From the Center for American Progress. Maybe Juliet Eilperin will figure a way to flack for this on her new White House beat.
“We propose that the 17 parties in the Major Economies Forum, the U.S.-led coalition of the world’s largest carbon emitters, set a target of generating 40 percent of their electricity from zero-carbon sources by 2035—what we call the ’40×35′ target.”
If there were a plausible alternative to carbon energy resources, free economies would select it without any special goals by governments or NGOs.
Switching to 40% of electricty from non-carbon sources means nuclear power plants and lots of them. That may be a good thing but I see the greens blocking them.
Absent nuclear power or a staggering breakthrough in alternative energy, our energy systems are going to burn carbon fuels. Solar and wind may have niche applications like the space station or locations well off the grid, but that’s not going to cover 40%.
I’m still convinced that the cure for carbon output and global climate change is to have the world’s population hold it’s breath for 24 hours. Then there would no further complaints about carbon and the animals could live in peace.