Renewable Energy: A Necessary Resource for Sustainability - Essay Sample

Introduction

The rapid improvements in technology result in a directly proportional demand for more energy. Thus, energy resource usage is a crucial element to monitor. There is an onset of new sustainable technologies in energy production. There are 3 major energy sources: nuclear resources, fossil fuels, and renewable energy. Renewable energy is sustainable in efficient ways. Being naturally occurring, it is the primary source of energy for many countries. Among the most common forms of renewable energy are geothermal, wind, solar, hydropower, biomass and biofuels. Emerging renewable energy technologies include marine, enhanced geothermal, artificial photosynthesis, and cellulose ethanol.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Marine renewable energy (MRE) is generated from ocean waves, temperature, currents, and salinity (Pezy, J. P., Raoux, A, 2019). Being so vast, the ocean has the potential to produce 76 bn kW that is emission-free. A consequent emphasis on embracing it in coastal nations is rising. Wave energy has an equivalent comparison with the total of nuclear power. Since it is highly predictable and consistent, it's suitable for reliable energy output. It depends primarily on the wind. Therefore, wind strength determines the wave energy output (Williams, G. A., Chan, B. K, 2019). Tidal energy is generated from rising and falling ocean waves (resulting from gravitational and rotational forces). It has massive potential, though it's limited to specific locations. It is commercially used on the Atlantic Ocean in Northern France. China is the biggest energy-consuming nation and requires many energy sources to satiate this demand. The government implemented many research and development policies for wave energy over the past years. The presence of northern winds generates waves that can be harnessed for ocean wave energy. The winds are seasonal with some being stronger with different seasons. The past few years provided China with significant technological breakthroughs concerning marine energy generation. Implementation of financial fund programs to accelerate research and development is increasing, with 62 projects receiving approval in 2017 (Kumar, A, 2017). Collaboration with international MRE bodies brings China a step closer to the commercialization of MRE. Several prototype trials were run and further prospects conducted. National policies concerning MRE are in effect and combat challenges that meet development plans for MRE. MRE policies are mainly market incentives and non-market incentives. However, MRE policies in China face challenges like inadequate technological preparedness, expensive research movement, immature market, and absence of preceding policy experience. Measures to improve MRE realization are being actualized like, reforming the MRE fund, optimizing feed-in tariffs, refining subsidy policy, reinforcing publicity awareness, and issuing special MRE laws (Yang, X., Liu, N., Zhang, 2019). Marine energy is a vital emerging energy source due to its environmental friendliness and gargantuan power potential.

Geothermal energy is gaining popularity in the 21st century. It has natural reserves in the earth with an approximate 3.6 1014 GWh energy reserves within the upper crust (J.W. Lund, 2008). Theoretical values suggest that geothermal energy can supply the world's energy for 2.17 million years (Lu, S. M., 2018). It is projected to steer producing economies globally into a sustainable energy framework. Developing countries are bound to increase Geothermal with prospects (Allie Nelson, 2017). It is among the most competitive renewable energy sources because it supplies continuous load power. China's critical demand for energy triggered the usage of geothermal energy as a renewable energy source. Though it's still in pioneer usage, it's projected to grow into a prominent energy source in China since there are big geothermal resources. From shallow geothermal energy, hydro-geothermal energy to other HDR resources, China has a wealthy geothermal reserve. Major uses for geothermal energy are agriculture, aquaculture, industrial use, heat pumps, and others. The Chinese government is keen on realizing geothermal energy's potential with target installations being set. The 13th five-year period (2016-2020) should have reliable management and policy systems for geothermal energy development (2019). A strategic development plan with a supporting mechanism was the main policy tools employed by China. Observing development variables, geothermal energy has a large operating efficiency as it is capital and technology-intensive. A chain of benefits it brings includes environmental conservation and social livelihood improvements, that promote economic growth and development. Factors (political, environmental, social, economic and technological) inhibit the seamless development of geothermal energy in China. Improving technological support and strengthening the policy framework will counter these challenges.

With emerging energy sources, public perception is critical in continuing development and innovations of energy (Druckman, J. N., & Bolsen, T., 2011). Researchers, using various methods (surveys, focus groups, observation, interviews, and documentation), acquire a response from the public. Major shapers of public perception are technology, process, place, and people. Researchers target the public's knowledge of the new technologies, and their reaction towards their introduction (Roddis P., & Ziv, G., 2019). They use these results as checks for technology and facilitate communication between policy-makers, technologists and the public.

References

Lund, J. W. (2008). Development and utilization of geothermal resources. In Proceedings of ISES World Congress 2007 (Vol. I-Vol. V) (pp. 87-95). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-75997-3_13

Lu, S. M. (2018). A global review of enhanced geothermal system (EGS). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 81, 2902-2921. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032117310341

Allie Nelson, (2017) Geothermal Is Trending Upwards, Outlook, February, 2017. Retrieved from: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/print/volume-20/issue-1/features/geothermal/2017-outlook-geothermal-is-trendingupwards.html

Kumar, A., Sah, B., Singh, A. R., Deng, Y., He, X., Kumar, P., & Bansal, R. C. (2017). A review of multi criteria decision making (MCDM) towards sustainable renewable energy development. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 69, 596-609. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116309479

Druckman, J. N., & Bolsen, T. (2011). Framing, motivated reasoning, and opinions about emergent technologies. Journal of Communication, 61(4), 659-688. Retrieved from: https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/61/4/659/4098576

Roddis, P., Carver, S., Dallimer, M., & Ziv, G. (2019). Accounting for taste? Analysing diverging public support for energy sources in Great Britain. Energy Research & Social Science, 56, 101226. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629619300532

Pezy, J. P., Raoux, A., Niquil, N., & Dauvin, J. C. (2019). Towards an ecosystem approach to assess the impacts of marine renewable energy. In Wind Energy and Wildlife Impacts (pp. 153-164). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-05520-2_10

Williams, G. A., Chan, B. K., & Dong, Y. W. (2019). Rocky shores of mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong: past, present and future. Interactions in the marine benthos: global patterns and processes. Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=2019&q=Y.W.+Li%2C+Ocean+Energy+Development%2C+China+Ocean+Press%2C+Peiking%2C+2008.&btnG=

Yang, X., Liu, N., Zhang, P., Guo, Z., Ma, C., Hu, P., & Zhang, X. (2019). The current state of marine renewable energy policy in China. Marine Policy, 100, 334-341. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X18304718

Li, J., Li, M., Gao, Y., Li, J., Su, H., & Huang, M. (2019). China's Provincial Economic Competitiveness and Policy Outlook for the 13th Five-year Plan Period (2016-2020). Springer. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-981-13-2664-6