Global Apollo Programme to make renewables cheaper than coal within 10 years
New international research initiative launched with leading experts calling for the equivalent of the Apollo space programme to drive down price of clean energy
A new international research initiative has been launched with a group of leading experts calling for the equivalent of the Apollo space programme to produce clean energy that is cheaper than fossil fuels within 10 years.
The Global Apollo Programme (GAP) is designed to deliver a co-ordinated international effort to drive down the cost of solar and wind energy production.
The programme will support research and development of energy storage systems and smart grid technologies, which can manage electricity supply more efficiently.
Scientists and economists are calling on governments to back the US$150 billion 10-year programme which will also fund research into renewables them cheaper than fossil fuel sources.
David King, a co-founder of GAP and former chief scientific adviser to the British government, said: “There is a looming catastrophe that can be avoided. What we need to do is create clean energy that is less costly than fossil energy, and once we get to that point, we’re winning all battles.”
According to King, GAP has received an enthusiastic response from countries including China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates.
The stated aim of the project is for new-build renewable energy applications to be cheaper than new-build coal power plants in countries with high sunshine exposure by 2020, and worldwide from 2025.
According to estimates from Bloomberg, generating electricity from solar energy costs approximately $136 a megawatt-hour on average, compared with about $91 for coal.
Participants in the GAP initiative would be required to spend an estimated average of 0.02 per cent of gross domestic product from 2016 to 2025 to fund research & development of clean technologies
Other co-founders of the programme include Lord Nicholas Stern, chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Gus O’Donnell, the former U.K. cabinet secretary, Martin Rees, former president of the U.K.’s Royal Society, and Adair Turner, senior research fellow at the Institute of New Economic Thinking.
The GAP proposal will be on the agenda when G7 leaders meet in Germany next week.
The GAP founders released a report this week at London’s Royal Society, which says that based on current projections the world will exceed the 2°C danger threshold of climate change by 2035. climate many times over. There’s only one thing that’s going to stop us burning it – and that’s if renewables become cheaper than fossil fuels.
The report says: "We are talking about a crisis more serious than most major wars. This is the biggest scientific challenge of the 21st Century. Let us show we have the collective intelligence to understand and overcome the danger that faces us.”
