And, also there are geographic limitations, including environmental factors, that could prevent the dependency on renewable sources. Not only, it negatively affects the environment but it is also not sustainable. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are sustainable as these are not going to end in the foreseeable future. It is another argument that says that it is difficult to get reliable power from reliable energy as it is intermittent.
Intermittent energy refers to electrical energy that is not continuously available due to external factors that cannot be controlled like weather conditions and geographical location. Intermittency is an issue at the moment as the technology is expanding, but it can be managed by thinking about the overall energy system.
Over-reliance on one renewable technology could result in severe risks. However, renewable energy cannot be perfect for all locations or in all weather conditions. It will vary depending on the geographical location and seasons. Wind energy performs quite well in coastal areas. The total cost of any renewable energy depends on various factors like the fuel used, the cost of capital used to build power plants, the total time which a plant operates, and the amount of power generated at times of peak demand.
Related: How can you earn from Solar Panels? However, the upfront cost is also decreasing. Like, the costs of some renewable energy inputs such as PV panels have halved the price since Also, the capital cost of a solar power plant fell by 22 percent between and Renewable energy power plants occupy a large area for installation either in the case of solar power installation or wind energy power plants in comparison to non-renewable energy sources like coal which need just combustion to generate energy.
Many renewable technologies are scalable. Also, the land which is used for renewable energy projects, like solar power plants or wind farms, can still be used for farming and cattle grazing. These then collectively transformed into the combustible materials that we use today for fuel. The earliest known fossil fuel deposits are from about million years ago, when most of the major groups of animals first appeared on Earth. The later fossil fuels, such as peat or lignite coal soft coal , began forming from about five million years ago.
Currently, we are over dependent on fossil fuels to heat our homes, run our cars, power our offices, industry and manufacturing, and respond to our insatiable desire to power all of our electrical goods. Nearly all of the energy needed to meet our demands — 80 percent of global energy — comes from burning fossil fuels.
At the current rate of global energy demands, fossil fuels cannot replenish fast enough to meet these growing needs. The over consumption of these non-renewable fuels has been linked to the emission of greenhouse gases and pollutants into the atmosphere — the leading cause of global warming and climate change. The lowest energy consumption value Ireland is ranked 46th out of countries in its fossil fuel energy consumption.
Renewable energy is energy that is derived from natural processes e. Solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, bioenergy and ocean power are sources of renewable energy. Currently, renewables are utilised in the electricity, heating and cooling and transport sectors. When global warming has happened at various times in the past two million years, it has taken the planet about 5, years to warm 5 degrees.
The predicted rate of warming for the next century is at least 20 times faster. This rate of change is extremely unusual. Burning fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas emitter that contributes to global warming, which hit its peak in In the last 30 years, temperatures have risen to the warmest since records began.
Even if we changed today to using more renewable resources instead of fossil fuels for example, increases could be between 1 to 2. The 20th century saw the most prolific population growth and industrial development , which was and remains totally dependent on the use of fossil fuel for energy. Estimates for fossil fuel reserves depletion range from between years. None of these projections are very appealing for a global community that is so heavily dependent on energy to meet even our basic human needs — needs that keep growing.
Predictions estimate that global energy demand will grow by a third by Also critical to consider is the more than 1. Scientists maintain that the impact of global warming on the environment is widespread. In the Arctic and Antarctica, warmer temperatures are melting ice, which leads to increases in sea levels and alters the composition of the surrounding sea water. Rising sea levels impacts on settlements, agriculture and fishing both commercially and recreationally. Air pollution is also a direct result of the use of fossil fuels, resulting in smog see in China and India , and the degradation of human health and plant growth.
There is the negative impact on natural ecosystems that result from collecting fossil fuels, particularly coal and oil.
There is also the continuing threat of oil spills that devastate ecosystems and the impact of mining on land vitality. The discussions around climate change and energy problems today centre around the potential for technical solutions to energy demands that are cost effective. So far, the alternative to fossil fuels has been around renewable energy sources , which are expected to play an increasingly vital role in the mix of power generation over the next century. The demands on these alternative energy sources are inordinate — they will need to not only keep up with the increasing population growth, but needs to go beyond these demands by contributing to the replacement of fossil fuel energy production in order to meet future energy needs and consider the natural environment.
However, the argument from governments, oil, coal and natural gas companies is that until renewable energy sources become more viable as major energy providers, the only alternative in meeting the increasing demands for energy from a growing global population that requires more and more energy, is to continue to extract fossil fuel reserves.
However, little attention has been given to exploring the limits to renewable energy. Unfortunately, people working on renewable energy technologies tend not to throw critical light on the difficulties and limits. They typically make enthusiastic claims regarding the potential of their specific technologies.
The idea of drawing our energy from sources that are renewable, independent of foreign nations, and do not emit greenhouse gases has powerful appeal. But capturing these resources is expensive, and many are intermittent, which complicates using them on a large scale.
Furthermore, it takes time and money to change distribution and consumption of energy, meaning we will be dependent on fossil fuels until we can afford this switch.
Finally, bringing new renewable energy technologies to market causes problems both in regard to cost and convenience, meaning a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is not a simple task. There is a strong case that this assumption is seriously mistaken. There is much evidence to show that we are the greatest burden that Earth has to bear. To simply rape the earth of all its fossil-fuels would be gross folly.
Peter Langdon. The issue of intermittency from solar and wind means that is difficult to get reliable power from either as it is weather dependent — which, particularly in Ireland is unpredictable.
This creates a need for energy storage which is currently not efficient enough to be cost effective or needs traditional fossil fuels or nuclear power to supplement. In the case of Germany, much of that energy is coal. As Germany has paid tens of billions of dollars to subsidize solar panels and windmills, fossil fuel capacity, especially coal, has not been shut down—it has increased.
Because Germans need more energy, and they cannot rely on the renewables. Such a goal could not be achieved without radical change in social, economic, political and cultural systems. The absurdity of this commitment is easily shown. It is concluded that the investment cost that would be involved in deriving total world energy supply from renewable sources would be unaffordable. Department of Defense DOD to permit transmission, define wind energy areas, and hold competitive lease sales for offshore wind, including in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, have made virtually no progress under the Trump administration.
The Trump administration has hollowed out the National Renewable Energy Coordination Office at the BLM, which included a staff of seven people in headquarters and five regional coordination offices at the beginning of The current organizational chart for the BLM shows the office no longer exists, 39 and conversations with former BLM employees confirm that staff has been reassigned to other roles or left the agency altogether.
Without a team of headquarter-level employees focused on how to advance responsible renewable energy development, the administration has made clear that it is not a priority for public lands. In Washington, D. Public calendars show that from January to May , Secretary Bernhardt and five of his top aides met with the renewable energy industry only 22 times. The idea behind these areas, including Solar Energy Zones and offshore wind energy areas, is that they not only help to ensure projects are sited in areas of low environmental conflict and high energy potential but also offer developers more certainty and a speedier review process.
Further work to define and build out these areas onshore or offshore, however, appears to have slowed under the Trump administration. A CAP review 42 of all draft and final Resource Management Plans for public lands released under the Trump administration found that the BLM has not used the planning process to identify any renewable energy opportunities, with the exception of the Dry Lake East Designated Leasing Area DLA that was completed as a standalone plan amendment.
DLAs for wind and solar energy development on public lands are left out of all 11 draft or final Resource Management Plan that the BLM has released since Additionally, the Trump administration has actively undermined 43 the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan DRECP , a comprehensive management plan for 22 million acres of state, federal, and private lands in California.
Shortly after announcing that they will review and revise the carefully crafted landmark plan to facilitate responsible renewable energy development, the Trump administration canceled a mining withdrawal for 1.
There are several actions an interior secretary could take to once again kickstart responsible clean energy development on public lands and waters. An administration interested in advancing renewable energy development should immediately set an ambitious goal of more than doubling current permitting to 30 gigawatts by This goal would send an important signal to the American public and to Interior Department employees that there is a place for wind and solar energy on public lands and waters.
When built, these projects could generate enough clean energy to power roughly 12 million homes, based on calculations extrapolated from a recent analysis on the economic benefits of renewable energy development. Many of the tools needed to achieve this ambitious goal of responsibly sited renewable energy are already available. The Interior Department needs to return to the business of approving projects in areas best suited for renewable energy, including old mines or previously contaminated industrial sites.
The BLM, for its part, should dedicate significant staff time and resources to consultation with tribal nations, coordination with state and local governments on siting and transmission questions, and gathering input from scientists and local communities to identify the most appropriate areas for siting new projects. When the Interior Department does hold lease sales, the BLM must encourage healthy competition and ensure that projects deliver a fair return to taxpayers for the use of public lands and waters.
But the news reporting about energy companies doesn't always capture the complexity of their investments. So it might be just in media reports we are getting this image of investing in renewables, but less coverage on continued investment in gas. It is just that this parallel investment in gas dilutes the shift to renewables. That's the key issue. The study has been published in the journal Nature Energy.
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