Wind and solar: ready to meet global energy needs?

Electricity produced from wind and solar energy could meet a substantially larger chunk of global demand by 2020-2025 if the right policies are put in place, trade associations claim.

World energy forecasts published on 5 September by GWEC, the global wind industry trade association, predict “a serious shortfall between demand and supply could become evident soon after 2010″.

The report, entitled “Plugging the Gap”, says the combined oil and gas supply shortfall could reach 10% by 2020 and climb to 18% by 2030.
In its 2005 World Energy Outlook, the IEA forecasted that $17 trillion investments in infrastructure would be necessary to meet demand by 2030. This would represent around $56 billion investment every year, assuming that fossil fuels continue to account for more than 80% of the energy mix.

But according to GWEC, the IEA’s forecasts of world oil and gas reserves are wildly overestimated. “These mainstream energy-outlook studies are based on a questionably optimistic assessment by the US Geological Survey (USGS), which does not appear to align with detailed records of actual worldwide discoveries,” it says.

According to GWEC, the “combined gap” in oil and gas “are likely to represent 10% of the primary energy demand in 2020 and 18% by 2030″. And at current consumption rates, world coal reserves, which are currently plentiful, “will be exhausted by around the end of the 21st century”.

EurActiv