Report: Renewables revolution to
provide 95 per cent of global electricity by 2050
Greenpeace report argues rollout of existing
renewable energy policies will allow world to
decouple economic growth and carbon emissions
James Murray,
BusinessGreen, 08
Jun 2010
The world could produce 95 per cent of the electricity it needs from
renewable sources by 2050, cutting greenhouse emissions from the energy
and transport sectors by 80 per cent without jeopardising economic
growth.
That is the conclusion of a major new 260-page report from a coalition
of environmental groups that has been orchestrated by Greenpeace. It
aims to show that it is economically and technically feasible to cut
global greenhouse gas emissions in line with the latest recommendations
from climate scientists.
The report, entitled Energy [R]evolution – a sustainable energy outlook,
estimates that the transition towards a low-carbon energy infrastructure
would require total investments worth $18tn (£12.4tn) by 2030,
equivalent to almost five times the US federal budget for 2011.
However, speaking to BusinessGreen.com, report lead author Sven Teske
said that the price was affordable and would deliver net economic
benefits over the next two decades.
"Under the business-as-usual scenario set out by the International
Energy Agency we are going to have to invest at least $11.3tn in energy
infrastructure by 2030," he explained. "And the extra money needed for
our scenario can be entirely financed through fuel cost savings – $18tn
sounds like a lot, but if you look at the investment that will be
required anyway, it is not that much extra."
Teske said that under the report's scenario, renewable energy would also
be able to compete on price with fossil fuel-based energy by 2020. "The
only reason renewable energy is more expensive is that at the moment it
is more labour intensive than fossil fuels," he explained, adding that
increased investment would create six million new renewable energy jobs
by 2020 while ultimately leading to lower energy prices.
Encouragingly, the report suggests the global transition towards
renewable energy can be delivered using policy mechanisms that have
already been deployed in many countries, including feed-in tariffs,
energy efficiency standards, smart grid rollouts, carbon pricing
mechanisms and the phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies.
Teske said that under the report's scenario an international agreement
would result in industrialised countries helping to fund feed-in tariffs
in developing countries to accelerate the global rollout of renewables.
"The scenario mapped out in the report is entirely feasible," he added.
"We have not proposed cutting energy demand by curbing economic growth,
everything is based on the IEA's economic growth figures and its
somewhat conservative projections for fuel costs."
Teske also predicted energy utilities would have to adapt their business
models to cope with the shift towards renewable energy. "Utilities will
have to change to support decentralised power supplies," he warned.
"More and more customers are generating their own energy or developers
are building wind farms and selling the energy direct to customers. The
utilities need to adapt fast as the market is already changing."
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