Energy EfficiencySustainable Energy

The discovery of commercially feasible light bulbs has been a revolutionary invention in the history of human race. It completely transformed and innovated the manner in which we live our lives and has led to massive developments in science as well as commerce. However due to the increasing global warming and climate change affecting the planet there have been increasing cries for people to do their bit in helping the planet by reducing the pollution. The usage of energy saving light bulbs is a small yet a significant step in helping our environment. Not only this, the energy saving light bulbs also help in reducing the electricity cost of your lighting requirements. Thus these bulbs are a great option that people should consider when installing light bulbs at their homes and work places.

The most popular energy saving light bulbs

Due to their affordable cost and low energy, the energy saving light bulbs are increasingly becoming popular amongst the consumers both in private homes and commercial establishments. An increasing number of people these days are opting for the energy saving light bulbs over the traditional light bulbs. Let us have a look at some of the most popular energy saving light bulbs.

  • LED Bulbs

LED light bulbs are well known across the board for their lighting efficiency. The energy consumption required for LED bulbs is extremely low whereas their lifespan is an incredible 100k+ hours. This essentially means that the lifespan of an LED light bulb is 20 times of a regular, traditional incandescent light bulb in a household. This is one of the reasons that an LED light bulb is preferred in places where there is a requirement for lighting conditions to be on most of the time. The low energy, high durability of an LED bulb is a life saver as it provides a productive lighting solution to the lighting requirements of big and small scale industries.

The approximate efficiency rate for energy in LED bulbs is about 80 percent. This means that the 80 percent of energy consumed by LED bulbs is transformed into light and only 20 percent of the energy is lost. That is a good conversion rate going by the current standards of lighting equipments. In contrast, the incandescent light bulb only transforms 20 percent of the energy into light and the staggering 80 percent of the remaining energy is lost and wasted. That is a huge gap of energy conservation between LED bulbs and regular incandescent light bulbs. This is why most of the businesses as well as industries that have high lighting requirements, such as large hotels, office buildings etc prefer LED bulbs as they are comparatively far cheaper than the traditional bulbs.

  • CFL Bulbs

CFL bulbs, also known as compact fluorescent lamp bulbs, are amongst the most efficient low energy bulbs out there in the market. These bulbs are essentially nothing but fluorescent bulbs but they have a higher degree of efficiency when it comes to energy consumption and they are also more versatile in comparison to their compatriots. They are considered versatile because these bulbs can be used with a wide range of applications and settings.

One of the key feature of the CFL bulbs is the mercury vapor contained in small quantity within the glass. When electricity runs through the bulb it stimulates phosphorous coating via ultra-violet light thereby enabling the vapor to glow which produces light. This method of stimulating phosphorous coating requires less amount of electric energy as compared to other methods of lighting which includes incandescent bulbs. Thus CFL bulbs are one of the most energy efficient bulbs and are increasingly being used in the lighting environments.

  • Sensor Light Bulbs

The sensor light bulbs are a technologically advanced version of the CFL bulbs. The sensor light bulbs come with inbuilt mechanism and sensors that enables them to switch on the light when the sunlight is fading and switch off automatically when day sunlight is restored. This is one of the most amazing advances in the lighting industry.

The sensor within the sensor light bulb analyzes the level of natural sunlight and depending on its status, whether it’s fading or increasing, it decides to switch on or off automatically. This feature is not only amazing but it also helps to save energy by avoiding unnecessary wastage. A lot of the times people tend to be lazy and don’t switch off the lights even when it is not necessary. However the sensor light bulbs solves that problem by switching off automatically when not required. These bulbs are able to provide 100 light watts from a mere 20 watts of electric power thus making them one of the most energy efficient power bulbs in the market.

Contributing To Efficiency

There are multiple brands for these energy saving bulbs in the market and you should make your choice based on your own research and requirements. These energy savers are not just for homes. Companies have replaced a lot of their bulbs to be more efficient. Efficiency knows no bounds and all players can make a difference. LSA Networks, a U.S. based social networking company known for free sexual sites for casual dating, have revamped the lighting in all of their offices to maximize efficiency. Other large tech companies and small businesses continue to do the same.

Energy Technology

The recent 2021 reports emphasize the worldwide improvement in battling conservatory gas emission from power generation. More than a whopping 70% of countries that were tracked showed progress in energy security and access.

However, 13 countries out of the 115 countries have shown to have made constant progress in the last 10 years. Fossil fuels account for 81% of the total power in 2018. Approximately 770 million of the population still lack the permit to electricity.

The Energy Transition Index rates 115 countries based on the energy performance they have shown. This includes the strength and efficiency of transmission and generation and also advancement to more clean aspects of energy.

These are the top 10 countries:

  1. Sweden
  2. Norway
  3. Denmark
  4. Switzerland
  5. Austria
  6. Finland
  7. United Kingdom
  8. New Zealand
  9. France
  10. Iceland

Sweden is leading the world ranking, Norway, Denmark, and other countries follow. These countries make up 2% of the world population. They account for nearly 3% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

The top 10 countries are developed countries however the only major global economies to feature are France and UK. The non-advanced economy in the highest place is Latvia. It is classified as Developing and Emerging Europe.

Challenges that remain

The dominant derivation of world energy is fossil fuels. They account for 81% of all the energy in 2018. This curtails dependence on coal, gas, and oil. This is a crucial part of accomplishing important climate objectives like the Paris agreement and the United Nations Development Goals.

In the recent decade of the Energy Transition Index, at least 70% of the tracked nations have shown to make progress on energy security and energy access. However, only 13 nations out of the 115 nations have made invariant gains. The report also emphasizes the need to enhance the power of supplies, especially to recently electrified regions.

Assessing resilience

The Energy Transition Index report summarizes 3 core areas to enhance the solidity of the power transition.

  • Deliver an even transition for everyone

The transition to lower carbon elements should not impair financial and economic security. Policymakers must have measures in place to subsidize their economies. This includes re-evaluating investment decisions and power policy.

  • Accelerate electrification

Decarbonizing power systems can be accomplished by increasing financing for development and research. Promising cross-sector affiliation can also help to a great extent. These can prove to be beneficial avenues to scale up renewable power sources.

  • Doubling the public-private area alliance

Investing annually in energy that is clean and enhancing energy efficiency to accelerate it by a component of at least six by the year 2050, as per the United Nations Climate Change Panel. Forming better alliance between the private and public sectors is crucial. This should comprise risk-sharing to persuade long-term investments. There have been a lot of creative initiatives from unlikely partnerships such as FFB Media a tech company focused on online dating (FreeFuckbook.app) in conjunction with solar and wind energy companies.

Powerful shocks

Other than the top, improvement has been passive in Germany. It has been ranked 20th. It is devoted to gradually getting rid of coal-fired energy plants. It is committed to shifting industrial outcomes to more clean fuels like hydrogen. However, it is still a struggle to make energy services accessible.

Huge energy-consuming nations like Canada and the US show very little advancement towards power transition. The coronavirus pandemic is a reminder of the consequence of exterior alarms on the world economy. As the climate changes it enhances the probability of extreme weather conditions like droughts, violent storms, and floods. There is a dire need for additional endurable energy strategies to be intensified.

The covid 19 pandemic bids an alternative to contemplate anomalous intervening of the energy demand and world affiliation to assist a comeback that expedites energy transition. This reset consents to the choice to inaugurate forward-thinking, aggressive, long-term strategies that can lead to the most secure, diversified, and credible energy system. A system that can eventually benefit the future development of global frugality equitably.

Energy Transition

Australia is one of the largest exporters of fuels. Despite that, it is looking at ramping up its venture in renewables. There are various challenges posed by bushfires and a standstill in construction due to the covid 19 pandemic.

Australia is home to the world’s largest coal mines, despite that, they have a plan for it to produce 94 percent of the energy from renewable sources. This is in line with lessening emissions with energy transition.

According to the analytics, the country’s dwindling rate of distributed power resources, the eagerness to deliver reasonable electricity to the consumers helps their attempt to attain this ambitious target.

Analysts and critics from across the globe have indicated that Australia will accomplish the world’s most rapid energy transition with the increase of renewable generation.

Recently, certain regions of Australia have established records for renewable generation utilization. Their new record set for the power yielded from renewable resources is 11.7GW. Their previous high was in November of the year 2019.

As a fraction of nationwide power utilities, renewables peaked in August. At that time, wind and solar produced 46.5 percent of the energy consumed, according to AEMO.

The AEMO chief confirmed it to be a record of instant and quick renewable generation that highlighted the shifting supply throughout the market of electricity.

The last few months have substantiated a commission of five contemporary solar and wind farms that have a generation capacity of 580MW. These feed into the electricity market of the country. Seven other earnest projects work towards the formation of 1785 MW.

Projects in the pipeline for the energy transition

The Global Data power analyst says that Australia presently has a robust renewable pipeline. This comprises projects in the advanced and nascent stages. Solar and wind represent approximately 90% of the pipeline.

The government has taken the final call for coal-based power plants. They now have an agenda to not continue gas and coal generators after the retirement date they above planned. They are also looking at the gas and coal generators to retire much earlier. This depends on whether renewables provide tremendous cost benefits before 2040.

Australia presently relies on coal-fired production for the majority of the power generated. In the last year, coal produced 85 percent of the nation’s energy. Compared to this, wind produced 6 percent in the same time frame. Hydroelectric and solar sources generated 3% each.

Australia is dependent on coal for mining. Mining products are one of the top exports of the country. Has and oil also features in the list of top ten alongside coal.

Japan wants to quit coal generation. This will impact Australia greatly. It exports a quarter of the coal to it.

Irrespective of world data, analysts indicate that solar generation and photovoltaic will steer a fast energy transition. This is pursued by the wind. Analysts believe wind and solar PV will fill in 25% of the whole installations in the year 2020. It was 24% in 2019.

The abrupt decrease in module expenses, improved efficiency, and meager power investment has positioned solar PV after wind as green transformation flag bearers. The recommended energy transition means proliferation in energy depository, investment for building, and advancing the infrastructure to help the renewable growth of the scale.

TLDR:

The situation

30th July 2020 is when the AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator) announced the ISP (Integrated System Plan) for the electricity market in Australia.

The context

It is a comprehensive roadmap for the nation’s energy future. It puts forth documented stakeholder engagement proposals, conceivable investment provisions, and planning timelines to shift to a climate-resilient network.

Looking Ahead

The 2020 Integrated System Plans proposal is to meet 90 percent of the electricity demand by renewable generation by 2035. This will exceed the country’s present target of a 26 percent reduction. The operators and regulators of the electricity market in Australia continue planning for the country’s transition.

Energy EfficiencyFossil Fuels

Energy is what makes the universe functional. According to science energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. We now get to the point from where do we get that energy. It is obtained from the resources found on the earth. Some of these are natural and some man-made. If not for energy transformation from one form to another, carrying on life and its activities become difficult. Looking deeper, we can classify the resources into two broad categories. They are renewable and non-renewable sources of energy.

Renewable as the name suggests can be used over and over again. There is no end to it and it can be replenished. These are present naturally on mother earth without any need to create them. This includes the energy from the Sun, wind, water, and geothermal. These are present in nature in abundance and are also known as clean energy resources since they do not cause any damage to the environment.

Non-renewable sources are those that cannot be replenished and get over, due to continuous usage. They are limited in supply as they do not occur in nature as it is. Mankind is heavily dependent on these resources and is using them up at a fast pace. Some non-renewable resources are coal, natural gas, nuclear energy, oil.

Fossil fuels

All the non-renewable resources are collectively given the name fossil fuels. Organic substances like dead animals and plants lie under the ground, as deposits thousands of feet below the earth. These decay over time and are converted into coal, oil, and petroleum due to extreme heat and pressure in the earth’s crust. Thus are formed fossil fuels. It takes millions of years for them to be created and is used up at a rapid rate presently.

Types of Fossil fuels

  • Coal- It is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur and is a hard black substance. They are used in industries and also to generate electricity in thermal power plants. The steam engines of yesteryears used coal as fuel to generate steam and run the engine.
  • Petroleum- It is an oily liquid generally green or black and has the name black gold as it is very precious. Its use is found in the manufacture of plastics, fibers, polythene, and also for road pavements.
  • Natural gas is a clean fuel and is usually stored in compressed form to be transferred through pipelines. It is used in cooking, as automobile fuel, for power generation, and also to make chemicals and fertilizers.

Importance of fossil fuels:

  • Nearly 90% of the demand for energy in present times is taken care of by fossil fuels only.
  • Quite a huge amount of energy can be produced by burning a unit mass of fossil fuel.
  • Most of the products we use on daily basis are based on fossil fuels like plastics, medicines, sunglasses, lipsticks, medical devices, and computers.

What is the need to conserve fossil fuels?

  • The foremost need arises from the fact that they are non-renewable sources of energy. Once used, they cannot be easily replenished and it takes millions of years for fossil fuels to form. Unmindful usage of these essential resources will lead to scarcity and processes dependent on these sources will come to a standstill.
  • As we have seen above man is heavily dependent on these resources and survival becomes very difficult if they are not conserved and used judiciously.
  • Another important reason to conserve them is to reduce pollution and help the environment. More burning of fossil fuels leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions which in turn damage the ozone layer.
  • To reduce global warming, less use of fossil fuels is considered. Heavy usage of fossil fuels leads to the heating up of the earth and due to this polar ice caps have started to melt leading to a rise in sea levels.

Ways to conserve fossil fuels:

  • Use more of alternate sources of energy. The importance of renewable sources is being recognized and people are resorting to using them effectively. For example, powering your house through solar energy wherever possible can help conserve considerable energy.
  • Try to be energy efficient starting from individual households. Better insulation also helps in lesser use of energy. The use of energy-efficient appliances and being considerate about energy usage can help a lot.
  • Always follow the 3 R’s of Reduce, Reuse, and recycle to conserve energy. We cannot easily create fossil fuels so it is important to reuse and recycle products made from them in whatever possible way we can.
  • Using lesser number of vehicles and resorting to public transport can also help conserve fuel.