WILL THE ECONOMY RUN ON “GREEN” ENERGY?

A few days ago, New York magazine began its global warming story with the words “it will have irreversible consequences” and “it will be much worse than you think.”

The American magazine predicts that the temperature in New York City will be much higher than in Bahrain today. Drought will hit agricultural regions, the melting of Siberian permafrost will cause epidemics, and the global economy will be in a permanent state of crisis.

With such a devastating conclusion, can there be any comfort in the fact that the global energy supply will shift to renewable energy at a relatively rapid pace? The answer to this question is definitely no. Despite their decreasing cost, solar and wind power plants currently account for only 5% of the world’s energy. Hydropower plants are now the largest source of renewable energy, but their cost is increasing and investment is decreasing.

Looking at energy demand differently, the share of renewables in residential, transport and industrial supply is no more than 1.6%. In this way, fossil fuels cannot be eliminated from the energy mix in the near future.

Any energy transition, for example, from coal to hydrocarbons in the 20th century, took decades. The speed of change shows where the investment is made. That seems to be what the “greens” like.

The share of solar PV and wind power has increased in the last decade. Investment fell slightly last year, but it did not have a significant impact. The International Energy Agency announced on July 11 that in 2016, renewable energy production was equal to the electricity generated by hydrocarbon fuels.

In some countries, these two technologies have initially made solar PV cheaper than coal and gas in sunny areas. In Denmark and Scotland, they have become commonplace. The British magazine The Economist writes that these countries are now generating their energy from wind power.