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No Nonsense
Green energy
2 December 2008, 18:00 PM
GREEN energy encompasses alternative environmentally friendly energy sources that are virtually non-polluting. They include geothermal, wind, solar, biomass etc. In 2006, renewables provided nearly 18% of global energy consumption, of which 13% was provided by biomass, such as wood-burning, 3% by hydroelectric, 1.3% by solar heating, and 0.8% by geothermal, wind, solar, and ocean energy combined.
The following examples are noteworthy:
- With over 50 countries installing wind turbines, investment in wind energy climbed to $50.2 billion in 2007. The worldwide installed capacity is about 100 GW and is growing at 30% annually.
- Photovoltaic (PV) industry output reached more than 2,000 MW in 2006. Spain's PV plant produces 60 MW and a 62 MW.
- The world's largest geothermal power installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW.
- Brazil's ethanol fuel production from sugar cane -- accounting for 18% of the country's automotive fuel.
- Solar Thermal Power stations already operate in the US and Spain. The 354 MW installed capacity in the solar energy generating system in the Mojave Desert (California) is the largest in the world.
- Kenya has the world's highest household solar ownership rate.
The promises of green energy have pushed China's capital investment to grow from $170 million in 2005 to more than $720 million in 2008. According to a UN study, global investment in green energy is expected to hit $1.9 trillion by 2020, generating millions of jobs worldwide.
Brazil's bio-fuels sector has been creating nearly a million jobs annually. Environmental technology in Germany is projected to quadruple in a few years, accounting for 16% of manufacturing output by 2030. Mexico already employs 1.5 million people to plant and manage the nation's forests.
In March 2007, EU leaders agreed in principle to harness 20% of their nations' energy from renewable fuels by 2020. Green energy leaders in the US are asking for a national renewable-energy portfolio standard, requiring a certain percentage of US electricity to come from alternative sources.
A coalition dubbed Bicep (Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy), along with Ceres, the existing Boston-based coalition of businesses, investors, and environmental groups, has formulated the following proposals for all concerned. Bicep wants to:
- Set greenhouse gas reduction targets to at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
- Establish an economy-wide greenhouse-gas cap-and-trade system that auctions 100% of carbon pollution allowances, promotes energy efficiency, and accelerates clean energy technologies.
- Promote fuel-efficient vehicles, plug-in electric hybrids, low-carbon fuels, and transit-oriented development.
- Increase investment in energy efficiency, renewables, and carbon-capture-and-storage technologies while eliminating subsidies for fossil-fuel industries. Also limit construction of new coal-fired plants to those that capture and store carbon emissions.
- Adopt a national renewable portfolio standard requiring 20% of electricity to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2020 and 30% by 2030.
Industrial scale production of solar power is not feasible in Bangladesh because of the vast stretches of land required for installation of solar panels. However, Bangladesh can easily copy the Kenyan system primarily for office and apartment buildings and individual houses. The huge stretch of coastal belts also provides an enormous potential for wind-turbine generated electricity. Photovoltaic power plants between 50 MW to 60 MW are another option for Bangladesh.
Because of the initial cost and the problem of managing hazardous waste, some environmentalists consider nuclear energy as being neither efficient nor green, or effective in cutting CO2 emissions. These concerns ignore the fact that over 75% of French electricity comes from nuclear power, yet its per capita CO2 emissions are among the lowest in the developed world, with 10 tons of CO2 equivalents. Bangladesh has little choice but to exploit nuclear power for rapid industrialisation and poverty alleviation.If the energy planners in Bangladesh are hibernating in their usual comfort zones, they will see people being deprived of income growth and employment prospects offered by the green energy revolution.
The US imports 70% of its oil at a cost of nearly $700 billion a year. With Obama's promises of accelerated investment in green energy, oil revenues of the Middle Eastern countries will drop drastically -- causing general infrastructure investment to slow down -- and so will job prospects of expatriate workers from Bangladesh, which will result in the eventual loss of foreign remittances and rise in domestic unemployment.
IEA predicts that crude oil consumption will rise from 86 million barrels a day to 106 million barrels by 2030 -- a reason why triple-digit oil prices will return again. This price hike becomes more real given that production in many top oilfields is declining slowly, which will only accelerate over time. Just to make up for that drop-off, the world will need an additional 45 million barrels a day by 2030 -- nearly four times the current production capacity of Saudi Arabia.
From this disquisition, we can see that the coming of industrial scale exploitation of renewable energy sources is inevitable, and Bangladesh must start investing now before it is too little and too late.
Dr. Abdullah A. Dewan is Professor of Economics at Eastern Michigan University.
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