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April 19, 2015
Renewable Energy: possible implications to economic development Within the global economy where we are living today, energy consumption and energy requirements have increased tremendously in large part due to industrial and agricultural activities; this is especially the case within emerging countries as well as developed ones. According to Kazar and Kazar constant advances in technology in combination with the population growth have led to higher levels of consumption which in turn has brought about the problem of energy requirements and increased energy consumption (1). The old ways of relying on energy from fossil fuels is running thin because not only are fossil fuel resources becoming scarce but
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This link between renewable energy and sustainable development is also shown in the initiatives that are taken by world institutions such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). All of these world organizations provide financial support to any project that is aimed to produce any form of renewable energy as well as aimed at improving the quality of life by lowering the consumption of energy that comes from fossil fuels. Recently, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published a report whereby it suggests that renewable energy has an impact on economic growth and furthermore it highlights ways on how to utilize renewable energy to positively affect rural development (OECD). The causal relationship between economic development and energy consumption stems from the first study introduced by Kraft and Kraft in the year of 1978. This particular study that was more based on the US economy ended up with findings that suggested that economic development caused higher energy consumption. However, later on a study conducted by Yu and Choi in the year 1985 expanded upon the study initially undertaken by Kraft and Kraft and came to the conclusion that the causal relationship between economic development and energy consumption derived different results for various countries. Afterwards, various other studies were undertaken to examine whether high use of
Most of the energy that we use comes from fossil fuels like petroleum and coal that provide electricity and gas to power our growing energy needs. These fossil fuels, currently providing most of our home energy needs are finite resources, which mean that, they will eventually run out. Furthermore, the world’s population is growing rapidly. Countries are becoming more industrialised and are using notable amount of energy. Individuals are consuming nearly twice as much as energy as they were using 30 years ago. In Australia itself, the total amount of energy consumed by households has increased over the past two decades and is forecast to increase. This could be due to the dependence of our standard of living on easily available energy. Between
Energy consumption levels arise as the world population continues to grow. To be able to sustain resources for future generations
Energy is an important part of life producing the power of movement, heat, and production of electricity in many different ways. Therefore, choosing the correct source of energy is important for the environment and humans. Renewable energy that produces electricity never runs out, causing a lower environmental impact. Solar, Biomass, Wind, Geothermal, and Hydropower energy should be used globally to produce electricity. On the other hand, producing electricity from nonrenewable energy sources can be very harmful to humans and the environment. Humans can easily be dependent on it, which may not be the best option when it comes to finance, efficiency, sustainability and more. Approximately 52% of the US electricity comes from polluting sources like natural gas, oil, nuclear, and hydropower that have a lot of disadvantages effecting the environment in a negative way.
The United States is the second largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, and yet is doing very little to fix this startling statistic (Dennis). The US’ reliance upon outdated energy sources continues to harm both the environment and the economy by producing millions of tonnes of pollution every year and costing the government billions of dollars (“Fact Sheet: Clean Power Plan”). Fossil fuels have been the main energy sources in America since the industrial revolution, and it is time to make a change. Renewable energy is energy harnessed from sources like the sun, wind, or water, and has little to no negative effects on the environment (“Renewable Energy Technology Basics”). The United States needs to integrate and increase the use of these types of energy across the country, as well as implement positive environmental policies, to prevent further pollution of the earth and combat the effects of climate change.
As the global population increases exponentially, having passed six billion in 1999, the world population is expected to be 8.9 billion by the year 2050. The worlds energy consumption will increase by an estimated 54 percent by 2025. Energy demand in the industrialized world is projected to grow 1.2 percent per year. Energy is a critical component of sustained economic growth and improved standards of living. One of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. As the world’s technological enhancements and standards of living improve, so too does their appetite for electricity.
Our energy use has dramatically improved our lives , but this energy is derived mostly from fossil fuels and has resulted in environmental change , and depletion of fossil fuels (Shahriar 181 ). This leads to continuing military conflict . This resulted in developing and using alternate resources for the increasing energy demand.
On the same note, the energy revolution spoken of above brings forth another advance in the ongoing global climate situation. The nature of the Kyoto Protocol calls for nations to increase research and eventually semi-convert their energy usage to accommodate for cleaner energy. Products such as solar power, wind power, biomass, geothermal power, and hydropower are now widely being studying to create processes that use less coal, oil, and natural gas in production. Altogether the results have
Recently, a report by REN21 (Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century) reported two facts that set the stage for the growth of green energy. First, in 2015, the global economy experienced the largest annual increase of renewable energy; second, developing economies spent more than developed countries on increasing their use of green energy. Another notable fact to mention is that the substantial increase in green energy
Because the energy technology that society employs directly influences the quantity and quality of life, the energy option that is chosen should have the greatest cost- benefit effectiveness as well as maximizing flexibility and purchases. However, those who believe in continuous energy consumption growth, seem to forget that there is only a limited supply of energy in every energy system, and to "overdo" any resource may provide for an unacceptable impact upon global and regional ecology.
Anderson, D. United Nations Development Programme, United Nations. & World Energy Council. (2000). World Energy Assessment: Energy and the challenge of sustainability. New York, NY: United Nations Development Programme
In contrast, some believe that renewable energy is a key factor involved in helping the economy to grow. Many jobs are created in the manufacturing and running of renewable energy plants. The renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies created 8.5 million new jobs and $970 billion in revenue in the year 2006 (Langwith, “Renewable Energy is Economically”). The American Solar Energy Society says by 2030 it could generate up to $4.5 trillion in revenue for the U.S and create 40 million new jobs. This would represent one in every four jobs (Langwith, “Renewable Energy is Economically”). This shows how vital it is to get renewable energy companies in the U.S. It is important to build a stable economy again and do it all while helping the environment.
Further down on the cover it says “The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism”. This book goes the opposite way of most environmental books, explaining many of the issues and obstacles of renewable energy, as well as explaining that the future of environmentalism will most likely look like. I chose this book because I want to analyze different perspectives on the environment, and not just the sources that only support current efforts by environmentalists without acknowledging the downfalls. No answer is perfect, and I believe that it is essential to understand both the benefits and drawbacks of each current and proposed
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.
Energy is one of the major inputs of an economy. It directly affects development of human beings and society. Therefore, safeguarding a cheap and stable supply of energy is one of the main objectives of any country. However, increasing world population, high global energy consumption and depletion of global resources has challenged this objective resulting energy as one of the main concerns today’s world.
In recent years many endeavors have been devoted to reduce the pollutant energy generation by increasing the utilization of clean energy sources. Actually, the power sector is responsible for roughly a quarter of anthropogenic CO2 emissions [1]. Thus, the widespread introduction of renewable energy sources is seen to be one of the major solutions. Meanwhile, fossil fuel based power plants will still be needed. In any case, fully abstaining from the use of fossil fuels is difficult. Nevertheless, fossil fuel resources are ultimately finite and the goal should be to shift to renewable energy sources gradually. Due to its effective role in clean energy generation, microgrid structure is increasingly utilized in power systems, nowadays [2]. Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) as environment friendly sources of energy are the key players to this goal [3].