New energy innovation report highlights central role of emerging economies

New energy innovation report highlights central role of emerging economies
"High-Energy Innovation" is a new report from the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes and The Breakthrough Institute.

Innovation in clean energy technologies is a truly global phenomenon, and the most active efforts to develop next-generation technologies are in rapidly industrializing countries, where energy demand is high and deployment opportunities are abundant.

From advanced nuclear reactor technologies in China and solar projects in Brazil to South African experiments in clean coal and Indian exploration, the global landscape for clean innovation has never been more fertile.

To take advantage of these opportunities, governments must strengthen international collaborative efforts to supply the global public of clean, cheap energy, says a new report from a group of 12 energy scholars. High-Energy Innovation is the second of three reports in the Climate Pragmatism project, a partnership of Arizona State University's Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes and The Breakthrough Institute.

High-Energy Innovation evaluates four – shale gas, carbon capture and storage, nuclear, and solar – and finds that, in all cases, industrializing countries are making significant investments and leveraging international collaborations in order to make energy cleaner, cheaper and more reliable.

Nearly all of the growth in energy markets and the majority of deployed in the next several decades are projected to occur in the developing world. "It is [in non-OECD countries] that we should expect to see – and should work hardest to accelerate – energy innovation," write the authors. Among the report's authors are Gary Dirks, director of ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability, and consortium co-director Daniel Sarewitz.

Through a series of detailed maps, High-Energy Innovation charts energy innovation in shale gas, and storage, nuclear, and solar currently underway worldwide. By leveraging high-growth markets in support of advancing important clean energy technologies, the report argues that this globalized "high-energy innovation" offers the most pragmatic path toward modernity in emerging economies and the best chance to develop and scale cheap, clean, abundant energy in all nations.

More information: The report is available online: thebreakthrough.org/index.php/ … gh-energy-innovation

Citation: New energy innovation report highlights central role of emerging economies (2014, December 11) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2014-12-energy-highlights-central-role-emerging.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Expanding energy access key to solving global challenges

1 shares

Feedback to editors