The World Could Be Powered Purely by Renewable Energy by 2050

Imagine a world heated, brightened, and cooled entirely by nature's own resources: wind, water, and the sun. 

According to 91 authors from 13 independent groups who wrote a combined 47 peer-reviewed research papers, this future is possible, and it's possible as early as 2050. The papers have been combined as one by Stanford University in California. 

Thirty years until complete renewable energy

The world's massive demand for electricity and power could be met entirely thanks to the Earth's mighty sustainable energy trio: wind, water, and solar. 

Virtually all the world’ electricity to run transport and to heat and cool homes and offices, as well as for industry, could be met by renewable energy by 2050.

This is the consensus of 47 peer-reviewed research papers brought together by Stanford U. https://t.co/3X5Gj4MM0r

— Serge de Gheldere (@sergedg) February 20, 2020

The 47 research papers that helped reach this conclusion had their own methods to prove this. Some looked at the world at large, adding together the potential for each technology to see whether or not broad regions or individual countries would have enough to survive on renewables alone.