We need innovation in discovering “enabling technologies” that can better integrate these inherently variable sources of energy (wind doesn’t always blow, sun doesn’t always shine) into our electrical systems.
The world needs to triple its investments in clean energy research, suggests a new study by the Paris-based International Energy Agency, if we’re to have a chance of keeping the world below 2 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels — a level beyond which truly dangerous climate change might set in.That’s because in addition to any international agreement to cut carbon emissions that may be reached at the end of this year, the world will also need new technologies to fill the gap left behind as we use less of fossil fuels like coal.
The new document, IEA’s Energy Technology Perspectives 2015, notes that land-based wind and solar photovoltaic in particular have grown markedly and are now “ready to be mainstreamed in many energy systems.” But there’s still a gap: We need innovation in discovering “enabling technologies” that can better integrate these inherently variable sources of energy (wind doesn’t always blow, sun doesn’t always shine) into our electrical systems.
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