Renewable Energy - Blog Posts
Currently, the Earth is facing a natural resources crisis. Natural resources are being used at a rate faster than the Earth can replenish them. The use of natural resources is essential to human life, which means there needs to be a way to ensure that these natural resources can continue to replenish themselves. Overuse of fossil fuels and overexploitation of water and soil contributes to the growing climate change crisis.
Developing a sustainable plan for managing natural resources is one way to ensure that everyone can continue to use and benefit from natural resources. Sustainable management of natural resources involves using natural resources in a way that both maintains and improves the resilience of the environment and the many benefits they provide. It focuses on the sustainability of industries like agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, among others.
Nikolas Perrault shares why it is crucial that proper storage solutions are developed for renewable energy.
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Climate change is such a huge problem, that is so underrepresented for the amount of harm it causes. The actual change in the temperature, extreme weather events, change in what we’re able to farm. If we ignore this issue, we’re ignoring the fact that we’re slowly destroying ourselves. We can’t ignore it. Yes, the major issue is big corporations, but we are the demand to their supply. We can make a change. Even little changes is something, it does help. Work to make a difference, work to be aware. Don’t ignore the problem, for the sake of our Earth.
Pit stop at Grand Coulee Dam
As Trump casts himself as a savior for the coal industry, the red states that voted for him are adding most of the nation’s clean energy,
From JUSTIN GILLIS and NADJA POPOVICH in the New York Times:
The five states that get the largest percentage of their power from wind turbines — Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma and North Dakota — all voted for Mr. Trump. So did Texas, which produces the most wind power in absolute terms. In fact, 69 percent of the wind power produced in the country comes from states that Mr. Trump carried in November... These red states are not motivated by a sudden desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions... their leaders see tapping the wind, and to a lesser degree the sun, as an economic strategy. The clean energy push allows their utilities to lock in low power prices for decades, creates manufacturing jobs, puts steady money in the hands of farmers who host wind turbines, and lures big employers who want renewable power.
The larger the share of overall energy jobs that are solar and wind jobs, the more likely a state was to support the Democratic candidate in 2016. This has an important lesson for Trump as his administration crafts energy policy.
Per Axios:
...for the most part, states that Trump narrowly won have a higher percentage of energy jobs that are renewable-energy jobs than safe Republican states.
Thus, an energy policy that shuns renewables in favor or jobs in fossil fuels could bolster his support in solid red states, while jeopardizing his support in the swing states he narrowly won to give him the presidency. Trump would be wise to continue Obama’s investment in renewables.
Carbon dioxide emissions in the UK are falling. CO2 emission fell 5.8% in 2016 from the previous year. Current emissions represent a 36% reduction from 1990 levels, and are at their lowest level since 1894 (outside the 1920s general strikes).
Why? The decline of coal. Coal use in the UK has declined steadily from its peak in 1956, and has experienced a dramatic decline since 2012. Coal use in 2016 dropped 52% from 2015.
The reduction in coal use is a result of multiple factors. The biggest is the expanded use of natural gas and renewables displacing coal. Other factors include an overall reduction in energy demand, the closing of Redcar Steelworks in 2015, and the UK’s carbon tax.
Source
![“[T]he Frequency Of Coal Retirements Highlights The Speed At Which The Nation’s Utilities Are Changing](https://64.media.tumblr.com/ec1c917a64c1d33fa4daad91315abbf9/tumblr_ol6fxg17s01rtczfso1_500.png)
![“[T]he Frequency Of Coal Retirements Highlights The Speed At Which The Nation’s Utilities Are Changing](https://64.media.tumblr.com/d784245ac6ba42357fc4cf41acdfbba5/tumblr_ol6fxg17s01rtczfso2_500.png)
“[T]he frequency of coal retirements highlights the speed at which the nation’s utilities are changing the energy mix by replacing coal with natural gas and renewables, particularly wind. Few new coal plants are in the works to replace those that are being shut down...As a result of a confluence of factors, the coal industry’s decline has been a long time coming. The story of coal’s decline goes far beyond the false narrative that Trump and his EPA pick Scott Pruitt are advancing that points to EPA regulations as the sole reason for coal plant retirements.” - Devashree Saha and Sifan Liu
(continued from previous post)
The big story in Houser and Mohan's study is where these cleaner forms of energy are coming from that are responsible for half of the drop in emissions. It's generally assumed that the drop is a result of cleaner and cheap natural gas pushing out dirty coal. However, Houser and Mohan show that we shouldn't be counting out reneables.
Plumer:
Natural gas is indeed pushing out dirtier coal, and that makes a sizable difference (burning natural gas for electricity emits about half the carbon-dioxide that burning coal does). But wind farms are also sprouting up across the country, thanks to government subsidies. What’s more, industrial sites are burning more biomass for heat and electricity, while biofuels like ethanol are nudging out oil. All of that has done a lot to cut emissions.
From the Washington Post:
Map from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showing how much electricity each state gets from wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal. Maine was the clear winner in 2011, getting 27 percent of its electricity coming from renewable sources — a lot of it wind power and biomass. But Maine had a lot of renewable energy back in 2001, too. South Dakota and Iowa, at 21 percent and 17 percent, have seen far more impressive growth. Both of those states got almost none of their electricity from renewable sources a decade ago.
In the U.S., clean energy and carbon pollution regulation are very popular. What is the disconnect between public opinion on these issues, and Federal actions?
From the Washington Post:
"There are two ways to think about the cost of energy. There’s the dollar amount that shows up on our utility bills or at the pump. And then there’s the “social cost” — all the adverse consequences that various energy sources... end up foisting on the public."
"The blue bars represent the current market cost of various energy sources. On top of that, Greenstone and Looney have added estimated health damages from air pollution (the purple bar), as well as the cost of climate-changing carbon emissions that come with burning fossil fuels (the gray bar)."
"At the end of the paper, Greenstone and Looney argue that the government should put a price on the social costs of fossil fuels — either through a cap on emissions or a tax. “If firms and consumers faced the full cost of their energy use,” they write, “they would have a greater incentive to make more-informed and socially efficient decisions about energy consumption.”"
When thinking of ways to make renewable energy cost-competitive with fossil fuels, an important consideration are the market distortions caused by substantial government subsidies to fossil fuels versus subsidies to renewable energy. De-carbonizing the global energy sector will require removing subsidies for fossil fuels.
Numbers from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-13/sustainability-indicator-130-billion-pints-of-beer.html
"A net-zero power system is closer than we think.
New research, published by RMI, indicates that an exponential surge in renewable energy deployment is outpacing the International Energy Agency’s most ambitious net-zero predictions for 2030.
That’s right: Surging solar, wind, and battery capacity is now in-line with net-zero scenarios.
“For the first time, we can, with hand on heart, say that we are potentially on the path to net zero,” Kingsmill Bond, Senior Principal at RMI, said. “We need to make sure that we continue to drive change, but there is a path and we are on it.”
And that’s really good news.
Exponential growth in renewable energy has put the global electricity system at a tipping point. What was once seen as a wildly daunting task — transitioning away from fossil fuels — is now happening at a faster pace every year.
Based on this new research, conducted in partnership with the Bezos Earth Fund, RMI projects that solar and wind will supply over a third of all global electricity by 2030, up from about 12% today, which would surpass recent calls for a tripling of total renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade.
Global progress in the renewable energy sector
China and Europe have been leading the way in clean energy generation, but the deployment of renewable energy has also been widely distributed across the Middle East and Africa.
Research from Systems Change Lab shows that eight countries (Uruguay, Denmark, Lithuania, Namibia, Netherlands, Palestine, Jordan, and Chile) have already grown solar and wind power faster than what is needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C, proving that a swift switch to renewable energy is not only feasible — it’s entirely achievable.
In order to make that switch, globally, wind and solar need to grow from 12% to 41% by 2030. Denmark, Uruguay, and Lithuania have already achieved that increase in the span of eight years.
Meanwhile, Namibia, the Netherlands, Palestine, Jordan, and Chile have grown solar and wind energy at sufficient rates for five years...
The economic impact of climate progress
Not only is this an exciting and unprecedented development for the health of the environment, but this rapid transition to clean energy includes widespread benefits, like jobs growth, more secure supply chains, and reductions in energy price inflation.
This progress spans both developing and developed countries, all driven to accelerate renewables for a number of different reasons: adopting smart and effective policies, maintaining political commitments, lowering the costs of renewable energy, and improving energy security.
And with exponential growth of clean energy means sharp declines in prices. This puts fossil fuels at a higher, uncompetitive cost — both financially and figuratively.
RMI suggests that solar energy is already the cheapest form of electricity in history — and will likely halve in price by 2030, falling as low as $20/MWh in the coming years. This follows previous trends: solar and battery costs have declined 80% between 2012 and 2022, and offshore wind costs are down 73%."
-via Good Good Good, July 12, 2023
Let me repeat that:
For the first time in history, we are on an actual, provably achievable path to net zero emissions
Renewable Resources and Non-Renewable Resources and Examples of Renewable Resources
There are many types of natural resources like Minerals, Water, Wind, Coal, Natural Gas, Wood etc. These natural resources are divided into Renewable Resources or Non-Renewable Resources. Main difference is that some resources renewed at a very fast rate while others do not renew or renewed at a very less rate.
Renewable Resources
Renewable Resources are natural resources. These are those type of resources which can be replenished over time by some natural process. Renewable resources are used to overcome resource reduction which happened because of consumption or usage. Renewable resources have the capacity to be renewed over a short period of time.
Examples of Renewable Resources
There are many examples of Renewable Resources but mainly we will focus on Renewable Energy which is further categorized into energy resources like Geothermal Energy, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Hydropower etc. Most of these renewable resources are also called alternative energy because many energy resources do not harm the environment.
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is one of the best example of Renewable Resources. It is generated from natural resources and used to generate power or electricity. Electricity generated from these renewable resources are stored in the grid and then spread out through high powered lines. There are different sources of renewable energy which is used for generating power such as Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Wave Energy, Hydropower, Nuclear Power, Biomass Energy, Geothermal Energy etc.
Top 10 Renewable Energy resources can be found in the following video:
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YES! A GOVERMENT THAT REALIZES THAT THE EARTH MATTERS MORE THAN A CURRENT PROFIT OF IT! (x) July 16, 2021
Everyday, we get a little bit closer. <3
The following countries use 97-100% renewable energy: Albania, Bhutan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Iceland, Namibia, Nepal, Norway, Paraguay.
Four countries that were creeping up on the 100% goal when this data was collected (2018 and 2019) are Kenya, Scotland, Tajikistan, and Uruguay, which use 82-92% renewable energy.
👌👌
"Cody Two Bears, a member of the Sioux tribe in North Dakota, founded Indigenized Energy, a native-led energy company with a unique mission — installing solar farms for tribal nations in the United States.
This initiative arises from the historical reliance of Native Americans on the U.S. government for power, a paradigm that is gradually shifting.
The spark for Two Bears' vision ignited during the Standing Rock protests in 2016, where he witnessed the arrest of a fellow protester during efforts to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on sacred tribal land.
Disturbed by the status quo, Two Bears decided to channel his activism into action and create tangible change.
His company, Indigenized Energy, addresses a critical issue faced by many reservations: poverty and lack of access to basic power.
Reservations are among the poorest communities in the country, and in some, like the Navajo Nation, many homes lack electricity.
Even in regions where the land has been exploited for coal and uranium, residents face obstacles to accessing power.
Renewable energy, specifically solar power, is a beacon of hope for tribes seeking to overcome these challenges.
Not only does it present an environmentally sustainable option, but it has become the most cost-effective form of energy globally, thanks in part to incentives like the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Tribal nations can receive tax subsidies of up to 30% for solar and wind farms, along with grants for electrification, climate resiliency, and energy generation.
And Indigenized Energy is not focused solely on installing solar farms — it also emphasizes community empowerment through education and skill development.
In collaboration with organizations like Red Cloud Renewable, efforts are underway to train Indigenous tribal members for jobs in the renewable energy sector.
The program provides free training to individuals, with a focus on solar installation skills.
Graduates, ranging from late teens to late 50s, receive pre-apprenticeship certification, and the organization is planning to launch additional programs to support graduates with career services such as resume building and interview coaching...
The adoption of solar power by Native communities signifies progress toward sustainable development, cultural preservation, and economic self-determination, contributing to a more equitable and environmentally conscious future.
These initiatives are part of a broader movement toward "energy sovereignty," wherein tribes strive to have control over their own power sources.
This movement represents not only an economic opportunity and a source of jobs for these communities but also a means of reclaiming control over their land and resources, signifying a departure from historical exploitation and an embrace of sustainable practices deeply rooted in Indigenous cultures."
-via Good Good Good, December 10, 2023
Energy Tech Review is a technology magazine which publishes the current news updates and technology trends taking place in the energy sector.
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Do Check this out: Greenfield Development: The View from a Renewable Energy Startup
#solarenergy #renewable energy
Solar Energy Could Grow 6,500% by 2050 - Solar and wind power together are projected to provide two-thirds of all electricity in 2050. https://ift.tt/2Px7tFp