The Paris Agreement has been put in place to keep global temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a target which the agreement places at 2100 – as long as the temperature rise doesn’t exceed the 2 degree cap before then.
Modifying the human effect on global carbon emissions this way will require a significant change in the world’s energy infrastructure. Although some well-positioned countries have already run on renewable power for months, the projected change in human carbon emissions may be optimistic.
This week, researchers at the Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland ran a simulation which indicated that an electricity grid system using only renewable energy could work around the world to meet the Paris Agreement standards by 2030.
The model organizes the globe into nine major world regions and 145 smaller regions, and can run simulations in each to find the most economical solution for renewable electricity infrastructure in that region. The simulation showed that renewable energy could potentially be implemented with a cost of €55 to €70 ($59 to $76) per megawatt hour around the world.
“Every country in the world has to find pathways to achieve the Paris agreement targets and to avoid stranded assets. This model can provide the help for policymakers, industrial decision-makers, and societal stakeholders to do that,” said Christian Breyer, a professor at Lappeenranta University of Technology and one of the scientists who worked on the model.
The researchers hope to improve the model with more information about how countries can best transition from their present energy systems to a completely sustainable model.
One of the findings from the study which the researchers drew particular attention to was the idea that a renewable energy system could power the world at all hours of the day and all times of the year without using large coal or nuclear power plants.
The project was presented at the World Clean Energy Conference in Switzerland on Nov. 4. It was funded as part of the Neo-Carbon Energy research program from the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation.
Currently, about 10 percent of the electric power in the United States comes from renewable sources.
