A new study from business and environmental researchers at Oxford University disputes the notion that a strategy to transition global power generation toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels is too expensive to pursue.
The study, released Sept. 13 and published in the journal Joule, reports that decarbonizing the world’s energy systems would save at least $12 trillion by mid-century, compared to continuing to use fossil fuels at the current level. The peer-reviewed study notes that the cost of cleaner energy technology continues to fall. It also concludes that renewable energy has the potential to increase energy output worldwide, and expand access to energy to a larger population.
The researchers noted that the cost of fossil fuels have risen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to inflationary pressures worldwide. The Oxford study was conducted prior to that situation, and took into account more than 100 years of fossil fuel price data.
The group notes that the current energy crisis “underscores the study’s findings and demonstrates the risks of continuing to rely on expensive, insecure, fossil fuels. The research confirms that the response to the crisis should include accelerating the transition to low cost, clean energy as soon as possible, as this will bring benefits both for the economy and the planet.”
I am the only one this morning to rec the OP. I am not long fossil fuels. It supports with numbers that PV, Wind and Batteries along with others are deflationary.
I have a real kick in your pants if you are long oil or gas. But that is my next post.
Remember there are ups and downs in fossil fuels. Meaning what I post next will be a blip three or four years out.
In the mean time alternative energies to not suddenly for political reason sky rocket in cost. Just some food to think about…as I post in a moment.
That is true looking backward; however, I think that era has drawn to an end.
DB2,
We have been down this road several times on this board. Your statement that there will not be major achievements and advancements ongoing is totally false.
The reason is in each area of study to advance the different technologies software programs have been developed to run different materials and configurations in order to assess the optimal solutions.
This has been a shift for a while now away from the incremental returns that were diminishing towards renewed common sets of increased incremental energy efficiencies and of course lower costs.
I get the guys who question solar, batteries and wind have a lot of older information. Please read more.
No link will be forthcoming. The links have been added a few times over in past discussions. Humor me do you own research if you care about the topic.
The peer-reviewed study notes that the cost of cleaner energy technology continues to fall.
That is true looking backward; however, I think that era has drawn to an end.
DB2
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That is only your opinion with no explanation from you for why fossil fuels will become cheaper and renewables will get more expensive in the future. The opposite has been true for years. I will stick with the scientists on this matter.
That is true looking backward; however, I think that era has drawn to an end. — We have been down this road several times on this board. Your statement that there will not be major achievements and advancements ongoing is totally false.
That’s because that is not my statement. What is true is that renewables have joined other energy sources – nuclear, nat gas, etc – being subject to prices that both rise and fall. Will there be major achievement and advancements? Of course.
The peer-reviewed study notes that the cost of cleaner energy technology continues to fall.
That is true looking backward; however, I think that era has drawn to an end.
DB2
Very much so. This board has seen it documented that larger incremental increases in efficiencies in batteries and PV are now happening again.
The worries about diminishing returns are a few years ago. They are over with.
The quality of information matters. Please add valid information.
The peer-reviewed study notes that the cost of cleaner energy technology continues to fall. — That is true looking backward; however, I think that era has drawn to an end.
From January:
Global inflation threatens to end era of ever-cheaper clean energy www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/01/21/business/inflation-clea…
The era of ever-cheaper clean power is over, giving a fresh jolt of uncertainty to global energy markets battered by one supply crisis after another. Relentless price declines over the past decade made renewables the cheapest sources of electricity in much of the world. In the past year, though, prices for solar panels have surged more than 50%. Wind turbines are up 13%, and battery prices are rising for the first time ever.
From April:
‘We’re all in trouble’
Wind turbine makers selling at a loss and in a ‘self-destructive loop’ www.rechargenews.com/wind/were-all-in-trouble-wind-turbine-m…
Raw material and logistics inflation coupled with downward price pressures from auctions have led to an unsustainable situation where wind OEMs are selling at a loss, with the sector unable to deliver Europe’s planned tripling of wind capacity by 2030, industry leaders have warned…
After hefty price hikes last year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic “things were higher but stabilising,” Hickok said, but added that with Russia’s war in Ukraine, the entire system had “unhinched” again in the past eight weeks, making it unsustainable at an unprecedented level of uncertainty. The GE executive said she is very fearful for the entire wind industry ecosystem…
Nordex chief executive José Luis Blanco stressed that even before the Ukraine war, the economics in the wind industry had been destroyed due to price pressures from competitive tenders coupled with a low visibility of wind capacity pipelines due to failed government policies. “We are still selling at loss, because of the dynamic of auctions, the low predictability of volumes,” Blanco told the conference.
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The problem DrBob2 is that your posts are frequently misleading. For example, this is the gist of what you quote from your linked article: “The era of ever-cheaper clean power is over…” https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/01/21/business/inflat…
Your selective excerpt makes it seem like the article is saying renewable energy will no longer significantly decline in price. But if one actually reads the article it is clear that the problem being discussed is a short-term one, as it goes on to say:
“Over the long term, prices for wind and solar will continue to decline, albeit at a slower pace. That means clean-energy installations are expected to keep growing rapidly in the coming years.”
Do you really not see how your taking quotes out of context is disingenuous?
“Over the long term, prices for wind and solar will continue to decline, albeit at a slower pace. That means clean-energy installations are expected to keep growing rapidly in the coming years.”
Do you really not see how your taking quotes out of context is disingenuous?
The real point is bring us the sources. The link was recent the information inept and outdated.
The incremental improvements is picking up again.
When challenged bad information just kept getting spread.
The peer-reviewed study notes that the cost of cleaner energy technology continues to fall.
Cost Increases Extend to Renewable Energy Projects www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/cost-increases-….
Supply chain issues have taken a toll on developers in terms of rising costs and shipment delays. Wind and solar projects are facing delays because of shortages of raw materials, bottlenecks in international shipping and a backlog of applications for grid connections with regional grid operators…
Renewable energy project developers are also facing hurdles to development as a result of regional and federal regulatory activities…Developers also are having to deal with more challenges in obtaining state and local building permits…
Producing energy from wind and solar power, and storing it in batteries, requires a huge increase in supplies of copper, nickel, aluminum, graphite, lithium and other minerals. The minerals necessary to build the tens of thousands of wind turbines and hundreds of millions of solar modules needed for U.S. and European energy transition plans is not expanding as fast as the demand for them, causing prices to increase.
Producing energy from wind and solar power, and storing it in batteries, requires a huge increase in supplies of copper, nickel, aluminum, graphite, lithium and other minerals. The minerals necessary to build the tens of thousands of wind turbines and hundreds of millions of solar modules needed for U.S. and European energy transition plans is not expanding as fast as the demand for them, causing prices to increase.
The Institute for Energy Research is an anti-science clown organization funded by the Koch brothers. Guess what other industries are having supply chain issues: All of them. A non-clown analysis would identify ways renewables are different than everything else, but that might take actual thinking which these guys are allergic to.
Cost Increases Extend to Renewable Energy Projects www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/cost-increases-…… Supply chain issues have taken a toll on developers in terms of rising costs and shipment delays. Wind and solar projects are facing delays because of shortages of raw materials, bottlenecks in international shipping and a backlog of applications for grid connections with regional grid operators…
Nuclear Power Still Doesn’t Make Much Sense
I’m not a never-nuke, but I’ve had my doubts about atomic power. Still, I wanted to keep an open mind. So last week I flew to London to attend the World Nuclear Symposium, an annual conference put on by the nuclear industry’s global trade group, the World Nuclear Association …
Responding to such a climate emergency with nuclear power is like calling on a sloth to put out a house fire. The 63 nuclear reactors that went into service around the world between 2011 and 2020 took an average of around 10 years to build. By comparison, solar and wind farms can be built in months; in 2020 and 2021 alone, the world added 464 gigawatts of wind and solar power-generation capacity, which is more power than can be generated by all the nuclear plants operating in the world today. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/opinion/nuclear-power-sti…
I’m guessing those nuke plants on the drawing boards will be vastly more expensive a decade or two from now than solar or wind which could conceivably be producing electricity for 9/10ths of that decade.
I’ve always said nuclear has a place. I prefer North Dakota and Mississippi, with electron superhighways to the rest of the country.
Technology and commercial advancements are expected to continue to drive down the cost of wind energy, according to a survey led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) of the world’s foremost wind power experts. Experts anticipate **cost reductions of 17%-35% by 2035 and 37%-49% by 2050**, driven by bigger and more efficient turbines, lower capital and operating costs, and other advancements.https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/04/15/experts-predictions-fo…
Graph from Statista showing projected reduction in solar installation costs by 2050. the cost of installing solar photovoltaics in 2010 was estimated to be over 4,600 U.S. dollars per kilowatt and by 2018, this figure had decreased significantly to some 1,200 U.S. dollars per kilowatt. **By 2030, the installation cost of solar PV is projected to range between 340 and 834 U.S. dollars per kilowatt.** https://www.statista.com/statistics/1118626/solar-pv-install…