Renewable Energies
In a global effort to reduce the greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions, a new wide range of energy options for climate
change mitigations are available. They are the renewable energies,
only some of which are
cost effective compared to conventional fossil fuel energy
production. The usual
problem faced is the enormous cost, the initial up-front investments
necessary to jump-start the energy efficient technology. But it will
save money and environment over the long haul. There is no other
option except to take this necessary first move.
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The renewable energies are:
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hydro,
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wind,
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solar,
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biomass,
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geothermal
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Renewable energy
plants are generally more expensive to build and operate than fossil
fuel
plants.
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) can
serve not only as an instrument for
combating climate change but also as an
important stimulus package to fund
developing country in
sustainable energy developments. |
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Through the
Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, new energy efficiency investments
in developing countries and capacity upgrade in developed countries
open vast opportunities for mutual benefits.
The battle for energy will
be won by those that have the foresight to wait no more. They will ultimately
benefit from the new energy mechanisms while engaging to protect the
global climate.
Increasing access to renewable energy options
offers
multiple
benefits:
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Improve air quality leading to reduction in
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
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Improve energy security
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Provide opportunities for
sustainable development
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Help achieving development goals pertaining to employment,
poverty, health benefits and equity
The
renewable energy options are varied and numerous. Each has its own green
credentials and
shortcomings too. None is without impact on the environment. The
choice depends on resource suitability and availability,
the
mode of development, existing infrastructure
and
policies. In general, a diversified spectra of energy
supply, including renewables and even fossil fuels is preferred.
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Hydropower
Waterways on high grounds have the potential to generate enormous
amount of electricity. This method produces clean
power, it offers multi-billion dollar investment opportunities to
eliminate dependence on fossil fuels for electricity generation.
Hydroelectric projects can be disruptive to surrounding aquatic
ecosystems and forests biodiversity and is thus a sensitive
environmental issue.
Generally construction of hydro plant requires site studies, hydrological studies and
environmental impact assessment. |
Hydroelectric projects can be
categorized as mini, micro and mega. One of the most controversial hydropower dam
is the mega
Three Gorges Project
of China, which is considered to be the world's largest reinforced
concrete hydropower dam. The project
has been fervently criticized as a threat to environment, disrupting
the ecosystems and habitats, source of environmental catastrophe and
may endanger the millions who live near-stream.
The primary objective is for control of the devastating floods which
have been plaguing river bank inhabitants for the past 2000 years.
The Yangtze flood in 1998 caused 4,000 lives, and 24 billion dollars
worth of damage.
What is wrong for China to stop the massive flooding, for
generating a cleaner energy to reduce emissions! Use other
options? Has not China been venturing into other options too?!
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Biogas and
landfill gas,
which contain methane, are produced
during anaerobic digestion of
organic materials from farm or municipal waste.
The methane gas can be utilized for heating and cooking.
The
prospects for biogas as renewable energy are excellent,
if further rectifications/improvements can be made along
the line of generation.
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Usually, besides being utilized as a gas for cooking or other energy
generation purposes, excess methane from landfills and other natural producers of
methane are burned so that preferably carbon dioxide is released
into the atmosphere instead of methane. Releasing methane will have 25
times more potent effect than carbon dioxide
over 100 years on climate change.
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Landfill methane emissions are stabilizing and
decreasing in many developed countries as a result of increased
landfill gas recovery combined with waste diversion from landfills
through recycling, waste minimization and alternative thermal and
biological
waste management strategies.
However, it is increasing, together with
nitrous oxide, in developing countries due to increasing municipal solid waste from
rising urban populations, development, reduced open burning and
increased engineered landfills.
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Wind
energy utilizes the movements of
wind to generate electricity.
It is a clean
energy without waste and ghg emissions.
Electricity generated can be used directly or
stored for future use.
By end of 2007, global wind capacity reached 95 GW, more than tenfold increase within a decade. Order books of the wind industry
are currently full with virtually all wind turbines sold out. By
2011, capacity is expected to reach 200 GW. |
Wind energy is particularly popular in the EU. In China too, wind power
generation increases by 7-fold with capacity of more than 6 GW as at
end of 2007. Green Peace, in a research report,
forecasts that by 2020,
wind-generated electricity in China may reach 14% of the global wind
energy output.
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Solar energy
It is a promising and endless
source of renewable energy. It is clean, sustainable,
indigenous and does
not contribute to global warming. Solar energy is converted into electric energy by photovoltaic cells and
then into other forms of energies, for example, for heating,
lighting purposes.
On a big scale, the electricity is
fed into the grid system as normal electricity. |
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Geothermal energy is
the heat from the Earth's crust. Resources range from the shallow
ground to hot water and hot rock miles beneath the
Earth's crust, down to the extremely hot molten rock called magma.
The
Earth's crust maintains a constant temperature between 10° -
16°C. Geothermal heat pumps can tap into this
resource to heat and cool buildings.
Some
geothermal power plants use the steam from a reservoir to power a
generator. |
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Biofuel is defined as organic fuel derived from renewable
biomass.
Bio-ethanol is an excellent biofuel substitute for
gasoline as the main car fuel.
Brazil is world
leader in sugarcane bio-ethanol and the
largest exporter.
Biomass, refers to living and recently dead
organic matters that can be used as renewable biofuels. It includes plant or animal matter,
or
biodegradable wastes that can be burnt as fuel. It excludes
coal or petroleum as they are not renewable.
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Environmental Impact and Drawbacks
By law in US, biofuels have to
be cleaner, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, than gasoline. The
world leaders in biofuel development and use are Brazil, United
States, France, Sweden and Germany.
A World Bank research report published on
July 2008 found that from June 2002 to June 2008 "biofuels and the related
consequences of low grain stocks, large land use shifts, speculative
activity and export bans" accounted for 70% - 75%
of total price rises. The study said that "...large increases in biofuels production
in the United States and Europe are the main reason behind the steep
rise in global food prices"
Some
environmentalists, such as
George Monbiot, have expressed fears that the marketplace will
convert food crops to fuel for the rich, while the poor starve. Besides, carbon dioxide emissions
may arise from deforestation made for change of land use.
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Nuclear
energy
Fear of repeat of nuclear plant accident like that of
Three Mile Island in 1979 and the
Chernobyl disaster in 1986 hampered the construction of new nuclear plants in many countries. Having
languished for decades, nuclear energy’s prospects are improving in
the urgent quest for other energies options. What is the rationale behind the nuclear power
comeback? |
Former US President Bush at a renewable energy
conference in Oct. 2006 at St. Louis, said, " Nuclear power is
renewable."
Is nuclear energy renewable energy? Uranium is not renewable, and the
waste from the process has thousands of years of storage
requirements Neither coal nor nuclear can be considered
renewable or clean, when compared to the emissions or wastes from
energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. -- Scott
Scott Sklar is President of The Stella Group in Washington, DC, a
distribute
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Other energy options still under development
phase include:
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advanced nuclear
power,
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advanced renewables,
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hydrogen
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marine-based energy.
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References and related news:
