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Renewable Energy

Introduction

?The world has, for a long time, relied on carbon fuels for energy. But is energy from fossil fuels clean? Is it sustainable,and what if it gets depleted? The current world is characterized by a shortage of fuel, pollution, and global warming, which continue to rise as time goes by, thus calling for a quick solution. Due to the continuous growth of the world population, the demand for sustainable energy is growing. The rise of developing companies has redoubled the need for energy, thus risking the depletion of fossil energy. The world is also getting concerned by the high levels of greenhouse emissions caused by the use of fossil fuels. Therefore scientists are carrying out studies to get solutions that can help diversify the sources of energy and reduce the negative impacts of greenhouse emissions on the atmosphere. The world is now shifting to renewable and clean energy, which is sustainable and environmentally friendly.

What is Renewable Energy?

?According to the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), renewable energy refers to the energy that is obtained from natural sources and can be replenished or reused severally(Shinn). The sources of renewable energy include wind, sun, biomass, hydro-energy, geothermal and tidal energy. While renewable energy has been in use for a long time, it has not been used the same as fossil energy. In the past, the wind has been used to sail boats and grind grain using windmills. The sun, for a long time, provides warmth during the day, which can be used to dry grains. Even though renewable energy is freely available, over the last five centuries, the world has been relying on fossil energy, which is neither sustainable nor clean. However,currently, the world has come up with cheaper and innovative ways of tapping and retaining wind and solar energy, thus putting the use of renewable on an upward trend (Shinn).

Efforts of the US and China in Using Renewable Energy

?The United States and China have made great strides in the use of renewable sources. The two world’s biggest economies are now incorporating the use of renewable energy into their production (Steeves et al., 643). The increase in demand for energy and the depletion of fossil fuels have forced the US and China to look for sustainable energy options.

?China’s population stands at 1.4 billion people, thus making it the most populated nation in the world. The rapid growth of the economy of China over the past three decades and this has forced the country to increase its electricity capacity. China is making significant efforts towards achieving sustainable renewable energy. By 2013, china had made stride and increased its wind power capacity to 91 GW up from 0.567 in 2003 (Campbell, 1). By the end of 2020, China is aiming to produce 21o GW of wind power (IEA).

?The US, just like China, is also making efforts towards investing immensely in renewable energy. Over the last decades,the United States has increased the generation of renewable energy from wind, solar, and biomass. The US projects that about 50% of the country’s total energy will be from renewable sources in the coming years (Wang). All these efforts by the US are to ensure that the country has sustainable and clean energy. The US currently generates 300 terawatthours of electricity from wind power (Wang). 72.2 terawatthours of electricity come from solar energy, and this type of energy is mainly used in the western region of the US (Wang). Hydro-electric power is one of the crucial sources of electricity in the country, with New York being the greatest consumer of this energy. Renewable energy accounts for about 20.5% of the aggregate energy consumption in the United States (Wang). The US generated about 79, 912 MW of hydroelectric power, and 9.1 GW of wind power in 2019 (Wang). These statistics reveal that the country is quickly shifting to renewable energy.

Advantages of Renewable Energy

?To understand whether renewable energy is feasible, it is necessary first to understand the advantages of this type of energy.

?Renewable energy exists naturally and will never be depleted like fossil fuels, and therefore it is a sustainable form of energy. Renewable energy exists in many forms, thus providing countries with multiple options for generating electricity (EPA). The unending supply of renewable energy will provide the world with sufficient energy for both domestic and commercial use. For as long as humanity exists, water, sun, and wind will be in existence, therefore, implying that renewable energy will always be available, unlike fossil energy that is quickly depleting. Technological development and the abundance of renewable sources of energy can satisfy any country’s demand for energy today or in the future.

?Also, renewable energy is environmentally friendly, unlike fossil fuels. Renewable energy sources, including water, solar,and wind, do not emit greenhouse gases like fossil fuels do(EPA). Renewable energy as well has little wastes as comparedto non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels, which emit large amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Renewable energy is very clean and can be transformed from one form to another without leaving wastes, which can lead to pollution (Destouni and Harry, 18). For instance, in solar energy, light energy is directly converted to electricity without creating wastes such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other gases. Wind energy as well depends on the power of moving wind, which turns wind turbines to produce electricity without producing pollutants. Renewable energy, therefore, has minimal effects on the environment, and therefore, it can help the world to curb global warming.

?Renewable energy is helping nations to diversify their sources of energy. Renewable energy helps nations to top on their existing sources of energy, such as fossil fuels, thus producing abundant energy for both domestic and commercial use (EPA). For instance, the use of solar energy is cheaper as compared to the use of fossil fuels. Therefore, companies that combine the use of solar energy and fossil energy will have lower costs of production as compared to those that rely on fossil energy only. Wind power is also another cheaper option of energy since it is freely available, and countries or companies only need to incur the initial cost of installing, unlike carbon fuels, which need to be bough every time.

Potential and Visibility of Renewable Energy

?Renewable energy has shown great potential in generating the required level of energy in any country. Renewable energy provides nations with a wide variety of clean and sustainable energy for both domestic and commercial use. Solar, wind, and biomass have shown a greater potential in generating electricity in the United States in large quantities. Deyette et al. (9) argue that renewable energy sources can produce up to 5 or 6 times the required amount of electricity if they are used to their full potential.

?Due to its significant benefits for both domestic and commercial use, it is clear that renewable energy is very crucial to the world economy. As a result, various nations are investing enormously in renewable energy with China and the US being the leaders. A report issued by the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation points out that no countryhas placed itself strategically in the generation of renewable energy than China (Van de Graaf, 28). Over the past ten years, the generation and use of renewable energy have shown an upward trend while the use of non-renewable has continuously been falling, implying that nations are now shifting to clean and sustainable energy (Van de Graaf, 17). Renewable energy is slowly regaining fame among different countries meaning that it is gaining momentum. Tesla is one of the companies that have fully and efficiently adopted clean energy in producing cars.

Conclusion

?The use of renewable enable has, over the last ten years,grown steadily with countries now taking advantage of naturally available resources to generate energy. The growth of the use of renewable energy has been stimulated by its low initial and maintenance costs, as well as its friendliness to the environment. The world is now concerned with global warming due to the adverse weather conditions caused by weather conditions. The generation and use of renewable energy will go a long way in ensuring sustainable energy. The rapid depletion of carbon fuels and the increase in demand for energy is pushing more nations to join in the use of renewable energy such as biomass, hydropower, solar power, wind power, and geothermal power. Governments, therefore, need to invest more in renewable power to make use of its full potential.

Works Cited

Campbell, Richard J. "China and the United States—a comparison of green energy programs and policies." (2014).

Destouni, Georgia, and Harry Frank. “Renewable Energy.” Ambio, vol. 39, 2010, pp. 18–21. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40801586. Accessed 8 June 2020.

DEYETTE, JEFF, et al. Renewable Energy Potential. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2003, pp. 9–12, Plugging InRenewable Energy: GRADING THE STATES, www.jstor.org/stable/resrep00005.7. Accessed 8 June 2020.

EPA. "Local Renewable Energy Benefits And Resources | US EPA". US EPA, https://www.epa.gov/statelocalenergy/local-renewable-energy-benefits-and-resources#1 .

IEA. Global Energy Review 2020, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2020 . 2020

Shinn, Lora. "Renewable Energy: The Clean Facts". NRDC, 2018, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/renewable-energy-clean-facts#sec-whatis .

Steeves, Brye Butler, and Helton Ricardo Ouriques. "Energy security: China and the United States and the divergence in renewable energy." Contexto Internacional 38.2 (2016): 643-662.

Van de Graaf, Thijs. "A new world: the geopolitics of the energy transformation." (2019).

Wang, T. "Topic: Renewable Energy Industry In The United States". Statista, 2020, https://www.statista.com/topics/1250/renewable-energy/ .

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