Reducing CO2 Emissions Gets Cheaper and Easier
Despite the collapse of oil and coal prices, investments in wind and solar technology continue to soar and prices for the energy they produce continues to fall. As the above article indicates, “recent solar and wind auctions in Mexico and Morocco ended with winning bids from companies that promised to produce electricity at the cheapest rate, from any source, anywhere in the world”. Yes, even cheaper than oil, coal, or gas power plants with the prices of those source materials at recent historic lows. And the key point about wind and solar energy is there is only one direction for prices to go and that is down. Since wind and solar are basically technologies with no source fuel costs that create the variability in prices that we see with traditional energy production, increased efficiency and economies of scale will continue to push prices lower. As of 2016, renewable energy sources now account for nearly 18 percent of total US energy production.
Another innovation that also helps reduce carbon emissions is the exponential improvement in battery storage systems. Battery backup is not just for your phone or computer anymore. Big energy consumers are finding it cheaper to switch over to these large battery systems during peak pricing hours and utilities are finding it cheaper to provide battery-stored power rather than “turning on” natural gas fueled peaking power plants during peak demand. As with solar and wind, we can only expect the storage technology to become cheaper and more efficient in the future.
2015 was the first year the world saw a reduction in global emissions during a year of economic growth, albeit weak. Obviously, the economic downturn in China, India, and Asia in general had a lot to do with that. The real question is whether wind and solar can become attractive enough alternatives for those Asian dynamos to forgo using coal if and when their economies pick up again. Now declining global emissions do nothing to solve the problems that are “baked in”, so to speak, due the amount of carbon dioxide we have already put into the atmosphere. But it is a start to reducing global warming’s impact and as the technology for solar and wind improves along with some global political will, the day of declining emissions may be a lot closer than we think.