Is 100% Renewable Energy Possible by 2030?
SustainableBusiness
What would it take for the world to convert to 100% renewable energy?According to two researchers, a massive build-out of solar and windpower could accomplish the task by 2030.
It would include 4 million wind turbines (very large 5MW turbines);90,000 large-scale solar power plants (each with a capacity of about300MW); and 1.7 billion 3-kilowatt rooftop solar PV systems.
While the task may be politically insurmountable, the major resources of steel, concrete and minerals are available. The researchers say. Rareearth supply–which has been a hot topic of late–would be the onlybottleneck. However, this could be overcome with increased mining,recycling and work-around technologies.
"We wanted to show that wind, water, and solar power are available tomeet demand, indefinitely," study co-author Mark Delucchi told NationalGeographic.
The detailed study was published last month in the journal Energy Policy. Nat Geo’s Mason Inman explores the idea at the link below.
Website: news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/01/110117-100-percent-renewable-energy/
Original Article on SustainableBusiness.com
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