Italy's Nobel-winning physicist Carlo Rubbia called for a dramatic reduction in the use of fossil fuels to avoid disastrous climate changes.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the academic year at the prestigious Licei Academy, Rubbia said that fossil fuels had to be replaced as the primary source of power in the world and that it was time to turn to new sources, first among these solar and new generation nuclear power.
This because ''one can predict with a high level of certainty that the continued use of fossil fuels will dramatically alter the world's climate in a way which will affect every living organism on the planet,'' Russia observed.
Turning his attention to solar power, Rubbia said that in order to produce the world's electricity needs by the year 2050 it will be necessary to install panels which total a surface of 200x200km.
The nuclear alternative, he added can be achieved through new methods, for both fission and fusion, using 'light elements' of which there are ''immense reserves''.
Last year Rubbia warned that time was running out to reverse the trend in climate change.
''We are facing an emergency. We have ten to 15 years to change the world, otherwise the world will change us. And it will change us in terrible ways,'' Rubbia said.
Rubbia has won international acclaim not only for his work in the field of particle physics but also in driving forward the development of renewable energy resources.
He is currently professor at the University of Pavia, Italy and has recently worked on a project on solar thermal energy plants in Spain.
Rubbia won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1994.
