Evolution of the Transition to a World Driven by Renewable Energy

2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Fronk ◽  
Richard Neal ◽  
Srinivas Garimella

The world’s energy supplies will continue to be pressured as the population grows and the standard of living rises in the developing world. A move by the rest of the world toward energy consumption rates on par with the United States is most probably unsustainable. An examination of population trends, current energy utilization rates, and estimated reserves shows that a major worldwide transition to renewable resources is necessary in the next 100 years. This paper examines one possible scenario of how energy usage and renewable power generation must evolve during this time period. As the global standard of living increases, energy consumption in developing nations will begin to approach that of the developed world. A combination of energy conservation and efficiency improvements in developed nations will be needed to push the worldwide energy consumption to approximately 200 million Btu per person per year. Fossil fuel resources will be exhausted or become prohibitively expensive, necessitating the development of renewable energy resources. At this projected steady state population and energy consumption, the required contribution of each type of renewable resource can be calculated. Comparing these numbers to the current renewable capacities illustrates the enormous effort that must be made in the next century.

Author(s):  
Brian M. Fronk ◽  
Richard Neal ◽  
Srinivas Garimella

The world’s energy supplies will continue to be pressured as population grows and the standard of living rises in the developing world. A move by the rest of the world towards energy consumption rates on par with the United States is most probably unsustainable. An examination of population trends, current energy utilization rates, and estimated reserves shows that a major worldwide transition to renewable resources is necessary in the next one hundred years. This paper examines one possible scenario of how energy usage and renewable power generation must evolve in this time period. As the global standard of living increases, energy consumption in developing nations will begin to approach those of the developed world. A combination of energy conservation and efficiency improvements in developed nations will be needed to push the worldwide energy consumption to 200 million BTU per person per year. Fossil fuel resources will be exhausted or become prohibitively expensive, necessitating the development of renewable energy resources. At this projected steady state population and energy consumption, the required contribution of each type of renewable resource can be calculated. Comparing these numbers to the current renewable capacities illustrate the enormous effort that must be made in the next century.


2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fajik Begic ◽  
Anes Kazagic

Along with the current processes of restructuring of Energy power system of Bosnia and Herzegovina, liberalization of the electricity market, and modernization of the existing power plants, Bosnia and Herzegovina must turn to the utilization of renewable resources in reason able dynamics as well. Respecting this policy, the initial Valuation of the potential of renewable erg resources in Bosnia and Herzegovina is per formed. The methodology of evaluation of wind energy utilization is presented in this paper, as well as some other aspects of utilization of the renewable energy resources in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Implementation of selected projects should improve sustainability of energy power production in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by reducing the total emission of carbon dioxide originated from energy power system of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izabela Jonek-Kowalska

Research background: Energy policy is closely linked to economic development. Therefore, its optimization is an important issue especially in the contemporary European environmental conditions.  EU regulations enforce a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the abandonment of non-renewable energy resources. Instead, they promote renewable energy sources. In this way, new legal and environmental circumstances are becoming the main reason for the transformation of energy balances, which is a real economic and technological challenge. This transformation requires a strategic and effective approach, especially in those countries which until now have used mainly hard coal in the energy sector. Purpose of the article: According to above justification, the main purpose of the article is to identify the strategies for the transformation of energy balances that were implemented in the years 1990–2017 by chosen European countries and Turkey. Methods: The study period covers the years 1990–2017, and the subject of the research at first applies to all European countries, and then to 7 countries selected due to their high share of bituminous coal in energy balance in the first year of the analysis, treated as the initial point of transformation (1990). As a result of this selection, 6 EU members and Turkey with the largest share of coal in energy production in the year 1990 are examined. Particularly, an analysis of the trends in their energy balances in the years 1990–2017 is conducted. The research uses data on non-renewable energy consumption and renewable energy resources and the total energy consumption. The research methodology includes: analysis of the structure and dynamics, evaluation of trends and comparative analysis and presentation of development strategies. At the end of the article, a comparative analysis is carried out, the economic consequences of identified changes are assessed, and recommendations are formulated aimed at optimizing the structure of the energy balance in the future. Findings & Value added: Generally, there are four theoretical and empirical patterns of transformation strategies of energy balances with dominant coal consumption: 1) using other non-renewable energy resources; 2) replacing non-renewable energy resources with renewable ones; 3) using nuclear energy instead of coal; 4) increasing coal consumption as available and efficient energy resource. It was found that the examined countries implement mainly the strategy in which the decreasing share of coal is made up for by an increasing share of gas. Additionally, we can observe an increase in the share of nuclear energy in France, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. In Spain and Germany, despite the use of nuclear power plants for the production of energy, the share of nuclear energy in the energy balances has systematically decreased in time. In all analyzed countries, we can also observe an increasing share of renewable sources in energy balances, however, this growth is very slow.


2020 ◽  
pp. 0958305X2094403
Author(s):  
Emrah Ismail Cevik ◽  
Durmuş Çağrı Yıldırım ◽  
Sel Dibooglu

We examine the relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth in the United States. While the regime-dependent Granger causality test results for the non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth suggest bi-directional causality in both regimes, we cannot validate any causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. The US meets its energy demand from non-renewable sources; as such, renewable energy consumption does not seem to affect economic growth. Given the efficiency and productivity of renewable energy investments, we conclude that it is worthwhile to consider renewable energy inputs to replace fossil fuels given potential benefits in terms of global warming and climate change concerns. In this regard, increasing the R&D investments in the renewable energy sectors, increases in productivity and profitability of renewable energy investments are likely to accrue benefits in the long run.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Blanco Orozco ◽  
Napoleón Vicente ◽  
Zúniga González ◽  
Carlos Alberto

The purpose of this paper was to study the productivity where renewable energy resources and non-renewable resources for generating electricity in power plants connected to the national grid of Nicaragua were used.  This article analyzed the total factor productivity of Bioeconomy for the generation of electricity from plants using sugarcane bagasse (biomass) as a renewable resource and petroleum. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist index were used to measure the total factor productivity of power generation utilities connected to the national grid of Nicaragua. The results obtained by comparing sugar mills connected to the SIN was that Monte Rosa mill has a higher rate of increase in productivity due to the change of total factor productivity and when comparing thermal plants that employ petroleum products in power generation, the more efficient were ALBANISA, GECSA and TIPITAPA POWER; but when comparing thermal plants and some using renewable energy San Antonio sugar mill and ALBANISA were more efficient.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Nazmul Islam

<p>A brief overview of present electricity demand, supply, projection of them and renewable energy generation and progress has been presented in this paper. Electricity is the major source of power for most of the country's economic activities. According to the Bangladesh Power Development Board in July 2018, 90 percent of the population had access to electricity. However per capita energy consumption in Bangladesh is considered low. The country has a very limited energy reserve; small amounts of oil, coal and countable natural gas reserves. The country suffers an internal energy struggle, as about 88% of the country’s power producing thermal plants are gas-based. To solve this problem, renewable energy is being used.</p>


Author(s):  
David T. Gallaspy ◽  
Rodney E. Sears

The economics and potential offsets of imported energy are analyzed. Benefits to the carbon footprint of the region are estimated. A commercial structure for the operation of such a co-operative bio-refinery is proposed. Rural and agricultural regions typically have ample production of biomass in various forms, including wood from forestry, agricultural wastes and range grasses. Certain regions also have renewable energy resources such as wind power, solar insolation and hydraulic power. Rural regions are typically seen to have a potential for renewable energy that greatly exceeds energy consumption due to human activity in the region. However, energy consumption in such areas is highly biased toward non-renewable sources, just as in more urbanized regions. This is due to the standardization of virtually all manufactured energy conversion equipment to use available processed energy sources such as electricity and natural gas and refined fuels such as diesel and gasoline. In addition, agricultural activities are highly dependent on energy-intensive petrochemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. Energy sustainability and self-sufficiency can therefore be increased by conversion of local renewable resources into appropriate form values for existing energy conversion equipment. Solar power, wind power and hydropower are fully commercial, although more economic in some regions than in others. The production of electricity from biomass fuels via conventional steam cycles is well established, if challenging from an economic standpoint. However, conversion of biomass and other renewable resources into fuels that can be used in standard equipment, and chemicals and fertilizers for local agricultural production is both technically and economically challenging. The authors evaluate the potential for a typical rural region to offset imports of conventional non-renewable energy such as electricity, engine fuels, and fertilizers via the establishment of a regional bio-refinery financed and operated as a local co-operative. The renewable resources of the typical rural region are assumed to facilitate the analysis. The appropriate technologies, scope, product slate, production rates, capital costs and operating costs for the bio-refinery are defined.


Author(s):  
Abhishek Dahiya ◽  
Jishnu Bhattacharya ◽  
Nitin D. Banker

Abstract Due to the depletion of fossil fuels and their adverse effects on the environment, there is a need of hour to shift towards the renewable energy resources. However, the most promising renewable resources such as wind power and solar power are intermittent in nature. Thus, a sustainable shift requires economical and efficient energy storage systems. Use of batteries is the widely accepted storage systems for such resources and significant research work has been carried out in last few decades to improve the cycle life of batteries but they are still unsuitable for large scale systems and disposal of discarded batteries is also a major environmental concern. In view of this, researchers found compressed gas energy storage (CGES) system as one of the potential alternatives to store renewable energy at large spatial and temporal scales. The current study provides a comparison between air and carbon dioxide (CO2) based CGES systems from a thermodynamic standpoint. In an effort of improving efficiency of system, it is proposed to supply additional heat via renewable resource to CO2 based system before the expansion of gas in the turbine. The performance comparison of six different systems has been carried out using first and second law efficiencies.


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