Energy blog Master Resource analyses the future of world energy generation. Several scenarios are considered, but the bottom line is that the the idea of renewables as a primary energy source can never be made to work.
Wind, Solar Mirage
Regarding the power market, wind and solar will actually play a minor, even inconsequential, role in reducing emissions by 2035. Worse still for those that believe human-caused CO2 emission are responsible for disastrous climate change, other reasonable options now available will not have a timely effect.
Adaptation, and using wealth diverted from inappropriate energy policy, is a key public-policy takeaway from this series.
Removing wind and solar from the mix planned for 2014–2035 will reduce investment costs by almost $3 trillion globally, with very little, if any, increase in CO2 emissions. What does become clear is that there is only one approach, apart from aggressive conservation, that would have had any chance of greater impact on human-caused emissions.
So what should we do?
The current strategies of major implementations of “clean” energy sources, largely depending on wind and solar, to address concerns about climate change are seriously misguided, and should be abandoned.
It is important to keep the big picture in mind.