Renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Renewable energy stands in contrast to fossil fuels, which are being used far more quickly than they are being replenished. Although most renewable energy sources are sustainable, some are not. For example, some biomass sources are considered unsustainable at current rates of exploitation.

"I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power!" - Thomas Edison in a conversation shortly before his death in 1931. (This photo shows a combined heat and power solar installation on a barn roof in Germany.)

Quotes

Wind turbines in Gansu province, China.

Before 2001

• I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.
  • Thomas Edison (in a conversation shortly before his death in 1931), as quoted in a June 3, 2007 essay entitled "Current Thinking" by the journalist and documentary filmmaker Heather Rogers published in The New York Times Magazine.

2001 to 2010

• Although photosynthesis typically has an energy conversion efficiency below three percent, it is, together with heat from the sun, the main energy source of all living organisms, and the energy source from which biomass and fossil fuels are derived. Each year the earth receives an energy input from the sun equal to 15,000 times the world's commercial energy consumption and 100 times the world's proven coal, gas and oil reserves.
  • Bernhard Scheffler, quoted by J. Clarke and D. Holt-Biddle in Coming Back to Earth, p. 78 (2002)

• There is one forecast of which you can already be sure: someday renewable energy will be the only way for people to satisfy their energy needs. Because of the physical, ecological and (therefore) social limits to nuclear and fossil energy use, ultimately nobody will be able to circumvent renewable energy as the solution, even if it turns out to be everybody’s last remaining choice. The question keeping everyone in suspense, however, is whether we shall succeed in making this radical change of energy platforms happen early enough to spare the world irreversible ecological mutilation and political and economic catastrophe.
  • Hermann Scheer, member of the German Bundestag and President of the European Association for Renewable Energy, in his book Energy Autonomy: The Economic, Social and Technological Case for Renewable Energy (2006). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 9781844073559.

2011 to 2020

• More solar energy falls on Earth in one hour than all the energy our civilization consumes in an entire year. If we could harness a tiny fraction of the available solar and wind power, we could supply all our energy needs forever, and without adding any carbon to the atmosphere.
  • From the twelfth episode of the U.S. science documentary television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, first broadcast on June 1, 2014.

• Every percentage point increase in homegrown renewable energy makes us that much more energy secure. The progress in electricity is encouraging, but growth is not yet strong enough in renewable heat and transport to meet the government's objectives.
  • Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the UK's Renewable Energy Association, as quoted in "Wind and other renewables generated a fifth of Britain's electricity in early 2014" The Guardian. June 26, 2014.

• One of the real breakthroughs is when someone figures out long-term storage capacity.
  • George Shultz, US statesman and economist, discussing the need for improvements in batteries or other energy storage technology to better integrate solar and wind energy into the electrical grid, as quoted in "George Shultz: 'Climate is changing,' and we need more action: Former secretary of state - and former MIT professor - urges progress on multiple fronts" MIT News. October 1, 2014.

"The only way you can get to the very positive {CO₂ reduction} scenario is by great innovation. Innovation really does bend the curve" - Bill Gates, global philanthropist and founder of Microsoft.

• The only way you can get to the very positive scenario is by great innovation. Innovation really does bend the curve.
  • Bill Gates, global philanthropist and founder of Microsoft, arguing that the cost of reducing CO₂ emissions using existing technologies is "beyond astronomical." From "Gates to double investment in renewable energy projects: Microsoft co-founder takes interest in new areas of research like in solar, high wind and new nuclear" Financial Times. June 25, 2015.

• If you told me that innovation had been frozen and we just have today's technologies, will the world run the climate change experiment? You bet we will. We will not deny India coal plants; we will run the scary experiment of heating up the atmosphere and seeing what happens. The only reason I'm optimistic about this problem is because of innovation. . . . I want to tilt the odds in our favor by driving innovation at an unnaturally high pace, or more than its current business-as-usual course. I see that as the only thing. I want to call up India someday and say, "Here's a source of energy that is cheaper than your coal plants, and by the way, from a global pollution and local pollution point of view, it's also better."
  • Bill Gates, in "We need an energy miracle" (Interview with Bill Gates). The Atlantic. November 2015 issue.

• Cheaper coal and cheaper gas will not derail the transformation and decarbonisation of the world’s power systems. By 2040, zero-emission energy sources will make up 60% of installed capacity.
  • Bloomberg New Energy Finance report entitled "New Energy Outlook 2016 (An annual long-term view of how the world's power markets will evolve in the future)".

• We have long supported a carbon tax as the best policy of those being considered. Replacing the hodge-podge of current, largely ineffective regulations with a revenue-neutral carbon tax would ensure a uniform and predictable cost of carbon across the economy. It would allow market forces to drive solutions. It would maximize transparency, reduce administrative complexity, promote global participation and easily adjust to future developments in our understanding of climate science as well as the policy consequences of these actions.
  • Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, in a speech entitled "The Path Forward in Today’s Energy Environment" delivered at the 37th Annual Oil and Money Conference in London on October 19, 2016.

• Rather than an eyesore on the roof, it becomes actually a feature of the home. People are going to start wanting to put {building-integrated photovoltaics} on the front side of their home to show that they have solar.
  • Christopher Klinga, technical director of the (U.S.-based) Architectural Solar Association, as quoted in "The Next Solar Energy Revolution Is Hiding in Plain Sight." NBCNews.com. April 10, 2017.

• [W]ind and solar power have been rapidly winning market acceptance. Last year, the installed capacity of solar power in the United States nearly doubled. And wind is now being harnessed to produce 5.5 percent of America’s electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
  • Norm Alster, journalist, in "Investing in Solar and Wind in a Coal and Oil Moment." The New York Times. April 15, 2017.

"The next big act belongs to the engineers. Energy transformation for climate safety is our twenty-first-century moonshot." - Jeffrey Sachs, development economist. (Pictured above is Thomas Edison, considered one of the greatest inventors and engineers of all time.)

• The transition to renewable energy can be greatly accelerated if the world’s governments finally bring the engineers to the fore... I was recently on a panel with three economists and a senior business-sector engineer. After the economists spoke... the engineer spoke succinctly and wisely. “I don’t really understand what you economists were just speaking about, but I do have a suggestion... Tell us engineers the desired ‘specs’ and the timeline, and we’ll get the job done.” This is not bravado.... The next big act belongs to the engineers. Energy transformation for climate safety is our twenty-first-century moonshot.
  • Jeffrey Sachs in For Climate Safety, Call in the Engineers, Project Syndicate (20 December 2018)

"A carbon tax will send a powerful price signal that harnesses the invisible hand of the marketplace to steer economic actors towards a low-carbon future." - "Economists’ Statement on Carbon Dividends" signed by more than 3,500 economists, including every living former chair of the US Federal Reserve (pictured, from left to right: Janet Yellen, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Paul Volcker).

• A carbon tax offers the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary. By correcting a well-known market failure, a carbon tax will send a powerful price signal that harnesses the invisible hand of the marketplace to steer economic actors towards a low-carbon future. . . . A consistently rising carbon price will encourage technological innovation and large-scale infrastructure development.
  • "Economists’ Statement on Carbon Dividends: Bipartisan agreement on how to combat climate change." (Statement signed by more than 3,500 economists, including every living former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve and 27 Nobel laureates.)
    • Economists’ Statement on Carbon Dividends (The statement's original publication - subscription required to view in full.) The Wall Street Journal. January 16, 2019.
    • Economists’ Statement on Carbon Dividends (Republication - no subscription needed to view.) Republished by the Climate Leadership Council. Originally published on January 16, 2019.

• The clean energy portfolios of some of the largest corporate buyers rival those of the world’s biggest utilities. These companies are facing mounting pressure from investors to decarbonize - clean energy contracts serve as a way to diversify energy spend and reduce susceptibility to the tangible risks associated with climate change.
  • Kyle Harrison, sustainability analyst at BloombergNEF and lead author of its 1H 2020 Corporate Energy Market Outlook report, as quoted in a summary discussing the report entitled "Corporate Clean Energy Buying Leapt 44% in 2019, Sets New Record", published on January 28, 2020.

• [N]ew renewable power generation projects now increasingly undercut existing coal-fired plants. On average, new solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind power cost less than keeping many existing coal plants in operation, and auction results show this trend accelerating – reinforcing the case to phase-out coal entirely.
  • International Renewable Energy Agency press release entitled "Renewables Increasingly Beat Even Cheapest Coal Competitors on Cost: Competitive power generation costs make investment in renewables highly attractive as countries target economic recovery from COVID-19, new IRENA report finds." June 2, 2020.

• I think it’s clear now that energy has to be clean. . . . And we should do it in ways that give jobs to everybody. . . . There’s so much to do in renewable power, there is so little to do in coal.
  • William McDonough, as quoted in "Eliminating the concept of waste from the economy", from the Marketplace Morning Report segment of the US National Public Radio Morning Edition program, August 19, 2020.

2021

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (book)

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need. Book published by Alfred A. Knopf on February 16, 2021. ISBN 9780385546133 (hardcover), ISBN 9780385546140 (e-book).
Main Wikiquote page for How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
Wikipedia page for How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

"Deploying today’s renewables and improving transmission couldn’t be more important. [And] even as we deploy, deploy, deploy solar and wind, the world is going to need some new clean electricity inventions too." - Bill Gates, from his book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (2021).

• When it comes to climate change, I know innovation isn’t the only thing we need. But we cannot keep the earth livable without it. Techno-fixes are not sufficient, but they are necessary.
  • Bill Gates, from page 14 of his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (2021).

• [W]e’re going to need much more clean electricity in the coming years. Most experts agree that as we electrify other carbon-intensive processes like making steel and running cars, the world’s electricity supply will need to double or even triple by 2050. And that doesn’t even account for population growth, or the fact that people will get richer and use more electricity. So the world will need much more than three times the electricity we generate now.
  • Bill Gates, from page 79 of his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (2021).

• Deploying today’s renewables and improving transmission couldn’t be more important. . . . Unless we use large amounts of nuclear energy . . . every path to zero [net emissions] in the United States will require us to install as much wind and solar power as we can build and find room for. It’s hard to say exactly how much of America’s electricity will come from renewables in the end, but what we do know is that between now and 2050 we have to build them much faster - on the order of 5 to 10 times faster - than we’re doing right now. And remember that most countries aren’t as lucky as the United States when it comes to solar and wind resources. The fact that we can hope to generate a large percentage of our power from renewables is the exception rather than the rule. That’s why, even as we deploy, deploy, deploy solar and wind, the world is going to need some new clean electricity inventions too.
  • Bill Gates, from pages 83 and 84 of his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (2021).

• Over the past decade, installed wind capacity has grown by an average of 20 percent a year, and wind turbines now provide about 5 percent of the world's electricity. Wind is growing for one simple reason: It's getting cheaper.
  • Bill Gates, from page 193 of his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (2021).

COP26 Climate Conference in Scotland, UK

26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (or "COP26"), held in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom from October 31st to November 13th, 2021

"India will take its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030, [and] India will meet 50 percent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030." - Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India since 2014, addressing the COP26 international climate conference. (Nov. 2, 2021)

• Climate change is already . . . costing our nations trillions of dollars [and] we know that none of us can escape the worst that’s yet to come if we fail to seize this moment. . . . But . . . within the growing catastrophe, I believe there’s an incredible opportunity . . . . We have the ability to invest in ourselves and build an equitable clean-energy future and in the process create millions of good-paying jobs [while we] create an environment that raises the standard of living around the world. . . . When I talk to the American people about climate change, I tell them it’s about jobs. It’s about workers [and the] communities that will revitalize themselves around new industries and opportunities. . . . So, let’s get to work.
  • Joe Biden, President of the United States, on Day 2 of the climate conference (excerpted from "Remarks by President Biden at the COP26 Leaders Statement" at whitehouse.gov). (November 1, 2021)

• We are aware that the industrialised countries have a particular responsibility. . . . The financing is essential if the industrialised countries are to maintain their credibility. . . . Ladies and gentlemen, with government activities alone we will not make progress. For this requires radical transformation of how we live, work and conduct business. I therefore want to take this opportunity to make a very clear appeal for pricing for CO2 emissions. With this form of pricing, which we already have in the European Union, which is to be introduced in China and which needs to be developed together with many others throughout the world, we could get our industries and businesses to find the technologically most effective and efficient ways to achieve climate neutrality. We need to work out how we can best integrate CO2-free mobility, CO2-free industry and CO2-free processes into our lives. My clear call in the Decade of Action, in the decade in which we now live, is for us to become more ambitious at a national level and at the same time to find global instruments that not only make use of taxpayers’ money but are also economically viable. And for me, the answer is CO2 pricing.
  • Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021, on Day 2 of the COP26 climate conference (excerpted from "Speech by Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel on the occasion of the World Leaders’ Summit at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP26) in Glasgow on 1 November 2021" at bundesregierung.de). (November 1, 2021)

• In the midst of this global brainstorming on climate change, on behalf of India, I would like to present five [commitments] to deal with this challenge. First - India will take its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030. Second - India will meet 50 percent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030. . . . And fifth - by the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero. . . . Today, when India has resolved to move forward with a new commitment and a new energy, the transfer of climate finance and low cost climate technologies have become more important. . . . India also understands the suffering of all other developing countries, shares them, and will continue to express their expectations.
  • Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India since 2014, on Day 3 of the COP26 climate conference (excerpted from "National Statement by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at COP26 Summit in Glasgow" at mea.gov.in). (November 2, 2021)

2022 and later

• [T]he solution has to be real economy government regulations to ban or to make higher [the] cost of the brown and polluting industries. That said, there are parts of finance which are longer-term and [evaluate] climate risks . . . and these are asset owners, the pension funds, the wealth funds and the insurance companies who are not so transactional [and] they’re not [as] interested in a deal to be done today. And they are in fact often mandated by their governments to take into account climate risk. So, I think those players will step up in this instance [turmoil in energy markets following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine] and [now who might be] investing for [an electricity generation project with a] 10-year horizon which you have to do with gas they will [say], "Let’s do it with renewables." And we’ve seen movements like that in the UK, where they’re pivoting towards onshore wind, which before the invasion was politically unviable because of the NIMBY factor. . . . [T]he pension funds and the actual asset owners . . . have a longer term of perspective. And they are actually driving the issue to their commercial managers who have to service them and they’re saying, "Look, we want you to act on climate change," and that's a huge driver.
  • Dylan Tanner, executive director of Influence Map (a London-based think tank "that provides data and analysis on how business and finance are affecting the climate crisis"), in an interview on the Climate One podcast entitled "Big Money: Investment Managers Driving Corporate Action". (May 6, 2022)

See also

• Green New Deal
• List of renewable energy topics by country
• Solar energy
• Sustainable energy
• Wave power
• Wind power