Technology Pricetag? Try $45 Trillion

June 6, 7:14 PMBusiness ExaminerDarrell Proctor

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The International Energy Agency says the world needs a "new global energy revolution."

The cost? Try $45 trillion to halve carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

The IEA says that means the world will need to drastically change the way it generates electricity - how does 215 million square miles of solar panels sound? - and a billion electric or hybrid cars will need to be on the world's roads.

Said Nobuo Tanaka, IEA's executive director - speaking in Tokyo today after the IEA released its report titled Energy Technology Perspectives - "We will require immediate policy action and a technological transition on an unprecedented scale."

 One of the more interesting aspects of the report? How about the need for 32 more nuclear plants worldwide each year for the next 40 years?

The United States, of course, has plenty of folks saying no to nukes. But energy experts say nuclear power must be ramped up in order to achieve meaningful CO2 reduction from power plants, because other current alternatives to coal-fired power plants are not as reliable and certainly not as affordable.