Renewable energy now a mainstream power source to tackle climate change

Tackling the Climate Crisis With the Reality of Renewable Energy, Susan Casey Lefkowitz HUFFINGTON POST 11/21/2013 Climate change is being felt in rising world temperatures and sea levels, as well as in high-cost weather events. It can feel so disempowering to be overpowered by the weather. Yet when we look around the world, the potential for clean energy that is the solution to fighting climate change is very real. That’s empowering. That’s a strong message for our leaders as the climate talks in Warsaw conclude.

Take renewable energy as an example. Renewable energy has become a mainstream, major power source and not just an aspiration for the future. Renewable energy is gaining traction from the U.S. to Chile and from India to China. But it needs elimination of cost, policy and trade barriers to make the next leap forward. That is what we should be asking for as we demand clean power.

We can rightly demand rapid acceleration of clean power from our governments and we can help make it happen ourselves. We know that we cannot credibly fight climate change and still allow global fossil fuel subsidies to continue at roughly six times the amount of incentives for renewable energy. Having the reality of clean energy within our grasp, helps make it crystal clear that we cannot let predictions that fossil fuels will continue to be king in the market come true. What we can and must do, is to invest in what we know will make a difference: stop our dependence on fossil fuels, make our economy more energy efficient and get power from the wind, sun and other renewable resources that never run out.

It comes down to our energy choices. Dependence on fossil fuels makes no sense in a world of changing climate. We can’t have an “all of the above” policy that includes expansion of fossil fuels and still fights climate change. We can’t subsidize fossil fuels and still fight climate change. In a time of a changing climate, demanding clean power makes sense.

In October, the World Energy Council and Bloomberg New Energy Finance came out with a new report demonstrating that renewables, especially mature renewable technologies such as wind and solar, are cost competitive with fossil fuels. The report found that the global share of generation output from renewable technologies is expected to continue to rise. Wind and solar are the most dominant renewables in the market and their costs are expected to continue to decrease to make them increasingly competitive.

We are finding the same in our work with partners around the world………

Clean energy doesn’t have to be a niche market that governments help out while still subsidizing and supporting coal, oil and gas. We can make the switch with a serious change in our incentives, policies, and political will to accelerate the place of renewable energy in our economies. We have a lot of good examples of how well it is already working. Internationally and at home, we need stronger political commitments to demand clean power and fight climate change by moving away from fossil fuels and embracing clean energy. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-caseylefkowitz/tackling-the-climate-crisis_b_4309405.html