Assessment of Environmentalist Approaches to Energy

Question: Describe about the Assessment of Environmentalist Approaches to Energy. Answer: Introduction: In the contemporary era of growth as well as economic development, it is evident that human kind is going to face a greater crisis regarding the energy resource in the next century. As the human population of the world is increasing in a geometric progression, it is being assumed that the world population will be double of the current 7 billion by mid-century. This scenario will evidently augment the usage of energy as well as its resource. In this context, various environmentalists are emphasizing mostly on two approaches to deter this crisis. The approaches include moving to sustainable energy sources while maintaining market economy and reducing the usage of non-renewable source by reduced energy use. The article focuses on assessing both of the approaches regarding energy usage along with indicating most effective approach for the humankind. Discussion: It is evident that energy is one of the most imperative necessities of humankind in the current advanced world. It can be considered as the key driver of economic development, which is the key tool of sharing prosperity in to the society and thereby reducing poverty. In addition to that, social development such as health and education is also highly depended on the access of energy. Globalization has enabled the humankind to access most of the resources for generating energy, albeit the resource endowments immensely varies from country to country as do the cost of energy supply (Knopf, Nahmmacher Schmid, 2015). Due to this particular scarcity of energy resources the world experiences a scale of variation in the domestic market, regional trade and collaboration prospect as well as infrastructure development prospect. It has been observed that the potential energy supply cost is immensely low in the highly developed nation. Figure 1: Energy dependence of the countries (Source: Edenhofer et al., 2013) It has been identified by various extensive studies that the developing countries are continuously experiencing a pressing concern regarding the achievement of reliable power supply. It can be observed from the latest report that the majority of the developing countries faced an exceeding demand of base-load electricity in comparison with the supply. The energy deficit has been noted to be around 7% in all of the developing geographic regions (Hinrichs-Rahlwes, 2013). The power deficit is affecting these countries to such an extent that it causes regular brownouts as well as blackouts and thereby huge amount of economic losses. In this context, it can be seen that majority of the Sub-Saharan African countries are forced to pay a high cost of electricity, which thereby reduces the affordability and basic energy needs of the general population. Figure 2: Energy consumption of the countries (Source: Podobnik, 2015) In order to eliminate these imperative crises such as poverty of energy as well as energy service delivery crisis, the environmentalists have considered undertaking the most sustainable approach to energy so that the entire globe can be prosperous without any hindrance. The majority of the environmentalists are inclined towards the usage of sustainable sources of energy, which will evidently decrease the importance of non-renewable energy sources. The advancement of technology has evidently increased the applicability of this policy of energy generation from renewable sources (del Ro Cerd, 2014). According to the traditional definition, the renewable energy refers to the energy, which is generated from the renewable resources that can be replenished within the human time scale. These resources are waves, sunlight, tides, wind, geothermal heat as well as rain. It is common knowledge in the current time that renewable energy sources are capable of decreasing the dependence on the fossils fuels. Therefore, it can also be assumed that the renewable sources can limit the environmental impact caused by the conventional energy generators. In this aspect, it has been noticed that the majority of the effectiveness of the global economy is evolving around the energy efficiency as well as sustainability. Therefore, most of the political decision makers are greatly considering the approach to use the renewable energy. Despite the strong support for the usage of renewable energy sources, it can be identified that the cost of the energy generation, as well as supply, is quite high. The high cost always has been a key factor that limited the implementation of renewable energy practices (Cerd del Ro, 2015). The major concerns that have been identified are the implementation of highly expensive technologies as well as costly operation and maintenance pro cess. The major factors considered as integral part of the energy generation processes are scalability, commercialization, substitutability, material input requirements, intermittency, water, regulation of receding horizons as well as energy return on investment and energy density. The renewable sources must have the capability to supply a certain amount of energy within a specific period. In order to switch from conventional energy sources to the renewable energy sources, a huge altercation in the infrastructure will be needed. Thus, it can be easily assumed that the renewable energy cannot be used as a substitute for the conventional energy source within a short notice. The renewable energy sources are considered as the low-density carriers of energy (Lopez-Pena, Perez-Arriaga Linares, 2012). Therefore, the renewable energy sources will need a higher amount of units in comparison to the conventional sources of energy. Considering these factors the social scientists have been able to ide ntify several critical barriers that would be a major factor for the efficiency of renewable sources. In order to compete against the conventional means of energy generation, the renewable energy sources must overcome a couple of most important barriers which are lacking economic scale as well as undeveloped infrastructure. Being the most expensive means of energy generation process the renewable energy generally requires a large amount of fund to develop the primary investments (Fagiani, Barqun Hakvoort, 2013). It has been observed that the early years of renewable energy generation consists of an increasing investment series. These investments have major aspects, which are described below: Prospecting: In order to initiate the renewable energy generation process the authority must unearth the most acceptable sites. In this context, the sites must be with good resources and lines of transmission. Permitting: The conventional energy generation process consists of several issues, which are quite common and the review system is quite straight forward. Moreover, the renewable sources produce new types of issues that demand innovative review system (Cho Kim, 2015). Marketing: As the conventional energy is highly available in the market and the general population is quite familiar with the usage of energy, the authority has to convince the citizens to switch their energy type from scratch. Installation, maintenance, and operation: In the context of implementing the renewable source, the authority must employ a highly trained workforce in order to install, maintain as well as operate the technological aspect of the renewable energy process (Amigues, Le Kama Moreaux, 2015). Despite these crucial concerns, it can also be identified that the mass production of the energy technologies can be highly effective for reducing the cost of the renewable energy process. In this context, it has been observed that price of the photovoltaic has been decreased up to 20 25 percent in the last two decades. Moreover, it is assumed by the professionals that it can be reduced up to further 20% with the increase of production. In addition to that, various studies have indicated that energy efficiency policies undertaken by European countries have effectively reduced the cost of the renewable energy (Shaddel Shokouhian, 2014). This crucial example further raises the debates to the approaches to use of conventional energy source and renewable source. It presents the evidence that the renewable energy has the potential to compete with the conventional energy sources in terms of price and effectiveness. The major advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy have been depi cted in the following table. Type of energy Energy Source Advantages Disadvantages Solar The sunlight is turned into electricity by solar panel. The energy supply is potentially infinite. The electric supply can be owned by single dwelling. The solar panels are highly expensive in terms of manufacturing and implementation. Wind The wind is converted into electricity by wind turbines. The energy supply is potentially infinite The single wind turbines can create energy from a single unit. The wind turbines are highly expensive in terms of manufacturing and implementation. Moreover, it is objected due to the spoiling of countryside. Tidal The tide movement is converted by turbines. The energy supply is potentially infinite. The technology can effectively prevent the flooding. The barrage is very expensive in terms of construction. Moreover, it has an environmentalist concern as it rumored to be harmful to underwater biodiversity. Wave The wave movement turned into electricity by driving turbine. The operation can be only implemented through a small local operation. The manufacturing cost is extreme and often opposed by the environmentalists. Geothermal The natural heat of earth can turn the cold water into a hot stream, which is converted into electricity by power turbines. The energy supply is potentially infinite. It is only applicable in the volcanic region, and the plant can be redundant in future. Hydroelectric Power The water movement in various dams, lakes, and rivers is transformed into electricity. Besides the energy plant, it can be used as water reserves as well. The development cost is quite high. It can cause flooding and adverse impact on local hydrology. Biomass Organic material can be burned for the energy generation. The biomass resources are cheap and available. It generates a high amount of pollutants and greenhouse gas. Wood Felled trees can be burned to produce heat and light. It is highly cheap and available. It generates a high amount of pollutants and greenhouse gas. Table 1: Assessment of renewable resources (Source: Wilson, Wood Garside, 2012) As per the data provided by U.S Energy Information Administration, it can be derived that it is likely impossible to replenish the non renewable energy sources within a short period. The non-renewable resources include several nuclear elements such as plutonium, radium, uranium; coal, natural gas as well as oil. Numerous scholars consider the non-renewable source as the most effective approach to energy generation as the resources is immensely abundant (Chu Majumdar, 2012). On the contrary, several environmentalists have been able to deduce that current rate of exploration of the natural resources will evidently create a crisis within the next century. However, the current studies on the energy sources and their impacts have been able to reveal several crucial disadvantages, which are most damaging for the humankind. These problems are environment contamination, damaging of bio-diversity as well as crop loss. In order to avoid these severe consequences of conventional energy use, the environmentalists have proposed another major approach. Numerous nations are effectively following this approach as it presents a flexible stand while concerning the use of conventional resources for energy generation (Hinrichs-Rahlwes, 2013). However, it is also openly acknowledged by every nation that the non-renewable resources are highly unsustainable while considering long term prospect. It has also been discovered by an extensive study that continuous use of the conventional resource will present a markedly detrimental effect on the environment in future. Although the countries in all over the world have mutually taken a crucial stand to combat the environmental deterioration, the approved measures are insufficient. The current gravity of the situation has reached a certain extent that the global warming protocols can be considered a futile effort. In this context, another major concern is climate change, which is proved to be gaining major upper hand constantly (Silva, Soares Afonso, 2013). Thus, the environmentalists suggest a complete revamping of the socio-economic structure so that the energy consumption can be limited. However, considering all of the above aspects it can be noticeably determined that the conventional use of non-renewable energy cannot be limited, as it will require a high control, strenuous effort as well as tremendous goodwill. In the current era of growth and development, the developing countries cannot survive the competition without necessary access to energy. They will need a high amount of energy in education, health, production as well as construction fields. In addition to that, the emerging political power in the world has created a scenario where the energy resource can be considered as the major tool of power definition (Kurbatova Khlyap, 2015). In this context, it is evident that the approach of drastic change in society will not be entertained various nation, and thus it lacks the practicality. It can also be considered that the limitation of energy use is not a relevant way for them. In support of the argument, it can also be stated that the natural resources will not be replenished by the limited use of non-renewable sources. Therefore, the world must stop consuming non-renewable resources and depend on the renewable sources (Mohammed et al., 2013). As the renewable sources have the capabilit y to supply the energy for a long time, it has the potential to substitute the use conventional sources. Conclusion: The above-described article successfully addressed the major approaches of energy uses, which are the use of sustainable resources at the same time maintaining the national economy and reshaping the society to limit the use of conventional resources for energy generation drastically. The article effectively assessed the approaches in terms of cost as well as efficiency. It has been identified by the discussion that although the renewable sources of energy has a positive advantage of green energy. At the same time, the use of non-renewable sources cannot be continued for a long run. Moreover, the non-renewable resources are having a highly damaging effect on the environment. 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