Environmental Science: Renewables in the World Scheme

Modern Windfarm in Northern California

Renewables in the World Scheme

In gardening, they say you need to put the right plant in the right place. I think we are going to have to do the same thing with renewable energy. Not every country has acres to lay down solar panels or waves to collect their energy and so we will need to be flexible and adaptive to our environment. I think the biggest problem will not be the technology, but the politics. If we can get rid of the borders between countries and figure out how to transport energy from one section of the world to another, than we can be successful.

Traditional Windmills in the Netherlands

Think about this, Iceland and Sweden are poised to become the first nations to go completely fossil-fuel free. While different areas have gone completely fossil-fuel free for a short amount of time (Costa Rica for 75 days; Denmark 1 day; & Portugal 4 days) (Osborne, 2016), none have made the complete switch…yet. In 2015, Iceland had almost “100% of their electricity needs met through renewable sources, due to its investment in hydropower and geothermal energy production” (Bolton, 2015). That only works because the population is small, centrally located, and the entire island is sitting on top of a volcano (Iceland, 2016), but Sweden is different. It’s four and a half times larger (Sweden, 2016), with a population spread out amongst mountains, fjords, and valleys. Still, more than half of its energy usage is already supplied by renewables like wind, solar, and geothermal. The Swedish government has pledged to be completely self-sufficient by 2040 (Business Insider Nordic, 2016) not only focusing on creating the energy its’ citizens and industry needs, but in the more difficult task of storing that energy (Bolton, 2015). Finland also, is moving towards a renewable future. Finland announced that it will stop using coal power plants by 2030, which in a country where 79% of its electrical needs come from a combination of renewables and nuclear, is not the biggest change, but it’s still a good thing (Andrews, 2016). Our own Hawaii has even “passed legislature decreeing that, by 2045, the entire island will be powered by renewable, sustainable energy sources” (Andrews, Sweden Plans To Become World's First Fossil Fuel-Free Nation, 2015).

Single countries going ‘off-grid’ is good, but it’s not enough to take the brunt of the world’s energy consumption. What we need is a way to get to larger swatches of populations, to bring energy to the remote corners as well as the cities; but how? Well, Elon Musk has an idea…The Tesla Gigafactory. The Gigafactory “will drive down the per kilowatt hour (kWh) cost of our battery pack by more than 30 percent. The Gigafactory will also be powered by renewable energy sources, with the goal of achieving net zero energy” (Tesla, n.d.). The Gigafactory is not just about making cars and batteries, but to serve as a template for other factories around the world, here in the U.S. and in the largely industrialized countries like China. “We actually did the calculations to figure out what it would take to transition the whole world to sustainable energy. You’d need 100 Gigafactories,”says Musk (Hanley, 2016). Elon Musk believes that batteries are the way the world can switch over to renewables, especially in places like Africa. “The advantage of solar and a batteries is that you can avoid building electricity plants at all, so you can be a remote village and have solar panels that charge a batter pack that supplies power to the whole village, without ever having to run thousands of miles of high voltage cables all over the place” (Hanley, 2016).

I agree. I think if we can figure out how to get rid of the cables, and bring the power directly into the homes, then we can transition over sooner, without all the danger that nuclear brings. There are a few points to think about though before we start building these huge factories. First, the chemicals that make the batteries are not exactly safe; they are just as toxic as other power sources and they have a limited life span. The same thing for solar cells and wind turbines kill birds and those stationed out in the ocean have had issues ripping up the sea beds. So there is no perfect solution, just a lot of hope and some great beginnings. I think moving forward we will find that it is a combination of all of these technologies and a few more we haven’t even imagined yet, so the idea is not to saturate the world, but the plan carefully, which source is the best for which location? Is it water turbines in the far north and south, solar across the deserts and wind across the plains? Or some upper atmosphere solar farm? There are so many possibilities and we have the ability right now to help direct the course of our planet’s future. Stay informed, stay vocal, and look towards the future.

References

Andrews, R. (2015, June 25). Sweden Plans To Become World's First Fossil Fuel-Free Nation. Retrieved November 24, 2016, from IFL Science: http://www.iflscience.com/environment/sweden-combats-climate-change-aiming-be-fossil-fuel-free-nation/

Andrews, R. (2016, November 24). Finland Set To Ban All Coal Use By 2030. Retrieved from IFL Science: http://www.iflscience.com/environment/finland-ban-coal-2030/

Bolton, D. (2015, October 7). Sweden wants to become the first fossil fuel-free country in the world - how will it work? Retrieved November 24, 2016, from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sweden-first-fossil-fuel-free-country-in-the-world-a6684641.html

Business Insider Nordic. (2016, June 10). Sweden has committed to 100% renewable energy by 2040 - and at the same time 'saved nuclear power'. Retrieved November 24, 2016, from Business Insider Nordic: http://nordic.businessinsider.com/sweden-is-to-use-100-renewable-energy-by-2040---but-no-expiration-date-has-been-set-for-nuclear-energy-2016-6/

Hanley, S. (2016, October 31). It’ll take 100 Tesla Gigafactories to transition the world to sustainable energy, says Musk. Retrieved November 24, 2016, from Testarati: http://www.teslarati.com/100-tesla-gigafactories-world-sustainable-energy/

Iceland. (2016, November 24). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland

Osborne, S. (2016, May 24). Sweden phases out fossil fuels in attempt to run completely off renewable energy. Retrieved November 24, 2016, from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-phases-out-fossil-fuels-in-attempt-to-run-completely-off-renewable-energy-a7047306.html

Sweden. (2016, November 24). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden

Tesla. (n.d.). Gigafactory. Retrieved November 24, 2016, from Tesla: https://www.tesla.com/gigafactory