LONDON, Oct 19 (Bernama) — The sun is likely to become the world’s most important source of energy by 2050, British scientists said in newly published research, reported German news agency (dpa).
The energy sector may have reached a turning point where a self-reinforcing “virtuous circle” has been set in motion between the use of solar technology and the learning process of companies to make it more affordable, researchers from the University of Exeter and University College London said.
“Progress of renewables means that fossil fuel-dominated projections are no longer realistic,” lead researcher Dr Femke Nijsse from Exeter’s Global Systems Institute said in a news release.
There is a growing belief that the dramatically reduced cost of renewable energy will greatly facilitate carbon reduction in developing countries, the release said.
While solar energy’s path to becoming the most important source of energy appears set, even without the support of more ambitious climate policies, the researchers warn that “barriers” could still hamper this.
The researchers identified four areas that could inhibit the transition to solar energy dominance: the availability of stable power grids, solar financing in developing countries, supply chain capacity, and political resistance in regions where many jobs are linked to fossil fuel industries.
Governments should, therefore, focus less on the shift to solar energy itself and more on removing these four barriers, the researchers recommend.
These include ensuring energy supplies when the sun does not shine, for example, through wind power and transmission lines between regions.
African countries in particular would also need access to finance to manage the transition to solar energy. Supply chains, especially for critical raw materials, such as lithium and copper, needed to make batteries, would need to be strengthened.
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 mitigated, the researchers said.
