17-05-2012, 04:10 PM
Scaleable Solar Energy Technology
Lewis.ppt (Size: 3.24 MB / Downloads: 103)
Present Primary Power Mix
Future Constraints Imposed by Sustainability
Theoretical and Practical Energy Potential of Various Renewables
Challenges for Chemical Sciences to Exploit Solar Energy Economically on the Needed Scale
Conclusions
Abundant, Inexpensive Resource Base of Fossil Fuels
Renewables will not play a large role in primary power generation
unless/until:
technological/cost breakthroughs are achieved, or
unpriced externalities are introduced (e.g., environmentally
-driven carbon taxes)
Hoffert et al.’s Conclusions
These results underscore the pitfalls of “wait and see”.”
Without policy incentives to overcome socioeconomic inertia, development of needed technologies will likely not occur soon enough to allow capitalization on a 10-30 TW scale by 2050
“Researching, developing, and commercializing carbon-free primary power technologies capable of 10-30 TW by the mid-21st century could require efforts, perhaps international, pursued with the urgency of the Manhattan Project or the Apollo Space Program.”