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Even Royal Dutch Shell is starting to sound the alarms about our inability to keep up with the growing demand for energy and how this is contributing to profound uncertainty around the world.

Europe could switch to low carbon sources of electricity, with up to 100% coming from renewables by 2050, without risking energy reliability or pushing up energy bills, according to a major new study, Roadmap 2050: a practical guide to a prosperous, low-carbon Europe, developed by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) with contributions from McKinsey, KEMA, Imperial College London and Oxford Economics. It says that a transition to a low- or zero-carbon power supply based on high levels of renewable energy would have no impact on reliability, and would have little overall impact on the cost of generating electricity.

It turns out, however, that what most environmentalists know about the future supply of natural gas and other fossil fuels is based more on industry hype than on actual data. And, that means that they are missing a key argument in their discussions about renewable energy, one that could be used to persuade those less concerned about pollution and climate change and more concerned about energy security: There is increasing evidence that no fossil fuel will continue to see its rate of production climb significantly in the decades ahead and so none of them is a viable "bridge fuel," not natural gas, not oil, not coal. This means that global society must leap over fossil fuels and move directly to renewables as quickly as possible. In advanced economies this leap must be combined with a program of radical reductions in energy use, reductions which are achievable using known technologies and practices.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced today that it has established a new global institute dedicated to analyzing, speeding and smoothing the transition to sustainable energy worldwide.

The proposed changes will phase out the least efficient outdoor lighting products by the end of 2012, transitioning to new lighting products that are better for the environment and less costly to run. For example, new outdoor lights will be required to have a sensor that will turn them off during daylight hours, putting an end to wasteful streetlight operation during the day. New parking lot lights must be capable of being dimmed, which can cut their energy use in half. The agreement also directs the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop even better standards by 2013.

Electricity accounts for more than 40 % of global energy-related CO2 emissions. This issue is most pressing for developing countries where growth in power demand is particularly high, fueling the risk of irreversible investment in CO2-intensive capacity, the so-called “carbon lock-in”. Sectoral Approaches in Electricity – Building Bridges to a Safe Climate shows how the international climate policy framework could effectively support a transition towards low-CO2 electricity systems in developing countries. Sectoral approaches are intended to address sectors that require urgent actions, without waiting for countries to take nation-wide commitments.