We need tons of clean energy. Fortunately, we have plenty of them. In a single day, the sun sends more energy onto the deserts of this earth than mankind consumes all year round.
How do we transport electricity from the desert?
90% of all people live less than 3,000 kilometres from the nearest desert. Even on a transmission path of 3,000 kilometres there is only an energy loss of 10 % with a direct current mass.
A practical example – The solar park Noor (Arabic for “light”)
. The place where our Go for Climate groups from Africa and Europe meet: Ouarzazate southeast of Marrakech, at the world’s largest solar park “Noor”. Here, 2 gigawatts of clean electricity are already being produced for the Moroccan population. Noor is a solar thermal power plant that stores its energy ecologically in salt, providing clean energy 365 days a year, around the clock.
Energy for all mankind
On an area of only 300 by 300 kilometer in the deserts of the earth we could produce energy for the whole of mankind. Let’s build 1,000 new solar parks in the deserts of the world, one half for the developing and emerging countries, the other half for the industrial nations. This will enable us to take our fossil-fuel power plants off the grid much earlier. Every year in which the coal-fired power plants in Germany are shut down earlier than planned, 200 million tonnes of CO2 are saved.
At the same time, solar parks create an unlimited clean export resource. So “energy money” could very soon replace “development money”.
Why is desert energy indispensable?
With clean and unlimited energy we can desalinate salt water and thus have enough clean fresh water.
Worldwide, 1,400 new coal-fired power plants are currently being planned or built in 59 countries. If they go into operation, global CO2 emissions will increase by 10 billion tonnes of CO2 annually. Or in other words, 25%.
