100% renewables in just a few years

According to new research by Stanford University professor, Mark Z. Jacobson and his colleagues, “145 of the world’s nations could switch to 100% renewable energy in a few years using renewable energy technologies available today,” reports CleanTechnica.

“They recommend the world make the switchover by 2035, but in no event later than 2050. Their goal is to have 80% operating on renewable energy by 2030.

“The researchers looked at onshore and offshore wind energy, solar power, solar heat, geothermal electricity and heat, hydroelectricity, and small amounts of tidal and wave electricity. Batteries were the most common electricity storage solution, with the team finding that no batteries with more than four hours of storage were necessary.”

Jacobson’s latest book — No Miracles Needed: How today’s technology can save our climate and clean our air — makes many of the same points.

“The researchers say switching to renewable energy would avoid utility grid blackouts and save consumers trillions of dollars,” said the CleanTechnica article. “One of the main reasons for that finding is that the combustion-based energy systems most countries rely on require a lot of energy just to function. In switching to a clean, renewable energy system, Jacobson states that worldwide energy usage would go down by 56% immediately.”

Read the study