Kermit the Frog was right when he said it’s not that easy being green.
But according to the Stanford University in California, it might not be as hard as we thought either. An environmental research team there has predicted that we could be able to transition into completely clean energy by as early as 2030.
Which is amazing – if it’s to be believed. The Solutions Project, who consider it possible to entirely remove fossil fuels in under 20 years, have summarized the benefits for 139 countries, outlining the potential benefits of switching to water, wind and solar power (WWS).
Having measured Canada’s clean-energy resources, it also provided data on the costs of going completely green. The company created an infographic to illustrate the advantages of a transition to 100 per cent WWS for all our electricity, transportation, heating/cooling and industry purposes.
Stanford says that Canada can be powered entirely by a combination of clean energy alternatives; approximately 60 per cent wind, 20 per cent solar, just over 16 per cent hydro, and around two per cent wave and geothermal power respectively – all of which are existing, tried-and-tested technologies available to us today.
Interestingly, this would not only completely remove our carbon emissions, it could also be of value in a number of other ways.
According to the breakdown, it could create 300,000 construction jobs and almost 500,000 operation jobs – all of which would involve a worker being employed for 40 consecutive years.
How’s that for job security?
It would also avoid costs associated with mortality and illness in the region of $107 billion (or four per cent of the GDP) and save 9,598 deaths from air pollution a year. And while the future energy costs of 2050 for WWS power exceeded that of the average fossil fuels if we carry on as usual, using this clean electricity for everything would be so more efficient.
You’d need 43 per cent less energy.
WWS generators would only need a very small area to operate from. And here’s the cherry on top for any would-be cynics: it could save the average person $8,887 in annual energy, health and climate costs in 2050.
Think of all the holidays you could go on, carbon-neutrally and guilt free! Now that’s something we can all get on board with.
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