rare materials like amorphous, cadmium telluride, copper indium selenide/sulfide and crystalline silicon. Moreover, for electric cars the restriction of lithium and platinum needed for batteries or fuel cells are present.
Jacobson & Delucchi are aware that their plan is still only a theoretical possibility. The more realistic goal that they have in their mind is to reach 25 percent of renewable energy by 2025. Thereafter, the final goal of 100 percent renewable will be met only by 2040.
The world’s energy requirement can be supplied solely by renewable sources of energy in 20 to 30 years. However, it would require aggressive policies. It is also likely that fossil fuel such as oil to reach depletion limits soon. This would positively force further efforts for a renewable economy. It is certain that the complete replacement of fossil fuel can take half a century to realize. But, it is a sure bet that one can make.
Sources: Solve Climate and Scientific America
Related Article
Australia Will Be Unable To Reach Projection of 100 Percent Renewable Energy by 2020
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.