This paper reports on the microeconomic aspect of obtaining the energy that is present in the environment. A number of factors including the rapidly growing demand for energy to fuel economic development, the need by countries to diversify their energy production into environmentally sustainable supply sources while concurrently taking into careful consideration climate change, energy security and economic factors have all served to greatly contribute towards the current accelerated private and public investment in renewable energy. While numerous countries around the world have been able to design attractive incentive structures that aim at inducing private investment in obtaining the renewable energy that is present in the environment, …show more content…
The cost of producing renewable energy from the environment has undergone a significant decrease of the past 15-20 years as a result of drastic enhancements in not only the economies of scale, but also the technology that is related to production. Renewable energy’s future prospects are noted to be even more promising in light of the continually falling costs involved in producing this energy as well as the growing awareness of the energy and environmental security benefits that these technologies provide.
Renewable energies have variously been defined as those energies that are easily derived from simple natural process and can be constantly replenished from these sources without exhausting these sources. This form of energy is usually derived either indirectly or directly from the sun or from the geothermal heat that is that present from deep within the earth (Jordan-Korte, 2011).
The growing global concerns pertaining to the issue of climate change and the effect that this is having on the planet have led to growing interest in the renewable energy technologies. This is exemplified by the fact that a number of industrialized countries have over the years moved to make significant investments in developing countries aimed at developing renewable energy sources under the provisions of the Clean Development Mechanism that was included in the Kyoto Protocol (UNEP, 2008). Developing countries are investing in renewable
Renewable energy has currently become a significant aspect in the countries generation, combination, and a constitution focus of government policy for energy, and environmental protection. As a result of public’s growing responsibility for the environment and constantly binding rules, and regulations of emission in the electric power industry, government has facilitated policies to boost the amount of renewable energy in the electricity generation portfolio. Additionally, the generation of electricity from renewable resources creates insufficient, and frequently, zero emissions of pollutants that comes from traditional fossil fuel production technologies. The additional use of renewable energy aids utilities in their emission agreement obligations. Furthermore, the anticipation of agreement with any future carbon emissions management would further toughen the incentive to move towards cleaner electricity creating technologies (Langwith, 2009).
Whilst it may seem a “no-brainer” to cease investment in non-renewable power and transfer our effort, resources and investment into developing renewable energy sources, the reality is that we have become so reliant and dependent upon non-renewable energy – particularly fossil fuels – that we must continue to use, develop, and invest in such energy to maintain the living standards that we enjoy today. In our short to medium-term future, and in spite of our ever-increasing scientific knowledge about the environmental price that we pay in using non-renewable energy, we must continue to invest in it. Let me explain why.
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
Renewable energy is considered an environmental friendly way of producing energy; according to http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/index/tech.html, “in contrast, the many types of renewable energy resources-such as wind and solar energy-are constantly replenished and will never
International Energy Agency & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2013). World energy outlook 2013. Paris: OECD/IEA.
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.
Renewable energies have satisfactory EROEIs and they aren’t subject to depletion unlike non-renewable and nuclear energy sources. However renewable energy sources are far from producing enough energy to fulfil the world’s needs.
In 2012, NREL found that together, renewable energy sources have the technical potential to supply 482,247 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. This amount is 118 times the amount of electricity the nation currently consumes. However, it is important to note that not all of this technical potential can be tapped due to conflicting land use needs, the higher short-term costs of those resources, constraints on ramping up their use such as limits on transmission capacity, barriers to public acceptance, and other hurdles.” (*Add citation) (*Unfinished paragraph).
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.
While looking over the long term cost of both renewable and nonrenewable plants, both have their advantages. The main cost for renewable energy is the startup of the plant and locating an area for the plants. Coal has multiple cost since it has to be extracted from the ground, refined into a sellable product and shipped to its suppliers. Collectively “in 2007, all the world countries spent an estimated 450 billion
According to Bosch and his colleagues, the demand for renewable source of energy is exceeding political agendas (2015). Renewable energies is in great interest of developed countries that lack fossil fuels (Bosch et al., 2015). Even the environmental or social
Renewable energy’s definition is “Energy from a source that is not depleted when it is used” (“Renewable Energy – Definition”) and it is present throughout the world in a variety of countries. Given the variety of sources and the complexity of each, many other countries vie to stay with cheap, affordable, unhealthy non-renewable fuels such as natural gas, coal, and oil. This paper looks to review the production and consumption of energy – both renewable and non-renewable – over the history of renewable energy, then analyze why certain patterns may appear. The first step in this process is to define each type of renewable energy so that they can relate to each country that uses these sources.
This section will focus on the motivators of oil rich countries in the renewable energy field. Renewable energy can be defined simply as energy that comes from resources which are continually replenished by a period of time. From this simple definition it could be expected that use and introduction of renewable energy projects emerge and are promoted by countries with shortage of non-renewable sources and/or under a high risk of environmental degradation caused by those sources. Also it could be said that environmental awareness is higher in democratic countries with the accountability of the governing bodies, freedom of speech, press and etc. But especially in the last decade investments in the renewable energy projects significantly increased in oil rich countries.
In today’s world of scarce resources energy efficiency and renewable energy become increasingly important. It is also well-known that the climate-change as a result of high CO2-emissions, among others, can only be stopped or at least slowed down by reducing these emissions. The general global trend therefore should move towards an increasing use of renewable energies while gradually stopping dependence on non-renewable energies, such as coal or oil. Despite trade-offs in terms of a possible rise in energy prices and impacts on security of energy supply, most developed countries have recognized the general need of a change. (Röpke, 2013)
The development of renewable and alternative energy is becoming more and more necessary as the traditional fossil fuel energy is a non-renewable energy and can cause various environmental problems such as the global warming effect.