Impacts of Green New Deal Energy Plans on Grid Stability, Costs, Jobs, Health, and Climate in 143 Countries
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Implication
Modeling study demonstrates complete grid stability and 91% lower social costs under 100% renewable energy across 143 countries, indicating the economic feasibility of rapid decarbonization.
Key Points
- To evaluate the feasibility, grid stability, economic costs, job creation, and land requirements of transitioning 143 countries to 100% wind-water-solar energy systems by 2050.
- Developed Green New Deal roadmaps for 143 countries grouped into 24 regions to transition all energy sectors to 100% wind-water-solar (WWS) energy, efficiency, and storage by 2050, with an interim target of at least 80% by 2030.
- Simulated regional grid stability from 2050 to 2052 to test continuous demand matching under 100% WWS supply and storage.
- Calculated global metrics for end-use energy reduction, capital expenditures, private and social energy costs, net job creation, and land footprint requirements.
- WWS supply and storage matched regional electricity demand continuously from 2050 to 2052 while reducing global end-use energy by 57.1%.
- Annual aggregate private energy costs dropped 61% (from $17.7 trillion to $6.8 trillion/year) and social costs dropped 91% (from $76.1 trillion to $6.8 trillion/year) at an estimated upfront capital cost of ~$73 trillion.
- Transitioning to WWS created 28.6 million more net full-time, long-term jobs than business-as-usual energy and required only ~0.17% and ~0.48% of global land for footprint and spacing, respectively.
Cite This Study
Jacobson et al. (2019) studied this question.