Solar and Wind Can Meet World Energy Demand 100 Times Over

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Solar and wind can meet world energy demand 100 times over:

Renewables could power world by 2050 as prices collapse, replacing all fossil

LONDON/NEW YORK, 23 April - Huge falls in the cost of solar and wind power in the last few years have unlocked an energy reserve that can meet world demand 100 times over - and most is already economic compared with fossil fuels, finds a report from the think tank Carbon Tracker published today.

Solar and wind are inexhaustible sources of energy, unlike coal, oil and gas, and at current growth rates will push fossil fuels out of the electricity sector by the mid-2030s. By 2050 they could power the world, displacing fossil fuels entirely and producing cheap, clean energy to support new technologies such as electric vehicles and green hydrogen.

[...] Global energy consumption in 2019 was 65 Petawatt hours (PWh). [1] However, with current technology the world has the potential to capture more than 5,800 PWh annually from solar PV alone [2] - as much power in a single year as could be generated by burning all known fossil fuel reserves. In addition, onshore and offshore wind could capture nearly 900 PWh a year. [3]

The Sky's the Limit finds that around 60% of the world's solar resource and 15% of its wind resource is already economic compared with local fossil fuel generation. By 2030 all the solar and over half of the wind is likely to be economic.

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