Solar panels and wind turbines in the Netherlands.
Daniel Bosma|Moment|Getty Images
Explorer and ecologist Bertrand Piccard has actually required a restored concentrate on cutting energy waste, stating it’s “hopeless” to move to renewables without enhancing performance.
Around three-quarters of the world’s energy is lost, Piccard informed an “IOT: Powering the Digital Economy” panel moderated by CNBC’s SilviaAmaro This quote is based upon waste “due to inappropriate behaviour and inefficient systems or infrastructures,” he informed CNBC individually by means of e-mail.
Piccard, who is creator and chairman of the ecological non-profit company Solar Impulse Foundation, stated that “we live in a world of waste.”
“So if we attempt to change fossil [fuel] energy with renewables without being effective, without minimizing the usage, it’s helpless,” he stated.
Another concern Piccard highlighted was that some nations just think about wind and solar as alternative renewable resource sources.
Biogas, produced by the breakdown of raw material such as food, has actually been “excluded … from the taxonomy” in Europe, he stated, and individuals likewise ignore geothermal energy, which utilizes heat from the earth.
A report released in October by the European Commission revealed that while bioenergy continued to be the primary source of renewable resource in the EU in 2021– at around 60%– biogas comprised simply 10% of this share. Geothermal energy represented simply 2.7% of renewable resource usage, while wind power was 13.2% and solar power was 7.2%.
“So we focus on producing more, instead of consuming less, and in the production that we want to do, we forget a lot of different types of renewable energies that we don’t take into consideration,” he stated.
As an outcome of these problems, Piccard stated there’s a threat that green energy targets might be missed out on– in addition to the chance to produce more affordable energy in your area.
“So every country wants … energy independence, more competitiveness, and they forget that the only way to reach it is by energy efficiency, and renewables,” he stated.
‘Paradox’ of China’s photovoltaic panel oversupply
Piccard likewise talked about the continuous issues about the prospective oversupply of photovoltaic panels from China to the European market.
“It’s a little a paradox since the Chinese have actually eliminated the European solar market, however they have actually conserved the world by revealing that solar power can be so [much] more affordable than anything else,” he stated.
There have actually been growing issues in Europe and the U.S. that a surplus of subsidized tidy energy items, consisting of photovoltaic panels, from China is making it harder for their domestic markets to contend.
Earlier this month, the European Commission released 2 examinations into Chinese photovoltaic panel producers that it stated might have taken advantage of “potentially market distortive” aids.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated recently that she would not eliminate possible tariffs on China’s green energy exports.
Piccard stated it was likewise essential to think about the prospective benefits of Chinese photovoltaic panels in Europe, nevertheless. For example, he stated that these panels might be utilized to produce more affordable electrical energy in the area, which might then be utilized to produce hydrogen in your area.
“I think, instead of fighting against the obstacle, I think you need to use the situation to see how there will be outcomes on the side of the problem that can that can be beneficial for us,” he stated.
Piccard included that when he started the Solar Impulse job over 20 years earlier, solar power was 40 times more costly than it is today. Solar Impulse 2 ended up being the very first solar-powered electrical aircraft to circumnavigate the world in 2016.
“So I’m sorry, possibly it’s not political correctness however I’m thanking China for the decline [in] cost of solar power that has actually offered a terrific push to renewable resources– we would not be at this point without China,” he stated.
