Renewable Energy - Week 4 Entry 1


With scientific advance, renewable energy is becoming more accessible. Biofuel, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar energy, tidal power, wave power, and wind power are examples of different forms of renewable energy. A complete switch to renewable energy would mean energy security for the present and the future, less greenhouse gas emissions, improved public health from reduced air and water pollution, and possibly more stable energy prices, all contributing factors for a sustainable future. However, what is the possibility of the world running solely on renewable energy? If so what are the issues we may face?
Many cities have a sustainable plan for the future to be able to run completely on renewable energy within the time frame of 2030-2050. These plans might sound ideal, but there might be an underlying problem to it. The average energy consumption in cities are immense, this means two possible scenarios. The first being, a huge amount of energy saving policies would have to be in place to allow for renewable energy to completely replace fossil fuels, resulting in stringent control on every individual’s energy consumption. The second would be a tremendous addition to solar panels, hydro plants and each renewable energy’s respective generative facilities. This means a rapid change of current existing infrastructure would be needed to accommodate the energy consumption. A mix of both could be applied but would still result in a drastic change in the existing city fabric. Economic problems in turn might surface with such a transition, with a huge investment specifically in the initial stages of building renewable energy plants.
Another issue that arises with the switch to renewable energy would be the region of the city. Where certain renewable energy might not be able to be generated within that region. This might create problems, in the scenario where if more accessible sources of renewable energy are unable to generate within the area, which results in the incapability of completely transitioning into renewable energy.
A slower and more realistic transition plan should be in place before expecting to solely rely on renewable energy. Though the obstacles ahead would be tough to overcome. It is one that everyone should be ready to accommodate as our reliance on non-renewable energy has stretched our planet thin.

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