Stanford Professor: 100% Clean and Renewable Energy By 2050

Mark z. Jacobson of Stanford University, together with U.C. Berkeley has unveiled a “guidebook” for how all of America’s 50 states can run entirely on renewable energy sources by 2050, and at least 80 percent by 2030 (assuming politicians get around to implementing their plan, that is.)

According to Jacobson, rejuvenating the environment does NOT necessarily have to come at the expense of economic growth. For the 40 years necessary to implement the project, 3.9 million construction and 2 million operation jobs would have been created- dwarfing the 3.9 million already created by the fracking industry that would be lost

(It should be noted that the construction jobs will be temporary, albeit for a long 40 years, and that the operating jobs only come around when all the construction is done. Whether this beats out fracking depends as well on how long fracking is expected to continue to be economically viable in the US; although production currently rivals that of Saudi Arabia, fracking taps on far smaller reserves, using a far more expensive technology- according to National Geographic, production is set to decline by 2020, with most fracking wells slowing down by 90% within just a few years of starting).

“By analyzing all 50 states for sun exposure, wind maps, and existing hydroelectric dams, the research team created plans to power new grids using wind, water, sunlight, and geothermal energy. Their findings provide regionally customized roadmaps to carbon-neutrality.”

The study was done at the behest of The Solutions Project, a group which aims to influence policies in order to promote green energy tech. The Elon Musk Foundation, The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and Mark Ruffalo are some of the more prominent backers of the Project. On their website is a handy interactive chart which shows how the necessary energy is distributed between the different types of renewables.

As of 2014, 67% of America’s energy is derived (nuclear has also provided a stable source of 19% of its energy) from the burning of fossil fuels. Data from 2013 shows that 92% of transportation burns petroleum-based fuels… Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, contributed about 5% of the total energy used by the transportation sector, and natural gas contributed about 3%. Electricity provided less than 1% of the total energy used.

The study says that by 2050, combined health (63,000 Americans lose their lives from air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels), climate and energy savings per person would be $77,783 per year.

Those worried that solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric dams would pop up all over their lawns and driveways, causing inconvenience, noise pollution and wide-spread panic, should feel reassured that the plan would only need about… a completely inaccurate guesstimation of 0.42 percent of the land in America.

According to Elon Musk, if we relied on solar alone:

“A lot of people aren’t clear on how much surface area is needed to generate enough power to completely get the United States off fossil fuels,” he said. “Most people have no idea. They think it must be some huge amount of area, or maybe some space solar panels…But this is completely unnecessary. Actually very little land is needed to get rid of all fossil fuel electricity generation in the United States.”

“It’s really not much,” Musk said. “Most if it will be on rooftops.”

Personally, I know exactly where those panels, wind turbines and dams could go…

Sources: The Plaid Zebra, US Energy Information Administration, Stanford, The Solutions Project, Fusion

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