Renewable energy could meet 77% of global supply by 2050: U.N. panel
May 10, 2011
Nearly 80 percent of the world's energy supply could be met by renewable energy by 2050 if backed by the right public policies, a U.N. panel on climate change said in a report on Monday.
The projection is among assessments by more than 120 researchers indicating that the rising penetration of renewable energy could lead to cumulative greenhouse gas savings equivalent to 220 to 560 gigatons of carbon dioxide between 2010 and 2050, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation.
The report has reviewed the current penetration of six renewable energy technologies -- bioenergy, direct solar energy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy and wind energy -- and their potential deployment over the coming decades, said the IPCC established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program.
The upper end of the assessed scenarios projects renewable energy accounting for 77 percent of the world's energy demand by 2050, up from a little less than 13 percent in 2008.
The most pessimistic scenario puts the ratio of renewable energy at 15 percent in 2050.
The cost of generating electricity using renewable energy, which is often higher than market energy prices, will drop substantially along with an increase in related investments in many countries, the IPCC said.
The report will add fuel to growing calls in Japan for increasing the use of renewable energy in the wake of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant crippled by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit the northeastern region of the country, analysts said.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on May 9, 2011)
The projection is among assessments by more than 120 researchers indicating that the rising penetration of renewable energy could lead to cumulative greenhouse gas savings equivalent to 220 to 560 gigatons of carbon dioxide between 2010 and 2050, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation.
The report has reviewed the current penetration of six renewable energy technologies -- bioenergy, direct solar energy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy and wind energy -- and their potential deployment over the coming decades, said the IPCC established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program.
The upper end of the assessed scenarios projects renewable energy accounting for 77 percent of the world's energy demand by 2050, up from a little less than 13 percent in 2008.
The most pessimistic scenario puts the ratio of renewable energy at 15 percent in 2050.
The cost of generating electricity using renewable energy, which is often higher than market energy prices, will drop substantially along with an increase in related investments in many countries, the IPCC said.
The report will add fuel to growing calls in Japan for increasing the use of renewable energy in the wake of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant crippled by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit the northeastern region of the country, analysts said.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on May 9, 2011)
