There has been much debate about the contribution that renewable energy is having or could potentially have as part of our growing energy needs. Is alternative energy really a feasible answer to our current energy problems?
There is no doubt that in the West our energy demands are increasing even with the introduction of more energy efficient appliances. Our current infrastructure is struggling to keep up, and at some point soon a permanent solution will need to be found.
Green energy has long been seen as the answer with its ability to produce unlimited amounts of free and non-polluting energy. However, there is a problem, with current technology we will not be able to meet current demands. The current focus is on wind power and photovoltaic solar panels. While these are proven technologies, they are not efficient enough to meet all of our energy needs with our current land mass.
We also have the additional problem that the actual infrastructure that carries electricity from where it is produced to our homes is very inefficient. Much of the energy generated is lost in the transfer of energy. Before we can focus on renewables, we must first fix the infrastructure. If you had a faucet that leaked a lot, you wouldn’t go and build a bigger tank, would you?
Too much emphasis is being placed on solar and wind energy, tidal and wave energy are vastly underutilized and could theoretically produce a large percentage of our energy needs. Not only this, but the sea is reliable and predictable unlike the sun and the wind. With twice daily tides and continuous waves, it appears that energy from the sea can overcome many of the shortcomings of renewable energy.
We also have to look at our own energy consumption, it is much easier and much more cost effective to reduce the amount of energy we consume rather than try to keep up. Many appliances that we use at home are inefficient and consume a lot of energy. We leave things on when we’re not using them, and most of us have no idea which appliances in our homes are consuming all that energy.
The reason for this is that our relatively cheap energy is supplied from gas and coal. This free ride will not last forever and we are going to see a sharp increase in the cost of running our homes. Surely now is a good time to prepare for this instead of just waiting for it to happen and having to deal with the price surge.
