Renewable Energy

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Good afternoon. Firstly, I’d like to thank you all for coming. The aim of today’s talk is to update you on the current situation regarding renewable energy use, and to convince you that there’s a real possibility of becoming 100% dependent on renewable sources of energy within our lifetimes. It is possible. For example, did you know that Costa Rica introduced petrol electric hybrid cars in 2004, the fully electric car in 2009, and has already achieved between 95% and 99% carbon neutrality with a target to be completely carbon free by 2021?

How have they done this? Well, let’s look at the types of energy they’ve been converting to and some facts and figures to show how much progress we are making worldwide in terms of creating a cleaner, greener planet. Let’s begin by looking at hydroelectric power. Now, we all know that the planet is covered in water, and unlike other sources of energy, this source is constantly available. Not only is fast running water able to generate lots of power by driving turbines, but via the use of purpose-built dams, power output can be regulated to meet demand.

And thanks to constant evaporation and precipitation, it really is the ultimate renewable source. It currently constitutes 16% of global electricity produced and is forecast to rise by a further 3.1% each year. Solar power is also growing in popularity, with more and more countries offering subsidies to incentivise both companies and the general public to invest in solar panels. We can harness this natural source not only to create electricity, but it can also be captured efficiently to heat water and our homes. Unlike hydropower, however, this source is not constant and is heavily reliant on such factors as location, time of day and weather conditions.

Transference of power can be costly, but it offers huge benefits such as increasing a country’s energy security through a reliance on an inexhaustible and import-independent resource. Geothermal energy is provided by harvesting the heat of the Earth’s core. Said to be over 6000 degrees Celsius, which is actually hotter than the surface of the sun, it is estimated that it can produce 50,000 times more power than fossil fuels can provide. Clearly something we can expect to be utilised more in the future. In fact, since 2005 there has been a 20% increase in global geothermal energy production, accounting for a total of 27% and 30% of all energy produced in the Philippines and Iceland respectively.

Finally, let us consider wind energy. Already we can see wind turbines gracefully capturing the breeze and being turned into clean electricity by powerful generators. These can be situated in almost any location, anywhere in the world, with both on-land and offshore turbines already generating over 60 times more gigawatts of energy than just 10 years ago. It is also the added benefit of boosting rural growth as power plants and transmission lines are created to bring the energy into more populated areas. At present, as much as 40% of Denmark’s energy comes from wind power, and it now accounts for 4% of worldwide energy usage.