2023-10-19 07:15:14
According to British scientists, the sun is likely to become the world’s most important energy source before 2050. This emerges from an analysis of technological and economic data from the University of Exeter and University College London, which was published this week in the journal Nature Communications.
As a result, this energy sector may have reached a tipping point, setting in motion a self-reinforcing “virtuous cycle” between the use of solar technology and companies learning to make it cheaper. The path of solar energy to becoming the most important energy source is therefore clear even without the support of a more ambitious climate policy.
“The progress of renewable energies means that projections dominated by fossil fuels are no longer realistic,” said the participating researcher Femke Nijsse from the University of Exeter, according to a statement from the university. There is a growing belief that the drastically reduced costs of renewable energy will make carbon reduction in developing countries much easier.
The brakes of the removal
However, the scientists also identified four areas that could inhibit the transition to solar power dominance. These are the availability of stable electricity networks, the financing of solar energy in developing countries, the capacity of supply chains and political resistance in regions with job losses.
Governments should therefore focus less on the transition to solar energy itself and more on removing these four barriers, the researchers recommend. This includes ensuring energy supply when the sun does not shine, for example through wind power and transmission lines between regions.
Silvia Benetti Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 20 Marcus Theurer Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 83 Marcus Theurer Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 28
African countries in particular also need access to financing to manage the transition to solar energy. The supply chains, especially for critical raw materials such as lithium and copper, which are needed to produce batteries, need to be strengthened. In addition, the loss of jobs in the fossil fuel industry and related industries, on which the livelihoods of an estimated 13 million people worldwide depend, must be cushioned.
#Solar #energy #important #source #energy #researchers