Yes, according to new research, and for cheaper than coal.
The paper, "A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables," was published in the November issue of Scientific American.
According to the research, the world will need 16.9 terrawatts (TW, or 1 trillion watts) of power by 2030, up from 12.5 TW today. Meeting that with coal alone would require 13,000 new facilities.
Under the Jacobson-Delucchi plan, the total amount of energy needed worldwide would drop to 11.5 TW.
Why? In most cases, electrification is a more efficient way to use energy than combustion, the authors write. Take electric cars:
"Only 17 to 20 percent of the energy in gasoline is used to move a vehicle (the rest is wasted as heat), whereas 75 to 86 percent of the electricity delivered to an electric vehicle goes into motion."
Still, the up-front costs of virtually eliminating greenhouse gas emissions through new energy would be enormous. Construction costs "might be" $100 trillion worldwide over 20 years, the authors admit. And that's not including the costs of transmission.
They claim the investment would be paid back through the sale of electricity and energy. And they make the case, as many others have before them, that a business-as-usual future would be costlier in the long run: $10 trillion in thousands of new coal plants, not to mention the tens of trillions in health, environmental, security and other "externality" costs.
But the world has its work cut out for it. Currently, less than one percent of clean technologies needed for a 100 percent scenario are in place.
Here's what governments must do:
• Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, such as tax benefits for their exploration and extraction.
• Enact feed-in tariff (FIT) programs that cover the difference between generation costs and electricity prices.
• Tax fossil fuels or their use to reflect environmental damages.
• End "misguided promotion of alternatives" that are less desirable than wind, solar and water, such as farm and production subsidies for biofuels.
• Invest in long-distance, robust transmission systems that can carry large quantities of clean power from remote regions to consumption centers.
• Build smart grid systems that reduces consumer demand during peak usage periods.
The main obstacle is the political will to implement these policies, the report claims. The second biggest hurdle is the shortage of vital materials.
Some materials are scarce, while others are subject to price manipulation. Rare-earth materials are the biggest looming problem, namely neodymium used in wind turbine gear boxes. The material is concentrated in China. Beware, say the authors:
"Countries such as the U.S. could be trading dependence on Middle Eastern oil for dependence on Far Eastern metals. Manufacturers are moving toward gearless turbines, however, so that limitation may become moot."
Photovoltaic solar cells also rely on potentially scarce materials, such as amorphous or crystalline silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium selenide and sulfide. So do next-generation cars. There are: lithium for batteries, platinum for fuel cells and earth metals for electric cars.
Read full at SolveClimate