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World could run on renewable energy by 2090

The European Renewable Energy Council and Greenpeace believe that 100 percent of the world's energy could come from renewable sources by 2090. They've written up the blueprint in their Energy [R]evolution Report.

The report creates a scenario that includes biomass, geothermal, solar and wind energy providing the bulk of the world's power. While the development of those sources is key, the larger component of the scenario is major increases in efficiency. These gains would be made by instituting rooftop wind and solar so that energy is generated close to the consumer, as well as retrofitting and maximizing the efficiency of buildings, particularly through better insulation. The report claims that the bulk of these changes could be made by 2050.

This projection is exciting to think about, but there is one aspect that could prove unrealistic. The scenario sees an overall drop in energy usage by 2090, while our knowledge of increasing energy usage in developing countries contradicts this possibility. Even if we maximize efficiency, it would be close to impossible for usage to drop within that time frame.

Even so, I think this report is encouraging and is particularly helpful because it provides detailed scenarios on how our current situation could be reversed. But it also further confirms that the path will be hard and dependent on all of us cutting back on our energy use. As we've suspected all along, a quick fix doesn't exist.

via VentureBeat

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  • Posted by NoelM Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:20am PST
    The last sentence 'A quick fix doesn't exist' is a powerful reminder of what the world has to do to halt global warming. Hunting for magic bullets is not the solution, thus world leaders should focus on how best to combine green technologies for our planet. Hopefully, power mongering, corruption and red tape will not obstruct our path to a sustainable future.
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  • Posted by robbrian6 Tue Dec 2, 2008 4:55pm PST
    Efforts to reduce global warming while at the same time relegating implementation of renewable energy technologies to a non-emergency status is just what the fossil fuel profiteers want. What they are trying to do is retain the very lucrative refueling option at the expense of true progress toward reducing carbon, so we can stop more hydrates from destabilizing. The industry is so confident in its power that it makes dumb remarks like saying to the DOE, when they wanted them to pay for studies on how to harvest hydrates, that there was now more methane in hydrates than all the methane that had ever existed on earth . . . a big clue to the fact the industry knew they had gullible beauracrats in great control. The thing that does us in is human nature- when it comes to money and power. I am sure the oil and gas industry did not intend to destroy Earth, but they have managed to do so in a very short time, 160 years, and I assure you they have destroyed it, it is just playing out- like our recession/depression. They did not know the full extent of methane gas's characteristics in hydrate form until 2006, although they knew enough to have been a lot more cautious. I think they are thinking that global cooling from the hydrates in the permafrost are going to save us. But you are talking about global cooling in the northern half of earth to the point we will be in the same category as Mars- to cold to sustain life. Hydrate can suck up to 400 degrees F into every molecule to maintain its stability once it gets going without melting the ice around it and I do not think we have 50 years before it happens. Maybe 6-7 years. Because, in non polar regions it is getting hotter and hotter in the summer as hydrates dump heat into the poles and CO2 makes it warmer everywhere else and that breaks down hydrates which break down mostly in the water and are making it very acidic because it ultimately degrades to CO2, killing sea life that the Dinoflagellates do not eat. We will soon see if I am right. My guess is no more than six years before we experience a cataclysmic methane hydrate explosion. It will propbably start in and around Alaska's North Slope and spread Southwest and east. At least some of us may have the bad fortune to survive.
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