Yesterday afternoon, former US Vice-President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore challenged the United States to drastically change how it produces electricity; by generating power using 100% renewable energy in 10 years.
Here’s an excerpt of his speech:
About 2800 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by electricity generation in the United States every year. That’s 40 percent of all the emissions for the entire country. If Gore’s goal is achieved, total world emissions would drop nearly 9 percent (source).
Can It Be Done?
Sounds great! But can this goal of carbon-free electricity actually be accomplished?
Clearly the resource is there. Scientists have done the math, and have concluded that every 40 minutes, enough sunlight is absorbed by our planet to power existing world demand for an entire year. As Gore stated in his address, the confluence of high gas prices and the lowering costs renewable energy technologies means that the incentives for installing the technologies that can harness such power are becoming increasingly attractive. Indeed, several US states are betting on it by building the infrastructure needed to transfer such power from rural areas into urban centres.
We’ve Done It Before
For those who don’t think that such things are possible, consider this: We’ve already experienced a major technological shift that’s changed every aspect of our lives.
In 1998, most of my friends were just signing up to their first email addresses. Many computers still connected to the internet over phone lines, and cellphones were only beginning to become as ubiquitous as they are today (as demonstrated here). Nowadays, I receive email on my cellphone in my pocket, and people are using their phones to surf the internet.
The same Silicon Valley venture capital firms that funded the communications boom of the 90s are now putting their money into clean technologies in record numbers.
I’ve made it a rule not to count out Al Gore. Who knows? Maybe he’ll still become President of the United States.
