Australian academics Mark Diesendorf and Ben Elliston have challenged the views of fellow Australian academics Brook and Bradshaw and Heard et al., who criticized studies that claim it will be possible to supply 100% of global power (renewable electricity or “RElec”) or even all global energy needs from renewables. Instead, as I noted in my last post, Diesendorf and Elliston present a strong case for the alternative view — 100% is possible. It’s hard-hitting stuff, with Diesendorf and Elliston also taking side-swipes at Trainer for dated data and challenging Smil’s view that the transition will be a slow process. They point to the possibility of mass production of low-cost renewable systems that are very different and faster to install than what went before. “Regions with insufficient local RE [renewable energy] resources will in future be able to import RE via transmission line and/or tanker carrying renewable fuels,” they add. A brave new green energy world, somewhat different from the brave new nuclear world that Brook and Bradshaw envisage and not totally incompatible with the “conserver society” that Trainer looks to. Going on the offensive, Diesendorf and Elliston say: “contrary to unsupported claims by pro-nuclear RE critics that base-load power stations are essential, several of the simulation studies achieve reliability with zero or negligible base-load capacity. Furthermore, base-load power stations are poor partners for variable RElec, because of the former’s relative inflexibility in operation. Flexible, dispatchable power stations and storage technologies, together with demand response, are the appropriate partners.”
Physics World 21st Nov 2018 read more »