Renewable Energy Is Not Alternative but Assistant to Conventional Energy for a Long Time - Coursework Example

Renewable energy is not alternative but assistant to conventional energy for a long time ............................................................................................................. Abstract Renewable energy sources can reduce world dependence on fossil fuels and their associated harmful emissions. However, the widespread public perception that it is an alternative to fossil fuel is somewhat unfounded as evidence drawn together by this study suggests that their application, efficiency, and potential to be an alternative energy sources is limited. Fossil fuels will remain the dominant source of energy while high capital cost, economic risks, regulatory and political obstacles, low public acceptance, insufficiency in infrastructure, and other barriers will prevent rapid development of renewable energy technologies. Renewable energy sources are not alternative energy but rather an assistant energy sources, renewable, environment-friendly but incapable of producing similar energy output as fossil fuels. Note: Please just send a message if you need anything. Thanks ___________________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction Renewable energy and associated technologies can reduce world dependence on fossil fuels and their associated harmful emissions. However, widespread public perception that they are alternative energy sources is baseless particularly when increasing demand for energy and RET application is considered. The main objective of this study is to acquire information, scientific data, and statistics that can clarify the true nature of renewable energy and its potential as an alternative or assistant energy source. The following highlights the characteristics of fossil fuels and renewable energy, their advantages and disadvantages, the physical, technical, economic, and political issues associated with renewable energy, and quantification of renewable energy as alternative or assistant energy. 2. Fossil Fuels and Renewable Energy Sources Coal, oil, and natural gas are sources of energy commonly called fossil fuels because they come from fossilized remain of prehistoric plants and animals. They are non-renewable energy sources because it takes thousands or even millions of years to produce them underground [1]. Coal is black and solid similar to rock [2]. Coal can be use to generate electricity [3] and the more carbon the coal has, the more energy it can produce [4]. A brown liquid Fuel Oil is also a fossil fuel that contains 85% carbon and 15% hydrogen similar to hydrocarbon products such as propane, methane, ethane, and butane [5]. Fossil fuels provide energy to heat homes, lighting, and fuel for vehicles like gasoline, a fuel made from oil [2]. Natural gas on the other hand is a mix of gases such as methane, propane, and hydrogen sulphide. It is commonly found above oil reservoirs in deep-see and remote land areas. One example of natural gas is LPG or liquefied petroleum gas, which were originally propane and butane gases liquefied and stored in a pressurized tank [6]. 3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Fossil Fuel Energy Similar to other energy sources, fossil fuel has a number of benefits and drawbacks. These include the benefits of producing large amount of energy from small amount of fossil fuel. They can be found almost everywhere, in Asia, Middle East, US, Africa, Australia, and so on. Moreover, aside from being more economical in terms of mining compared to other sources of energy, fossil fuels storage and delivery is easy[7]. Coal is the most abundant of all fossil fuel. The United States has 27% of the world’s coal reserves, Russia - 17%, China - 12%, India-10%, and Australia- 9% [6]. Advantages of coal as fuel according to Bryan et al, (2011) [8] include the higher amount of energy it produce per pound compared to other sources of energy. It is cheap and with stable market value. Wide varieties of technologies to generate electricity with coal are readily available. There is still large supply of undiscovered coal around the world while technology to reduce its emission is currently available. However, coal mining destroys habitat, can cause respiratory problems for workers, mining deep beneath the earth is increase risk of deadly collapse, it is not renewable and produces high amount of greenhouse gases. According to Huggins (2010) [9], the advantage of oil to coal is being in a liquid form thus it can be use in a number of ways and stored in tanks and transported through ships, trucks, rails, and so on. Moreover, the mining procedure for oil is also easier compared to coal or natural gas. Oil can produce relatively high net-energy compared to other energy sources; it has a proven processing system and has many uses. However, combustion of crude oil result to carbon dioxide emissions while drilling, storing, processing, and transport of crude oil causes disruption in the world’s ecosystem. Moreover, recycling of used oil is difficult while accidental oil spill can destroy the ecosystem and economy significantly [8]. Natural gas is a versatile fuel since it can be use to heat space and water, and power vehicles with relatively low cost. Its emissions are cleaner compared to coal and oil and can be use in a variety of ways such as cooking, home heating, and vehicle fuel [6]. However, although with high net-energy per volume similar to oil, natural gas is also known to release carbon dioxide into the environment. It is often located in far flung areas thus transport cost is almost four times larger than crude oil when delivered through pipelines. It is non-renewable and extremely dangerous when pressurized. Processing natural gas releases contaminated wastewater that can cause severe environmental damage while accidental leaks can lead to fires and explosions [8]. 4. Advantages of Renewable Energy Over Conventional Energy Sources Renewable energy is energy coming from natural sources that are commonly viewed as alternative sources of energy – biomass, geothermal, solar, wind energy, and so on [10]. One of the main advantages of renewable energy over traditional or conventional energy sources is the ability to provide energy needs without harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases. Although they are not yet capable of supplying substantial amount of energy as fossil fuels do, renewable energy is widely available and can reduce power generation cost and enhance the world’s energy security [11]. Renewable energy particularly those that are locally available – sun, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and so on- can reduce reliance on fossil fuels and their associated international trade consequences. They improve energy security by having wide variety of energy sources and reduce risk of future energy costs. They provide additional job opportunities, income, revenue, and conserve natural resources. More importantly, they are environment friendly and improve health by reducing use of conventional energy sources that produces greenhouse gases, nitrogen and sulphur oxides, carbon dioxide, and other harmful gases [12]. Compared to conventional or non-renewable energy sources, the initial cost of building and maintaining a renewable energy source is comparatively less [13]. Since the key issue between renewable and non-renewable energy is sustainability, renewable energy outshines conventional energy sources because of the ability to replenish energy consumed by natural processes [14]. 5. Issues Surrounding Renewable Energy – Physical, technical, economics, and political application Existing energy infrastructure for conventional or non-renewable energy sources is vast and costly [15]. These include physical assets such as electricity generation stations, oil refineries, gasoline stations, and so on. Moreover, regulatory and market systems for these energy sources are already established thus it may take decades if moving this system towards widespread renewable energy use [15]. Analysts from the energy industry estimated that global demand for energy by 2030 would be at least 20% thus more energy generation would be expected from renewable energy sources, which at this point are facing severe limitations [15]. Renewable energy is often regarded with scepticism simply because their potential contribution in satisfying world’s increasing energy requirements is affected by physical, technical, ecological, and infrastructural barriers [16]. For instance, an ideal windmill can only extract about 59 to 70% of the kinetic energy of the wind but their size, density, and efficiency of conversion from rotational energy to electrical energy is problematic [17]. For instance, if a power station generating 4.7GW of electricity would be replaced by a wind farm with similar output, it would need an area about the size of London, which is about 1,600 square kilometres[18]. Another is solar energy, which according to McCluney (2003) [19] is limited by the fact that we could not cover all available land with solar collectors – see Table 1. Table 1- RETs Power and Land Area Requirements Compared to Coal & Nuclear Plant (Smith, 2012) Technology Power density W/sq. m Size for 35GW average output Biofuel ~0.2-0.4 85,500-175,000 sq/km Wind Power ~1-2 17,500-35,000 sq km Solar Power ~25 1400 sq km Coal or Nuclear Plant ~4000 8.75 sq km Barriers to the deployment of renewable energy technologies not only include physical but technical as well because they often demand highly technical knowledge. For instance, technical limitations are likely to arise because there are no standards, codes, and reliable certifications available which in reality can affect the quality, product, and public perception about RET [20]. Another is the fact that although solar, wind, ocean energy and so on are widely available, their input is intermittent [21]. For instance, sunlight is only available during the day and wind depends on weather. According to the US Energy Information, collecting technical information about RETs is problematic as they are often dispersed and do not have a well-defined distribution network [21]. In terms of economy, RETs are still expensive than fossil fuels [22]. For this reason, “no single renewable energy system is universally applicable” [23] as aside from the fact that its ability to produce energy depends on the local environment, its application is limited by the economic condition of the local community (ibid). Moreover, RETs use is hindered by costly but less efficient technologies. For instance, solar energy or sunlight is considered an alternative source of electricity but the efficiency of technologies associated with it is lower than theoretical expected [24] – see Figure 1. Figure 1 –Theoretical and Actual Conversion Efficiencies of Various Solar Cells (ISPRE, 2009) Since governments play an important role in the application of RETs in their respective community, renewable technologies are subject to political, institutional, and regulatory barriers. In Malaysia for instance, achieving RETs target is hindered by impractical regulations and unsupportive political environment. According to Yusoff & Kardooni (2012) [25], the Malaysian government pays little attention to the maintenance aspects of RETs while organizations involved in implementing RETs policy lack cooperation. Consequently, with long delays in authorization and lack of standard procedures, RET targets are not being achieved as planned and not getting any support from potential investors. 6. Quantifying Renewable Energy as Alternative or Assistant Energy By definition, renewable energies are replenished on a regular basis and do not pollute the environment like fossil fuel [26]. However, although less damaging, RETs also has its environmental impacts, more expensive, technically problematic, subject to political instability and pressure, and infrastructure limitations. For this reason, calling RETs as an “alternative energy” is questionable because the term “alternative” by definition is making a ”choice between two or more things only one of which may be chosen” [27]. There is no doubt about the ability of RETs to replenished and contributes to a cleaner environment but there is also clear evidence that they are not “alternative” energy sources contrary to public perception. Moreover, as far as fossil fuel is concern, there is no evidence that RETs can totally replace coal and oil in the near future. In a study conducted in 2005, fossil fuel still dominates the energy supply requirements of Germany at around 94% while RETs merely supplied 3.6% [16]. Similarly, work undertaken by the World Energy Council regarding the world’s energy demand by 2050 suggest that demand for fossil fuel (particularly coal and gas) will still be higher than RETs which is only 5.6% [28]- see Figure 2. Figure 2- World Energy Council Projection by 2050 (Thompson & Perry, 1997) According to Brown (2002) [29], the consistent increase in energy requirements requires an energy sources that can produce more energy than the world can consume thus completely replacing fossil fuel with RET would be self-defeating. Moreover, significant barriers such as high capital cost, economic risks, and regulatory obstacles, limited availability of products, lack of public acceptance, lack of infrastructure, and lack of incentives will continue to prevent accelerated development of renewable energy technologies [30]. It is therefore clear that renewable energies are not “alternatives” but “assisting” energy sources supporting fossil fuels in meeting the world’s increasing energy requirement. Although the term “alternative energy” is important in shaping world perception regarding the use of renewable and environment friendly energy sources, it should not be regarded as “replacement” for fossil fuels. 7. Conclusion Renewable energy sources are undoubtedly helpful in meeting increasing demand for energy and reducing greenhouses gases in the Earth’s atmosphere but their inherent limitations will prevent them from being an alternative for fossil fuels. Contrary to public perception, renewable energies are assistant energy sources limited primarily by physical, economic, and political constraints. Evidence presented in this study clearly illustrates their limited efficiency and application as well as illegibility to be an alternative for fossil fuels. 8. 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