For most countries around the world, sourcing energy entirely from wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower by 2050 would reduce their energy needs and costs, improve air quality, and help slow climate change, according to a study in Environmental Science & Technology.

These benefits, the authors say, could be realized at a fraction of the cost of implementing technologies that remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and capture it from stationary emitters like industrial smokestacks.

“If you spend $1 on carbon capture instead of on wind, water, and solar, you are increasing CO2, air pollution, energy requirements, energy costs, pipelines, and total social costs,” said lead study author Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Stanford School of Engineering.

This holds true even if zero-emission energy systems power the technology deployed to extract carbon dioxide, Jacobson added.

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