World’s Leading Energy Scientists Reach Unprecedented Agreement: 100% Clean Renewable Energy Globally is Best, Cheapest and Achievable by 2030-2035
Dubai, UAE – At the Dii Desert Energy Partners’ Meeting 2021, RethinkX co-founder Tony Seba and other top energy scientists at some of the world’s leading research institutions issued a joint declaration [below], signed by dozens of preeminent scientists, of findings that together establish why 100% RE (renewable energy) systems are far superior, economically, socially, and environmentally, to any other energy system. The main barrier remaining is political will, according to the scientists.
The Global 100% RE Strategy Group, comprised of experts on wholesale energy transitions, states unequivocally that the transition to a 100% clean renewable energy system is not only possible, but can happen much faster than conventional wisdom believes. A 100% renewable electricity supply is possible by 2030, and with substantial social and political will around the world, 100% renewable energy is also technically and economically feasible across the whole energy system by 2035.
JOINT DECLARATION
of the Global 100% RE Strategy Group
Numerous studies have investigated 100% renewable energy (RE) systems in regions, countries, and worldwide, and they have found that it works, not only for providing electricity, but also for providing all energy.
A transformation to 100% RE can occur faster than current expectations: the power sector can transform by 2030 and the other sectors soon thereafter. With political will, a transformation of the global energy sector by 2030-35 appears to be possible!
Electricity in a 100% RE system will cost less than in our current energy system the total energy cost of a 100% RE system will be lower than the cost of conventional energy, even if we exclude social costs.
The total social cost (energy, environmental, climate, and health cost) of a 100% RE system will be drastically lower than of business as usual. The sooner we achieve a 100% RE system, the faster these savings will be realized!
A 100% RE system can supply regions, countries, and the world reliably (24-7) with energy at low cost.
A massive re-design of the global energy system will be needed, including increasing energy efficiency on all levels.
Solar and wind will be the key pillars of energy supply, plus flexibility in many forms, especially storage, sector coupling, demand response management, large- and small-scale grid integration.
The studies agree that electricity will take a massively increasing share (about 80-95%) of the global energy supply. Electrification will result in a superabundance of cheap clean, renewable energy, increasing prosperity for all humanity.
All our studies show that creating the new 100% RE system will benefit the world economy. It will stimulate investments of trillions of dollars and create millions more jobs than lost worldwide. Superabundant clean, renewable energy will create wealth and provide a boost for every sector of the global economy.
Such a rapid transformation is necessary to stop the 7 million human deaths that occur annually today worldwide from air pollution, to slow the growing damage due to global warming and thus avoid the climate catastrophe, and to provide sustainable energy security for future generations.
Authors
The Global 100% RE Strategy Group
Prof. Andrew Blakers (Australian National University)
Hans-Josef Fell (Energy Watch Group)
Prof. Brian Vad Mathiesen (Aalborg University)
Prof. Eicke Weber (ESMC, UC Berkeley em.)
Prof. Christian Breyer (LUT University)
Prof. Mark Z. Jacobson (Stanford University)
Tony Seba (RethinkX)
SIGNATORIES
Prof. Armin Aberle, CEO, Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore
Assoc. Prof. Gorm Bruun Andresen, Aarhus University
Prof. Cristina Archer, University of Delaware
Dr. Ing. Philipp Blechinger, Reiner Lemoine Institut
Prof. Gregory W. Brooks-English, Yonsei University
Dr. Mary A. Cameron, Atmosphere/Energy Alum and Consultant, Stanford University
Prof. Juan Cole, University of Michigan
Dr. Richard Corkish, UNSW Sydney
Dr. Mark Delucchi, UC Berkeley
Dr. Mark Diesendorf, UNSW Sydney
Dr. Adam Dorr, RethinkX
Prof. Neven Duic, University of Zagreb
Michael J. Dvorak, PhD, Founder, Weather Tactics
Prof. Renate Egan, UNSW, Sydney
Dr. Peter Enevoldsen, Director of Centre for Energy Technologies at Aarhus University
José Etcheverry Ph.D., Board of Governors, York University
Dr. Maria Cristina Facchini. Director, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Italy
Paul Gipe, Wind-works.org
Prof. Martin Green, UNSW Sydney
Prof. Martin Greiner, Aarhus University
Prof. Robert Howarth, Cornell University
Dr. Heidi Hutner, Stony Brook University
Prof. R. Ingraffea, Cornell University
Prof. Claudia Kemfert, DIW
Dr. Bin Lu, Research Fellow, Australian National University
Prof. Henrik Lund, Professor in Energy Planning at Aalborg University, Denmark
Prof. Michael Mann, Penn State University
Prof. Henning Meschede University of Paderborn
Prof. Enebish Namjil, Institute of Physics and Technology Mongolian Academy of Sciences
Prof. Mika Ohbayashi, Director, Renewable Energy Institute, Tokyo, Japan
Dr. Thomas Reindl, Deputy CEO, Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS)
Prof. Julieta Schallenberg-Rodriguez, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Founder and Director Emeritus of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Prof. Benjamin K. Sovacool, Aarhus University
Prof. Peter Strachan, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland
Dr. Thure Traber, Energywatchgroup, Berlin, Germany
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sven Teske, Inst. for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
Dr. Pierre Verlinden Amrock, Adjunct Prof. University of New South Wales, Sun Yat- Sen University
Dr. Marta Victoria, Assist. Professor at Aarhus University
Prof. Ray Wills, School of Earth and Agriculture, The University of Western Australia