Britain's former chief scientist has challenged governments around the world to find a way of creating a ready flow of cheap solar power over the next 10 years to fight global warming.
Writing in the Financial Times today, Sir David King and co-author Richard Layard, the former founder-director of the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance, warn a collective scientific effort of similar proportions to putting a man on the moon is needed to tackle climate change.
"To defeat the axis of powers the allies developed the atom bomb. When threatened in the cold war, the US sent a man to the moon," the authors write. "When threatened by global warming we surely need a similar effort to save the planet."
King and Layard suggest that by 2025 bulk solar electricity should be supplied commercially at an unsubsidised price on a 24-hour basis, with at least 1GW powering cities in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The joint project would be open to all G20 countries, and funded either by a carbon tax or governments' research and development budgets. King and Layard say the cost for each country would be 0.05 per cent of annual GDP for 10 years.
"We need a concentrated effort on one source [of energy] that offers the clearest prospect of success," they say. "The collection of solar energy by photovoltaic cells becomes cheaper every day and is already nearly economic in sun-rich environments."
But King and Layard also highlight the need for investment in electricity storage in order to achieve the goal of providing constant solar power.
"This is a far more important issue than putting a man on the moon. It should attract as much attention - and, this time, the attention of every nation. Failure to solve this problem will affect every nation upon earth."
Pepco erin andrews erin andrews Magic Mike Anderson Cooper Gay NBA draft 2012 alicia sacramone
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.