Deserts could provide world's energy using Concentrated Solar Power

Less than 1% of the world's deserts could generate as much electricity as the world is currently using, according to an international network of scientists and engineers, and backed by detailed research by the German Aerospace Centre and the U.S. Department of Energy. According to Dr Gerhard Knies, the coordinator of the group that developed the plan, the technologies needed are well established, economically viable and ready to use right away. The plan is backed by a study commissioned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Germany, which showed that a mix of local renewable energy sources combined with imports of solar from the Middle East and North Africa could largely power Europe by the next few decades.