One hundred percent clean and renewable by 2050. This might be implausible, but not impossible with the right road-map according to a recent study.

Professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford Mark Z. Jacobson and colleagues, including U.C. Berkeley researcher Mark Delucchi, are the first to finally answer just what it would take for the United States to transition to complete clean and renewable energy.

Their paper goes far beyond the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as many states have plans to do. The final analysis accomplishes the daunting task of presenting a consistent set of guidelines to convert each of the 50 states’ all-purpose (electricity, transportation heating/cooling, and industry) energy infrastructures to systems powered 100 percent by wind, water, and sunlight.

The researcher’s guide for each state involved finding what made the most sense to their specific geological advantages and existing infrastructure. Jacobson and his colleagues also calculated the necessary fuel demands for the residential, commercial, industrial and transportation sectors of each state.

Of course, the cost of swiftly replacing existing energy infrastructure is the nightmare of The United States’ federal budget. However, the researchers found that over time, the price tag would be roughly equal to the costs of maintaining the fossil fuel infrastructure currently in place. In addition, by 2050, every potential renewable source is expected to drop in cost while conventional fuel costs are expected to rise.

In related news, The end of an era: G7 calls for the extinction of fossil fuels by 2100.

“When you account for the health and climate costs – as well as the rising price of fossil fuels – wind, water and solar are half the cost of conventional systems,” Jacobson said in a phys.org report. “A conversion of this scale would also create jobs, stabilize fuel prices, reduce pollution-related health problems and eliminate emissions from the United States. There is very little downside to a conversion, at least based on this science.”

Jacobson stated that if the conversion is followed exactly as his plan outlines, the reduction of air pollution in the U.S. could save the lives of approximately 63,000 Americans who die from air pollution-related causes each year. It would also eliminate U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases produced from fossil fuel, which would otherwise cost the world $3.3 trillion a year by 2050.

“The main barriers are social, political and getting industries to change,” Jacobson said. “One way to overcome the barriers is to inform people about what is possible. By showing that it’s technologically and economically possible, this study could reduce the barriers to a large scale transformation.”

The groundbreaking paper was published in May in the online edition of Energy and Environmental Sciences. You can read the full study here or check out the interactive map and see how your state could run off 100 percent renewable energy at thesolutionsproject.org