The Progress of Developed Nations in Utilizing Renewable Sources - Coursework Example

? The progress of developed nations in utilizing renewable sources to reduce reliance upon traditional fossil fuels: The progress of developed nations in utilizing renewable sources to reduce reliance upon traditional fossil fuels Essay plan 1. Introduction: energy, renewable energy sources, history and their effects, preference for renewable energy sources. 2. Body: water, wind, solar and biogas as renewable energy sources, renewals progress use and development in developed countries 3. Conclusion and recommendations Energy Energy is a large requirement in today’s world due to its many uses in society. Many nations are rushing to search for a most developed state and, as such, increasing their industrial and domestic energy use. Domestically, energy use is in lighting and cooking while industrially, it is for development, manufacturing, and transportation of products (Flavin and Hull, 2011: p.15). The source of this form of energy is mostly fossil fuels such as mined coal of which has a significant impact on the environments productivity and sustainability. Depletion of these various fossil energy sources is leading to increased exploitations, thus further degrading the environment. An increase in this phenomenon is causing considerable distress to the environment and ecosystems which substantially impacts back on the people’s populations (Grover, 1985: p.101). The realization of this is causing most nations to embrace renewable energy use in their daily activities. This involves the invention of renewable energy using gadgets, and modification of the existing gadgets to incorporate renewable energy sources. This is mostly true to the developed nations whose energy requirements are immense and populations well above the environments carrying capacity. The aspects of urbanization and industrialization are highly advanced hence also their high requirements for energy and emission of harmful gases to the environment and degradation of un-renewable energy sources such as fossils. This advocates for the great change in energy source usage form non renewable to renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources Renewable energy sources refer to those sources of energy that continually self-replenish. This means that as these energy sources get utilized for various purposes, they replenish their sources almost immediately (Lettice, 2001: p.45). This gives them an advantage because they are readily available for utilization, and also because they do not damage the environment in terms of degradation. These renewable energy sources include sources such as wind, sun, water, geothermal, and biomass such as energy crops. Historically, the use of energy was not dependent on the development of technologies but through the available choices within the environment. This was way before civilization and urbanization. As time went on, people devised new methods through which to advance their way of life hence the development of technologies to process other energy sources. In the 1940s, it was discovered the use of fossil fuels. This continued on advancing through industrialization to urbanization to the current state. The advent of use of renewable energy source was first in Japan; a developed nation, though, in those years, it was still developing. It then spread to other developed nations as time advanced. Currently there has been considerable debate on the responsibilities for the state of environmental degradation experienced and its effect on the welfare of people. Blame is thrown among the developed and developing nations. A serious consideration for the utilization of renewable energy sources started during a time when the developed nations realized they play a particularly influential role in the global environmental state. As such around the 1990s they became serious with countries such as the United States and Japan. The choice for the use of renewable energy sources significantly influenced by their availability and cost effectiveness (awards, 1996: p.23). Some sources of renewable energy, for instance, wind and solar energy are widely and freely available, and they also carry with them a cost in utilization. Renewable energy sources progress trends in developed nations There are various trends that recently show the advocacy in developed countries of advancing in renewable energy. Developed countries collectively account for the lower half of the world’s capacity in renewable power (Mackay, 1998: p.85). This is with countries such as the United States and Japan that are rapidly expanding their renewable energy demands consequently causing a rise of their markets. Moreover, they are also participating in the addition of new biomass and wind power plants such as in the U.S using technologies developed in Japan. As of 2001, many renewable markets have come up within various developing nations such as Thailand, Tunisia, Costa Rica, Kenya, and Egypt, among others. This is due to the extraordinary demands created by developed nations for such renewable energy. These countries began installing solar energy systems in the 1990s with the advent of the technologies in the various nations. Japan is one of the top developing nations in the world with a remarkably stable economy. The installation of solar power and wind turbines is commercial practiced. It has about 500,000 large, advanced solar panels that produce around 450-800 watts sold and installed annually within the country. By the year 1990, the technology on the use of biomass energy had already been initiated in the country. This has continued to gain rise in popularity due to the availability of biomass within the nations because of farming and animal husbandry activities. It started as a government initiative for people, but currently even personal farmers are installing biogas systems for the production of cooking and lighting energy. Mostly, though it is an initiative of individual investor companies that do it for supply of safer energy that is in strong demand. Currently only about 30% of the developed nation’s populations make use of renewable energy for cooking and lighting (Steven, 2000: p.34). In this paper, I will look at the development and progress of wind, water and solar as renewable sources of energy in the developed nations such as the U.S and Japan. Wind energy Wind energy use is increasing at a global rate of 30% annually, with 95% of this being a contribution from the developed nations. Airflow runs turbines ranging from around 600kW to about 5MW of rated power. Turbines of 1.5-3 MW have currently become the most common in commercial energy production (Russells, 2011: p.34). As the velocity, of wind increases, the turning rate of the turbines increases too, thus increasing the amounts and rates of energy production. The potential of global wind energy is almost five times the total production of current global energy and about 40 times the current energy demands. This will require the installation of many wind turbines around the globe, particularly in the developed nations that have advanced technologies for renewable energy harnessing. Though this might appear high cost, it would be significant later on through adequate sustainable energy production. Water energy Water, as an energy source, highly embraced within the developed nations because water is denser than air (800 times more). For this reason, even slow stream moving water can turn turbines to produce greater intensities of energy. The use of water as an energy source can be referred to as either hydroelectric energy or as micro hydro systems. Hydroelectric energy projects are gaining popularity in developed nations since the 1960s such as the Kurobe dam) built in the year 1963, in Japan. This is after the development of various micro hydro systems that produce up to 100kW of power. Their use is mostly in water rich regions and where there lacks the capacity to develop bigger dams. Micro hydro systems gained popularity in the developed nations in the mid 1960s right after the development of activism towards general impacts of fossil fuels use in the developed nations (Richardson, 1988: p.92). These work best in developed nations due to the lack of abundant water sources as their developed nature has altered and destroyed the state of their natural environments. In fact, this adoption of renewable energy sources is a way of repaying for their prior destruction. This they do through invention of technologies for harnessing renewable energy, and the adoption of such technologies themselves. Solar energy Solar energy as a source of energy refers to energy derived from the sun. It represents the most common form of energy, and it has been in use for many years. In the developed nations, traditional societies made use of this form of energy many times to various functions such as preserving their food, heating, and creating fire. This then evolved with time as they developed and invented solar panels for conversion of the solar energy to other forms of energy. Solar electrical power energy generation relies upon the heat engines and photovoltaics (Waldocks, 2008: p.7). This has become well established within the developed nations especially because it provides a reliable form of alternative to state hydroelectricity supplies that are expensive and environmentally unsustainable. In addition, the fact that most developed nations are in areas that receive limited sunlight is a culminating factor to the emergence of renewable energy markets. Developed nations such as Japan mostly focus on the use of active solar energy and not to passive solar energy. This they mostly buy from developing nations due to the better state of their environment in providing natural energy sources such as solar and wind energy. Active solar energy uses active solar techniques such as solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic panels to harness energy. Passive solar energy, comparatively, involves directing a building towards the sun, the selections of favorable thermal mass materials of light dispersal properties, and the design of naturally air circulating spaces. Conclusion and recommendations Many developed nations are embracing the use of renewable energy sources for their energy requirements (Masson, 2003: p.11). This indicates a positive step in the progress towards energy sustainability and environmental conservation. It is thus necessary to ensure that the technologies that follow the use of such renewable energies are affordable and available. The development of these technologies is mostly accomplished by the developed nations because they have better resources than developing nations. One can conclude that developed countries are subjecting themselves and also the developing nations to less adequate technologies. This reduces the strengths of efforts applied by most global nations towards the insurance of sustainability in environmental and energy use. The developing and use of renewable energy sources is expensive to most developed nations than it is to other less developed nations. It mostly requires the change from the types of technologies they are using now to renewable ones. This transformation is mostly expensive even more than developing the harnessing technologies. The combination of these expenses and other expenses is becoming acutely discouraging for many developed nations to adopt renewable energy sources. This is due to the big impact that they have on their economy and development. As such, it is essential that there be developed technological gadgets that can be used on these same current inventions to make them work with renewable energy and more environmental friendly. This will offset the costs and increase it adoption by the developed nations. Bibliography Awards, A. (1996). Renewable Energy: Embracing Renewable Energy in the Developed Nations. Cambridge: Cambridge Press Flavin, C., and Hull, M. (2011). Energy for Development: The Potential Role of Renewable Energy in Meeting the Millennium Development Goals. London: Routledge publishing. Grover, E. (2005). Environmental Degradation: Role of Energy Sources in Degradation. New York: Columbia University Press. Lettice, J. (2001). Renewable Energy: Developing Nations Use of Renewable Energy Sources, New York: Oxford University Press. MacKay, R. (1998). An Introduction: Sources of Energy. London: Routledge Publishing. Mason, S. (2003). Development: Role of Energy in Development. Cambridge: Polity Press. Richardson, B. (1999). Sustainability: Energy Transformation and Sustainability. New York: Wiley Blackwell Russells, J. (2011). Renewable 2011: Global Status Report. Upper Saddle River: Wiley- Blackwell. Steven, M. (2000). Energy Transformation: Non Renewable to Renewable Energy Sources. Cambridge: Polity Press. Waldocks, Z. (2008). Energy and Development: Role of Energy in Developed Nations. New York: Random House Publishing Read More