Energy has become an increasingly important subject in the global perspective today. A number of considerations come into play, some of which are, increasing levels of pollution in the atmosphere, rising ambient temperatures across the world as a result of carbon dioxide and other emissions, growing manufacturing that is responsible for the pollution, the search for better methods of raising useful energy outputs per unit of primary energy, desire to cut down on use of traditional sources of energy that cause high levels of pollution, increasing use of renewable energies that are more environment friendly, and reverting to more energy efficient lifestyles beside a host of other considerations.
Old though this chart/graph is,
it is instructive in showing the ‘explosion in consumption’ from the 1940s or
thereabout.
As to the fuels used, the 2004 chart by British Petroleum of 2004 is instructive:
We can see that Africa in particular had, and, seems to continue to be a very small consumer of the primary sources in question – oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy and hydropower.
A more recent picture up to 2010
from the Wikipedia encyclopedia shows a continued growth pattern, especially in
Asia and Oceania, with big consumers including China and India, see graphs
below:
Source: Wikipedia - World primary energy consumption
in quadrillion Btu by region.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_primary_energy_consumption_in_quadrillion_Btu_by_region.svg
World outlook
Starting with the seventies, oil
prices started to rise sharply. Being a major resource for energy in the world
then, many users felt the need for finding redress in order to remain
competitive and make products that could keep a meaningful share in the
marketplace.
The quest for energy efficiency
became more relevant, resulting in more opportunities for manufacturing
concerns to seek services of providers. Many companies sought improvements with
relatively short ‘payback periods’. This led to the adoption of internal personnel
dedicated to seeking energy savings before resorting to experts for more
detailed reviews. Financial institutions were brought on board, funding
improvements to the benefit of all parties.
Alongside the above developments,
efforts at exploiting renewable sources of energy were beefed up. Coal and oil
have been dominant resources, but, with higher pollution to the environment. As
such, the ever-abundant sunshine and wind for instance caught the sight of
researchers in the quest for enhancing their share in the energy mix.
In parallel, new technologies are
constantly sought where greater energy efficiency is achieved or more
environment friendly resources are used.
Saving the environment
Worldwide, greenhouse gas
emissions have increased significantly, with a 70 percent increase between 1970
and 2004. The picture for fossil fuels alone is represented by the following
line-graph:
Global Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from
fossil-fuels 1990-2008
Source: Boden, T.A., G.
Marland, and R.J. Andres (2010). Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2
Emissions. Carbon Dioxide
Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of
Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334/CDIAC/00001_V2010.
Realizing the growing rate at
which the environment is threatened, the world community is busy devising
strategies to cut on pollution so that the world can be habitable for future
generations.
Such international forums as the United Nations have put in place entities to work toward the realization of these noble objectives.
Efforts in developed countries
Many advanced countries have
dedicated many efforts toward these causes. These have been across the entire
spectrum. To mention a few, many such countries have been at the forefront of
developing exploitation of renewable energies, improving efficiency across the
board, evolving technological innovations and the like.
Creating a conducive framework
In facilitating the growth of
efforts toward a safer environment, a number of schemes have been applied.
These incentives include tax waivers, subsidies and like drives.
A very interesting one is one
where a private generator for renewable energy is allowed to sell to the
electricity grid at a tariff that ensures that they do not make a loss, even
when such a tariff is above the normally set rate. That way, entrepreneurs are
encouraged to continue to spearhead their efforts at tapping renewable energies
to higher levels.
Consequences to date
The overall effect is very
pleasing in several aspects. One, the once down-played renewable energies are
now assuming center-stage in energy contribution.
Wind and solar resources have
moved from small-time resources with negligible contribution to significant
shares in the energy mix.
Many countries have set ambitious
targets for the share of renewable in the energy mix. Germany has been quite
ambitious and resolute, with a significant impact. United States of America
(US) has seen big reductions in growth of carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to
the government and private sector efforts.
Despite China remaining a
significant generator of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, it is also
amongst the leading countries in exploiting wind and solar.
As a result of the Fukushima
nuclear disaster in Japan, it has one of the most significant incentive
programs for solar adoption that are changing its ranking dramatically,
starting with Tokyo.
Situation of less developed
countries
It ought to be said that, the
situation prevailing in that group of countries is a largely mixed one. In
general, there has been less development versus increased consumption in
general. We will briefly talk about a few of the pertinent issues.
Economies tend to be growing at
much lower rates if at all, especially in these financially troubled times.
Many of their industries are vested with old technologies, often rendering them
uncompetitive. Much of the industry adds little value, with several exports as unprocessed
or semi-processed agricultural products.
Many primary energy sources are
the conventional forms of petroleum products and/or coal, even for processes
for which the more developed countries are using more efficient technologies or
other resources. On the other hand, several poor countries continue to
predominantly use biomass, mostly for cooking. This is by the majority of the
populations, to be found in rural areas, and, Uganda is not an exception.
While many developed countries
have renewable energies contributing handsomely to grid electricity, a number
of poorer countries continue to generate electricity using petroleum products.
These countries have on average
higher population growth rates, putting more pressure on the resources available.
Despite the existence of several
business development obstacles, incentives to the energy sector are limited or
hard to get at times.
Need to address needs of energy
sector
Judging from the above, there is
indeed to seek ways and means of getting the poorer countries to strive to
emulate the rest of the world on this important subject.
One way to start is through
addressing an urgent need to start raising the consciousness of the communities
in the less developed world about the need for energy matters.
There ought also to be some
comparative analysis on the different activities, and, proposing strategies
that can move us to higher levels of modern energy practices.
It is against such a background
that this blog is initiated.
Check out our other forum
Apart from this effort on home
ground, we are also blogging at http://empowernetwork.com/paulsagala/ and we invite you to see some of our efforts
there.
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