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The global cost of securing a clean energy future is rising by the year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned Monday, estimating that an additional $44 trillion of investment was needed to meet 2050 carbon reduction targets. Releasing its biennial "Energy Technology Perspectives" report in Seoul, the agency said electricity would increasingly power the world's economies in the decades to come, rivalling oil as the dominant energy carrier. Surging electricity demand posed serious challenges, said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.
"We must get it right, but we're on the wrong path at the moment," Van der Hoeven told reporters in the South Korean capital.
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$44 Trillion Needed for Clean Energy Future
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Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it.
(Score: 1, Troll) by emg on Thursday May 15 2014, @09:02PM
Back in the real world, you can be pretty sure the cost will be underestimated by a factor of five to ten, and the benefits overestimated by a factor of five to ten. But the whole thing was a fantasy from the start, anyway; no sane country is going to trash its economy just to make the Greenists happy.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday May 15 2014, @09:13PM
On the other hand, even the Chinese are starting to realize that they need ways to produce energy which won't prevent them from seeing across the street or breathing...
All renewables can't happen before then end of the century, but the healthcare savings from replacing Coal are also in the trillions. Nukes will help bridge the gap.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by rts008 on Thursday May 15 2014, @09:48PM
Well said, and I'll add this:
The longer we put it off, the more it will cost us when the switch is forced on us by necessity...Quadrillions by then, the way costs are rising.(hyperbole warning!)
At that time 44 trillion will seem like a bargain.
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Thursday May 15 2014, @10:01PM
What's the basis for that claim? Are we spending all that money just to research vastly more expensive ways to switch? I know, if I have to "switch", I'm not going to employ the most expensive approach possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @10:57PM
(Score: 2) by khallow on Thursday May 15 2014, @11:12PM
The question can easily be turned around. Do you?
Pollution is also dispersed and rendered neutral. There is no example of constantly accumulating pollution. CO2 both has well known "carbon sinks" and a very weak pollution effect for the quantity emitted. And given that the proposed solutions to this "pollution" are supposedly getting cheaper all the time, what is the point of claiming "extra expense"?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @11:53PM
(Score: 2) by khallow on Friday May 16 2014, @12:54AM
No, not at all. Keep polluting at a controlled level until we have more economic alternatives. I think it'll get a lot cheaper. And there's always time value and discount rates. Putting off a fixed cost really does make it cheaper.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 16 2014, @02:16AM
(Score: 2) by khallow on Friday May 16 2014, @08:12AM
There are other, bigger priorities for humanity than slightly cheaper renewable energy. I see no reason not to wait, just on that basis.
This is a false dilemma. Wait and see is not "cover-your-eyes-and-hope-it-goes-away". You really do need to show that doing something actually is better than the powerful economic advantages of doing nothing.
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Saturday May 17 2014, @03:59PM
Are you daft, trolling, or just being willfully obtuse?
Costs go up over time for infrastructure, and always will under the current way of doing things.
I bought my first new car and my first house for a total of $30,000.00(USD) back when.
(Gasoline was $0.35(USD) per gallon around that time.)
According to your reasoning, I should still be able to do either just as cheaply nowadays.
Not a snowballs chance in hell, for that to happen this day and age.
Stupid git.