EWEA: Nat'l Intelligence Council Report Identifies Wind Energy as 'Secure Source of Green Electricity'

November 29, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

The NIC report, which is released every four years and is based on information from all U.S. intelligence agencies, predicted a transformation in world affairs between now and 2025, including more people, less water, less food and a lot less oil.

The report included a chapter dealing with the "dawning of a post-petroleum age," according to EWEA, and noted there will be increasing demands for energy since the Earth's population is expected to increase by at least one billion in the next 20 years.

As a result, access to relatively secure and clean energy resources will assume growing importance for more countries.

According to EWEA, the report highlighted the council's expectations regarding alternative energy technologies. "Despite what are seen as long odds now, we cannot rule out the possibility of a transition by 2025 that would avoid the costs of an infrastructure overhaul.
 
"The greatest possibility for a relatively quick and inexpensive transition during that period comes from better renewable generation sources (photovoltaic [PV] and wind) and improvements in battery technology," the report said.

"With many of these technologies, the infrastructure cost hurdle for individual projects would be lower, enabling many small economic actors to develop their own energy transformation projects that directly serve their interests - e.g., stationary fuel cells powering homes and offices, recharging plug-in hybrid autos and selling energy back to the grid."

The report said more than $3 trillion will have to be invested in the diminishing traditional hydrocarbon sector over the next two decades to meet baseline energy demand. According to the report, all current energy technologies are inadequate to replace traditional energy sources on the scale needed and adding any new form of energy would likely require a similar size investment and simply may not be available by 2025.

Source: European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).