Can 100% Renewable Energy Power the world
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”
— Thomas Edison
The demand for electricity continues to surge worldwide as countries experience constant growth, driven by both increasing population needs and advancements in technology. Upon examining the data for 2022, it is evident that our global electricity consumption has surpassed 25,000 terawatt-hours. These highest numbers are highlighting our increasing dependencies on energy and focus attentions on the challenges and opportunities linked to this growing demand.
According to REUTERS, fossil fuels still dominate global electricity generation, providing more than 60% of the total. Despite Green Energy and Climate Change being big topics in past years, non-renewable energy sources continue to dominate the energy industry. But let’s take a closer look at what renewable energy is. Renewable energy is derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed. Sunlight and wind, for example, are such sources that are constantly replenished. Renewable energy sources are plentiful and all around us.
There are so many renewable energy sources available to us.
In Sri Lanka, hydroelectric power plants play a pivotal role in the country’s electricity generation. The abundance of water resources in Sri Lanka makes hydropower a reliable and sustainable source of energy. other renewable sources, such as solar, wind, and biomass, offer additional support to overall electricity generation.
SOLAR AND WIND
Despite the abundance of renewable energy sources, solar and wind stand out as cost-effective options compared to others in the renewable energy spectrum. Their low costs, minimal material requirements, and relatively modest labor charges make them economically attractive. Moreover, the simplicity of constructing solar systems allows for easy integration, even within household settings. Let’s explore the affordability and accessibility that solar and wind energy bring to the forefront of renewable energy solutions.
Averaged over an entire year, approximately 342 watts of solar energy fall upon every square meter of Earth. This is a tremendous amount of energy — 44 quadrillion (4.4 x 1016) watts of power to be exact. As a comparison, a large electric power plant produces about 1 billion (1 x 109) watts of power. It would take 44 million such power plants to equal the energy coming from the Sun. (from The Balance of Power in the Earth-Sun System-Nasa facts)
To put that into perspective, Elon Musk said in an interview, ‘You could actually power the entire United States with 100 miles by 100 miles of solar,’ during an episode on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Additionally, numerous studies suggest that we can power the entire world with renewable energy. According to a study conducted by Finland’s LUT University (LUT) and the Energy Watch Group (EWG), a global 100% renewable energy system with zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be a reality before 2050, and more cost-effectively than the current fossil fuel and nuclear-based energy system.
In this envisioned 100% renewable energy system, the primary source of energy will be solar PV (69%), followed by wind energy (18%), biomass and waste (6%), hydro (3%), and geothermal energy (2%) by 2050.
Despite the environmental and economic advantages, the world is not swiftly transitioning from non-renewable to renewable primary energy sources. Let’s examine the challenges
Challenges On 100% Renewable Energy
It seems like 100% renewable energy is promising but we have to analyze what are the potential challenges which are going to occur when we go for 100% renewable and get rod of fossil fuels and other energy sources. The transition is not going to be straightforward.
First there going to be lots of political issues and we are not going to discuss it here rather we are going to focus on technical matters.
- Infrastructure — the present infrastructure is build for fossil fuel and other types of energy sources. So, when we start the transition on a big scale we have to recreate the infrastructure, that would cost more capital. Not only that, for renewable energy, we have to choose the optimal landscape to install our solar PV or wind farms. That is not possible in everywhere in the world. for example there are certain places that receives low amount of sunlight throughout the year.
- Huge Initial Cost — Building a solar or wind farm needs a huge capital compare to fossil fuel plants. Due to high upfront installation cost investors think renewable as high risk. In Sri Lanka the cost of installing a 1 Kw rooftop solar system can range from 45000 per kw to 85000 per kw while that of a 5 Kw system will range from 22500 per kw to 42500 per kw.
- Power Storage — Most of the renewable energy sources are intermittent, meaning they generate power inconsistently based on weather conditions or time of day. Without adequate storage, excess energy produced during peak times cannot be stored for use during periods of low renewable energy generation. that causes problems like,
- Mismatch Between Supply and Demand
- Grid stability and reliability
- Reduces the utilization of renewable energy
- Lack of knowledge and awareness — Lack of knowledge and awareness of renewable energy technology makes people reluctant to use it.
To address some of these challenges we can utilize technologies like smart grid, blockchain and IoT to reduce the usage of fossil fuel and use more renewables. Not only that according to some research if we can success fully implement smart grids into our system which can reduce our energy prices up to 30%.Let’s Hope for good.
REFERENCES
Novak, G. (2021). 100% Renewable Energy Transition by 2050 — Both Possible and Affordable. [online] www.linkedin.com. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/100-renewable-energy-transition-2050-both-possible-affordable-novak/ [Accessed 12 Feb. 2024].
Power, R. (2021). What Are the Problems Faced by Renewable energy? [online] Regen Power. Available at: https://regenpower.com/what-are-the-problems-faced-by-renewable-energy/#:~:text=The%20challenges%20faced%20by%20the.
www.linkedin.com. (2023). Essential Information on Cost for Residential Solar Panels. [online] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/essential-information-cost-residential-solar/ [Accessed 12 Feb. 2024].
Kenneth Hansen, Christian Breyer, Henrik Lund, Status and perspectives on 100% renewable energy systems, Energy, Volume 175, 2019, Pages 471–480, ISSN 0360–5442, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.03.092. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544219304967) Abstract: This article shows that research in the design of 100% renewable energy systems in scientific articles is fairly new but has gained increasing attention in recent years. In total, 180 articles published since 2004 have been identified and analysed. Many of these articles have a predominant focus on the electricity sector. However, an increasing number of studies apply a cross-sectoral holistic approach on the entire energy system. Most studies analyse energy systems for the final 100% renewable state, while a small, though increasing, number also investigate energy transition pathways; how to reach the target. Europe, and thereafter the US and Australia, are well researched, while other parts of the world lack behind, and there is a focus on individual country studies. Henceforward, there is a need for applying a cross-sectoral holistic approach as well as coordinating individual country studies with the global context. Keywords: 100% renewable energy; Smart energy systems; Energy scenarios; Energy systems analysis
