COMMENTARY
GDP. In China and India, more than a million lives are lost every year due to the burning of fossil fuels. With a payback time of less than a year for both China and India, the transition to 100 per cent renewable energy should be an obvious choice.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY The built environment has a big untapped potential for energy efficiency improvements. Several regional case studies have shown that it is possible to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in buildings’ energy consumption relatively easily and cheaply using existing technology and climatic design principles. For energy retrofitting of existing buildings, energy savings of 30 per cent are typically feasible. Yet, the World Energy Outlook predicts that 80 per cent of the energy efficiency potential in the building sector will remain untapped by 2035, unless we implement policies that steer the building sector towards energy efficiency.
The quantity of split air conditioners is projected to increase nearly four-fold over the next 30 years, namely to 4.5 billion by 2050. The best air conditioners currently on the market only attain 14 per cent of the maximum theoretical energy efficiency. The Global Cooling Prize is an ambitious initiative by the Rocky Mountain Institute, which seeks to bring four to five times more energy-efficient split air conditioners to the mass consumer market, thereby undertaking an environmentally friendly transformation of
the global split air conditioner market. With 139 technical submissions from across the world in 2019, eight finalists were selected. The prototype testing is in its final stages, and the winner of the Global Cooling Prize will be announced by March 2021. Apart from transforming the split air- conditioning market, vastly more energy-efficient cooling principles can likely also be applied to bigger commercial cooling plants.
RENEWABLE ENERGY Over the last decade, a remarkable drop in the cost of electricity produced from renewable energy has occurred, especially from solar photovoltaics. In many markets, solar and/or wind power has reached grid-parity, which means they are price-competitive with conventional electricity produced from fossil fuels. In Asia, we will likely see an acceleration of the emerging trend of Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) solutions that will replace the roof, and even wall, panels. Aesthetically, wall panels that do not look like solar panels are already available on the market. In fact, beautiful BIPV installations can become the main aesthetic design feature, as is the case for the Copenhagen International School with its 3D texture of solar façade panels in different hues of turquoise.
The economic case can already be made for vertical BIPV wall panels in Singapore, according to online life-cycle cost calculator by the Solar Energy
Declaration by the Global 100% RE Strategy Group on 9 February 2021: key excerpts on a global transition to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2035:
1. “A global energy system powered by 100 per cent clean renewable energy is not just possible over the next 10 to 15 years, it can also save money, create jobs and wealth, save lives, and get humanity ahead of the curve to prevent runaway climate change.”
2. “With low-cost renewable energy-based electricity in place in 2030, a parallel rapid transition and redesign of the national energy systems will be feasible, using a smart energy system approach combining electricity with energy-efficient buildings, district heating, electrified transport and industry, as well as energy storage. We provide a deep understanding of the technical solution; decision-makers now need to redesign the energy markets for the redesigned energy systems.”
3. “We have lost too much time in our efforts to address global warming and the 7 million deaths from air pollution that occur each year, by not focusing enough on useful solutions. Fortunately, low-cost 100-per-cent clean, renewable energy solutions do exist to solve these problems, as found by over a dozen independent research groups. The solutions will not only save consumers money, but will also create jobs and provide energy and more international security, while substantially reducing air pollution and climate damage from energy. Policymakers around the world are strongly urged to ensure we implement these solutions over the next 10 to 15 years.”
Signatories are the world’s leading researchers on the energy transformation: • Prof Andrew Blakers, Australian National University, Australia • Prof Christian Breyer, LUT University, Finland • Hans-Josef Fell, Energy Watch Group, Germany • Prof Mark Z. Jacobson, Stanford University, USA • Prof Brian Vad Mathiesen, Aalborg University, Denmark • Tony Seba, RethinkX, USA • Prof Eicke R. Weber, ESMC, CBC, UC Berkeley, Univ. Freiburg em., Germany Website:
https://global100restrategygroup.org/
FUTURARC 73
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95
