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 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.