Renewable Energy - Technologies, Policies and Market - Report Example

Renewable Energy The steady increase in industrialization and human population raises the demand for energy and other material needs. Human beings depend so much on energy for their daily activities such as transport, industrial activities, medical purposes and domestic use. There is need for more sustainable energy sources so that all these human activities can succeed. Furthermore, continual dependence on fossil fuels comes with great challenges. Some of these include global warming, increase in fuel prices and depletion of fossil reserves among others. Therefore, renewable sources of energy are the only sure alternative remedy to all these challenges. Several technologies in this area need to be improved or new ones put in place for the full exploitation of these sources of energy. Varied sources of renewable energy exist and it only depends on the world’s ability to exploit them. As per now, fossil fuels supply over 80% of the world’s consumption while renewable and nuclear energy supply only 13.5% and 6.5% respectively (Tiwari and Mishra 457). This indicates how the continual use of fossil fuels can have a great impact to the environment at a greater percentage. There is a need to focus more on the other sources of energy apart from just one source. To start with, the energy from the sun can have so many uses especially in the today’s world where there is need for cheap and affordable source of energy. Conversion of solar energy to other forms requires technology and expertise since some of these forms come with so much complexity and technological challenges (Assmann 24). There exists several ways of how to convert the heat from the sun into other forms of energy such as solar dishes and towers. The total capacity of these technologies that are in existence is about 0.4 GW (Assmann 24). There are predictions that these technologies can rise and play a major role in the renewable energy sector in the near future. The overall production of electricity using photovoltaic technology was at 4 GW in 2004 (Assmann 24). Assmann (24) explains that PV systems use the solar module as their underlying technology. These modules have an efficiency of converting solar energy to electricity of about 10-17 %. However, there are still more research into this area and more sophisticated PV systems will be in existence. Furhthermore, solar collectors are in use in areas that receive low solar energy. Large applications of water heating systems that use solar energy exist in hotels, swimming pools and hospitals. Biomass is another source of renewable energy that comes from plant remains, waste materials and animal wastes. Most sources of woody biomass are the forests while those that are non woody come from industrial wastes. There is an increase in the number of companies that produce and supply wood as well as those that produce a lot of industrial waste. Most countries have not invested much in the production of biomass and the existing technologies are not adequate for this sector to realize its full potential (Assmann 20). Use of biomass is mostly in the rural areas where it forms a cheap source of energy as well as a source of income for the rural dwellers (EUREC 198). There are various ways through which biomass is utilised as a sourece of energy in these countries. In homes, technology has come with simple appliances for use of wood, charcoal and other forms of biomass. Some countries such as Sweden use biomass to produce electricity (Assmann 21). The total usage of biomass is at 37 GW all over he world as per the 2004 statistics. Another key application of biomass is in the production of fuel gas through gasification processes (Assmann 21) There is large scale production of biogas fuel from biomass especially in India. Pyrolysis Is a technique that can be used in the conversion of biomass into solid, liquid, or gaseous fractions. Moreover, esterification and extraction methods are used in the production of biodiesel from oilseeds world wide. The production capacity was at 2.2 billion litres in the year 2004 (Assmann 21). Ethanol is also a nother substance thet can be produced from fermentation of sugars and also through hydrolysis of lignocelullosic biomass (Assmann 22). Water energy is another souce of renewable source of energy that has been in use for many centuries. Many countires have heavily invested on this for generation of electricity by use of various techniques suc as turbines. The small-hydro technoogy is widely used in China; with the world’s overall overal use being estimated at 40 GW. However, a number of countries still experience small problems here and there in the installation and maintenance of hydro-electric system (EUREC 201). In countries where there is high demand for electricity, wind has been another good option for this form of energy. Countries which have greatlly invested in this include China and India. The annual growth rate of installations of wind technology is 20% and the figure can rise in the near future (EUREC 202). The rating of the machines used in this technology has seen major advancements with the current ones being rated at 1MW. There are prospects of producing those with a rating of 2.5MW with 80M diameter. There are also other small scale generators installed in rural areas in most countries for harnessing wind power for domestic use or rural electrification (EUREC 202). The oceanic energy is one form of marine energy that has not been explored fully. The oceans offer enough spaces where the use of varied technologies can be used effectively. The main challenge is that the marinne sources of energy are always hard and expensive to explore. The existing marine sources of energy can also be too small to employ the expensive technology in their exploitation. This is why this source of energy is still lying dormant in most cases. However, there exists some places where there is abundant sources of marine energy and this gives room for their exploitation in future (EUREC 207-208). The technologies that can be used for these forms of energy are many and include horizontal turbines for tidal currents, thermodynamic systems such as a vapour cycle that can extract power from the varying temperatures between the surface of the oceans and the ocean depth. However, there are still challenges in harnessing other forms of oceanic energy such as oceanic osmotic energy(salinity gradient) and oceanic biomass (EUREC 210-2012). Geothermal energy can be harnessed in two forms. These two forms include the direct utilisation or the indirect exploitation by converting the steam energy in geothremal wells to electricity. One of the widely used methods for harvesting this form of energy is through making use of its heating property, hence the direct utilization. The large scale use of geothremal heat energy is a recent development where methods like district heating, and greehouse complexes are employed. Heat exchangers have also been employed by other countries in the geothermal exploitation (Tiwari and Mishra 380-383). For electricity generation purposes, the steam energy in geothermal wells is piped to steam turbines that convert It to electricity. These technologies are used to produce electricity for commercial purposes since they can supply wide areas with power (Tiwari and Mishra 380-383). There are many sources of energy in the world that have not been explored even though they are also rich sources. Some of these include the oceanic sources of energy that seem expensive to exploit. There should be more improvements in the existing technologies so to allow for full exploitation of these resources. If the world can turn to the use of renewable sources of energy apart from just focusing on fossil fuels, the exploitation of renewable sources of energy can get much attention and more technological innovations and improvements can come up. One compelling reason as to why this should be effected is because the sources of fossil fuels get exhausted everyday. Furthermore, there is need for clean sources of energy that are environmentally friendly. Works Cited Assmann, Dirk. Renewable Energy: A Global Review of Technologies, Policies and Markets. Routledge, 2012. EUREC, Agency. The Future for Renewable Energy 2: Prospects and Directions. Routledge, 2013. Tiwari, G. N. and Rajeev Kumar Mishra. Advanced Renewable Energy Sources. Royal Society of Chemistry, 2011. Read More