The US could run its electric grid on 100% renewable energy by 2045 without any increase in cost, according to new study
- A report from UC Berkeley shows the US energy grid could be fully renewable
- As wind and solar prices fall, transitioning won’t add any cost to consumers
- Transitioning could add 530,000 jobs a year and generate $1.7trillion in revenue
The United States could completely power its electric grid with carbon neutral energy sources as soon as 2045, and without increasing the cost to consumers.
According to a new study from the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Environmental Public Policy, transitioning away from carbon-based power sources could also add 530,000 new jobs each year during the transition period.
As the cost of renewable energy sources continues to fall, the researchers argue that it could actually be more expensive to continue using fossil fuels.
A new study from UC Berkeley shows that transitioning to 100% renewable energy sources in the US could be possible by 2045, with no increase in cost to consumers
The cost of industrial solar power technology has dropped by 82% since 2010, while onshore wind-power prices have declined 39% over the same period.
‘It’s really exciting that this is the moment that we’ve reached in this country, where the costs have just changed so much that this is now within our reach, in a way that it wasn’t even five years ago,’ Energy Innovation’s Sonia Aggarwal, who served on the technical review committee for the study, told Fast Company.
The report laid out a timeline for transitioning that shows the US could reach 70% renewable electricity by 2030, and 90% by 2035.
‘This is exciting, because the 2035 timeframe is actually compatible with climate realities,’ UC Berkeley’s David Wooley said in a prepared statement.
‘However, this outcome isn’t possible without strong policy changes and our hope is this report can help inform the dialogue on federal, state, and corporate policies needed to achieve it.’
A 2018 UN Report warned that global carbon emissions would need to be reduced by half by 2030 in order to avoid global warming levels rising past the 1.5 degree Centigrade tipping point.
With the cost of solar and wind power have plummeted in the last decade, the study shows it would actually be more expensive to continue using fossil fuel to generate electricity in the US in the coming decades
Switching to renewable energy would add 530,000 new jobs each year, bring $1.7trillion in new revenue to the economy, and prevent up to 85,000 premature deaths due to pollution-related health issues
In addition to helping to prevent a planetary climate catastrophe, the transition could help prevent 85,000 premature deaths caused by pollution-related illnesses according to the Berkeley report.
Building up a new renewable energy grid would also save $1.2trillion in medical care costs for pollution-related health conditions and add another $1.7trillion into the economy as new companies form to build and service the renewable grid technology.
‘What an incredible opportunity for economic stimulus,’ Aggarwal said.
‘A federal clean energy standard, supported by government investments in deployment and American manufacturing, could put us back on track for a healthier economy.’
WHAT IS SOLAR POWER?
Solar panels convert energy from the sun into electrical power (stock image)
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity.
Two methods for generating solar power exist.
Photovoltaics — the kind of solar panel you might see built into a calculator — are capable of directly converting light into electrical power.
In concentrated solar power systems, however, mirrors or lenses are first used to collect the sunlight that falls on a large area and focus it — creating heat that can be used to drive a steam turbine and generate electricity.
The productivity of solar panels is dependant on the sunlight they receive in a given location — a factor which is dependant on both latitude and climate.
Optimum locations for solar farms include the arid tropics and subtropics, with deserts lying at such low latitudes often being cloudless and getting around 10 hours of sunlight each day.
According to NASA, the eastern part of the Sahara — the Libyan Desert — is the sunniest place on the Earth.
Solar power accounted for 1.7 per cent of the world’s electricity production in 2017, and has been growing at a rate of 35 per cent each year.