A renewable future?

So we really don't want fossil fuels?

Not in the long run. Although some countries are focussing on using gas (instead of coal or oil) because it is less polluting, the fact is, it still contributes to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and most government organisations, including the EU and the UN and are agreed that this needs to be reduced.

Also, fossil fuels are finite; at some point they will run out, and unless we cut out energy use dramatically, we will need something else to replace them with.

So what about renewables?

That's a good question. There are many people and organisations who think that the future 'energy gap' can be filled with renewable energy sources. They argue investment and research will enable us to 'scale-up' technologies to replace coal, oil and gas.

Are they right?

There has definitely been an increase in the use of renewables for producing electricity across the globe.
Some countries in the world manage to produce over 80% of their electricity from renewable sources. However, all of these are countries blessed with geography that allows them to make massive use of hydroelectric power (HEP).

A HEP dam in Brazil

Source: By Andre Borges Lopes (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

A HEP dam in Norway

Source: Rehro [CC-BY-SA-3.0-de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

Other countries have managed to dramatically increase their use of renewables. Portugal is one such example. By focussing on developing wind, wave and solar energy, as well as hydroelectric power, it now generates 45-50% of its energy using renewable sources.

Solar power in Portugal

Source: Ceinturion at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], from Wikimedia Commons

Great! What's stopping us?

Well, there are issues. Not everyone is blessed with sunshine, constant winds and waves, steep river valleys and so on. Some places will find it harder than others to make use of renewables.

There are difficulties with storing energy from renewable sources that only generate power some of the time - like wind and solar.

Wind turbines don't generate energy when the wind doesn't blow

Source: Shooter's Bottom wind turbine at dusk (Sharon Loxton) / CC BY-SA 2.0

Also, many renewables are regarded as expensive, and people aren't keen on paying more for their energy.

In addition, each form of renewable energy has its own advantages and disadvantages. These have to be considered before we decide what to use, which is our next job.