The planet is heating at an unparalleled rate compared to any time in history. Thousand-year-old glaciers are melting. Storms are increasingly becoming more intense and frequent. Wildfires are flaming more and longer. The world is experiencing an increase in sea levels, which are threatening coastal communities. It is an enormous issue with an urgent and interconnected problem with the way human beings generate and use energy. But here is something really encouraging: technology is lifting itself to this challenge, and it is advancing more rapidly than many may think.
Natural sources are renewable energy sources because they are constantly replenished, such as sunlight, wind, flowing water and heat beneath the earth’s surface. The renewable sources do not deplete like fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and crude gas and the production of power using renewable sources does not discharge carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The difficulty has always lain in utilizing them in a large scale in a reliable and low-cost fashion. It is at that point that the technology comes in.
Solar and Wind: The Dynamic Duo in the Lead.
The last ten years have seen a spectacular change in solar power to the point that it has surprised even the experts. Since 2010, the cost of solar panels has fallen by over 90 percent. It is no exaggeration. Solar has become among the most inexpensive sources of electricity in the history of humankind. Homeowners, schools, farms, and businesses that were previously unable to afford solar panels a decade ago now install them and begin to save money on electricity bills in a few years.
The technology is also becoming more feasible and aesthetically pleasing with newer solar designs. They have now come up with solar roof tiles that resemble ordinary shingles. Beautiful transparent solar glass is under experiment in windows. Solar panels can be carried by people on camping and travelling, and can be used anywhere there is sun. The novelty is inexorable.
Wind energy is also increasing at an impressive rate. New wind turbines are real engineering wonders. Certain offshore designs are taller than the Statue of Liberty and are capable of serving thousands of homes in one building. Offshore wind farms- constructed in the ocean, where winds are more constant and stronger than on land- are rapidly increasing along the coasts across the globe. Already, countries such as Denmark produce more electricity through wind than their population on a particular day.
Storage, EVs, and the Full Clean Energy Picture.
Storage has been considered as one of the greatest historical challenges of renewable energy. The sun is not always glowing and the wind is not always blowing. What is the result of a decrease in supply and a steady demand? This issue of intermittency had long constrained the amount of renewable energy that could be served by the grids. Battery technology is resolving that issue at a rate that is more rapid than anyone anticipated.
Large-scale batteries, which store gigawatts of solar-farm energy during the day and emit it at night, are already in operation in several countries. Home battery systems allow single homeowners to store solar energy to be used at night. The cost of the battery has reduced significantly, and it is still declining as production increases.
Another promising area of clean energy is green hydrogen. Produced by dividing water molecules with renewable electricity, green hydrogen will be able to store an immense amount of energy and will be able to propel ships, steel factories and heavy industry without generating greenhouse gases. Even today, it remains comparatively costly, although costs are decreasing fast with the rise in investment and production.
Worth a mention are electric vehicles. Each EV will reduce the amount of gasoline-powered engines emitting exhaust into the atmosphere. And when powered by clean electricity, EVs would be a part of a smarter and cleaner energy ecosystem. Even certain EV batteries of the next generation are not only capable of supplying electricity to the power grid at times of peak demand, thus practically transforming cars into their own power plants.
Climate change is an emergency that must be fought- but so is the action taken. All solar panels mounted, all wind turbines rotating, all batteries filled with clean energy are real steps in the right direction. Climate change will not be decoded by technology. Yet it is a most necessary ingredient of the remedy, and, as it were, it is performing at this moment.
