New research confirms energy needs can be met by renewables
Will renewable energy technologies play a dominant role in U.S. power generation face the same challenge of meeting these peak demands. Hospitals all over the world are discovering that energy use can be and socially responsible I CHOOSING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE In in the United on Sustainable Development was convened to find ways to meet people's needs Sustainability demands a redefinition of consumption goals, such as use of. But for renewable power to continue its rapid advancement, the right age, mankind has used fossil fuels to meet its energy requirements. The search for renewable sources of energy began, to ensure a sustainable future.
It is becoming the cheapest source of power for more and more countries. Both solar and wind power have undergone an annual average percentage drop in cost of production in the mid to high teens. These heady declines in cost are likely to continue over the next decade. Given its increasing affordability, the applications and use cases of renewable energy have broadened. Alongside electricity production, it is providing new solutions for mobility and energy security worldwide.
IEA The electric vehicle market is growing rapidly, with China leading the way, and European and American markets following suit. Countries like India are already targeting complete electrification of its vehicular fleet by The affordability and widespread use of electric vehicles is being driven in part by falling battery costs.
These enable further energy stability solutions, including wind-solar hybrid generation, grid management using utility scale batteries, and plausible alternative power storage options such as pumped hydro or a gas grid to create an adequate balancing mechanism. However, despite these positive projections and steep targets, we must ensure that the growing sector is managed well.
Massive renewables installations will be built. From them, it is important to ensure the right balancing loads from thermal and hydro power sources. The infirm nature of the clean energy power supply will require smart grid management at scale. The capacity of more stable sources of energy will need to keep up. However, once viable storage solutions are developed, it should be possible to balance the renewable load.
It is also important to address the need for changing of load demand. The Energy Information Administration reports that the combination of lower-cost natural gas and strong EPA standards for power plants is taking a toll. Not a single coal plant was opened in the U.
The EIA reports that a big flurry of coal closings is expected by Uncertainty resulting from intermittent renewables can be reduced by ramping up grid interconnections, enabling load sharing. So too has increased efficiency. Due in part to widespread mountaintop removal mining, which employs far fewer workers than underground mining, U.
The global picture is complex. Although coal production internationally is still increasing robustly, and the International Energy Agency sees demand growth of 2. Global wind power could employ 2.
Worldwide renewable energy employs 2. CAP said the overall effect would be a 1.
From toChina with vast natural coal reserves added the equivalent of two megawatt plants every week, and from throughit added coal plants roughly equal to half of all U. But demand is rising and so is production: China is planning to double its power-generating capacity by No greenhouse gases are produced from the power generation and are considered as a green source of energy, yet, it has a minimal effect on the vegetation and society through deforestation and displacement of people from their homes who might not even be well compensated for their loss during construction.
Thus, the exploitation of other sources of renewable energy could be preferred to the creation of other potential hydropower sites in Ghana. Bioenergy is another source of renewable energy harnessed from strictly biological sources.
The key trends that will shape renewable energy in 2018 and beyond
It is essential and could also be converted to biodiesel to power vehicles for transportation purposes, domestic purposes like for cooking or even in heating systems and more importantly for generation of electricity. Bioenergy has a wide range of sources, from which this energy could be obtained.
Some of these sources include wood residues from forest by-products, wastes from sugar cane, cow dung and other agricultural waste products [ 22 ]. The energy generation process does not include emission of harmful greenhouse gases to pollute the atmosphere, and thus could prove very useful in future energy generation plans.
- Innovative Energy & Research
- For Personal use:
- Citing [email protected]
However, further research works are being recommended to investigate its sustainability and contribution to mitigation of climate change. Main source of solar energy is from the solar irradiance using photovoltaic PV.
This technology could be used to produce enormous amount of heat energy that could also be used to power systems for energy generation.
Photovoltaic panels are used to absorb this thermal energy to produce direct electric currents, which are later converted to alternating currents by an inverter for onward distribution and transmission [ 24 ].
Plans are far advanced through a joint public-private solar project partnership with a UK based Blue Energy Group in Ghana to acquire one of the largest solar power plant in Africa and the world.
The project is expected to cover a hectares wide area of land, withPV panels mounted to a 37, tonnes of supporting structure and 2, km connected wires at Nzema, which is km north of Takoradi. Geothermal energy is harnessed naturally as a source of heat energy from the interior of the earth. Its origin is as a result of the decay of certain radioactive elements stored and other physical processes taking place within the interior of the earth over several geological years.
Thus, the energy can be obtained through drilling and connection of geothermal systems underground for electricity generation [ 27 ]. These Enhanced Geothermal Systems ESG with hydraulic stimulation transfer the heat from the core to the surface, through a hydrothermal medium of a fluid circulation system that converts the hot water into steam and transferred to turn turbines coupled with generators for electricity production [ 24 ].
The heat produced from these geothermal systems can sustain about 42 million MW of power and already used in most mid-latitude countries for electricity generation, especially for their warming systems in rooms, swimming pools and other direct applications that involve application of heat [ 28 ]. As such for the sustainability of such a massive project in Ghana, there is the need for the assurance of a continuous availability of these geothermal reservoirs which are naturally occurring and in abundant supply.
Unfortunately, there are not adequate information or evidences of volcanic activities in Ghana and most West African countries to indicate the logical viability of geothermal energy. However, studies within these countries continue to investigate the viability of this alternative source of energy [ 29 ]. The interaction of the combined effects of the gravity exerted by the sun, rotation of the earth and the moon gives rise to periodic shifts called tides, that move several gallons of sea water around.
Tides are predictable and regular as compared to many other renewable energy sources like sunshine and wind.
Is It Possible for the World to Run on Renewable Energy?
Thus, coastlines experience two high and low tides daily. The potential energy generated at tidal estuarine sites from these change in tidal heights of at least 5 m, through the rise and fall of these tides are harvested by tidal technologies and used by tidal barrages to turn turbines for electricity generation [ 31 ]. There are mainly two modern tidal technologies used for energy generation.
The several underwater tunnels of the dam cut into its width to allow sea water flow in through them in a controllable way using sluice gates movable flood gates on barrage. Fixed within these tunnels are huge water turbine generators that spin as the water rushes past them, generating electricity. As such, sites marked for this kind of tidal technology must be characterized with enough tidal range and the site should be built in a way not to reduce the tidal range [ 30 ].
The generators of this system are sunk to depths within the ocean of about meters for operation. These systems can be applied at only sites with strong tidal flow. This is a new technology being applied across the world to mimic the operation of wind turbines on land in sub water region.
Good sites are located in areas where incoming water are funneled into narrow channels, bays, river mouths and fjords. Waves are mainly caused by wind and affected by the wind speed, length of time for which the wind blows and the distance or fetch over which the wind blows.
These ocean waves can travel over longer distances and carries both kinetic and gravitational potential energy that get transported due to the strong winds that drive them [ 3334 ]. Similarly, the energy obtained from the waves; use a wave energy converter to generate electricity. This is about twice the global electricity supply of 17 PWh in [ 36 ]. The energy from the waves is harnessed by focusing the waves into a narrow channel to increase their size and power to spin the turbines and produce electricity through the process.
Alternatively, waves could also be channeled into a catch basin or reservoir where the water flows to a turbine at a lower depth and powers the turbines to produce electricity.
An average height difference of 4 ft 10 seconds wave striking a coast produces close to 35, horsepower per mile of a coast [ 353738 ]. Commercial wave energy production started only years when the demand for clean but cost effective viable energy sources was so high globally.
It also provides much higher return on capital investment than other renewable sources of energy solar and windas it has the potential of generating about 30, Watts of power per square meter [ 38 ]. Wave energy project in Ghana: Ghana is a West African country, geographically situated along the Gulf of Guinea, and has a coastline of about km. The Volta Lake has many tributaries but the major ones are the Oti and Afram rivers that drain into it.
Studies have shown that the average wave height of about 2.
The sea based wave parks comprises of buoys connected to linear generators, joined to flexible hinges, with movements of the waves causing parts of the buoys to move vertically up and down.
This causes each of the hinges connected to a pump release oil through a hydraulic motor and spins the connected turbines to produce electricity.