Climate Change Scientists Call for Renewable Energy Technologies Funding

Climate change scientists gathered today at a conference in Denmark, where they called on governments around the world to invest in renewable energy technologies. Through subsidisation, they said, 40 per cent of global electrical needs could be met by wind and solar power.

The twin developments of both solar and wind power technologies would require worldwide investments of up to 20 billion Euros each, per annum, according to Helsinki University professor Peter Lund, speaking at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change, which is being held in Copenhagen.

Wind and Solar Power

On the flipside, Professor Lund added, without government backing, wind and solar power could only be in a situation where they were contributing 15 per cent, maximum, to global energy output.

"With favourable conditions, solar and wind energy could be replacing coal, which is the worst enemy for us”, he said.

Harking back to earlier times, he added: “We have to give them political preference, as it used to be done for nuclear energy in the 1970s.”

The provision of subsidies and implementation of renewable energy technologies, Lund commented, would ultimately act to drive down the cost of electricity.

“We could have 25 per cent of our power come from wind and 15 per cent from solar”, he affirmed.

“Without support, by 2050 we will only have 10 per cent from wind and 5 per cent from solar, which means that these technologies will be fully marginalised.”

Worldwide Electricity Requirements

At the end of last year, the IEA (International Energy Agency) stated that, by 2030, so long as global warming was restricted to two degrees Celsius, renewable energy’s overall contribution to electricity needs the world over would be 40 per cent. The prospect of this scenario, however, is one that a number of prominent scientists have already abandoned.

To put it into context, a three degrees Celsius limitation would come about when renewable energy sources were providing 23 per cent of worldwide electricity requirements.

Intermittent electricity (i.e. non-continuous and variable), like that produced by harnessing wind power energy, remained twice as expensive as traditional, coal/nuclear-generated base load electricity (i.e. electricity produced at a constant strength/pace), scientists speaking at the Copenhagen summit stressed.

“We need policies that promote investment in supply chains to avoid long waiting times and price spikes”, Austrian-based Applied Systems Analysis representative, Anthony Patt, stated.

Another point made in Copenhagen today was that in order fully harness the potential of renewable energy sources, there existed a need for electricity grids to be upgraded, as well as for unification between different countries’ suppliers.

“We have a huge challenge ahead of us in integrating different sources of intermittent power”, Danish scientist Poul Erik Morthorst, commented.