{"id":8158,"date":"2014-03-15T05:20:41","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T09:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=8158"},"modified":"2014-03-15T05:27:15","modified_gmt":"2014-03-15T09:27:15","slug":"100-sun-wind-and-water-can-power-each-u-s-state-and-the-world-stanford-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/100-sun-wind-and-water-can-power-each-u-s-state-and-the-world-stanford-study.html","title":{"rendered":"100% sun, wind, and water can power each U.S. state and the world –Stanford study"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nWe have all the technology right now that we need to power\r\nthe U.S. state by state and the world with solar, wind, and water power.\r\nNo burning coal or oil or fracked natural gas and no nukes.\r\nNo need for any new destructive and hazardous methane pipelines.\r\nNo waiting for batteries.\r\nAll we have to do is get on with it.\r\n

\r\n\r\n100% RENEWABLE ENERGY IS FEASIBLE AND AFFORDABLE, ACCORDING TO STANFORD PROPOSAL<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n

\r\nStanford University researchers led by civil engineer Mark Jacobson\r\nhave developed detailed plans for each state in the union that to\r\nmove to 100 percent wind, water and solar power by 2050 using only\r\ntechnology that’s already available. The plan, presented recently at\r\nthe\r\n\r\nAAAS conference<\/a> in Chicago, also forms the basis for\r\n\r\nThe Solutions Project<\/a> nonprofit.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The conclusion is that it’s technically and economically\r\nfeasible,” Jacobson told Singularity Hub.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe plan doesn’t rely, like many others, on dramatic energy\r\nefficiency regimes. Nor does it include biofuels or nuclear power,\r\nwhose green credentials are the source of much debate.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe proposal is straightforward: eliminate combustion as a source of\r\nenergy, because it’s dirty and inefficient. All vehicles would be\r\npowered by electric batteries or by hydrogen, where the hydrogen is\r\nproduced through electrolysis rather than natural gas.\r\nHigh-temperature industrial processes would also use electricity or\r\nhydrogen combustion.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe rest would simply be a question of allowing existing fossil-fuel\r\nplants to age out and using renewable sources to power any new\r\nplants that come online….\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The greatest barriers to a conversion are neither technical\r\nnor economic. They are social and political,” the AAAS paper\r\nconcludes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nFor\r\nGeorgia<\/a>,\r\nthat’s 40% solar PV plants, 35% offshore wind, 13% rooftop PV (6% residential and 7% commercial), 5% concentrating solar plants, 5% onshore wind, and 1% each wind, tide, and conventional hydro power.\r\nPlus 210,200 construction jobs and 101,000 operation jobs.\r\nAnd saving $14.3 billion per year or 4% of Georgia’s GDP\r\nsaved by avoiding illness and mortality,\r\nincluding avoiding 1,580 air pollution deaths each year.\r\nOh, and costs per kilowatt-hour would drop by more than half.\r\n

\r\nThere’s that\r\n\r\noffshore wind for a third of Georgia’s power again<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nWe also get massive savings through not wasting energy by burning stuff\r\nand generating more power right where it’s needed:\r\n40% savings\r\nfor Georgia<\/a>,\r\n43% savings\r\nfor Florida<\/a>,\r\nand\r\n35% savings\r\nfor Alabama<\/a>,\r\n

\r\nSuch huge savings are possible because more than half of U.S. energy\r\nproduction is wasted, and the biggest wastes are due to burning oil and coal\r\nand due to electricty transmission and distribution,\r\nas shown in this chart for 2011 by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory:\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n

\r\nHow can we get rid of burning oil when all those cars and trucks burn\r\ngasoline and and diesel?\r\nElectric cars and trucks.\r\nTesla’s Model S is already\r\n\r\nthe best-selling car in its class in the U.S.<\/a>\r\nThat part will indeed take a while, because of the existing rolling stock.\r\nAnd U.S. oil production\r\n\r\nactually rose 15% last year<\/a>.\r\nBut it will happen, as prices of hybrid and electric cars come down\r\ndue to economies of scale.\r\nThe Toyota Prius\r\n\r\nfor another year is the best-selling car in California<\/a>.\r\nThis change will come.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nElectricity generation is easier and quicker to address.\r\nWe’ve already seen\r\n\r\nten nuclear reactors shut down (5) or canceled (5)<\/a> in the past year or so.\r\nWarren Buffett\r\n\r\nhas moved from nuclear to wind<\/a>.\r\nThe\r\n\r\nnuclear renaissance is dead<\/a>, despite Southern Company and Georgia Power\r\nstill raking in the rate-hike bucks on that boondoggle at Plant Vogtle.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nGeorgia Power agreed last summer\r\n\r\nto shut down a dozen coal plants<\/a>.\r\nThe\r\n\r\ncarbon bubble is going to pop<\/a>.\r\nAll new U.S. energy was solar in October 2013<\/a>\r\nand\r\n\r\n2013 was another record year for solar installation and accelleration of installation<\/a>.\r\nWe’re well on course for \r\n\r\nformer FERC chair Jon Wellinghof’s prediction<\/a>\r\nthat solar will overtake every other U.S. energy source within a decade.\r\n

\r\nJacobson’s plan of reducing distribution costs and eliminating\r\nfossil fuel burning is the opposite of what\r\n\r\nSpectra, NextEra (FPL), and Williams want to do<\/a>\r\nby gouging a hundred-foot-wide\r\nright of way for a 36-inch pipeline through here to burn more methane\r\nfracked in Pennsylvania and Texas.\r\n

\r\nHere’s\r\n\r\nJacobson on David Letterman’s late night show:<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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