‘Based on our findings, there are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable energy sources,’ said one of the study’s authors, Mark Jacobson of Stanford University. ‘It’s a question of whether we have the societal and political will.’

Together with Mark Delucchi of the University of California, Davis, Jacobson assessed the costs, technology and material requirements of converting the planet’s energy production from a system based on fossil fuels to one based on renewable sources. Their plan called for the world to run largely on electricity sourced primarily from wind and solar (90 per cent), with the remainder made up of geothermal and hydroelectric (four per cent each) and wave and tidal (two per cent).

The plan, which is outlined in a two-part paper in Energy Policy, would result in a 30 per cent reduction of global energy demand because the electrical and fuel cell processes that would power vehicles, homes and commercial activities are more efficient than the current combustion methods. This reduction in demand, along with the millions of lives saved due the reduction in air pollution, would help to keep the cost of the conversion down.

The researchers found that powering the world using wind, solar and water would require about 0.4 per cent of the world’s land area, with the spacing between installations taking up a further 0.6 per cent, although this area could be made available for agriculture.

March 2011