1. Introduction.
Nowadays, with the continuous increase in the demand for energy consumption resulted by both population and socioeconomic growth, making it a priority to satisfy such a demand for all developed countries. This report aims initially to focus on the energy situation in the United Kingdom, and then present two forms of energy conventional energy in specific coal, and renewable energy which is wind energy, and will finally recommend the most suitable one after comparing and contrasting them considering both the cost and environment in different aspects.
2. Background Information.
Having relied on conventional energy sources for so many years which cannot renew themselves at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction, as well as the growth of energy demand causing global energy crisis nowadays, it is becoming clearer than ever that all the countries have to look for other alternatives to try to tackle this issue. Therefore, renewable energy is considered to be a long term solution that might be able to replace the traditional forms of energy in the future. For instance, in the UK according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, (2012), the primary consumption of electricity increased by 1.2% in 2012, at the same time the production of fuel dropped by 7.3%, additionally, the Office for National Statistics predicts a population growth of 1.3% by 2037. This illustrates that with the growth of demand for energy supplying as well as the predicted
Everyone uses a lot of power for lighting, heating, machines, movements, and so much more. All of that energy has to come from an energy supply. Some energy resources are renewable, while others are non-renewable. Energy has various forms and is a very essential part of our everyday lives.
The fossil fuels that once were the towering source of energy are going to be used up and will be gone in the nearer future than one might think. Thousands of people have realized that and they are trying to do something about it by using renewable energy sources. Some examples of renewable energy sources are solar and geothermal energy. However, the most popular type of renewable energy is wind energy. Wind Energy is becoming of the more predominately used renewable energy sources in the world. In the article Wind energy, China was generating around 114,600 MW in 2014 with the United States coming at around 65,900 MW. These bigger countries are using more and more renewable energy and are to continue to rise in the future. The
Bilen et al., (2008:1531) predicted that global energy consumption will account for around 85% of the increase in world primary demand over 2002– 2030. The increasing of global energy demand happens the global stock of fossil fuel resources may be adequate for short term period, thus requiring the development of renewable energy sources, which would not decrease the stock of fossil fuel resources available for future generation. There is an increasing interest in the development of renewable energies such as biofuel and wind power, which have a great potential energy to produce enough power for the world’s population demand.
In the world today, alternative energy source which is an alternative to fossil fuel and nuclear energy is becoming more and more of a necessity. Right now, the world’s population growth has caused an increase in the energy demand. Rosenberg (2009) pointed out that the world’s current growth rate is about 1.14%, representing a doubling time of 61 years. OECD's International Energy Agency[IEA] (2014) found that from 2011 to 2035 the world energy demand is likely to rise by more than two-thirds. Though there have been challenges in the deployment of these new technologies, but incentives exist to utilize renewable energy. These include solar energy, wind energy, and biomass energy sources.
There are few criteria that must be met in order for energy to be called “renewable”, first the sources cannot be finite, second the sources must be carbon neutral, and lastly it must not pollute the environment. Most of the renewable energy either comes directly or indirectly from the sun and the other lone source is from the earth. The example of an indirect source from the sun can be wind, tidal waves, and bioenergy. After being aware of the bounds of the fossil fuel, more countries around the world are investing funds to develop renewable energy technology. A dawn of renewable energy is approaching and there are many countries around the globe like Iceland where more than 90% of the energy is derived from renewable resources. This paper will illustrate the benefit of the renewable energy by discussing its environmental impact, economical influence, and a source of stable/resilient energy provider.
During the course of history, this country has been seeking new forms of energy that will provide clean energy and also preserve Earth 's lifespan. The use of renewable and non-renewable resources has been a major controversy throughout history; renewable energy such as wind power has been the main focus of this issue. Many would believe wind energy is the best renewable power source because it is the cleanest and most efficient, whereas, others view wind energy as a time bomb that will soon destroy the planet. Alternative energy sources should replace non-renewable energy with wind energy.
In the most basic definition, energy is power that is harnessed from physical or chemical resources, often utilized in order to produced light, heat or fuel. It can be extracted from various renewable or non-renewable sources and has become a necessity for day to day life. Currently non-reusable resources account for the majority of energy production. The prominence of fossil fuels in the energy sector validates this claim. At the same time this statement reveals a major world issue in regards to energy sustainability. Although they may able to produce copious amounts of energy, non-renewable resources cannot renew themselves on the timescale required by current energy consumption. With this in mind, non-renewable resource depletion is inevitable without sustainable energy alternatives for future generations. At this point it is important to recognize the difficulty of this task given the ever increasing energy consumption associated with exponential population growth. Amongst all nations, Canada is near the forefront of renewable energy; the country is the fourth largest producer of renewable electrical energy despite its 8th place standing in energy consumption. This is undoubtable due to the abundance of natural resources in its geographical location. Currently 17% of total energy production is derived from renewable resources, despite the sector not being fully developed. Based on its initiatives in incorporating more renewable energy technologies to
Alternative energy resources have the advantage of being available very often with no risk of depletion. Nuclear, Solar, Wind, and Hydroelectric energy sources are considered to be the four major resources that can replace fossil fuels. “There are currently approximately 7 billion people in the world and given current trends, the population is expected to be around 9 billion in 2050, and over 10 billion by 2100” (Fred Magdoff 2013). Alternative energy sources are termed renewable because they can be continually replenished throughout time (The National Atlas of the United States of America, 2013). The world 's modern day energy demands are still met largely from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Regarding total energy demand, the share of fossil-fuel derived energy is around 80%. The remainder is supplied by nuclear and renewable energy of around 20% (Rahim, M., Yoshino, J., & Yasuda, T. (2012, September 1). If these resources are expected to replace our current energy sources they will be expected to produce the same amount of energy if not more.
In the current state, most of the world is using fossil fuels, which are nonrenewable sources. Fossil fuels are cheap and limited. They will soon be depleted. The world needs to find a source of energy that is not only renewable but sustainable. Sustainable Energy is usually associated with renewable energy. This is because renewable energy is a continuous source. However, the sustainability of each of different types of renewable energy vary. Sustainable energy means that amount of energy that is used, is also generated. The idea of sustainability means essentially that overall the plant or building is net zero. A net zero building would greatly prolong further damage to the Earth.
Alternate energies are forms of energy that do not deplete natural resources or harm the earth. The sources of the energies are naturally found or generated or are part of a natural conversion from one source into another. Energy cannot be destroyed but can be converted into other forms, therefore there are many reactions occurring around us that allow us to harness these energies. Alternate sources of energy has been extensively researched as a result of the large energy crisis that is being experienced globally. The global demand for energy is becoming higher than the amount of energy being generated (Bilgin). The global economic equilibrium is unbalanced leading to energy based market failures and poor policies for energy generation which is leading to more problems than it is solving. Another reason for this research are studies regarding global warming. Currently, the energy sector is predominantly made up by fossil fuels which are incredibly harmful to the earth and nonrenewable. Cleaner, renewable sources of energy are being sought in an attempt to reduce emission of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and to help regain balance in the global energy market. Some of these forms of energy are solar, wind, biomass, and hydroelectric.
British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell, two of the world’s largest oil companies, predict that by 2050, one third of the world’s energy will have to come from some type of alternative energy source (Alternative Energy 2015). Constant growth of population, climate changes, and depletion of fossil fuels makes it necessary for renewables to play a bigger role in powering our world. These resources are often thought to be ‘free’ sources of energy because they are naturally occurring events used to form electric power (Alternative Energy 2015). In addition, all of these forms have a large decrease in carbon emissions compared to conventional energy sources
The energy demand all over the world is expected to be 28 terawatts by 2050, which can lead to increase of energy consumption patterns and greenhouse gas production. (P.Alivisatos et al. 2005) One of the most significant issues the industrialised world is facing today is the energy challenge, issues associated with energy production, storage and reducing consumption of energy use. The use of energy has reason to rise over time due to an increase in the world population and the discovery of new technologies which require electrical energy. The electrical energy is used everywhere, from heating homes to manufacturing. The energy resources are divided into two types: alternative and traditional energy resources. The global energy challenge is
Energy is vital for human survival and development. Most of today’s energy comes fossil fuels and Biomass. However these types of fuels are deplitable and emit green house gases e.g. CO2which leads to global warming. (See Fig 1.1).On the other hand, renewable energy is inexhaustible and does not any produce green house gases that can pollute the environment. Therefore there is need to shift to renewable sources of energy.
Energy is the most outstanding ingredient for socio-economic growth world-wide. It exists in various forms like mechanical, chemical, electrical, heat, light etc. There is minimum amount of energy required for life sustainability. Most especially from the food we eat but fuel energy is needed in cooking and in some climate, for heating houses. Research has shown that in 2008 for instance, the world wide consumption rate of energy was estimated at 500 exajoules per year (EJ)/y. The importance of an energy system is to secure energy service in the industrial, transport, house hold and service sectors of the economy. Energy, invariably is the fulcrum of growth of national economies. Fossil fuels are carriers of hydrocarbon substances. They include coal, crude oil, and natural gas. Its consumption depletes at any rate. Typically, the looming energy crisis is sequel to consuming these fossil fuels at a rate that is practically unsustainable. Besides, when consumed, fossil fuels upset the natural balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, giving rise to various environmental tipping point. Effects of this carbon dioxide natural imbalance has its long term contribution to global warming and green house effect. Conversely, renewable energy systems are resources available on cyclic basis and include solar, hydro, wind, tidal, wave, geothermal and biodegradable biomass (fuelwood, animal and crop residues, energy crops etc). They do not deplete on consumption. The application of
Alternative energy sources are becoming more and more popular. The most important alternative energy sources are solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, ocean, and hydropower energies. Their main advantage lies in the resumption of energy resources. This paper will give information about each of sources as well as their advantages and disadvantages.