Introduction
One of the most important things, if not the most important one, that society needs today is energy. Energy comes in many form and moist literatures focusing on this topic would agree that among all the possible sources of energy, oil comes as the most heavily demanded, and hence the most important. In fact, one may argue that the geopolitical movements and decisions that have been made in the past half a century have been motivated by access to this important energy-related commodity. There are many possible sources of energy but even though oil just comes as one of those possible sources, it would certainly appear that the entire planet, specifically the countries that make up the world economy, rely on oil imports from oil exporting countries (e.g. member countries of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC), to survive, economically and politically at least.
There have been numerous incidents in the past where the discovery of an apparent oil crisis sparked economic uncertainly not just on the stability of individual economies but on the stability of the world economy as a whole . This statement alone explains how reliant on oil the world has become. The objective of this paper is to discuss research the field of renewable energies that provide the highest level of energy production efficiency and discuss the possibility of each as a replacement to the long standing primary energy commodity of the planet that is oil. At the end of this paper, the author has concluded that oil would remain as the world’s primary energy-providing commodity for quite some time, because of political and economic reasons that will be discussed later on in this paper, at least before it gets replaced by newer sources of energy that are not only renewable but also energy efficient.
The Field of Renewable Energy
Before researching deeper into the field of renewable energy, it would be important to at least have an operational definition of the term renewable energy first. Renewable energy can be defined and identified as any form of energy whose source come from resources that are naturally replenished either by a naturally occurring or man-made mechanism. Some of the most common examples of renewable energy sources include but may not be limited to wind, sunlight, tides, rain, waves, and geothermal heat . The field of renewable energy is a relatively new one.
It is a field or an industry that is set to undergo a lot of changes over the next decades. In fact, given proper support and funding from the government, the renewable energy industry’s growth can experience a significant amount of growth in as fast as over the course of the next half a decade, if not longer. One of the main reasons behind the drive of national economies to continue to support (i.e. legally, constitutionally) and pour investments (i.e. financial investments) for the continuous and ideally rapid development of renewable energy technologies is to replace conventional and often non-renewable methods of energy generation. In a survey report released by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century or what is more popularly known as the REN21, an international policy network that focuses on the creating initiatives and programs for the fast tracking of the world’s transition from the production and use of non-renewable energy to renewable energy, renewable energy generated in 2012 covered over roughly 19 percent of the world’s total energy consumption . In 2013, the same organization reported that that number grew by 3 percent to 22 percent. If this is indeed true, then this only shows that society is actually making a big difference when it comes to its long stalled plane to shift from being a producer and user of non-renewable forms of energy to one that produces and uses only renewable ones.
Different Efficient Sources of Renewable Energy
When it comes to energy production, efficiency is one of the most important factors that engineers working in power production plants have to consider. This applies both in the renewable and non-renewable energy production industry. A lot of for profit organizations engaged in the power production business, for example, prefers to use coal energy production technologies and infrastructures, mainly because of its efficiency. In fact, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the total amount of energy generated by all coal power plants covert at least 44% of the total demand for electricity in the United States; this only shows how large coal-generated power’s share is in the energy generation pie .
There are two important points to know about this information. Firstly, the main reason why coal has been regarded as the preferred choice when it comes to energy production is because of its cost-efficiency. Coal is the primary raw material used in generating energy in coal power plants and the unit price of this raw material relative to other sources such as oil and natural gas, is much cheaper. Secondly, being cost-efficient does not necessarily translate to being clean or energy efficient. In the case of coal power plants and other types that rely on burning other forms of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas to generate energy, their cost-efficiency comes at a price: air pollution. In fact according to the UCS, coal power plants have long been tagged as the biggest contributor of air pollutants in the United States.
Now, the ever growing problem on air pollution and its direct effect, the proliferation of smog in the skies of the most active cities when it comes to fossil fuel burning and other air polluting activities, has become one of the major reasons why governments and policy makers have started to accelerate efforts in developing clean and cost-efficient renewable energy sources and technologies. Some of the most popular renewable energy sources and or technologies are biomass, biofuel, wind, hydro, and solar. Among these technologies, the most fuel efficient and truly renewable ones are the hydro-energy power plants.
Hydroelectric power plants generate energy by harnessing the uncontrollable movement of water in rivers, waterfalls, and manmade dams . The hydroelectric turbine gets turned by the current of water in rivers, waterfalls, and dams. The continuous movement of the turbine then powers up the hydroelectric generator.
The principle that most hydroelectric power plants follow suggests that the larger the body of water where the turbines are placed, the stronger the water current becomes; and the stronger the water current, the larger the amount of potential energy that may be extracted would be. The potential hydroelectric energy that may be obtained from the body of water depends largely on the maximum size and number of generators that may be installed. The size and number of generators that may be installed, on the other hand, are dependent on the size of the body of water where turbines would be installed, and of course, the strength of the current.
According to recent estimates, hydroelectric power constitutes some 20 percent of the world’s total energy supply. Another major advantage of this renewable energy technology is that it requires no additional fuel to boot. In fact, aside from the routine maintenance of the tools, equipment, and plant facilities, the power plant operator would not have to think about any other additional costs of operating one. Additionally, it does not require any form of input aside from the mechanical power generated by the water current to form hydroelectricity.
The drawback with most hydroelectric power plants is that they have been proven to be one of the causes of ecological devastation in rivers and other bodies of water as a result of disrupting the natural flow of water in the floodways, falls, and rivers; and they also cause the relocation of a lot of people, specifically those who are living within the vicinity of the area that would be flooded.
This can indeed be the most viable renewable energy option that may successfully replace fossil fuels when it comes to supplying the current power hungry generation of humans. It does not generate pollution because there is no fuel combustion involved in any part of the process of energy generation; it also does not emit any form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which has been identified as one of the main causes of global warming.
Now is about the right time for the members of the world economy to think of another way to generate energy, apart from burning oil and other forms of fossil fuels because there are certain theories that suggest that the running out of petroleum products—which are currently the most common raw material used to generate electricity, often via combustion, is a question of not if but when. This means that the end of the petroleum industry, including the ones that are tied to energy production is inevitable. One of such theories is the Hubbert Peak Theory. Basically, this theory suggests that the rate of petroleum production, regardless of the geographical area or the volume of petroleum product that has been discovered in any given geographical area, follows a bell-shaped curve .
The peak of the bell-shaped curve represents the peak of oil production. It also suggests that once oil reaches its peak rate of production, it would start to decline until it reaches a point where it reaches zero—which would mean that there is no more means to produce petroleum-based products because production has already reached zero. Although the Hubbert Peak Theory may also be used in predicting the outcome of production of other commodities such as minerals , it has been largely used to help experts analyze how long a time is left before humans get forced to find a new alternative to petroleum products to power up the turbines in their power plants.
In summary, it can be concluded that the earlier the world economy completes its shift from being a non-renewable energy producer and user to a renewable energy producer and user, the more favorable its outcome would be in terms of power security. The chosen renewable form of energy production in this case was hydroelectricity. It comprised some 20 percent of the total amount of energy generated in recent years and if the government and policymakers would create policies and programs that would support its growth and development, that share of the energy generation pie would surely increase dramatically. Moreover, production of hydroelectric power does not emit air pollutants and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; and more importantly, it does not require any form of fossil fuel to operate because the only raw material required is water (i.e. water current).
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