There is widespread popular support for using renewable energy, particularly solar and wind energy, which provide electricity without giving rise to any carbon dioxide emissions.
Harnessing these for electricity depends on the cost and efficiency of the technology, which is constantly improving, thus reducing costs per peak kilowatt, and per kWh.
Utilising electricity from solar and wind in a grid becomes problematical at high levels for complex but now well-demonstrated reasons. Supply does not correspond with demand.
Back-up generating capacity is required due to the intermittent nature of solar and wind. System costs escalate with increasing proportion of variable renewables.
Policy settings to support renewables are generally required to confer priority in grid systems and also subsidise them, and some 50 countries have these provisions.
Utilising solar and wind-generated electricity in a stand-alone system requires corresponding battery or other storage capacity.
The possibility of large-scale use of hydrogen in the future as a transport fuel increases the potential for both renewables and base-load electricity supply.
On May 3, 2016, renewable energy expert Professor Daniel Kammen of the University of California Berkeley debated nuclear power advocate Lauri Muranen, executive director of the World Energy Council, Finland, on the question: "Is nuclear power the answer to climate change?" The event, part of the Einaudi Center's annual Lund Critical Debate Series, was moderated by Cornell law and anthropology professor Annelise Riles.
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