Global Potential for Renewable Energies

Speaking on the topic of "Renewable Technology in Future Sustainable Energy Systems", John Loughhead predicted that the world energy demand would double from 10,000,000 MW in 2006 to 20,000,000 MW in 2050.

He added, "The increased energy that we use is tiny compared to the energy that we received from the sun (100,000,000,000 MW) and wind (100,000,000MW)."

Loughhead noted, "Today, we use fossil fuels, and the conventional figures on estimation of reserves on energy include, oil is 41 years, natural gas is 67 years and coal is 165 years, based on current prices at today's rates of extraction and consumption."

"Of course, the problem with hydrocarbon fuels is that they emit carbon and global carbon emissions have been on the rise for the last hundred years or so. One of the consequences is that over 50 years, there is a detectable increase of concentrated carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Although the concentration is small in absolute term, it is believed that the consequence of the concentration of carbon dioxide has led to a detectable increase in global temperature.

Outlining recommendations in the efforts needed to replace carbon emitted by year 2054, he said, "The world needs to have 700GW of nuclear energy displacing coal power."

"In the biomass fuel, the world will need to produce two billion 60-mpg cars running on biofuels, which need 250 million hectares of high yield crops. To generate hydrogen that could be used in vehicles, we need to produce enough hydrogen to fuel two billion vehicles. In solar energy, over 50 years, we must install 120-240000000 m² (of panels) each year."

View the Borneo Bulletin story by clicking here.

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