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Prof. Mark Jacobson – new research for 100% global renewable energy

Environmental Research Web 21st April 2018 , Dave Elliott: Prof. Mark Jacobson and his team at Stanford University got some flack for their 100% global renewable energy study last year. It said
139 countries around the world could obtain 100% of their energy from wind,
water and solar (WWS) sources by 2050.

It had been based on their 2015
study that examined the ability of 48 US states to meet all their energy
needs stably from these renewables. Some said their approach was flawed,
and, for example, relied too heavily on energy storage solutions and on
adding turbines to existing hydroelectric dams to get extra power.

In response, Jacobson and colleagues at Stanford, the University of California
at Berkeley and Aalborg University in Denmark have now produced a new
study, focusing on 20 global regions encompassing the 139 countries, with
supply and demand matching modelled for a range of storage/backup options
over the period 2050-54.

The team is adamant that there would be no major
problems with balancing. They note that many previous studies had examined
matching time-dependent demand with supply for up to 100% renewable
electricity and some has looked at all-energy matching. All had found that
‘time-dependent supply can match demand at high penetrations of renewable
energy without nuclear power, natural gas, or fossil fuels with carbon
capture’. So had they.

But they claim to have added more certainty: in
their new scenarios they say ‘100% of all end-use energy, rather than
100% of just electricity (which is ~20% of total end use energy), is
decarbonized’ with balancing solutions found ‘by considering many
storage options, namely heat storage in rocks and water; cold storage in
water and ice; electricity storage in CSP-storage, pumped hydropower,
existing hydropower reservoirs, and batteries; and hydrogen storage; and by
considering demand response and, in one scenario, heat pumps’.

http://blog.environmentalresearchweb.org/2018/04/21/jacobsons-new-100-renewables-model-aims-to-rebut-critics/

April 22, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, renewable