Banishing the clouds

HOW far renewable energy can develop without further subsidy is one of the world’s hottest questions. It will surely need to become a lot more economic if the world is to stop using fossil fuels by 2100, as rich-world leaders promised at the G7 summit in Germany this week.

Transforming the promising niche business of renewable energy into the engine of the world’s economy is a daunting task. Hydroelectric generation can produce lots of power at low cost, but room for growth is constrained by environmental objections and a lack of dammable valleys in the right places. Tidal power is too untried, and so far looks too costly. Biomass (such as wood), like biofuels, will require a great deal of land to produce much energy.

Great while the sun shines

Some see these drawbacks as a reason to plump for nuclear power, though its cost overruns make it unattractive. Others focus, therefore, on the two forms of renewable energy generation that have done best in recent years, solar and wind power. Growth rates are impressive—solar-energy generation grew by 38.2% last year, reckon statisticians at BP, an oil firm whose...

from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1Qrdkdp