March 8, 2006—Large-scale capture of wind and solar energy requires the management of significant areas of land, and—if the market for renewable energy continues to grow at the current rate—farmers will occupy a strategic position within the energy market within two decades, says a new report.
According to CarbonFree, a Cambridge UK based research company that has recently completed a study of the farmed renewable energy market, while incumbent energy producers are starting to look beyond oil and petroleum, farmers need to look beyond ethanol and start to build comprehensive energy supply businesses.
While farmed energy will grow in importance, CarbonFree suggests that the fragmented nature of agricultural production will prevent farmers dominating the global economy in the same way as oil producers do today. Nevertheless, farmers should be able to make a significant impact on the energy market during the rest of this century.
Incumbent energy companies and producing countries will find the market for oil and gas squeezed by farmers and consumers who are both producing energy using wind and solar power technology.
As this technology becomes ever more sophisticated, a situation could occur where alternative energy is competitive at a relatively low oil price, perhaps even as low as $30 per barrel. If this situation occurs, and no new major fossil fuel reserves are discovered, investment in and the development of renewable energy technology will continue at its current pace, or even accelerate.
Although uneconomic today, solar energy farming will eventually benefit from advances in solar cell technology – in particular the ability to deposit photovoltaic materials on low cost polymer based substrates.
The report, “Farming Renewable Energy,” is available from the CarbonFree Web site.
