That said, he added that this is not a permanent solution.Running Future Grid completely Renewable energy needs to be more flexible, as operators will not be able to burn fossil fuels to fill the temporary gap between energy demand and generation. (For example, on a heatwave night, people might use a lot of air conditioners, but no sun to power them.) That means infrastructure must be rebuilt so that it can deliver renewable energy over long distances. “But in the long run, we have no choice: we have to upgrade the gearbox,” he said.
Electric vehicles may also prove to be a valuable asset in smoothing electricity supply and demand by forming a distributed network of car batteries (along with household solar panels) that grid operators can tap into when needed. “For example, if we could take advantage of the batteries in an electric car or home battery, or if we could operate the roof [photovoltaics] A group of customers, and having them coordinate to provide some kind of service to support our transmission network, definitely helps with the intermittent problem,” said Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez, director of the Renewable Energy and Advanced Mathematics Laboratory at UC San Diego. and was not involved in the new paper. “As we have more and more renewable energy, this can greatly reduce the pressure on the grid. “
The studies agree on two other points: the economic and health benefits of decarbonization. Every step of the fossil fuel life cycle, from extraction to processing to burning, is terrifying for the human body. “There are huge non-economic benefits,” Abhyankar said of the transition to clean energy. “We found that this transition could also avert more than 200,000 premature deaths, as well as more than $800 billion to $1 trillion in other health [costs]. For example, as more cars switch to electric vehicles, air quality will improve, reducing the number of people affected by respiratory diseases.
The research reviewed by Abhyankar and his colleagues concluded that it is not cost that is holding back the deployment of renewable energy, batteries and electric vehicles. “The point is: the cost won’t be very high,” Abhyankar said. “In fact, some studies have found that it could potentially save consumers a lot of money.” For example, while installing solar panels on a home can be an expensive upgrade — especially without a massive tax rebate — starting from It will save homeowners money in the long run.
Instead, the stumbling block is the policies needed to deploy them more broadly. While Democrats currently control Congress and the White House, they have struggled to pass substantial climate legislation. The Build Back Better program will promote U.S. manufacturing of renewable technologies, including Other climate benefitsbut West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin torpedoed it“It’s absolutely unsurprising that we’re nowhere near our goal of roughly halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” said Mark Paul, an environmental economist at New College in Florida. “I think climate and It is clear to everyone in the policy community that we will definitely exceed these goals, unless We have considerable operations in Washington. “
and everywhere, About this question.For example, states could mandate that more energy come from renewable sources, while the federal government could provide more tax refund People buy electric cars, and cities can invest in charging stations for them, especially in low-income neighborhoods.
Another bottleneck, Paul said, is the lack of skilled labor to deploy and maintain solar and wind energy systems and energy-efficient home technologies such as heat pumps. Public investment in trade schools can help increase the workforce. “This actually presents a very important economic opportunity to revitalize the struggling American working class,” Paul said. “We just need policy to steer the ship in the right direction and make sure that transition happens as quickly as possible.”
