Is there enough Renewable Energy?

There is no doubt that the world uses a lot of energy. In fact, author of Medium article The Surprising Math of Getting The Whole World on Clean Energy, Shane Snow (2015) estimates the world uses 8,979 Mtoe, or million tons, of energy a year. Humans typically use energy for electricity and fuel. But how can we solely rely on renewable resources for electricity and transportation, for everyone? Though most cars rely on fuel to work, emerging companies like Tesla are changing the vehicle industry to begin including greener ways of transportation.

There are a few ways in which the world can go greener. Electricity is generated with electrochemical batteries. They are a way to generate potential energy by creating a circuit to pass electrons to balance themselves out. This potential energy is then charged by either photovoltaics (Sun’s energy) or electromagnets and can be used! These methods are both ways to incorporate renewable energy — Snow (2015) uses examples such as wind, water, and steam to spin these electromagnetic turbines that help produce our electricity. Steam is most commonly used to spin the turbines that generate our electricity, and “we usually make it by burning things to heat water, and that’s where our fossil fuel problem comes from”, states Snow (2015), indicating that the generation of steam is causing a larger global environmental issue.

Ultimately, Snow (2015) indicates that there is simply “not enough energy in hydroelectric, geothermal, tidal, wave, biomass, or other clean energy sources combined” for us to sustain our lifestyles. However, there is enough potential energy supplied by sun and wind to generate the energy we need, and there is an unlimited amount of the resource to be used forever.

Snow (2015) indicates solar is the best option for us looking forward. The cost of creating solar cells is decreasing, and inversely, the efficiency of solar cells is actually increasing. Additionally, we have the capacity to have these solar panels on private properties, so using the same process, distributing the solar panel concepts throughout the world can actually be feasible. This means no major power plant shutdowns and healthier environmental impact.

There are a few takeaways to improve the global impact we have on the Earth for a cleaner future: swapping out transportation methods that burn fuel by switching to electric power, increase manufacturing solar panels, and increase jobs in the solar industry. These are all feasible changes that can be made, and we’ve already made so much progress in the past few years.

Resources

Snow, S. (2020, January 27). The surprising math of getting the world on clean energy. Retrieved March 16, 2021, from https://medium.com/@shanesnow/what-if-we-wanted-to-get-the-whole-world-on-clean-energy-734832879fd2