Renewable Energy Prospects

Introduction

The global economic growth in this globalized world is much fueled up by energy powering through which the challenge of universal access to affordable, secure and most importantly sustainable energy supply has become apparent. At this unprecedented global economic growth, the demand for energy is estimated to rise by more than 1/3rd until 2035 is reached (OECD, 2015). The energy sector alone is responsible for two-thirds of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to which it has become unequivocally critical for actions at international, national and local levels.  The global energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are likely to be reduced by 70% by 2050 due to global actions taken by the world for setting the path to net-zero emissions (IRENA, 2017). 

In the wake of rising demand of energy consumption, the focus on energy efficiency has been increasing since Paris Agreement. Energy efficiency and renewable energy have recently become twin pillars of the sustainable energy policy (International Energy Agency, 2015). These policies have been formed with an idea of stabilizing and reducing the carbon dioxide emission in the environment. The focus on energy efficiency has become important as it can help in slowing down the energy demand growth so that the world can cut down the use of fossil fuels and other nonrenewable energy sources (Nayeripour & Kheshti, 2013). 

Energy efficiency focuses at reducing the amount of energy required for providing the same or even improved level of the service to the consumers in an efficient way that is economically viable and socially acceptable (Gielenac, et al., 2019). The energy efficiency is brought in through utilizing key policies like forming resource and technology standards, incentives and codes that can help in the advancement of energy efficient technologies and pull up the practices of reducing GHG emissions in all sectors of the economy (EPA, 2018). Through forming energy efficiency policies, the economy setup itself for reducing demand for and supply of the energy that is generated through fossil fuels (i.e. natural gas, petroleum resources, oil and coal powered plants). The efforts put in for forming energy efficiency policies can generate several benefits for society in the arena of emissions, health, electricity consumption and other economic benefits for individual and businesses (Tumlison, et al., 2019). The energy efficiency energy initiatives have proved to be cost competitive with the other energy options and are considered to provide several primary and secondary benefits to electricity system.  The primary benefits include the reduction in overall cost of electricity, avoiding need to build new power plants and increased electricity generation (Kern, et al., 2017). The secondary benefits include the increased reliability, improved energy security and increased energy efficiency. Other than this, energy efficiency and renewable energy together reduce the air pollution and negative consequences (EPA, 2018). 

The present growth of the demand for energy usage is eating up the efforts of renewable energy in reducing GHG and CO2 emissions. With such unprecedented energy usage growth, it is likely that the renewable energy development will soon be chasing receding targets (Nayeripour & Kheshti, 2013). About 100 years in future, the shortfall in energy will become larger after the fossil fuels have been exhausted. It has been estimated that by middle of the 21st century, the demand of energy usage will exceed the energy supplied from conventional energy sources (Nayeripour & Kheshti, 2013). The figure 1 below is showing the predicted rise in gap between world power demand and total energy available. 

Figure 1: Energy Demand vs Availability Predictions

Source: (Nayeripour & Kheshti, 2013)

At the current speed of GHG emissions, both energy efficiency and renewable energy are considered to be the important paths through which climate change risk can be mitigated. The bundle of energy efficiency and renewable energy provide the initial pathway for delivering the majority emission cuts that are required at the current condition. By using different technologies that are reliable, efficient and safe, the energy related CO2 emissions are likely to be reduced by 90% (IRENA, 2018). 

For energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy sources has to be opted for. Renewable energy is defined as the energy source that comes from natural resources like sunlight, winds, rain, geothermal heat, tides and plants. IRENA (2018) suggested increasing the total share of renewable energy from 15% in 2015 to 2/3rds till 2050. In order to meet the necessary cut down in GHG emissions, the energy intensity of the global economy is also suggested to fall by 2-3rds till 2050. 

The global energy market is also transforming from fossil fuels basis to renewable energy resources. The overall transiting is underpinned by the rapid decline in cost of renewable energy sources, continued technical innovation and integration of renewable power in the power systems (IRENA, 2018). Over the coming decades, it is predicted that the renewable energy mix will shuffle by advancing the usage of renewable electricity, electrification technologies, electric vehicles, heat-pumps and advanced biofuels (IRENA, 2018). The current share growth rate of renewable energy resources usage increased from zero to above 50% in the past decade. On the basis of sectors, the transport industry is lagging way behind in fitting in the energy transition. At global level, the rate of renewable energy growth is just 4% in the transport industry uptil 2015. However, the building industry is predicted to increase its electricity demand by 70% till 2050. At global level the renewable energy usage in building and construction sector has remained to be 36% (IRENA, 2019). 

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The laggard sector in energy transition is the industry sector that used only 7% of the renewable energy sources (excluding electricity) in 2015. The most used renewable resource in this sector remained to be bioenergy whereas the electricity consumption remained to be 27%. Moreover, IRENA (2018) reported industrial sector to be the second largest GHG emitter as it is considered to be responsible for one third of the GHG emission in the globe. 

Given the sluggish transition growth towards adapting renewable energy, a quarter of all electricity produced worldwide was sourced from renewables in 2017. A transition away from the fossil fuel consumption towards the low-carbon solutions can play an essential role in reducing the GHG and CO2 emissions worldwide (Choukri, et al., 2017). As discussed above, the majority of the transition away from fossil fuels is underpinned by the falling cost of renewable resources and improved availability of technology. Particularly with advent of solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind power generating technologies, the growth of electricity generation from renewable sources has improved. The major energy transformation is driven by rapid declining renewable energy costs, air quality improvement and reduction of CO2 emissions in the air (IRENA, 2019). 

The global average cost of the electricity generated from commercially viable renewable power generation technologies like PV has continued to fall during 2018 (IRENA, 2019). The 77% fall in prices of PV projects since 2010 till 2018 has remained to be remarkable (IRENA, 2019). Other than PV, the wind power generation projects in Europe offshore have been competing with the fossil-fired energy sources in the wholesale electricity markets. Similarly, the usage of non-hydropower renewable energy resources like solar PV and wind in United States have been growing at faster rate and is expected to double in next two years (IRENA, 2019). 

Apart from this, the reduction in air pollution caused by fossil fuel combustion and chemical infused emission has been improving through switching to clean renewable energy sources. It has been predicted to improve overall air quality in the cities and bring greater social and economic prosperity. The savings from reduction in externalities (related to health and productivity) outweigh the cost of addition energy system installation. According to estimation by IRENA (2019), for every $1 invested in the transformation of global energy system is expected to pay $3-$7 over the period to 2050. Moreover, the transformation towards reduced carbon emission as per Paris Agreement still requires a 70% reduction in energy related emissions by 2050 as compared to the current levels (IRENA, 2019).

Literature Review

The energy demand has continued to cross the supply and the development of the biomass options. This part of the research will make an attempt to comprehensively review various sources of biomass energy sources, environment and sustainable development. The review will also include gauging the energy technologies, efficiency systems, energy savings and other mitigation steps required to reduce the global GHG & CO2 emissions. 

According to Robinson (2007), the strong scientific evidence is present about rising average temperature of the earth surface. This has been caused by increased GHG and CO2 emissions in the atmosphere emitted by burning of fossil fuels. Omer (2017) argued that for improving the energy usage statistics, it is required to adapt more green energy alternatives. Through this, fossil fuel emission will reduce. The study by Omer (2017) conducted a survey for assessing the future availability of raw materials related to biomass technologies. Various energy sources were identified including vegetation, oil, dry cells and muscle power. Furthermore, Omer (2017) also highlighted some renewable applications of alternative energy systems including anaerobic digestion, wind generator, solar collectors, integration of different subsystems, methane and rain collection. The study presented agricultural waste as a solution towards achieving environmental friendly alternatives of energy production systems.

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Moustakas et al. (2019) reviewed the recently developed biofuels and bioenergy technology as a step towards adopting eco-friendly source of energy to fossil fuels. The study presented the challenges required to overcome before completely commercializing biofuels including the economic viability, products quality and limitation of the food versus fuel. Moustakas et al. (2019) argued that non-edible seed oil are being used as  biofuel production due to its key properties including density, acid value, viscosity, cloud point and sulphur content. Similarly, municipal solid waste was also discussed by the study to be used for producing biofuel. Barampouti et al. (2019) also discussed the high bioethanol yields that can be achieved from bioethanol production methodologies given that fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis are synergistically complied. 

Schmidt et al. (2019) conducted a research on analyzing global renewable energy systems including carbon capture and storage, nuclear energy and renewable energies. According to the study, biofuels can sustainably replace the fossil fuels in global energy systems. The reason given by Schmidt et al. (2019) is that photosynthesis allows conversion of solar energy to fuel efficiently. Moreover, biomass technologies including palm oil, electrolysis, liquid carbon-based fuels and gaseous fuels are significant ways of renewable fuel production. The study also identified several commercially available technologies including PV, wind power, palm oil and sugar cane. Other than this, few technologies were identified to be under development including eucalyptus, PV & CO2, PV & nitrogen, WP & CO2, WP & nitrogen and 2nd generation sugar cane. 

According to Gur (2018), land-efficient renewable energy is classified into power-to-fuel technologies and solar fuel technologies. The power-to-fuel technologies use the electricity for conducting water electrolysis or CO2 along with subsequent methane upgrades and liquid fuels. On the other hand, solar-fuel technologies produce the renewable hydrogen extracted from solar light, thermo-chemical, photo-electro-chemical and CO2. However, these technologies are still under development and are not yet commercially deployed. The study revealed that by 2050, pure renewable hydrogen production and diesel synthesis using Fischer-Tropsch model will become commercially available and cost-competitive as compared to fossil fuel.  

Today, environmentally conscious consumers are demanding the products that have milk impact on the environment (Sadorsky, 2011). Technological development is by far the most important driver behind renewable energy because they are capital intensive and are required to cover long distances from their energy usage. According to Sadorsky (2011), the trend of renewable energy consumption over 1980-2007 include the use of solar, wind, wood, geothermal and waste electric power. In terms of both policy and financing, wind and solar energy appear to be most attractive options. Several technologies including hydro plants, Solar PV, geothermal power, biomass power, on/off-shore wind, utility scale solar PV, concentrating thermal power and rooftop solar PV are commercially available to be used as energy efficient options. 

Soubane (2017) distinguished between non-renewable and renewable energy resources. The non-renewable energy resources are separated into fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) and nuclear while the renewable energy resources include solar energy, wind, hydro-power, biomass, geothermal and tidal & wave. According to Soubane (2017), solar energy is used for extracting energy through passive solar energy plants, concentrating solar heat plants (CSP) or photovoltaic (PV) plants. Apart from these commercially available technologies, the study discussed the challenges faced by renewable energy technology today that is shaping up the future of the technologies. Currently, with abundant stock of hydrogen, the future predicts that the fusion energy age might kick over alongside with hydrogen fuel cell that would shape up the renewable energy mix. Hansen et al. (2019) also reviewed over 180 articles for analyzing the future perspective on 100% renewable energy systems. The study revealed that 100% renewable energy system can be applied through smart energy systems approach. This can be done when different sectors would collaborate with each other for providing more affordable energy storage solutions including wind and solar power production. 

Sims et al. (2003) provided a comparison between fossil fuel, nuclear and some of the renewable energy resources that are utilized for generating the electricity. The study provided a cost comparison between the conventional fossil fuels and renewable energy sources including nuclear, hydro, wind, solar and bioenergy generating plants. According to Sims et al. (2003), except for solar technology & CO2 sequestration, all the renewable resources showed potential in reducing the electricity generation cost and carbon emission avoidance. Nicoletti et al. (2015) penned the benefits of exploiting hydrogen as a fossil fuel alternative for generating electricity. The study explored the reasons behind choosing hydrogen as a renewable energy alternative and disclosed it to be good option as it disperses in the atmosphere quickly as compared to other fuels. Moreover, hydrogen is considered to have widest flammability range due to which it behaves well during gas loss. Similarly, it has a high flame speed that is more than 7 times than that of natural gas or the gasoline. 

Lotz & Dogan (2018) also made a comparative view of non-renewable resources and renewable energy sources in terms of reduction in CO2 emissions. The study outlined that the increased utilization of non-renewable energy consumption intensifies the overall pollution while the usage of renewable energy stock resources tend to reduce the pollution. Ghorashi & Rahimi (2010) also provided the art of know-how and technology gaps in both renewable and non-renewable energy status. The conventional energy resources (oil, gas, coal and non-commercial energies) end up in adding pollution to the environment while the renewable energy resources (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biogas) reduce the pollution in the environment. Jebli & Youseff (2013) outlined the renewable and non-renewable energy consumption patterns and technologies. The study discussed that as the economies of scale has been achieved and given the technological progress, the price of equipment including solar PV and wind power has been reducing significantly. Given the price reductions, the renewables have become more affordable for a large range of consumers throughout the world. 

The technological advancement lies at the root of global innovation in renewable energy production. Bettencourt et al. (2013) conducted a study to understand the driving factors behind innovation in energy technologies in order to address the energy related global challenges. Currently, low levels of energy patent fillings are considered to be issue of concern as innovation is getting hindered. However, much recently, the sharp rise in patents predicts the move towards renewable technology investment. Adenle et al. (2015) provided a global assessment of the technological innovation in field of renewable energy. The study outlined the role of mechanical biological treatment via mechanical heat treatment and bio-drying for recovering energy from municipal solid waste. The study also outlined current conventional energy methods to be the major source of GHG emissions. The role of renewable energy in development of rural areas was also discussed by Adenle et al. (2015) especially in the area of agricultural productivity as renewable energy technologies can be used for irrigation pumping and postharvest processing. 

In order to utilize the renewable resources for energy production, the concept of energy transition has also been circulating recently. Susser et al. (2017) argued that for transiting towards the renewable energy supply, the social transformation of communities and reshaping of policies are the must-haves. Social structures and the processes are considered to be important factors for underlying the energy transition. In order to enable the sustainable energy generation, communities are required to be transformed into community renewable energy that is conceived as the grassroot innovation concept. According to Hargreaves et al. (2013), the movement towards energy transition can be achieved when local entrepreneurs (also conceived as change agents) can create the mental space for testing and implementing the renewable energy generation that is of social and economic value. 

 

 

Audretsch et al. (2012) also argued that entrepreneurs can bring in innovation in order to force the applicability of community-based renewable energy. This would allow the world to move towards embracing energy transition towards renewable energy. Davidson (2019) proposed the new term of exnovation that refers to the actions taken for discarding the existing rules and practices hindering innovation in renewable energy technologies development. According to Davidson (2019), in order to fully transit towards renewable energy, the current policies, cultural systems and technical procedures must be transformed. Currently, the fossil fuel-based energy systems are based on complex set of legal, cultural and economic principles that are required to be changed for pushing the world towards 100% renewable energy usage. 

According to Gauthier (2008), the scope of transition towards renewable energy usage would be achieved when the fossil fuels are 100% substituted by renewable energy resources, including hydropower & biomass by 2050. However with current lagging rate of electricity & renewable share of electric power generation, this achievement is considered to be quite challenging. It would require the increase of both shares to reach 100% from 15% and 18% currently (Gauthier, 2018). The major implication of such goal is the short timeframe and sluggish transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources. This would also require the countries to increase investment in development of renewable energy facilities to 20% (during 2017-2022) followed by 10% (during 2023-2050). The study also concluded that such huge investment is estimated to be equivalent of developing a nuclear plant every day from 2000 to 2050. Thus, this seems to be a little challenging in terms of both cost and time-frame. The technical impediments including inability to develop enough productive capacity to manufacture the renewable energy equipment and required infrastructure are also hindering the pace of energy transition towards renewable energy. 

Given the potential and climatic advantages of adopting renewable energy resources, its negative consequences cannot be undermined. Hassan & Kalam (2013) reviewed biofuel as a renewable energy source and studied its challenges and development protocols. According to the study, the replacement of diesel by biofuel can also abate the climate change caused due to vehicle pollution as it will prolong the depletion of petroleum resources further. Using biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuel energy resources can raise issues related to automotive engine compatibility in long run and food security stemming from food-grade oil seeds. Corrosion, wearing of engine parts and carbon deposition were also outlined as the downsides of biodiesel in future. 

Similarly, Klessmann et al. (2008) reviewed the pros and cons of using renewables in the electricity market especially through deployment of wind power technologies. It was argued that although the pollution related to solar energy systems is less as compared to other energy sources, yet it is associated with pollution emitted from vehicles required to transport and install solar systems. Tons of toxic materials and hazardous products are utilized while manufacturing the solar photovoltaic systems that are also indirectly polluting the environment. Other environmental impacts associated with solar power include land and water usage as well as habitat loss. This is because for installing the solar panels, massive fields are required that might be shared with land that is optimal to be used for agricultural, mining or production of other materials. Cadmium and lead are also found in the solar panel along with toxic material that is used in production including nitric acid, trichloroethane, hydrochloric acid and copper-indium-gallium-diselenide. 

• Gap in Knowledge

• Objectives

• Research Questions

• Expected Outcomes

• Research Methodology 

• Project Plan 

• Required Resources 

• Risk Analysis

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