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Power shift: Five reasons why the clean-energy future cannot be stopped
- March 1, 2018: Vol. 5, Number 3

Power shift: Five reasons why the clean-energy future cannot be stopped

by Kevin Haley

It is now safe to say clean energy is not just winning the battle to shift our energy resources — it has officially won. As companies and organizations focus their efforts on accelerating the adoption of clean energy, these five reasons explain why the clean-energy future cannot be stopped.

Follow the money: The research teams at Bloomberg New Energy Finance report renewable energy sources are set to represent “almost three-quarters of the $10.2 trillion the world will invest in new power-generating technology until 2040.” Even more significant, across the Asia Pacific region, including the Chinese and Indian economies, renewables will account for more than 60 percent of new energy investments, versus only 10 percent for coal and gas generation.

Renewable energy’s biggest myth goes bust: In January 2018, utility company Xcel Energy received “shockingly low bids” for electricity from renewable sources. How shocking? Wind-power bids had a median average price of 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, and solar’s median bid was 2.95 cents per kilowatt-hour. According to The Denver Post, if wind bids come in at 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, customers would save $175 million versus building new fossil-fuel plants.

Big business is all-in on renewables: In 2017, corporate renewable-energy buyers reached a cumulative 10 gigawatts of new renewable-energy projects. This milestone means corporate-backed renewable projects now power the equivalent of more than 7 million homes. As more companies make the choice to buy renewable energy to power their operations, the market is responding to enable smaller, more-diversified companies to transact, as well.

Dead man driving: The days of internal-combustion-powered transportation appear to be coming to a rapid close. Over the past year, governments in China, India, France, Britain and Norway announced they are considering various levels of bans on gas and diesel cars. In addition to the proposed internal-combustion-engine bans, a number of countries are creating official sales targets for electric vehicles, including Ireland, Japan, Korea and Spain.

Big oil and gas and renewables: Oil and gas giants such as BP, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell are already planning for a low-carbon world, with new investments in renewable-energy companies and new climate initiatives in the wake of pressure from key shareholders. In January 2018, Shell announced an investment of up to $217 million in a Nashville-based solar company. Meanwhile, one month earlier, BP announced its plans to invest $200 million in a major European solar developer. Although these are still relatively small clean-energy bets compared with what these companies spend on their core business, this is a trend to watch closely.

The evidence certainly suggests renewables have won, and a low-carbon future is all but inevitable. We must keep in mind, however, climate change still represents an existential threat to our way of life.

 

Kevin Haley is a program marketer at the Rocky Mountain Institute. This article was excerpted from a larger report that can be accessed at this link: https://bit.ly/2EIGNgp

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