By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 6, 7:06 AM
TOKYO - The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.
The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a “energy revolution” that would greatly reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth.
Summary:
- 1400 new nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power (increased by 17,000 units annually) to 1/2 GHG’s by 2050
- to avoid an increase in world temperatures of between 3.6 and 4.2
- International Energy Agency envisions a “energy revolution”
- require immediate policy action and technological transition on an unprecedented scale
- massive investment in energy technology development and deployment…increase energy efficiency, and a wholesale shift to renewable sources of energy.
- $45 Trillion (1.1% of World GDP) - 3X the size of the US economy
- an average of 35 coal-powered plants and 20 gas-powered power plants would have to be fitted with carbon capture and storage equipment each year between 2010 and 2050.
- Failure to act would lead to a doubling of energy demand and a 130 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050
Link to the International Energy Agency report Technology Perspectives: http://www.iea.org/Textbase
This is very sobering news. I once again pose the following question: Is the size of our collective response equivalent to the magnitude of the problems we face? If the answer is ‘no’ then what does that mean?
