If renewable energy were cheaper than coal, it would be a major help in achieving the crucial target of keeping global warming below 2 °C. This week a worldwide initiative is being launched in London to achieve just such a transformation in energy costs within 10 years.
The Global Apollo Programme wants to jump-start research into cracking the biggest technological obstacle to widespread adoption of solar and wind energy: how to store and distribute it so it can be used as and when needed, rather than consumed immediately as at present. Once that happens, clean energy can undercut coal and consign it to history.
"The challenge is as big as putting a man on the moon," says Richard Layard of the London School of Economics, one of the founders of the programme along with other prominent scientists, economists and industrialists. "It took £15 billion a year over 10 years to get a man on the moon, and we're suggesting that's the absolute minimum needed globally per year to crack this problem."
"We need to create clean energy that's cheaper than fossil fuel, and once we reach that, we win on all fronts," says David King, the UK government's special representative for climate change and another founder member.
The group expects governments of many countries to agree to earmark 0.02 per cent of their annual economic output to the effort. King says several countries have already committed to supporting it, including the US, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, India, China and the United Arab Emirates, plus the European Union.
newscientist
