![]() ![]() This is equivalent to 4% of Germany or half of Belgium and thus "cannot be neglected," but this includes solar rooftops which are "not really a problem" as roofs are there. He found that a carbon-neutral Germany would need some 15,000 square kilometers of land for solar and wind plants, up from 3,000 sq km now. Renewables are also land-intensive, but experts such as German grid operator Amprion's Gerald Kaendler insist that "space is not the final frontier for the energy transition." His calculations show that there is enough space for renewable energy self-sufficiency even in densely populated and moderately sunny countries. This could be addressed by government intervention to ensure the production and use of clean technologies grow in line with climate goals. The main obstacle is investment risk, as the speed of clean technology ramp-up in the next couple of decades is highly uncertain. ![]() ![]() ![]() Electric vehicles and battery storage would similarly take over from stainless steel as the largest end user of nickel by 2040, and clean technologies in general could account for 45% of copper demand, up from 25% now.īut even for these materials, the IEA's head of energy technology policy, Timur Gul, recently said that resources are not an issue as "huge amounts" of minerals are available. Exceptions include lithium and cobalt, where batteries could account for respectively 70% and 90% of global demand by 2040 according to the IEA, up from 30% and 15% now. In future decades, however, and even if green technologies take off as fast as hoped in climate-friendly scenarios, energy will remain a relatively small user of bulk materials such as cement, steel and aluminum, in comparison with buildings, transport and general industry equipment. Global CO2 and commodity production in billion tons of CO2 per year or billion tons of product for the given commodities. Solar photovoltaic, for example, requires some 10-40 times more copper per megawatt hour than fossil fuel-fired plants, and onshore wind 5-15 times more iron. Lifecycle analysis shows that wind and solar power plants require more materials such as steel, copper, aluminum and cement per unit of generation than fossil fuel-based electricity. Indeed, because of the low energy density of wind and sunlight, renewable energy involves a lot of equipment. Critics argue it is not be possible to find enough raw materials to build that capacity, nor enough space to install it. The International Energy Agency's (IEA) net-zero emissions scenario calls for the construction of 22,000 GW of solar and wind capacity between now and 2050 - more than 10 times today's 2,000 GW. Plenty of skepticism has been cited about whether there's enough space and capital to accomplish it all, but experts have also told Energy Intelligence that the hurdles can be crossed with enough planning and legwork. This involves renewable energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), carbon dioxide removal - all at colossal numbers, whether in gigawatts, billion tons or trillions of dollars. They all point back to the biggest of energy numbers - 37 billion tons of CO2 - which the energy sector emitted last year and needs to cut by midcentury if the Paris agreement's goals are to be met. Grand numbers characterize the emissions seen as necessary to cut, the amount of products that would need to be decarbonized, and the investments to be made in alternatives. The energy transition seems like a towering mountain to climb. ![]()
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