- Renewable energy is very popular in Europe, US and Asia. This includes biofuels, and electric transportation that includes power from renewable sources. Individual countries have set their own goals about how much of their energy consumption will come from renewables. For instance Austria has set the highest goal, 34 % by the year 2020. As a general rule, one third of the total electric power should come from renewable sources (Wengenmayr, p. 4)
- Wind energy is become very popular internationally. In 2010, the US produced 40180 MW of electricity from windpower. ¾ of the wind power plants are manufactured in Germany and are being exported around the world.
- Wengenmayr page 9 has a nice figure that I would like to use
- Another useful figure showing the breakdown of the electricity production through the year 2050
33. The rapid increase in the use of wind energy within the past twenty years was made possible by technological developments and a changing political climate. “alongside the continued improvement of efficiency and economic competitiveness of the wind energy systems, political aspects are becoming more important” (See for instance what the Biden administration is doing for climate change). “Among these are integration into the national and international power grid and into the international energy economy, as well as a societal consensus concerning energy policy. Power generation from wind energy is in transition from an alternative to a mainstream energy source. It can make a decisive contribution in the future to a climate-compatible and economically feasible power generation system”. (Wengenmayr, p. 22)
- “Hydroelectric plants generate nearly 1/6th of the electric power produced worldwide. Water power along with the biomass, is the only sustainable energy source that contributes at present on a large scale to the electrical energy supply for the world’s population. It is efficient, but it can also destroy whole regions, societies and ecological systems”. (Wengenmayr, p. 24)
- “large, precisely curved mirror surfaces and enormous heat storage tanks are the most obvious components of solar-thermal power plants, which are rapidly multiplying in the desert regions of the world. They collect the sunlight and concentrate it onto a thermal power-generating unit”. (Wengenmayr, p. 28)
- “2012-2040 global energy consumption is projected to almost double as China, Indonesia, Brazil, and other less developed countries grow economically” (Wengenmayr, Buhrke 4)
- However, in developed countries where there is much less population growth, energy demand per capita is much higher than developing nations because the standard of living is rising.
- Developed countries: number of people per household is decreasing, average size and number of houses is increasing, and with development requires more land to be converted into roads and such to support automobile-centric infrastructure and other forms of transport
- Even with less people, in developed countries there is more heating, air conditioning, lighting, water usage per person than in lesser developed countries due to industrially-sourced infrastructure
- Currently: 80% of world’s energy demand is supplied by fossil fuels — very harmful for the environment: when burned they emit GHGs and speed up global warming
- Availability of fossil fuels/ natural gas is finite however will most likely be used until it’s spent
- Fossil fuel consumption and subsequent GHG emission are changing the earth’s climate
- “The planet has warmed an average of 0.12 C / 0.22 F per decade since 1950, and oceans have warmed an average of 0.11 C per decade since 1970” (Wengenmayr, Buhrke 23)
- The increase in temperature is a direct result of human activity
- Global warming side affects: “glaciers melting—arctic ice, sea level rising at 70% of coastlines worldwide, GHGs in the atmosphere are more than in the last 800,000 years, ocean acidification, decreased permafrost” (Wengenmayr, Buhrke 23)
- GHG emissions are greatest in areas with big populations and economic boom : “China contributes 26% and US contributes 14%” (Wengenmayr, Buhrke 24)
- In industrialized nations, per capita GHG emissions are double the global average person — this shows the connection between advancement/industrialization and emissions
- The countries that contribute least to GHG emissions are usually at the greatest risk from climate change i.e. lesser-developed countries
- Examples of risks caused by climate change: lower crop yields, less drinking water, less fish, more human health issues, increased natural disasters –all these can have detrimental effects on poorer countries and peoples
- Environmental changes also have an effect on wildlife and their habitats
- Some species will thrive while others won’t: the temperature could change breeding places, migration routes, duration of egg-laying season, etc. If the climate in a certain area favors a certain species, that species will grow and thrive while another species not favored by the change in climate will die out or move.
(Book) Wengenmayr, R., & Buhrke, T. (Eds.). (2013). Renewable energy: Sustainable concepts for the energy change (2nd ed., p. xx). Wiley-VCH.