Renewable Energy Sources

1) Introduction

With technology and innovation, mankind is progressing at the fastest we have seen yet. We have learnt to be efficient. Our devices are seamlessly connected in an ecosystem. That is only the beginning. In time to come, the world will be a global village, brilliantly interconnected. This dream, though, must be driven by a huge and sustainable energy source. Will the future we envision materialize? What are the issues that we face? What is our current situation? These are some of the questions that can help us pave the steps we need to build a brighter, better tomorrow.

By doing a survey to sample firsthand what public opinion on clean energy conversion, it acts as another source of information we possess to supplement the views of authors of books and studies on websites that we have cited. We have questioned the necessity of switching to renewable sources of energy. When established, why then, have rational human beings not taken action? This then leads us to wonder when steps will be taken to switch to renewable sources of energy. We also take a closer look at renewable energy sources and how they come together as an alternative to sustain our current lifestyles. Certainly, more steps have to be taken to pull off a concerted effort on a global scale. We discuss the relevant stakeholders and their role to play in advocating the switch towards renewable energy. Lastly, we discuss the limitations of this report.

2) Why is the switch to renewable energy sources relevant?

Before we answer the question to the main topic, perhaps some of us would ask, “Why should we even consider a discussion of adopting renewable energy?” That is a relevant question and can probably be best answered by a combination of push and pull factors.

Firstly, the most glaring reason we should choose to adopt renewable energy sources is probably because fossil fuels is a finite resource and will eventually run out. While there is still much debate over how long our confirmed fuel reserves will last us, most estimates are between 50 to 150 years . This phenomenon is driven by several global trends; an increasing global population, increasing middle-class consumption of electronic products and appliances, and the development and industrialization of developing economies. Unless these trends can be reversed, the global demand for energy is undoubtedly going to rise. A closer look at each one of these factors reveals that few people, if any, should have any hope of reversing these trends. The world population is approaching 7 billion as we speak and is projected to reach 10 billion by 2070, a 43% increase . Most of this population increase will come from developing nations like India and South Africa where birth control policies are still gaining traction. At the same time, the per-capita energy use in these developing nations is projected to triple to 3KW per year