We must all pull together to harness the sun

last updated 8 January 2015

Jens Lubbadeh

Der Spiegel (Germany)

There’s a simple solution to the world’s energy problem, said Jens Lubbadeh in Germany’s Der Spiegel: Sunlight. All you have to do is spread solar thermal-power plants over an area the size of Austria. Given the huge deserts across Africa and Asia, it shouldn’t be too hard to find enough sun-rich, empty land to do that. You’d comfortably supply the world’s energy needs by 2050 at a cost of around $400 billion. The plants work on the same principle involved in burning a hole in a sheet of paper with a magnifying glass: curved mirrors focus sunbeams onto water, which produces steam to drive turbine generators. Excess heat can be stored in tanks of molten salt, so electricity can be produced even at night. The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation, an international network of scientists and politicians, is sure that it’s feasible; indeed, thermal power plants have been operating trouble-free in California and Nevada since the ’80s, and new ones are being built in southern Spain, Algeria, and Morocco. France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy sees the idea as a cornerstone of his controversial Mediterranean Union project, with the sun-abundant states of northern Africa and the Middle East exporting electricity to Europe through high-voltage cables. One problem is that many countries with deserts also have oil, and with the oil price at record levels they’ve got little incentive to dabble in new technologies. Another is the small matter of who will pony up the money. But the vision is sound: All that’s needed is the international will to put it into practice.