If you think about fossil fuels, you will find their usage was suitable for the lives people led in the past. However, many things have changed today, and with digital technology, new trends and challenges have surfaced. To reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, the world needs to sit up and transform the energy sector to cater to the above challenges.
Paul Favret on the major trends predominant in the energy sector today
Paul Favret is from Denver, Colorado, United States, and he is a consultant at Belize Natural Energy/Aspect. According to him, this trend refers to the transformation towards a cleaner and carbon-free globe. This can be done with the increase of renewables and by increasing premiums on using fossil fuels.
Electrification
Electrification is a vital way to decarbonize energy, for instance, by changing to electric cars. Sadly, fossil fuels still occupy a large percentage of electricity generation in several nations, especially in the USA, where fossil fuels take up about 63% of electricity generation. For this electricity to become free from toxic emissions, the globe should move to renewable energy solutions like solar, wind, and biofuels. This eliminates approximately 7 million deaths resulting from air pollution or reverses or slows down the negative effects of global warming.
Renewable energy solutions also have their hindrances. This is because everyone needs energy 24 hours every day; however, the wind and the sun are not available 24/7 daily. It is here that more investments and money are needed in energy storage projects so that this energy can be used later.
There are several alternates for clean energy that will surface in the future. For instance, The European Commission has an extensive strategy for developing green hydrogen for usage from 2030 to 2050. Other alternatives include magma power which entails the use of heated steam created by magma deep in the Earth for the generation of electricity. This might sound far-fetched to many; however, the surprising news is that Iceland already has a geothermal system that has been enhanced by magma for generating electricity.
Decentralization
In short, this trend refers to the stepping away from the present system of centralized energy grids that are operated by the monopolistic providers of energy when it comes to their distribution. Thanks to the combination and advent of renewable energy, there are localized microgrids – this is where consumers get the option to make their own electricity as per their needs.
If you examine solar panels on rooftops, you will be familiar with the concept. However, decentralized schemes for energy can scale much higher as they can serve a huge building or a whole housing scheme, or a total city. This is exciting as it implies organizations, consumers, and even local authorities can take control of their own energy portfolio.
According to Paul Favret, a good example of the above is in Glasgow in Scotland, where you will find a small but increasing volume of generation from generators in the locality in the city.
