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Renewable energy – the numbers add up

The global financial crisis is partly to blame, but political will would seem to be the resource in shortest supply. BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster may have changed that.

Do renewable energy by the numbers, and it all adds up, Sydney Morning Herald,  MIKE SANDIFORD June 24, 2010 “……..Each year, we are increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 1 per cent. The effect of this increase is to trap a tiny extra bit of the incoming solar energy, so we are heating not only the atmosphere, but also the oceans and land, and at a phenomenal rate.The scary thing is we have only just begun.

With energy use doubling every 34 years, we have an 800 per cent increase in a century. Curtailing energy growth will not be easy, so how will we cater for future energy needs?
There is, in fact, no shortage of potential renewable energy sources. Effectively converting about 0.06 per cent of the solar energy that hits the global land surface would meet the entire global energy demand. Australia’s geography and arid climate mean we would need to capture only a tenth of that. Wind is in shorter supply, but the land-based resource still exceeds global energy demand by a factor of almost 10.
There are problems with renewable energy. It comes at a cost, and the sun doesn’t always shine. Currently, advanced solar thermal power with storage capable of providing a smooth supply over day and night is about four times more expensive than the cheapest coal-fired power. But the cost for new technologies always reduces as the scale increases. A 2003 report by US-based power company Sargent & Lundy anticipated that solar costs would achieve parity with fossil fuels, assuming modest incentives to stimulate market expansion.
So far, there has not been even modest stimulus. The global financial crisis is partly to blame, but political will would seem to be the resource in shortest supply. BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster may have changed that.

Do renewable energy by the numbers, and it all adds up

June 24, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, climate change | energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables, solar, wind