"Dirty but cheap"?

Why switching to renewable energies saves costs

Created: 09/30/2022, 1:45 p.m

By: Caspar Hoffmann

According to a new study by the University of Oxford, the rapid switch to renewable energy saves significantly more than it costs.

Frankfurt – The faster you switch from conventional energy sources to renewable energies, the faster you can save money.

This is the conclusion of a new study by the University of Oxford.

It corrects earlier forecasts.

The energy transition could therefore generate more energy and thus supply more people.

Switching to renewable energy by 2050 could save $12 trillion, the study authors write.

The results of their study thus contradict the research of the past 20 years, which came to more pessimistic forecasts.

Save $12 trillion through renewable energy

According to the scientists, the different results are due to the fact that the assumptions made up to now have changed much more dynamically.

For example, the cost of generating solar power has fallen twice as fast as forecast in older studies.

Conventional energy sources and renewable energies

Conventional energy sources are fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas and oil, and nuclear fuels - their reserves on earth are limited.

Renewable energies are, for example, wind power, photovoltaics and biogas - according to the authors of the study, they should become the most important energy source as quickly as possible.

Renewable energies should become the most important energy source

Among other things, the researchers came to the conclusion that a quick switch to renewable energies would be significantly cheaper than a slow switch or even sticking to conventional energy sources.

Turning away from conventional energy sources would lead to a "win-win-win" situation, they write: Due to the energy transition, energy production could become significantly cheaper.

In addition, more energy could be generated than today and more people worldwide could be supplied with energy.

The authors of the study write that renewable energies should become the most important energy source as part of the energy transition.

© Oliver Berg/dpa/symbol image

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Switching to renewable energies: power generation in Germany

In July 2022, the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden published preliminary information on electricity generation in Germany.

According to this, more than 580 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were generated in 2021 - around 60 percent of them from conventional energy sources.

According to the statisticians, conventional energy sources are used to a large extent to generate energy in Germany.

According to them, however, alongside conventional energy sources, renewable energies are also becoming increasingly important for power generation in Germany.

(cas)