A totally renewable future: Is it possible?

(LP note: The article below is nearly a year and a half old. The goals it presents are ambitious but, as the authors argue, reachable. Do our collective governments have the political wisdom to pull it off? The answer depends upon whether you are an optimist or a pessimist.)

A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables

Wind, water and solar technologies can provide 100 percent of the world's energy, eliminating all fossil fuels. Here's how.

By Mark Z. Jacobson and Mark A. Delucchi
Scientific American  | Monday, October 26, 2009 | 166

Mark Z. Jacobson is professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program there. Mark A. Delucchi is a research scientist at the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis.

In December leaders from around the world will meet in Copenhagen to try to agree on cutting back greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. The most effective step to implement that goal would be a massive shift away from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources. If leaders can have confidence that such a transformation is possible, they might commit to an historic agreement. We think they can.
A year ago former vice president Al Gore threw down a gauntlet: to repower America with 100 percent carbon-free electricity within 10 years. As the two of us started to evaluate the feasibility of such a change, we took on an even larger challenge: to determine how 100 percent of the world’s energy, for all purposes, could be supplied by wind, water and solar resources, by as early as 2030. Our plan is presented here.

Scientists have been building to this moment for at least a decade, analyzing various pieces of the challenge. Most recently, a 2009 Stanford University study ranked energy systems according to their impacts on global warming, pollution, water supply, land use, wildlife and other concerns. The very best options were wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and hydroelectric power—all of which are driven by wind, water or sunlight (referred to as WWS). Nuclear power, coal with carbon capture, and ethanol were all poorer options, as were oil and natural gas. The study also found that battery-electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles recharged by WWS options would largely eliminate pollution from the transportation sector.

(Continued here.)

New company bringing energy ownership to communities

It Takes a Village to Raise a Turbine: Making the Case for Community-Owned Windpower

by Francesca Rheannon

SocialFunds.com -- Wind is taking the lead in renewable energy, at least at this stage of technological development for renewables. In the United States, the dominant model for wind development is centralized, where utility companies build large wind farms in a few places and send the electricity over wires to power homes and businesses far away. Critics charge that a significant portion of energy is lost during transmission, but utilities say they have the economies of scale necessary for such large projects.

But another model exists: community owned wind power. Dan Juhl is a leader in community wind development. His company, Juhl Wind Development (OTCBB: JUHL.OB), is helping communities around the country get power through locally owned wind energy cooperatives. The company has developed approximately one hundred and forty megawatts—several hundred million dollars worth—of community-based wind projects. The company went public on June 25, 2008.

(More here.)

Elon Musk: Eliminate subsidies for coal and oil, tax carbon

An excerpt from an interview of Elon Musk, cofounder of PayPal, by Fareed Zakaria for NEWSWEEK, July 21, 2008:

If you had a magic wand, what change would you make in America's energy policy?

I would certainly shift any subsidies on hydrocarbons to renewable energy. It's ludicrous to be subsidizing oil and coal and other things that clearly don't have a long-term future and bring great damage to the environment.

Would you like to see a carbon cap-and-trade system in the United States?

I'm actually a bigger fan of a carbon tax, just because it's a simpler thing to do than cap-and-trade.

What you're describing is a pretty optimistic future. You believe that American industry can successfully refashion the transportation sector to run on renewable energy?

I am actually fairly optimistic that we will solve this problem. But there's an important caveat there, which is, we cannot be complacent and just assume it will happen. There needs to be strong government action. There needs to be private investment; there need to be entrepreneurs that attack this problem. We will solve this problem—but only if we do all that.

The entire interview is here.