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But that might not be the case anymore. New research suggests it might actually be feasible to use solar and wind power across the United States. In fact, researchers propose a new model that could cut emissions by up to 80 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels, without developing new technologies or raising prices.

How would it work? Power from solar, wind, and other existing technologies would all contribute to a grid across the continental United States to share the burden of power production. That combination would make it economically feasible to cut carbon emissions significantly in the electricity sector, according to a study published Monday in the journalNature.

……The trick, according to this model, is to use multiple power sources together on the national scale.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, scientists built this model based on the weather system. Some regions, like the southwest, might be particularly sunny. Others, like the Dakotas, might have just the right wind conditions.

“If you can trade power over the whole US at the same time, then there’ll always be someplace that’s generating power like crazy,” study co-lead author Alexander MacDonald tells the Monitor. …..

MacDonald adds that it will be up to policymakers and the people. “Our job is to show that there is a system that is possible with existing technology, technology available right now.”

It could all hinge on that political will, Jeff Deyette, assistant director of energy research at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who was not involved in the study, tells the Monitor. He explains that creating a national scale power system would “require a major shift in how we transmit and distribute power across the country.” Currently, the electricity sector is largely controlled by regional transmission organizations. To employ the system proposed by the NOAA researchers, discussion would have to happen on the federal level too. “I think it comes down to the political will to make it happen,” Mr. Deyette says……

With new systems like these, all hope is not lost. “Technological advances can take us a long way toward solving the climate crisis,” Deyette says. This new model “is certainly a very strong positive step in the right direction.”http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0129/Could-wind-solar-slash-carbon-emissions-affordably