A Global Shift to Renewable EnergyLester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. Despite the global economic crisis, this energy transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even two years ago. And it is a worldwide phenomenon. Consider Texas. Long the leading U.S.
oil-producing state, it is now also the leading generator of electricity from
wind, having overtaken California in 2006. Texas now has 9,700 megawatts of
wind generating capacity online, 370 MW more in the construction stage, and a
huge amount in the development stage. When all of these wind farms are
completed, Texas will have 53,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity—the
equivalent of 53 coal-fired power plants. This will more than satisfy the
residential needs of the state’s 25 million people, enabling Texas to export
electricity, just as it has long exported oil.
We are witnessing an embrace of renewable energy
on a scale we’ve never seen for fossil fuels or nuclear power. And not only in
industrial countries. Algeria, which knows it will not be exporting oil
forever, is planning to build 6,000 megawatts of solar thermal generating
capacity for export to Europe via undersea cable. The Algerians note that
they have enough harnessable solar energy in their vast desert to power the
entire world economy. This is not a mathematical error. A similarly
remarkable fact is that the sunlight striking the earth in just one hour is
enough to power the world economy for one year. These are only a few of the visionary
initiatives to tap the earth’s renewable energy. The resources are vast. In
the United States, three states—North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas—have enough
harnessable wind energy to run the entire economy. In China, wind will
likely become the dominant power source. Indonesia could one day get all its
power from geothermal energy alone. Europe will be powered largely by wind
farms in the North Sea and solar thermal power plants in the North African
desert. This century will also see the electrification
of the economy. The transport sector will shift from gasoline-powered
automobiles to plug-in gas-electric hybrids, all-electric cars,
light rail transit, and high-speed intercity rail. And for long-distance
freight, the shift will be from diesel-powered trucks to electrically powered
rail freight systems. The movement of people and goods will be powered largely
by electricity. In this new energy economy, buildings will rely on renewable electricity almost
exclusively for heating, cooling, and lighting. |
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