Sustainability of Clean and Renewable Energy

By Okoko Chidozie Christian

chidochrisozonegold@yahoo.com; 09025179984.

Modern civilization is possible because people have learned to change energy from one form to another, then use it to do work.

Hence, people use energy for a variety of things such as to walk, ride bicycle, move cars along roads and boats through water, to cook food on stove and gas, to make ice in freezer, to light homes and offices, to manufacture products and to send astronauts into space.(Energy Information Administration, EIA,U.S.A).

Each year, the stakes grow higher in the fight to save the environment and combat global warming, and we are aware of the damaging effects that current dependence on fossil fuel holds for our collective future. So, energy source that cannot be depleted remains viable forever.

Biofuel- the process where fossil fuel is replaced by organic material as an alternative source and sustainable fuel derived from abundant biological source (biomass) provides cleaner combustion and reduces greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.

For example, the use of biodiesel which has gained recognition as a viable alternative to fossil fuel is renewable and environmental-friendly energy sources, research reveals.

Economically, replacing fossil fuel with biofuel has the potential to generate a number of benefits like increasing farm income because many biofuel feedstocks (raw material used for processing or manufacturing another product) require land, water, and other resources.

Examples of feedstocks include corn, which is used to produce ethanol; soybean oil, which is used to produce biodiesel, a renewable, biodegradable fuel manufactured domestically from vegetable oils, animal fats etc.

Moreover, biomass is a broad term covering all organic materials including that from plants, trees like straw, crop, wood and animals like poultry litters, and can be considered a clean, renewable form of energy and electricity as its growth removes greenhouse gases like carbon-dioxide(CO2) from the atmosphere and stores the carbon-dioxide inside the soil, trees and other vegetation.

This clean energy from renewable, zero emission sources which do not pollute the atmosphere when used as well as energy saved by energy efficiency measures has been very affordable, efficient and inevitable for a sustainable world.

Also, they involve a universal access to electricity and modern energy sources while reducing reliance on fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas, bitumen and oil shales) and transitioning to renewables energy (recyclable source) alternatives. But, the burning issue is that renewable energy consumption has been steadily increased over the last decades and monitored as part of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals, SDGs.

In the United Kingdom, their largest source of renewable energy consumed is not from sun or wind, rather it is from the biomass (biofuel) which is organic material from plants and animals.

And, this has made the UK greenhouse gas emission to fall, and the sources of greenhouse gas emission relating to electricity products changed as the use of renewable source of electricity like biomass has also increased.

Moreover, energy crisis especially the poor access and affordability, demand and supply mismatch, energy inequality, high dependency on non-renewable energy sources are the challenges for sustainable development(Singh. S, et al).

Even, the environment in which organisms live are being polluted due to vast availability of non-renewable energy which will eventually deplete over time.

Today, clean energy has provided us with a variety of environmental and economic benefits including a reduction in air pollution. Thus, a diverse clean energy supply has reduced the dependency on imported fuel (and the associated financial and environmental costs). Also, there is irrelevant cost savings for the clean energy supply because there is no need to extract and transport fuels such as oil or coal, knowing very well that they replenish themselves naturally.

Accordingly, the most important aspect of clean energy are the environmental benefits as part of a global energy futureas reliance of fossil fuels continue to diminish, research unfolds. It has industrially benefitted humans in the field of job creation to develop, manufacture and install the clean energy resource for the future.

Recently, there was a Clean Energy Summit in Dubai, UAE tagged COP28with over ninety-seven thousand (97,000) delegates from 118 countries around the world. The policy of the conference “…to transition away from fossil fuels”- which is the main driver of climate change brings together people to take actions on achieving a common goal and proffer collective solutions to a nagging global concern. So, as we aspire toward global clean and renewable energy sustenance, the cost will fall, and work will be created to develop and install the new energy solutions.