Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise in Energy - Report Example

An Analysis of Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise in Energy: Electri Generation Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 IndustryAnalysis 5 6 Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise 8 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction Energy derived for electricity is one of the significant and valuable innovations of the mankind which has helped human beings to enjoy and reap the multifold benefits of the world as they are in present scenario. Electricity generation is a procedure by which electricity is created from other various forms of resources. Electricity generation as a principle was brought into light by the creative genius named Michael Faraday in the early nineteenth century. The electricity then generated was from the use of magnet along with copper and wires (The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2010). Energy generation is the primary procedure employed for undertaking the steps in order to deliver electricity to the consumers. The other processes employed are electricity distribution, power transmission, and electricity retailing. The requirement of electricity can be congregated by using two ways like generation and transmit of electricity required by undertaking large scale centralised project related activities. These methods often create repulsive environmental effects like radiation or air pollution as well as flooding in large land areas. The distributed electricity generation primarily creates electricity on a much smaller scale. The electricity generation from sources such as biomass, solar energy, geothermal sources, wind and tidal energy, hydroelectricity, natural gases, and coal are the most preferred ones and also used throughout the world over the years (Science Daily, 2010). This report looks to evaluate the role of innovation, creativity, and enterprise in the segment of energy; electricity generation. The value and need to prevent the energy resources for the future generation has been recognized all over the world. Therefore there has been a considerable effort made worldwide to use renewable energy resources and prevent the valuable resources from getting extinct. Industry Analysis Electricity generation as an industry is one of the major sectors in the industrial segment of any country. All the countries, throughout the world generally employ methods to directly convert various other forms of energy into electrical energy. These methods are in the form of static electricity, thermoelectricity effect, photo electricity effect, electromagnetic induction, nuclear transformation and few others. In terms of industry usage, commercially electromagnetic induction is utilised in order to generate electricity. In the industrial segment, the usage and the value of the renewable energy resources for electricity generation have been recognized globally. The usage of heat engines to generate electricity is being considerably employed to perform combustion of the fossil fuels. Turbines have been another very significant aspect in the process of energy generation. The heath engines working as a turbine is employed to derive nuclear fission and also transform fossil fuels into electrical energy and power. In certain countries like Netherlands, the affluent availability of wind energy resources has been ingeniously employed to generate electricity. The rapid degradation of ancient available energy generation resources like coal has made the global industrial sector to take notice of the scenario and has enabled them to use and also look for resources which are renewable like solar energy. The energy industry has primarily stayed untouched and unaffected by economic volatility and downturn. This industry has thrived even in the scenario like that of economic crisis. In case of power generation industry, the main wind energy based market has been a revenue contributor in the consumable market. The US and European market did face some slack times during the economic fall period but the Africa (EMEA) along with Middle East and also the Asian market helped to balance out the scenario (Earth Times, 2010). US Electric Power Industry Net Generation, 2008 (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2008). The above chart demonstrates the net generation of power and the used resources in the US. The usage of solar energy as a photovoltaic source of energy has been observed. The solar resources are used as renewable sources and they are measured by price per Watt Peak (Wp) unit (Solarbuzz, 2010). The statistics observed for Australia, in terms of electricity generation as an industry provides the figure that the industry is expected to generate around $ 14.84 billion in the year 2010-11. This figure has gone up from $ 12.81 billion derived in the year 2005-06. Around 0.5% of Australia’s GDP is accounted by this industry. The net profit expected by the industry is around $ 3.24 billion (IBISWorld, 2010). Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise Electricity generation as an industry has been passed through constant development, innovation, along with creative procedures being implemented. In terms of sources of energy for electricity generation, coal has been one of the pioneers’. Coal has over the years served as a multipurpose component at service of the society. It has been used for locomotives, factories, to heat homes. The prime use of coal has been for electricity generation. Conventional coal combustion has been used to generate electricity from the mined coal. The various innovations have been incorporated in this coal energy electricity production such as electrostatic precipitator to improve the entire process. Technology has also been employed to control carbon dioxide in the process (Kentucky Geological Survey University of Kentucky, 2010). Solar energy has become a chosen source of electricity generation over the years. Photovoltaic method of energy generation has been the primary source of solar energy generation. Now, Covalent Solar has made a breakthrough innovation in this segment which promises to reduce cost related to solar electricity. A waveguide photovoltaic has been utilised in the place of silicon solar based cells which also comprises of inexpensive glass. A 90% reduction has been achieved in the silicon usage which has helped to reduce delivered cost associated with solar power. The flat modules can be employed fruitfully in distributed as well as centalised power plants making it a very useful innovation. The abundance of solar energy along with such creativity and innovation can make a lasting difference in the global climatic scenario and also on the environment. The capability of providing economic power in the place of conventional resources makes it more useful. The greenhouse gas emission and fossil fuel related dependence can be minimised by the use of this method (Covalent Solar Inc, 2010). Nonosolar utility panels are also another step of effort towards preparing cost efficient electricity generated from solar energy resources. The roll-to-roll printing is a process which is being used for preparing this innovative and revolutionary mechanism (Nanosolar, 2010). The various resources mainly the non-renewable resources are becoming less in quantity throughout the world. Therefore, renewable energy has been employed to take its place as a convenient and valuable resource. Renewable Energy Consumption in the Nations Energy Supply, 2008 (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2008). The above figure shows that apart from common sources like coal, natural gas, petroleum, and nuclear sources; renewable sources are also a part of energy consumption. Natural gas as an energy resource has been a primary used component. The above figure also concurs to the fact. It is employed for steam as well as heat production cases in the industrial processes. The other prime use is in electric power generation, commercial and residential heating. U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration has projected that the utilisation of natural gas as energy resources for electicity generation would go up to around 33% by 2020. Biomass gasification method along with other techniques has been used to generate power from these resources. In this method, greenhouse gas emission such as CO2, CH4, and N2O has been a major disadvantage which causes damage to the atmosphere and environment (Spath & Mann, 2000). Biofuels Consumption, 2004-2008 (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2008). In the process of constant innovation and creative usage of energy resources biofuels have been able to create a niche for themselves. Primarily ethanol made from corn, biodiesel made from soyabean oil are considered as biofuels. Waste energy, landfill gas and municipal solid waste based biogenic are innovated over the recent years as a source of energy resources for electricity generation. Wind Electricity Net Generation 2004-2008 (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2008). Wind energy based electricity generation has turned out to be a major growth holder in the renewable energy sector. The conventional hydropower is the most used renewable energy resource. The wind and biomass comes in after them. In the next generation of energy resources, the creativity and the innovation have been made mainly on the segment of finding renewable resources of energy. The harmful side effect of nuclear and few other energy resources have also contributed to this. The statistics also show that renewable and other sources have grown in terms of use whereas petroleum and other gas sources have declined while coal, natural gas, and nuclear sources have almost remained static (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010). In terms of power generation electrochemical methods, power harvesting and fuel cells are invented. Conclusion The energy resources have prevailed throughout the world in different forms. The usage of energy resources for electricity generation has been a primary part of every countries growth and development endeavour. The energy resources have evolved over the years from the most preferred coal, petroleum, natural gas to nowadays various sources of renewable energy resources. The renewable resources have made a significant leap in the minds of the people worldwide and thus there has been considerable amount of innovation and creativity demonstrated in this aspect. The resources like solar energy, wind energy along with hydroelectric power generation have gained prominence. The human beings have realised that the benefits of such resources are not only for the possibility of these resources’ availability being better than the non-renewable resources but also the benefit that these resources can cause to the environment along with lesser impact on it, has made them the prime target for innovations like nanosolar panel, covalent solar and many more. In future too, the trends certainly point towards such future innovation and creativity towards this segment. References Covalent Solar Inc, 2010. Our Mission. About Covalent Solar. [Online] Available at: http://www.covalentsolar.com/ [Accessed November 06, 2010]. Earth Times, 2010. Research and Markets: Global Welding Market in Energy Generation Report - Energy Industry Stays True to its Positive Growth Rate Even During the Economic Downturn. Articles. [Online] Available at: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/press/even-during-economic-downturn,1412715.html [Accessed November 06, 2010]. IBISWorld, 2010. Electricity Generation in Australia. Industry. [Online] Available at: http://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry/default.aspx?indid=1824 [Accessed November 06, 2010]. Kentucky Geological Survey University of Kentucky, 2010. Electricity Generation. Uses of Coal. [Online] Available at: http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/uses_of_coal.htm [Accessed November 06, 2010]. Nanosolar, 2010. About Us. Company. [Online] Available at: http://www.nanosolar.com/company/about-us [Accessed November 06, 2010]. Science Daily, 2010. Electricity Generation. Articles. [Online] Available at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/e/electricity_generation.htm [Accessed November 06, 2010]. Solarbuzz, 2010. Solar Energy Costs/Prices. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.solarbuzz.com/StatsCosts.htm [Accessed November 06, 2010]. Spath, P. L. & Mann, M. K., 2000. Life Cycle Assessment of a Natural Gas Combined-Cycle Power Generation System. Docs. [Online] Available at: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/27715.pdf [Accessed November 06, 2010]. The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2010. Archives Biographies: Michael Faraday. Archives. [Online] Available at: http://www.theiet.org/about/libarc/archives/biographies/faraday.cfm [Accessed November 06, 2010]. U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2008. Figure ES 1. US Electric Power Industry Net Generation, 2008. Electricity. [Online] Available at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/figes1.html [Accessed November 06, 2010]. U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2008. Renewable Energy Trends in Consumption and Electricity 2008 Edition. Renewable Energy Trends. [Online] Available at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/trends/rentrends.html [Accessed November 06, 2010]. U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010. Net Generation by Energy Source: Total (All Sectors). Electricity. [Online] Available at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1.html [Accessed November 06, 2010]. Read More