Energy Transition Could Be Faster
Michailidis Vasilis
WP1111 Synthesis Final
Instructor: Dr Kamatsos Efrosini
Word Count: 1500
Date of Submission: 08/12/14
Energy Transition Could Be Faster
(Renewable Forms of Energy are a Viable Solution for the Earth’s Energy Needs)
World carbon emissions (CO2) have reached the safety limits that scientists have set. Science claims that by the end of the century the long term impacts in the surface of earth will have inevitable irreversible consequences (Hansen, 13). The most discussed debate nowadays, as a solution for CO2 emissions and consequently global warming, is the shift to renewable sources of energy. The term renewable refers to sources of energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric as some of them, that are related to a natural resource which is replenished. Moreover, renewables are clean, friendly to the environment and they do not produce emissions. However, this energy transmission is not an easy assignment. Vaclav Smil, in his “The Long Slow and Rise of Solar and Wind”, makes a strong claim that this energy transition to renewables is challenging for several reasons and it needs more time than the predicted. The intermittency issues of solar and wind, the increasing scale of power demands and the size and cost of reshaping the infrastructure are some basic reasons (Smil). According to Smil 87 percent of the world’s total energy comes from fossil fuels, which are responsible for the CO2 in the atmosphere, while renewables claiming only 10 percent of total energy (par. 2). This small percent of renewable is also mentioned by Larry Bell in his “Green Power Gridlock”. Bell argues that renewable energy is not an alternative to fossil fuels because of the unreliability of renewable grid system (Bell). However, numerous case studies that discussed in “Can Renewables Provide Baseload Power”, such as Denmark, Norway and Germany, have shown that with a well designed strategy renewable energy can provide base load power 24-hour per day
WP1111 Synthesis Final
Instructor: Dr Kamatsos Efrosini
Word Count: 1500
Date of Submission: 08/12/14
Energy Transition Could Be Faster
(Renewable Forms of Energy are a Viable Solution for the Earth’s Energy Needs)
World carbon emissions (CO2) have reached the safety limits that scientists have set. Science claims that by the end of the century the long term impacts in the surface of earth will have inevitable irreversible consequences (Hansen, 13). The most discussed debate nowadays, as a solution for CO2 emissions and consequently global warming, is the shift to renewable sources of energy. The term renewable refers to sources of energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric as some of them, that are related to a natural resource which is replenished. Moreover, renewables are clean, friendly to the environment and they do not produce emissions. However, this energy transmission is not an easy assignment. Vaclav Smil, in his “The Long Slow and Rise of Solar and Wind”, makes a strong claim that this energy transition to renewables is challenging for several reasons and it needs more time than the predicted. The intermittency issues of solar and wind, the increasing scale of power demands and the size and cost of reshaping the infrastructure are some basic reasons (Smil). According to Smil 87 percent of the world’s total energy comes from fossil fuels, which are responsible for the CO2 in the atmosphere, while renewables claiming only 10 percent of total energy (par. 2). This small percent of renewable is also mentioned by Larry Bell in his “Green Power Gridlock”. Bell argues that renewable energy is not an alternative to fossil fuels because of the unreliability of renewable grid system (Bell). However, numerous case studies that discussed in “Can Renewables Provide Baseload Power”, such as Denmark, Norway and Germany, have shown that with a well designed strategy renewable energy can provide base load power 24-hour per day
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