Earlier Projections of Energy Supply
A sustainable energy is of great importance for future growth of a country. The implications of sustainable energy consuption can be felt both on the economy and environment. Supplyergy and its demand forms the basis of the world sustainable growth and development as far as energy is concerned. A clear line of demarcation must be drawn between traditional forms of energy and current technological forms of energy (Akinyele & Rayudu 2014). The traditional forms of energy could not be matched with increased demand of world energy production hence more research on other current sources of energy. The supply of and demand for world supply of energy pattern has been influenced by several factors like socio-economic and political activities. Revolutionary approach or attitude has been adopted by several industrialized nations to avoid scarcity of this precious commodity in the future period. This has led to the need for current forms of energy to traditional forms hence supplement of the earlier forms of energy that existed before (Van Der Schoor & Scholtens 2015).
It is evidently clear that energy problem existed in the earlier periods. There was common usage of wood, solar, wind power, tidal power and cow dung as a source of energy. The act of industrialization led to the increased demand for energy supply (Chu, Cui & Liu 2017). The supply of resources like Coal, Uranium, Crude oil and Natural Gas were viewed to be scarce and due to continued exploitation by human could not match the increased demand. The nations which had developed into industrial societies had the maintenance cost go up faster than productive capacity. Low standards, poor planning and political instabilities affected the supply of world energy. For instance, Natural gas and crude oil sector had high cost of water transport, complex processes and high cost of distribution. Crude oil in the past years have been exhausted (Hosseini & Wahid 2016).
Due to scarcity in supply of these earlier energy resources, some of them could get depleted and hence were non- renewable. It promoted slow uptake in terms of growth to most countries and environmental degradations this has therefore brought an imbalance in equilibrium between the current needs or future and earlier demands. Therefore, heavy responsibility lies on international policies and agreements with the oil producing countries to help manage wisely these non-renewable resources (Katsounaros et al., 2014). This will also help in the elimination of wastes and ensure optimum use of oil produced and more efficiency in the engineering work. However, these earlier sources of energy had little contribution in that they opened more pathways for research work and technological advancement. Table 1 below indicates the demand projections in the earlier years through the future periods. It shows how there has been a decline in the use of non-renewable energy (Katsounaros et al 2014).
Current Energy Use
There existed the need for long term solutions that bedeviled the energy sector. This necessitated the revolutionary change in the energy sector to help solved scarcity of resources and renewing of non-renewable resources. Environmentalists advocated for a cheap and clean source of energy that will help preserve the environment and could be renewed (Seyfang et al., 2014). Energy derived from Coal products were to be reviewed to contribute significantly in the future periods with the support of governments.
Proper international policies were proposed to guide OPEC countries to help create reserve and preserve the non-renewable crude oil to create a sustainable demand in the future (by 2050). Additionally, revenue collection from OPEC countries should properly manage and help diversify the sector. This has strengthened the economies of oil producing countries by creating increased domestic demand thus leading to lowering of taxes and minimal spending by various governments (Zheng et al., 2014). It has also promoted more investment by the private sector and efficient sound financial base. The expansion of nuclear energy has led to the generation of electricity which has encouraged efficiency in production of industrialized products hence improved consumption. The valuable contribution from this form of energy will help the developing nations also benefit indirectly through the importation of industrialized products hence improved economy, terms of trade and living standards of its future generation. More importantly, this will encourage interdependence between energy industries and various governments.
The technological break-throughs through research work has made it possible for the technological advancement of solar energy to help supplement other forms of energy hence improved life style. The generation of hydro-electric power has led to the renewal of water energy and preservation of environment by both the developed and developing nations. In the developing nations it accounts for 7% while 46% is developed in OECD countries (Shaikh et al., 2014). It has also boosted their productive capacity of industrial products and helped encourage agriculture through development of various irrigation schemes and control of frequent flooding by constructing water reservoir. This has facilitated a sustainable development and valuable contribution in the energy sector by ensuring controlled pollution and treatment of industrial effluents (Surendra et al., 2014).
Table 2 below indicates an improvement from the earlier sources of energy which were non-renewable to renewable sources of energy of current sources. For instance, there has been increased need for nuclear energy that has been viewed to be valuable in the production of electricity hence phasing out the older thermal reactors which has since been replaced with breeder reactors that is expected to generate more electricity in the coming centuries hence improved global energy systems (Lund et al., 2014).
Reasons for Differences Between Projections and Current Usage
Table 1: World energy demand projections 1980 – 2050 (produced in 1986)
Table 2: World energy supply 1950 – 2050 (data known until 1974). Source: Ion (1978).
Figure 1: World energy supply projections 1950 – 2050 (source: Figure 10 in Ion (1978); from Introduction, “Figure Ten illustrates the ideas which I hold on 5 December, 1977 as the shape of things to come”)
Conclusion
The growing demand for energy in the world has led to a paradigm shift in the energy sector. Most nations have moved from earlier sources of energy and have invented new sources. This has promoted lean sources of energy and environmental conservation. Most countries have put a lot of funds in this sector to make it more sustainable in the future and economical hence improved productivity and efficiency. It is therefore expected that this will spur growth and development to the developing nations and major expansion through research. The growing demand for energy has made possible for various invest more on scientific research, more so on nuclear energy to match the growing demand and avert any energy crisis this might be created due to pressure on the natural resources. This will help reduce the risk of political instability and radioactivity operations as well as the wastes that its associated with hence promotion of research and development in the coming centuries to facilitate major expansion in the energy sector
References
Akinyele, D.O. and Rayudu, R.K., 2014. Review of energy storage technologies for sustainable power networks. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 8, pp.74-91
Chu, S., Cui, Y. and Liu, N., 2017. The path towards sustainable energy. Nature materials, 16(1), p.16
Hosseini, S.E. and Wahid, M.A., 2016. Hydrogen production from renewable and sustainable energy resources: promising green energy carrier for clean development. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 57, pp.850-866
Katsounaros, I., Cherevko, S., Zeradjanin, A.R. and Mayrhofer, K.J., 2014. Oxygen electrochemistry as a cornerstone for sustainable energy conversion. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 53(1), pp.102-121
Lund, H., Werner, S., Wiltshire, R., Svendsen, S., Thorsen, J.E., Hvelplund, F. and Mathiesen, B.V., 2014. 4th Generation District Heating (4GDH): Integrating smart thermal grids into future sustainable energy systems. Energy, 68, pp.1-11
Seyfang, G., Hielscher, S., Hargreaves, T., Martiskainen, M. and Smith, A., 2014. A grassroots sustainable energy niche? Reflections on community energy in the UK. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 13, pp.21-44
Shaikh, P.H., Nor, N.B.M., Nallagownden, P., Elamvazuthi, I. and Ibrahim, T., 2014. A review on optimized control systems for building energy and comfort management of smart sustainable buildings. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 34, pp.409-429
Surendra, K.C., Takara, D., Hashimoto, A.G. and Khanal, S.K., 2014. Biogas as a sustainable energy source for developing countries: Opportunities and challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 31, pp.846-859
Van Der Schoor, T. and Scholtens, B., 2015. Power to the people: Local community initiatives and the transition to sustainable energy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 43, pp.666-675
Zheng, X.F., Liu, C.X., Yan, Y.Y. and Wang, Q., 2014. A review of thermoelectrics research–Recent developments and potentials for sustainable and renewable energy applications. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 32, pp.486-503
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