Mark it down in the diaries, folks… Provided the world doesn’t come to a cataclysmic end next year, the UN believes that humankind can get 80 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2050.
The UN panel on Climate Change has issued a report on the state of renewable energy and found that the renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower could supply four fifths of the worlds energy demand by half way through this century, compared to the 13 per cent it accounts for today.
The catch – and it’s a big one – is that it’s going to be expensive. Very expensive. To reach that kind of pervasive level of green energy, it’s going to take at least $US5.1 trillion between now and 2020, and a further $7.2 trillion from 2020 to 2030, from both private and public funds.
But the biggest hurdle is that the mandate for change isn’t going to come through dollars alone, but also government policies driving green technology forward. And if we’ve learnt anything about government environmental policies in recent months, it’s that you can’t rely on politicians for anything…
Image by Vattenfall/Flickr
attila
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 11:14 AMDoes anyone believe these kind of predictions anymore? Pick a nice and far away date (say 2050), pick a predicted number (say 80%) then put in some sort of caveat if someone ever bothers calling you on it in 40 years (say need x trillion dollars of cash) – bingo, you get to make a UN report.
Steve
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 11:40 PMAs cynical as that is… I agree. It just sounds like people throwing a lot of arbitrary numbers around as some sort of fire and brimstone warning.
I don’t think renewable resources are bad… I just think it’s stupid to apply current technology trends to the unforeseen future needs of a future population that can be wildly unpredictable.
FurDjango
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 11:43 AMI highly recommend anyone interested in the viability of green technology read ‘Power Hungry: The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future’ by Robert Bryce. Even if you just read the first chapter (free Kindle sample), the reality is very sobering… and backed up with hard data.
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Hungry-Energy-Future-ebook/dp/B003EGVD6C/ref=kinw_dp_ke?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
Sam
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 2:41 PMI might just check it out, looks like it could be interesting.
In having said that, I’ve always found that when it comes to the topic of global warming, everyone seems to have their own opinions and agenda. The truth usually lays scattered everywhere amongst it all.
TK
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 12:14 PMimo there is one element that always seems to be left out of these equations and predictions, and it probably has the most significant impact in dictating which path we take towards the future… greed.
Sam
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 2:39 PMThe UN have historically said many things. Few of them happened.
Ron Van Wegen
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 4:33 PMUm, is that anyhting like the 50 million climate refugees the UN predicted?
http://tinyurl.com/3dcw8yd
matt
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 10:42 PMwow… typical defeatist Aussies…
how about FUCK YEAH!!
global GDP is 60trillion dollars
or 600 trillion every 10 years… so 1% of it.
Osiris Fox
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 10:01 AMGET THE WORD OUT: Wind power will damage our climate! Cause and effect. Energy never comes from nowhere. If you have enough of these wind farms, it WILL have an effect on global air currents and alter the delicate balance of the global weather system. Severe droubt in Brazil, torrential rain in the Australian outback, more tornados in the US.