Shifting the World to 100 Percent Clean, Renewable Energy as Early as 2030 – Here Are The Numbers

The key to reducing fossil fuel energy use in the future is to switch to renewable sources of energy that generate electricity instead of relying on combustion to drive vehicles or generate power. Two scientists argue that this difficult task is possible with already-existing forms of technology and walk through the numbers of how to get there. Switching to these renewable sources of energy – like wind, hydro, and solar – would be expensive but in the long run would reduce power consumption because renewable sources of energy reduces waste by lowering the amount of heat lost during the generation. Thus, the long-term savings realized by making the switch would more than make up for the cost of switching, according to the researchers. But the biggest hurdle to making the switch is the political one. Industry giants in competing, non-renewable technologies employ substantial political lobbying that chokes off the financial resources needed to fund the switch. – YaleGlobal