Renewable Energy Solutions

With rising temperatures and more unpredictable weather as we continue to unpack the remainder of 2021, the conversation has undoubtedly shifted around sustainability in the field of energy. Renewable energy has begun to become a glaringly focused discussion especially as we begun to recover from the effects of the pandemic that has led to a series of changes in how we go about leading our lives. ‘The new normal’ gets mentioned in discussion quite frequently with regards to what life will be like after the pandemic. As we begin to head toward reopening, it is questionable what the new normal would entail. Those that were working in essential services would go on to question the meaning of essential work as a variance in minimum wages around the world brings uncertainty to the livelihood of those doing the commendable work of keeping essential services running. While some continued to work those jobs to maintain their expensive accommodation in cities, others considered the allure of heading outside of urban city centres as the year brought forth a plethora of services to enable us to be able to start and conduct business online.
This is also when there is significant concerns about the setbacks to savings and whether those would be affected by the spending behind such pandemic relief programs that led to the dilution of their savings. This is especially as the economy begins to reopen and the summer begins to allow for savers to go out there and inject some form of liquidity towards those small businesses that were able to survive the difficult period. This is while others around the world go on without such support from their governments due to lack of economic ability to incur such large scale spending, especially due to the overwhelming response already needed to cope with the effects of the pandemic on their hospital system. This came on the onset of the recovery plans set forth by governments in support of clean energy initiatives that supported businesses in the space of renewable technologies through the support of subsidies and relief programs.
Countries with uninterrupted access to electricity were able to pivot towards the work from home economy, as their computer systems and internet supported such a pivot. Other countries however were yet to reach that stage even before the pandemic hit, leaving them even more vulnerable than they begun. These low income developing countries were already behind with regards to the rates of electrification due to lack of supporting infrastructure not only stemming from little government support but also due to the costs involved in expanding grids in such last mile developments. These communities were also the ones which were still quite heavily reliant on basic sources of biomass and other sources of cheap fossil to power their lives off. This unfortunately leaves a significant gap between those that were able to get online and conduct transactions internationally and those that had yet to reach that level. With the rising prices in tech hardware and lower connectivity in these remote areas, it was clear that comprehensive solutions were needed to not only find ways to empower people toward electrification but also financial literacy and inclusive online education programs that would enable the gap to begin to narrow. This came at a time when the oil and gas industry had started to see a decline in its influence and utility on a large scale basis as it had thus far, with electric vehicles starting to gain some momentum.
This also came at a time when solar energy had started to gain some momentum as well, due to economies of scale that it had begun to achieve. Solar energy was also gaining acceptance due to the pollution levels that fossil fuels had begun to contribute to, leading to extensive carbon taxes being imposed discouraging its use. Though solar is gaining in popularity, it still has a significant distance to cover due to the sheer affordability of fossil solutions. A substantial portion of income developing countries, particularly those in Sub Saharan African countries only have access to basic solutions that limit their citizens ability to get clean cooking solutions. This would also determine their ability to get online as they would also have limited internet access, especially considering their means of production was yet to include refrigerators and uninterrupted power supply for their homes. While hydropower had also been a significant source of supply in some nations, the solution was kept from having a greater impact due to lack of a developed infrastructure and grids to ensure energy reached its intended end user. These countries would also see the increase in use from heat energy and biomass energy solutions, the latter of which relied on a conversion process of turning waste from plastics and other disposables into energy through combustion.
This unfortunately not only leads to higher levels of pollution in their environment but also to the gap of disparity growing wider as the methods in which people use for their daily cooking activities becomes increasingly unsustainable. Though household cooking that relies on fossil fuel from LNG solutions may be more economic than biomass energy solutions, these fossil stoves would still be slightly more efficient and supportive of a renewable lifestyle through the use of electric stovetops. Unfortunately, solar has also come with its restrictive set of barriers due to lack of policy support and therefore leads to the average end user resorting to practices that they feel comfortable to them, barring further progress. This also leads to a decline in energy efficiency due to improper productivity levels from those that lack access to clean cooking solutions and renewable energy technologies to support those solutions. There needs to be a further emphasis on the empowerment of these communities through the plan and implementation of mini-grid solutions as well as off-grid solutions to support those farther away from available infrastructure so as to be able to include them in the process of getting more and more aspects of their life online. There also has to be an emphasis on building of infrastructure to be able to support such ambitions so as to reduce the barrier on individual mini-grid development and to facilitate smaller players to take part in building these solutions.
Investments in this space would provide a multitude of possibilities for improvements not only by affecting change in the lives of the people it empowers but also through the employment opportunities it could stand to raise. Further, this shift of workers away from expensive urban areas towards rural regions could also be further leveraged due to an increasing focus on digital business and its ability to change the lives of those that are able to get online. Access to a limited set of solar panels, as currently available, does technically shift the statistic in the favour of electrification while one would truly have to compare objectively to evaluate how much of a shift it does lead to. A set of a ‘basic’ solar kit bundle would entail a few hours use of literal essentials such as a fan, a few light bulbs and a mobile charger, whilst an upgrade to the next level of upgrade to solar would entail the availability of a refrigerator and more fan & bulb hours. While individual solar solutions are able to begin to bring change, they are far from being truly sustainable over a longer duration.
There has also been developments in the scaling of hydropower solutions available, thanks to technological advancements in research and development in the field. This has undoubtedly led to divide in the options available to nations and their ability for leaders to provide solutions for their people. Existing grid systems have also seen innovations and are ripe for development to not only support existing hydroelectric power efforts but also to incorporate nascent methods of power generation through geothermal energy solutions to support the hydropower infrastructure.