Once upon several afternoons, while visiting my native homelands, my electricity dependent activities were interupted when the electricity "went". Electricity "going" is a common phrase in many third world countries but none of us, the afflicted, really knows where it goes. It could possibly be the electricity load shedding, which is the deliberate cutting of power to certain areas to enable other areas to have electricity due to the inability to provide all areas with electricity simultaneously. It could also just be a "technical" difficulty on the part of our energy suplliers.
In recent years the world has experienced a rise in energy demands which has lead to a need for renewable energy sources. The current conventional energy sources such as coal and nuclear power give off pollution and green house gases as a by product causing unsustainable development and contributing to the ominous phenomenon of global warming.
Renewable energy, referred to as modern energy is energy produced from the elements namely wind and solar energy. The reason behind seeking out alternative energy sources is partly due to the call for global sustainable development as stipulated in the seventh goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The target of the goal is to ensure environmental stability thus reversing and reducing the loss of environmental resources by integrating sustainable development principles in country policies and practices as part of their social responsibility.
Previously solar energy was not very efficient because the solar cells relied on sufficient solar exposure which meant that countries with little annual exposure to the sun could not take advantage of this form of renewable energy. These days however, solar cells are built with optimized low light behavior which means that the cells achieve optimum yields even in seasons or regions with sun exposure.
Another renewable energy source that many countries are taking advantage of is wind energy. Wind energy is fast in the sense that wind power farms begin producing energy much faster than electrical power plants. Wind energy is more favorable in terms of costing than its conventional counterparts because it is a free unlimited source of energy. Projects like the NoordzeeWind project have lead to many European countries such as the Netherlands using wind energy to provide almost one fifth of its energy needs.
Geothermal energy is another modern energy source that uses heat from the earth’s core to produce energy. Though renewable geothermal energy plants emit very small amounts of CO2 and are restricted to areas where there are geothermal reservoirs making this kind of energy a costly investment.
Many third world countries cannot supply their own energy needs ant therefore need to import energy form other countries else practice electricity load shedding which interrupts everyday operations. The end result of modern energy is to create energy independence as well as meet all the energy needs of nations.
Renewable energy, referred to as modern energy is energy produced from the elements namely wind and solar energy. The reason behind seeking out alternative energy sources is partly due to the call for global sustainable development as stipulated in the seventh goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The target of the goal is to ensure environmental stability thus reversing and reducing the loss of environmental resources by integrating sustainable development principles in country policies and practices as part of their social responsibility.
Previously solar energy was not very efficient because the solar cells relied on sufficient solar exposure which meant that countries with little annual exposure to the sun could not take advantage of this form of renewable energy. These days however, solar cells are built with optimized low light behavior which means that the cells achieve optimum yields even in seasons or regions with sun exposure.
Another renewable energy source that many countries are taking advantage of is wind energy. Wind energy is fast in the sense that wind power farms begin producing energy much faster than electrical power plants. Wind energy is more favorable in terms of costing than its conventional counterparts because it is a free unlimited source of energy. Projects like the NoordzeeWind project have lead to many European countries such as the Netherlands using wind energy to provide almost one fifth of its energy needs.
Geothermal energy is another modern energy source that uses heat from the earth’s core to produce energy. Though renewable geothermal energy plants emit very small amounts of CO2 and are restricted to areas where there are geothermal reservoirs making this kind of energy a costly investment.
Many third world countries cannot supply their own energy needs ant therefore need to import energy form other countries else practice electricity load shedding which interrupts everyday operations. The end result of modern energy is to create energy independence as well as meet all the energy needs of nations.
I go through load shedding every single day here in pakistan and it's really bad for the economy too ... hundreds of businesses do not operate such as factories of all kinds, taylors, internet cafe's, lathe machinists, and the list goes on.
ReplyDeletewe mainly have a UPS (un-interruptable power supply) which was made for computers at first so people don't loose important work, then someone got the idea of powering the houses with it, now i'd say about 50% of ppl use it as a backup... sometimes loadshedding lasts for more than 4 hours and this is where the UPS system fails.
I built a wind turbine a while ago and put it up in karachi ... we have high winds there so it's useful to keep the battery charging.
there are many ways to use the motors used in wind turbines. with a little add-on they can be used in hilly areas with water. they can be used in waterfalls ... zambia has the victoria falls, where it could make a lot of electricity using nature. countries which have coasts can use the ocean's waves using a similar principles because the top half of the waves go toward the earth and bottom half goes back to the ocean.