Will Renewable Energy Outstrip Demand?

April 11, 2011

Will Renewable Energy Outstrip Demand?

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) draft report as reported by Boomberg News, "Wind and solar power are among six renewable energy options that have the potential to outstrip total world energy needs and may grow as much as 20-fold over the next four decades."

In theory if this potential were realized, business, consumers and the environment would all benefit.

Currently a volatile oil market affects the cost of transportation, capital projects and manufacturing. The ripple effect makes it difficult for municipalities to plan for long-term capital projects, and businesses to budget for supplies.

Diversifying our energy sources will help our nation and the world decouple from dependence on oil and reduce the military and social costs associated with that dependence.

But will the US and world make the necessary investment in renewable energy needed?

According to the draft UN report "Geothermal, biomass, solar, wind, hydropower and electricity from the ocean's waves and tides could more than meet the global energy needs for power, heating and transport based on 2008 demand."

In practice, less than 2.5 percent of that potential will be used, the panel said, basing the finding on four scenarios out of 164 examined in the UN's biggest assessment of alternative energy. A shift to low-carbon energy will require a global investment of as much as $12.3 trillion by 2030, it said.

Bill Gates has joined the effort toward renewable energy. In a May 11th Seattle Times article he is quoted, "The more I learn about this problem, the more I see it as super critical."

"I know of 100 great new energy ideas," Gates said. "I'd say 70 percent of them are based in the United States, even if they are looking at doing some manufacturing in China."

Gates was speaking to the audience at a fundraising breakfast for Climate Solutions in Seattle Tuesday morning.

At this same event KC Golden of Climate Solutions said "What we can do is pioneer a new path to prosperity that works for us and billions of people across the world."

In addition to meeting with energy experts and investing in startups Bill Gates started the American Energy Innovation Council with a group of senior corporate executives, which has tried unsuccessfully to persuade US political leaders to double government funding for basic research.

"I'm kind of stunned we can't get more bipartisan view on this R&D piece. It's about jobs and innovation," said Gates.

In the mean time the 1,000 page UN draft report will be debated by government representatives from the group's 194 members in a four-day meeting that starts tomorrow inAbu Dhabi.

(A 29-page draft of the study's "summary for policymakers" was sent to Bloomberg by an official involved in its preparation who declined to be named because it hasn't been made public yet.)

Since leadership for renewable energy at the highest levels is not always consistent a lot will depend upon a continued push forward at the local level. The addition of Bill Gates influence is appreciated by Climate Solutions and like minded groups.