New Energy, The Climate Crisis, And Time

Can We Reach 100 Percent Renewable Energy in Time to Avert Climate Catastrophe?

Daniel Ross, August 24, 2019 (TruthOut)

“Ten years ago, two climate scientists, Mark Jacobson and Mark Delucchi, published a groundbreaking article in Scientific American outlining a road map for becoming 100 percent reliant on energy generated by water, wind and sun by 2030…Jacobson is less depressed than he was a decade ago, despite the precarious position that climate change puts us in…[He is now targeting 80 percent New Energy] by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050…[But these goals] face enormous political, social, financial and regulatory obstacles… [Investment in energy efficiency and New Energy] stalled in 2018, while capital spending on oil, gas and coal supply rebounded…[Last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report reported that] carbon emissions must be slashed to net zero by around 2050…[and New Energy] must make up 70 to 85 percent of electricity by 2050…[But it] generated only 24 percent of the electricity consumed in 2017, and by 2023, [New Energy is] forecasted to meet only 30 percent of electrical demand…

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[Some scientists say New Energy] can be scaled up in time to meet the world’s energy demands across the three main sectors (electricity, heating and transportation)…[Others argue the world needs] nuclear power and carbon capture and storage (CCS) to help buttress the power grid…Delucchi’s recent cost analysis of clean energy systems didn’t include options like nuclear and CCS…Reaching zero or near-zero carbon emissions is best achieved by harnessing a diverse portfolio of low-carbon resources…Climate change forecasts widely demand the adoption of renewables on a much larger and more urgent scale, which is why many experts call for broadly encompassing ideas that recognize the scale of the problem.” click here for more

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