Clean energy progress too slow to limit global warming, warns IEA

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/17/clean-energy-progress-global-warming


The development of low-carbon energy is progressing too slowly to limit global warming, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

The development of low-carbon energy is progressing too slowly to limit global warming, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.

With power generation still dominated by coal and governments failing to increase investment in clean energy, top climate scientists have said that the target of keeping the global temperature rise to less than 2C this century is slipping out of reach.

"The drive to clean up the world's energy system has stalled," said Maria van der Hoeven, the IEA's executive director, at the launch of the agency's report on clean energy progress.

"Despite much talk by world leaders, and a boom in renewable energy over the past decade, the average unit of energy produced today is basically as dirty as it was 20 years ago."

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1. IEA recommends more nuclear

"One of those market failures relates to nuclear power, which IEA said needs to provide 16% of generation by 2025 in orer to match its scenario where global warming is limited to 2ºC (known as the 2DS). But to achieve this, the sector has to expand at a rate of at least 16 GWe capacity per year to 2020 and 20 GWe per year after that - or even more if current units cannot operate as long as expected. In reality the nuclear sector has only achieved 3.6 GWe net growth on average over the last three years, taking into account the losses of the Fukushima accident and subsequent shutdowns in Germany."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/18/1202903/-IAE-report-World-has-stalled-on-clean-energy

[kristopher]

2. IEA says that nuclear is the low carbon leg that is failing to help.

It strains credulity to interpret your quote as a recommending more nuclear. What they said was:

&quot nuclear power) needs to provide 16% of generation by 2025 in orer to match its scenario"

"...in order to match its scenario..."

They specify that the sector is a "market failure".

They also note that renewables have been successful at achieving the growth which the IEA had allocated to its sector. You could reasonably infer that means renewables are a "market success".

Prescribing that we double down on the FAILURE instead of shifting emphasis to the SUCCESS is idiocy.