Power from deserts

A new report commissioned by the German Government shows in detail how Europe can generate all the electricity it needs, cut CO2 emissions by 70% by the year 2050, and phase out nuclear power at the same time. Solar power from deserts are part of the proposed range of energy sources.
A PDF or MS Word version of this press release, with pictures, can be downloaded from www.trec-uk.org.uk/press.htm#press_release_1. TRANS-MEDITERRANEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY COOPERATION (TREC) Press Release NEW REPORT SHOWS HOW EUROPE CAN MAKE DEEP CUTS IN CO2 EMISSIONS AND PHASE OUT NUCLEAR POWER AT THE SAME TIME Energy mix to include solar power from deserts A new report, commissioned by the German Government (The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)) shows in detail how Europe (including the UK and Ireland) can meet all its needs for electricity, cut emissions of CO2 from electricity generation by 70% by the year 2050, and phase out nuclear power at the same time. The key to this revolution in electricity supply is the replacement of old polluting power plants that rely on dwindling supplies of fuel with a larger range of non-polluting sources of energy that will be good for thousands of years. In the scenario described in the new ‘TRANS-CSP’ report, the need for imported sources of energy will be reduced and this, coupled with the increased range of sources of energy, will help to ensure the resilience and security of energy supplies. But an important part of the proposals in this report and the earlier ‘MED-CSP’ report is the development of a collaboration between countries of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EUMENA) to take advantage of the truly monumental quantities of energy that fall as sunlight on the world’s hot deserts. “Every year, each square kilometre of desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts world-wide, this is nearly a thousand times the entire current energy consumption of the world.” said Dr Franz Trieb, Project Manager for the two reports. “We can tap in to this energy by using mirrors to concentrate sunlight and create heat. The heat may be used to raise steam and drive a generator in the conventional way. This kind of ‘concentrating solar power’ (CSP)