UN climate change panel says 80 percent of energy needs could be met by renewables by 2050

UN climate change panel says 80 percent of energy needs could be met by renewables by 2050
Washington Post/Associated Press, May 9, 2011
Posted: 2011-05-17 13:03:57
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un_climate_change_panel_says_80_percent_o...

Renewable sources such as solar and wind could supply up to 80 percent of the world’s energy needs by 2050 and play a significant role in fighting global warming, a top climate panel [has] concluded. But the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that to achieve that level, governments would have to spend significantly more money and introduce policies that integrate renewables into existing power grids and promote their benefits in terms of reducing air pollution and improving public health. “The report shows that it is not the availability of the resource but the public policies that will either expand or constrain renewable energy development over the coming decades,” said Ramon Pichs, who co-chaired the group tasked with producing the report. “Developing countries have an important stake in this future — this is where 1.4 billion people without access to electricity live.”

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