Renewables could provide 40% of world’s energy

Renewable power could provide 40% of the world’s energy needs by 2050, according to a scientist from University of Helsinki.

Professor Peter Lund said that with political backing and financial investment, renewable energy technologies could quickly become a mainstream source of electricity.

Speaking last week at the University of Copenhagen, Lund said that technologies such as solar, biomass, hydro and wind power could meet a significant minority of global energy needs in just four decades.

Previous estimates had said that renewables were unlikely to provide more than 12% of the world’s energy by 2030.

Lund, however, is more optimistic.

He said: “Our findings demonstrate that with global political support and financial investment, previous notions that the potential for renewables was in some way limited to a negligible fraction of world demand were wrong.

“If we prioritise and recognise the value of renewable energy technologies, their potential to supply us with the energy we need is tremendous.”

He added that governments must give their full support to renewable technologies if they are to be a success.

“If these technologies were given the same government attention and financial backing as nuclear was in the 1970s and ’80s, wind energy, for instance, would achieve price parity with traditional electricity generation by 2020-25 and solar power, for instance, by 2030,” Lund said.

However, if renewable technologies are not given enough support, they are likely to remain expensive and languish at providing below 15% of global energy needs.