IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v49y2012icp346-354.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Where renewable electricity is concerned, how costly is “too costly”?

Author

Listed:
  • Pickard, William F.

Abstract

Present day electricity is a bargain. It frees mankind from a host of dirty, debilitating occupations—epitomized by the now endangered occupation of legger. Correctly applied, electricity would make a most excellent paramount energy carrier for a post-carbon world. It is, however, only an energy carrier and not a source of energy, the preeminent source for its generation being bargain-priced fossil carbon. But when, in less than a century, that is gone, electricity is a good bet to cost markedly more while being still a bargain. This paper once again shows that mankind's energy needs can be met by (i) renewable solar generation of electricity buffered by (ii) massive electricity storage and (iii) a robust distribution grid. The time available for making this switch from fossil carbon to solar is at best a century and possibly as little as fifty years.

Suggested Citation

  • Pickard, William F., 2012. "Where renewable electricity is concerned, how costly is “too costly”?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 346-354.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:49:y:2012:i:c:p:346-354
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.06.036
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512005460
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.06.036?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trainer, Ted, 2010. "Can renewables etc. solve the greenhouse problem? The negative case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4107-4114, August.
    2. Fthenakis, Vasilis & Mason, James E. & Zweibel, Ken, 2009. "The technical, geographical, and economic feasibility for solar energy to supply the energy needs of the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 387-399, February.
    3. Pickard, William F., 2010. "Finessing the fuel: Revisiting the challenge of radioactive waste disposal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 709-714, February.
    4. Kimberly A. Hammond & Jared Diamond, 1997. "Maximal sustained energy budgets in humans and animals," Nature, Nature, vol. 386(6624), pages 457-462, April.
    5. Patzek, Tadeusz W. & Croft, Gregory D., 2010. "A global coal production forecast with multi-Hubbert cycle analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 3109-3122.
    6. Jacobson, Mark Z. & Delucchi, Mark A., 2011. "Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power, Part I: Technologies, energy resources, quantities and areas of infrastructure, and materials," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1154-1169, March.
    7. Glen P. Peters & Gregg Marland & Corinne Le Quéré & Thomas Boden & Josep G. Canadell & Michael R. Raupach, 2012. "Rapid growth in CO2 emissions after the 2008–2009 global financial crisis," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 2-4, January.
    8. Richard Heinberg & David Fridley, 2010. "The end of cheap coal," Nature, Nature, vol. 468(7322), pages 367-369, November.
    9. Michael Plumb & Kathryn Davis, 2010. "Developments in Utilities Prices," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 9-18, December.
    10. Delucchi, Mark A. & Jacobson, Mark Z., 2011. "Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power, Part II: Reliability, system and transmission costs, and policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1170-1190, March.
    11. Nemet, Gregory F. & Kammen, Daniel M., 2007. "U.S. energy research and development: Declining investment, increasing need, and the feasibility of expansion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 746-755, January.
    12. Mikko Myrskylä & Hans-Peter Kohler & Francesco C. Billari, 2009. "Advances in development reverse fertility declines," Nature, Nature, vol. 460(7256), pages 741-743, August.
    13. John P DeLong & Oskar Burger & Marcus J Hamilton, 2010. "Current Demographics Suggest Future Energy Supplies Will Be Inadequate to Slow Human Population Growth," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(10), pages 1-8, October.
    14. Dittmar, Michael, 2012. "Nuclear energy: Status and future limitations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 35-40.
    15. García-Olivares, Antonio & Ballabrera-Poy, Joaquim & García-Ladona, Emili & Turiel, Antonio, 2012. "A global renewable mix with proven technologies and common materials," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 561-574.
    16. Pickard, William F. & Shen, Amy Q. & Hansing, Nicholas J., 2009. "Parking the power: Strategies and physical limitations for bulk energy storage in supply-demand matching on a grid whose input power is provided by intermittent sources," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 1934-1945, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pickard, William F., 2013. "Transporting the terajoules: Efficient energy distribution in a post-carbon world," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 51-61.
    2. Wang, Richard & Hsu, Shu-Chien & Zheng, Saina & Chen, Jieh-Haur & Li, Xuran Ivan, 2020. "Renewable energy microgrids: Economic evaluation and decision making for government policies to contribute to affordable and clean energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    3. Raugei, Marco & Leccisi, Enrica, 2016. "A comprehensive assessment of the energy performance of the full range of electricity generation technologies deployed in the United Kingdom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 46-59.
    4. Han, Charles C., 2014. "Demarketing fear: Bring the nuclear issue back to rational discourse," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 183-192.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. García-Olivares, Antonio & Ballabrera-Poy, Joaquim & García-Ladona, Emili & Turiel, Antonio, 2012. "A global renewable mix with proven technologies and common materials," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 561-574.
    2. Lenzen, Manfred & McBain, Bonnie & Trainer, Ted & Jütte, Silke & Rey-Lescure, Olivier & Huang, Jing, 2016. "Simulating low-carbon electricity supply for Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 553-564.
    3. Carlos Castro & Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, 2018. "Concentrated Solar Power: Actual Performance and Foreseeable Future in High Penetration Scenarios of Renewable Energies," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 1-20, September.
    4. Heard, B.P. & Brook, B.W. & Wigley, T.M.L. & Bradshaw, C.J.A., 2017. "Burden of proof: A comprehensive review of the feasibility of 100% renewable-electricity systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1122-1133.
    5. de Castro, Carlos & Mediavilla, Margarita & Miguel, Luis Javier & Frechoso, Fernando, 2013. "Global solar electric potential: A review of their technical and sustainable limits," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 824-835.
    6. Wu, Yunyang & Reedman, Luke J. & Barrett, Mark A. & Spataru, Catalina, 2018. "Comparison of CST with different hours of storage in the Australian National Electricity Market," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 487-496.
    7. Diesendorf, Mark & Elliston, Ben, 2018. "The feasibility of 100% renewable electricity systems: A response to critics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 318-330.
    8. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo & de Castro, Carlos & Arto, Iñaki, 2017. "Assessing vulnerabilities and limits in the transition to renewable energies: Land requirements under 100% solar energy scenarios," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 760-782.
    9. Elliston, Ben & Diesendorf, Mark & MacGill, Iain, 2012. "Simulations of scenarios with 100% renewable electricity in the Australian National Electricity Market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 606-613.
    10. García-Olivares, Antonio & Ballabrera-Poy, Joaquim, 2015. "Energy and mineral peaks, and a future steady state economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PB), pages 587-598.
    11. Barry W. Brook & Tom Blees & Tom M. L. Wigley & Sanghyun Hong, 2018. "Silver Buckshot or Bullet: Is a Future “Energy Mix” Necessary?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, January.
    12. Grossmann, Wolf D. & Grossmann, Iris & Steininger, Karl W., 2014. "Solar electricity generation across large geographic areas, Part II: A Pan-American energy system based on solar," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 983-993.
    13. Davidsson, Simon & Grandell, Leena & Wachtmeister, Henrik & Höök, Mikael, 2014. "Growth curves and sustained commissioning modelling of renewable energy: Investigating resource constraints for wind energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 767-776.
    14. Leggett, L. Mark W. & Ball, David A., 2012. "The implication for climate change and peak fossil fuel of the continuation of the current trend in wind and solar energy production," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 610-617.
    15. Deason, Wesley, 2018. "Comparison of 100% renewable energy system scenarios with a focus on flexibility and cost," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3168-3178.
    16. Grossmann, Wolf D. & Grossmann, Iris & Steininger, Karl W., 2013. "Distributed solar electricity generation across large geographic areas, Part I: A method to optimize site selection, generation and storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 831-843.
    17. David Gattie & Michael Hewitt, 2023. "National Security as a Value-Added Proposition for Advanced Nuclear Reactors: A U.S. Focus," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-26, August.
    18. Mediavilla, Margarita & de Castro, Carlos & Capellán, Iñigo & Javier Miguel, Luis & Arto, Iñaki & Frechoso, Fernando, 2013. "The transition towards renewable energies: Physical limits and temporal conditions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 297-311.
    19. Ronnie D. Lipschutz & Dustin Mulvaney, 2013. "The road not taken, round II: centralized vs. distributed energy strategies and human security," Chapters, in: Hugh Dyer & Maria Julia Trombetta (ed.), International Handbook of Energy Security, chapter 22, pages 483-506, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Peter Lund, 2012. "The European Union challenge: integration of energy, climate, and economic policy," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 60-68, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:49:y:2012:i:c:p:346-354. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.