Over the past few months, I have been looking at renewable
energy, and its place both in current and future societies. I looked at the
wide range of renewable resources available, from wind to geothermal, looking
at how technology has changed over time. This enables an insight into the past
trends of renewable energy leading up to the present state of our global energy
mix, and leading into a foresight of future energy trends and pathways to a
fully renewable society. At the beginning of this blog, whilst I defended
renewable energy, I always knew in the back of my mind that even with all their
positives and the allure of carbon neutral energy production, they only took up
around 13.7% of our global energy mix, despite many systems (such as hydro
power) being around for over a century. Through my research, I have found many
ways to feel positive about the viability of renewable energy – via innovation,
policymaking, or just the drop in the price of renewables over time. This has
changed my perspective from feeling like I need to back up renewable energy as
a geography student, to genuinely believing that we are capable of mass
producing renewable energy at a lower cost than fossil fuels in the near
future. That is not to say that all of my research has been positive. The
election of a US president who doesn’t support green energy is troubling
considering the power of the US in policymaking and its emissions. Similarly,
current renewables often have a limiting facet – be it storage of solar power,
or the maintenance and infrastructure costs of off shore wind farms. However,
with costs dropping and innovation thriving over time in the renewable sector,
this has not disheartened me.
In order to reach the fabled renewable society that we
strive for, there are a number of obstacles that must be overcome.
Firstly, policy must support the expansion of renewable
energy. Debates such as the COP21 meetings help to group an international
effort to reduce emissions, and develop green technologies, with countries
bound to mitigate anthropogenic climate change. This helps to produce the
political will to allow renewable energy to grow. Growth is not limited to
developed nations, and cooperation of MNCs with developing nations, such as in
Morocco and Puerto Rico can help to capitalise on the often high renewable
resources found within these nations. The developing world has the further ability
to drive forward innovation, and invest in new renewable technologies to reduce
global costs, and increase renewable efficiency to make it a more economically
viable option.
This lead into the second key point in the expansion of
renewable energy – price. As found in my study of Australia, if renewable
energy costs more than fossil fuel alternatives, especially if the country has
rich fossil fuel reserves, renewable energy will fail to gain traction on a
mass scale. This led to the conclusion that without the help of regulations and
taxation, it would be hard to force a change to renewables in the short term.
Price relies on policy to create laws which favour renewables, which can come
from either a consumer, or producer side. On the consumer side, one way to
encourage renewables is to provide government grants, such as solar panelgrants in the UK, which enabled solar power to grow massively as the cost to
the consumer was no longer a limiting factor. On the producer side, carbon taxes
which include the negative externalities of fossil fuels, could make renewables
the new cheapest energy source, as carbon would effectively increase in price.
The final advancement needed in the renewable sector is one
of technology and efficiency. Over time, renewables have reduced in price to
the point at which they are starting to become widely used in specific
conditions, such as Iceland’s use of geothermal energy. Innovation would push
this forward, so that the applications and generating power of renewables grow
even further. In space-rich countries, this may be able to be achieved through
advancements in renewable energy transport methods, and storage capacity, to
open up offshore and desert areas for example, to widespread renewable use.
Where space is more difficult to find, such as in cities, or countries with
high population densities, novel methods of energy generation could be crucial.
With reservoirs able to be covered in floating solar arrays, our roof tiles to be made out of solar panels, and streams used by vertical wing hydropower, a
huge area of previously lost land becomes space ripe for renewable energy
generation.
I believe that a combination of all three points would allow
for the growth of renewable energy on a mass scale. Whilst it is clear from my
examples that each is being done to some extent, a greater push is needed.
Perhaps this may come from the markets. With companies like Tesla generating a
lot of traction in the consumer market, it is clear that change could be
brought about by using capitalism, rather than just blaming it for anthropogenic
climate change. Private investment could overcome price barriers, so long as
policy supported it – indeed it has been shown that policy stability is a key determinant
of foreign investment in renewable energy.
For renewable energy, the future is bright. We are doing all
the right things to push forward a sustainable society, and with a little more
effort, increased investment, and further innovations, a strongly renewable energy
mix is not out of reach. The question is now whether we can achieve the desired
changes in the amount of time needed to limit the damage of climate change –
such as staying within the 2°C limit set at the COP21 agreements.
Renewables cannot alone solve all of our problems, and global cooperation will
be needed to ensure we do not harm our planet beyond repair.
