Energyforum

The cost of producing power from renewable sources is projected to be just a tenth of the cost of a "business as usual" approach using fossil fuels, environmental campaigners Greenpeace said Friday.

This is one of the key conclusions of a joint report commissioned by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council.

The report, "Future Investment - A sustainable Investment Plan for the power sector to save the Climate," concludes that investment in renewable electricity could save up to $180 billion a year in fuel costs and cut carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2030.

Greenpeace and Erec said the report showed there was now a "powerful economic argument for a shift in global investments towards renewable energy (including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and bio energy), within the next 23 years, and away from dangerous coal and nuclear power".

"In sharp contrast, a 'business as usual' approach casts a dark cloud
over our future. 10,000 new fossil fuel power plants would increase global CO2 emissions by over 50%, and more than double fuel costs; there is no way of putting a price on the disastrous results this will have for environment and humanity," Greenpeace and Erec said.

The report stresses the urgent need for decisive action now. In the next decade, many existing power plants will need replacing, and emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil are rapidly building new energy infrastructure, it says.

The report acknowledges that global annual investment of $22 billion will be needed over the 23 years to 2030 to pay for the additional renewable energy capacity needed to displace fossil fuels, on top of existing expenditure.

But it says that this investment could result in a saving of up to $202
billion a year in fossil fuel costs, meaning that it "will pay for itself 10
times over." The report also proposes diverting the "massive" subsidies paid to conventional energy industries.

"There are estimates from the United Nations that $250 million a year
goes towards subsidies for conventional and nuclear industries, and that is not counting any expenditure associated with the military," Erec's policy director Oliver Schafer told Platts.

"For example, we've had coal subsidies in Europe for 50 years that run into billions. In Germany alone there is a process to phase out subsidies of up to Eur15 billion ($20 billion) a year," Schafer said. 
 
Meanwhile, according to figures released by Erec, the global wind power industry was worth Eur18 billion/year in 2006 ($24 billion), and the whole renewables industry was worth around $50 billion, but it could be worth $288 billion a year if there is an "energy revolution" with a big switch to renewable energy.

The full report is available at: www.greenpeace.org and www.erec.org .