The United Nations just released the updated IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report with recommendations to policy-makers. They issued a dire warning: the world is headed for increasing weather calamities. The recommendation: shift away from carbon-based fuels now, and a "massive shift to renewable energy." The GENI Initiative has been advocating the interconnection of renewable energies between all nations as the priority solution from the World Game™ simulation — a massive shift to renewable energy!  | (Dark red and orange are the best solar sites) |  | (Dark brown and orange are the best wind sites) |
The majority of greenhouse gases (GHG) come from producing electricity from coal and natural gas, plus using petroleum in our cars. Burning fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide, which just surpassed 400ppm (parts per million) in our atmosphere. Deforestation for farming and firewood produces 17% of GHG as the decaying wood releases its stored carbon. Yet the world is blessed with an abundance of clean, renewable energy. These maps from 3TIER show the Global Solar Irradiance and Global Mean Wind Speed at 80m elevation. There is no lack of renewable potential! GENI has been producing National Renewable Energy Maps using GIS (Geospatial Information Systems). We have focused on 3 nations: U.S., China and India as they produce the most GHGs and must lead this shift to clean energy. Equally important, these renewable energies must be interconnected to the electric grid to deliver that power to our cities and industry. Transmission lines act as the freeway for these renewables to get to market. We must start now. Delay will only increase the difficulty and cost to achieve the target of 2oC (3.6oF) maximum increase by 2050. - Encourage your state utility to make the shift to renewables,
- Buy green power when you can, and
- Invest in clean energy companies.
Each of us makes energy choices daily and we need to think and act differently, quickly. In Partnership for the Planet, |