Page 54 - Green Builder Magazine Sept-Oct 2017

The Renewable Energy Internet

It won’t be long before green power is the No. 1 source for all homes.

BY JEREMY RIFKIN
Who Benefits From Batteries?
Note: This article is an excerpt from The Third Industrial Revolution
Final Report RNE, a combination of narratives and proposals on
technology and its use toward green business collaborations.
HE BULK OF THE ENERGY we use to heat our homes
and run our appliances, power our businesses,
drive our vehicles, and operate every part of the
global economy will soon be generated at near-zero
marginal cost and be nearly free in the coming
T decades. That is already the case for several million
early adopters in the European Union who have transformed their
homes and businesses into micro-power plants to harvest renewable
energy onsite. Currently, 32 percent of the electricity powering
Germany comes from solar, wind and other renewable energies. By CREDIT: COURTESY OF JEREMY RIFKIN ENTERPRISES/TIR CONSULTING GROUP LLC
2030, a minimum of 50 percent of the electricity powering Germany
will be generated by renewable energies.
The quickening pace of renewable energy deployment is due, in
large part, to the plunging cost of solar and wind energy harvesting
technologies. The reduction in fixed costs of solar and wind
technologies have been on exponential curves for more than 20
years, as shown in Figure 1. In 1977, the cost of generating a single
Powered up. Batteries offer a dependable backup for more than a
dozen groups during times of high energy demand.
Wind cost per kWh (U.S.)
watt of solar electricity was $76, and by 2017 the cost is about $0.55
per watt. After the fixed costs for the installation of solar and wind
are paid back—often in as little as two to eight years—the marginal
CREDIT: COURTESY OF JEREMY RIFKIN ENTERPRISES/TIR CONSULTING GROUP LLC
cost of the harvested energy is nearly free. Unlike fossil fuels and
uranium for nuclear power, in which the commodity itself always
costs something, the sun and the wind are free.
The impact on society of near-zero marginal cost solar and wind
energy is all the more pronounced when we consider the enormous
potential of these energy sources. If we could grab hold of one-tenth
of one percent of the sun’s energy that reaches Earth, it would give us
six times the energy we now use across the global economy. Like solar
radiation, wind is ubiquitous and blows everywhere in the world—
although its strength and frequency varies. A Stanford University
study on global wind capacity concluded that if 20 percent of the
world’s available wind was harvested, it would generate seven times
more electricity than we currently use to run the entire global economy.
At present, the Netherlands is still heavily reliant on conventional
fossil fuel energies, particularly natural gas. In fact, in 2012, the
Winding down. Over the past three decades, renewable energy
deployment has sped up while the cost of solar and wind energy Netherlands was the largest natural gas producer in the European
harvesting technologies had dropped. Union, producing 43.2 percent of all the natural gas production.

52 GREEN BUILDER September/October 2017 www.greenbuildermedia.com

52-55 GB 0917 SUS Symposium.indd 52 10/11/17 5:21 PM