The Future Of Renewable Energy

The future of renewable energy is looking good! On November 12, 2008, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its World Energy Outlook. This is the world’s most authoritative source of global energy trends that provides energy projections to 2030. In this report, the IEA stated in very clear terms that renewable energy will soon become the second largest source of electricity.

Why?

Because the day that report came out, the IEA officially confirmed that every fossil fuel resource we rely on today will simply not be able to keep pace with demand. That’s right. Every fossil fuel resource. And there’s plenty of objective, peer-reviewed data to back up the IEA’s findings too. The Saudi Arabia of Coal??? Think we have a 250-year supply of coal? Not even close! That wildly thrown-around 250-year supply quote is based on USGS estimates from the 1970s. But if you look at the most recent 2007 USGS estimates, you’ll find we have much less than previously reported.

The End of Natural Gas

Natural gas won’t cut it either.  According to the Energy Information Administration, the world will hit a short gas plateau by 2020, and by around 2025 go into decline. And here in North America, while producing gas wells have tripled since 1971 – natural gas production has actually fallen! The fact is, North American gas production already topped out in 2002, and has been falling ever since – at the rate of about 1.7% annually. But wait, there’s more…

Don’t Hold Your Breath For Nuclear

By now, you’ve probably heard plenty about a potential nuclear renaissance here in the U.S. But I bet few have explained to you where we’re supposed to get the uranium for any kind of nuclear expansion. In 2007, Gerald Grandy, the president of Cameco Corporation indicated that he expects uranium demand to grow at 3% annually for the next decade… but doesn’t see uranium mining being able to keep pace.

The fact is, the uranium supplies we have access to today can only enable us to maintain our current nuclear infrastructure. There simply isn’t enough to add another 40, 50, 100 new nuclear power plants. And even if there was enough uranium – we still lack basic building materials and skilled labor. The latter being a problem that even the nuclear industry readily admits.

According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, in the next five years up to 19,600 nuclear workers – 35% of the workforce – will reach retirement age. These are workers we need to not only build the new plants… but to operate existing facilities too. And it’s not like we have a wealth of qualified workers racing to get into the nuclear business. While nuclear is certainly a hot button in Washington these days, I wouldn’t put much faith into a renewed nuclear renaissance until we can get enough folks here in the US to build and operate these things.

The End of Oil

There’s not much to be said here that hasn’t already been said a thousand times before. So let’s quickly review a few key issues…

• We now find one barrel of conventional oil for every 4 we consume
• New wells drilled over the last few years have nearly doubled, but production has remained flat.
• About 75% of the world’s current oil production is from fields that were discovered prior to 1970, which are past their peaks and beginning their declines. And the remaining 25% comes from fields that are now 10 to 15 years old.

Without an immediate overhaul of our energy economy, the depletion of fossil fuels could prove to be a crisis more devastating than most could ever imagine. The fact is, everything we do depends on some form of energy. Our entire way of life, and all of our economic projections, are built on the assumption that there will always be more energy when we want it.

It all boils down to Renewable Energy – the only form of energy that will exist beyond oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear.

It is infinite, free, and despite the avalanche of misinformation that’s constantly spewed from naysayers and mainstream media – can actually generate enough power to satisfy all of our energy needs.

Take a look…

• Solar – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has indicated that enough electric power for the entire country could be generated by covering about 9% of Nevada with solar power systems. This is a plot of land roughly 92 miles by 92 miles.
• Wind – The DOE has also stated that wind could provide 5,800 quads of energy each year. That’s about 15 times the current global energy demand.
• Geothermal – According to M.I.T., there are over 100 million quads of accessible geothermal energy worldwide. The world only consumes about 400 quads.
• Marine Energy – The Electric Power Research Institute has estimated the wave energy along the U.S. coastline at 2,100 Twh per year. That’s half the total U.S. consumption of electricity.
• Hybrids – According to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, if all cars on the road were hybrids, and half were Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles by 2025 – U.S. imports would be reduced by 8 million barrels per day. That’s about 80% of our daily consumption!

Of course, most of this information won’t be found on any of the dozen or so cable news networks. You’d also be hard-pressed to read about this stuff in most newspapers or magazines.