I think that since South Africa is an economically unstable country renewable energy is not suitable at this stage in time for South Africa. President Zuma says, "Our country needs a stable and growing mining industry," Zuma said. "Mining has been a key feature of this country's economy for more than 130 years." Since our mining industry is taking strain our economy is unstable. New power stations which are some of the largest in the world are soon to be completed. “The Medupi power station is a new, dry-cooled, coal-fired power station being built by Eskom near Lephalale in Limpopo province, South Africa. When completed, the power station will have six boilers each powering a 798-megawatt (MW) turbine, producing 4,788 MW of power. This will be the largest dry-cooled, coal-fired power station in the world. Kusile is the second most advanced coal-fired power plant project in Eskom’s system after the Medupi power station.” These power stations are also some of the most expensive and i know this because The power utility told parliamentarians that finance costs on its new power statio...
There are several factors influent whether or not a particular type of energy is adopted. These factors include cost, reliability, environmental impact, generating capacity, and efficiency, possibilities of hybrid designs and storability, and technology development risk. While renewables are not being developed fast enough to meet demand, the best available option may come from conventional energy sources. Among them, nuclear power which is well developed and highly penetrative is the largest source of electricity that does not release significant amounts of greenhouse gas and has been contributing mostly to world energy use.
"In 2015, the average annual electricity consumption for an U.S. residential utility customer was 10,812 kilowatt-hours (kWh)." Based on the population of the united states verse other countries in the world, we use a vast amount of energy per person. As the population grows we need more energy such as renewable and nonrenewable energy.
Renewable resources are an important aspect of sustainability. Some examples of renewable resources that are most frequently used are biomass, water, geothermal, wind and solar. Unlike fossil fuels, which are finite, we can regenerate or replenish renewable energy resources. With the rising cost and decreasing availability of non-renewable fossil fuels, renewable resources are receiving increasing attention. The question however is, would renewable energy be an economically viable option for South Africa as a whole and its people.
Wind energy has been utilized for hundreds of years. Such a simple technology and source of energy has always been around, and has been used slightly, but never to its full potential. Only recently have people been discovering and engineering ways to utilize the great, natural, free source of energy that the universe gives us. Renewable, safer, more efficient, and environmentally friendly sources of energy are becoming more and more important in such an, already, physically damaged world that we live in. It is becoming a household debate, and a debate in which many world leaders are taking notice and action towards. There is plenty of upside in investing in renewable energy, but people and countries are so reluctant because of how cheap non-renewable
South Africa has a long way to go before externalities associated with energy generation are internalized into the cost or eliminated completely. The entire electricity supply sector needs to be restructured towards the renewable energy sector. However, economic instruments need to be implemented before the sector can move away from coal-intensive electricity production.
The year is 2200. The world is going through a fossil fuel shortage. Oil reserves are almost completely consumed and it is becoming impossible to find new fossil fuel sources. Not prepared for this event to occur, The United States, has no alternative options. As a result of the oil shortage, the standard of living deteriorates. Heat in homes, supermarkets full of food, and transportation, all basic necessities taken for granted, will be depleted because fossil fuels are used to power almost everything. The key to the prevention of this future is renewable energy. Unfortunately the support for the use of renewable energy is weak and ineffective. Unless the US puts forth effort to research and promote the use of renewable energy to consumers, conversion from fossil fuels to renewable energy will no longer be an option.
Renewable energy is expensive, yes, but only in terms of the development costs, comparatively it would be more cost effective to build and operate a conventional power station than let’s say a wind farm. Subsequently renewable energy is
Coal has concentrated supplies in industrial countries, (U.S. Russia, China and India). Some pros about using coal as a resource for energy are that, the infrastructure is already in place and coal produces a high load factor, which means a high power output at a relatively low cost per unit. It is predicted that coal supplies will outlast both oil and natural gas. Coal is the cheapest form of electricity production, making it the viable option for developing countries. About 80% of coal’s total potential energy is extracted, this is relatively high.
Energy is the basic necessity of daily life. Nowadays, dependence on fossil fuels for energy needs becoming lower in numerous countries due to the potential of renewable energy to supply sustainable energy to the huge populations in many developing countries who are short of clean and continues energy. Generally, renewable energy can be defined as energy that is derived from natural resources which are constantly replenished and theoretically inexhaustible. Fossil fuels on the other hand can be described as energy that cannot be renewed and will eventually diminish. Thus, in many developing countries renewable energy is the alternative energy to replace non-renewable energy or commonly known as fossil fuels. In addition, according to Sorensen (2004), there is a greater demand for renewable energy sources nowadays due to the uncertainty of fuel price rise in living expenses. Commonly, there are many types of renewable energy available in our world such as wind power, biomass energy, solar energy, hydroelectric power and geothermal energy. However, the main three example of renewable energy are hydroelectric power, solar and biomass energy (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
Why renewable energy is so expensive is the capital needed to start producing energy as well as the length of time for eg. a hydropower station takes to build.Due to these facts South africa has not taken the necessary steps towards fully implementing renewable energy into our society we have only pocketed by using the cheap fossil fuel to maximize our profit. .For these reasons i will say the renewable energy is not an economically viable option at this moment. I say this because of two reasons first, the cost of the capital necessary to start up a renewable energy power plant and the provider will only seek the profit in the future which is not what big businesses want to do they are impatient and will want immediate profit to cover their capital also our fossil fuel the means to over 77% of our electrical output, this transition of 77% will be extremely costly and is highly unrealistic.What would be a viable option is to integrate renewable energy into our output of electricity and slowly but surely bring down the percentage of our fossil fuel.The second re...
South Africa wastes lots of money on non renewable energy sources in order to create electricity for example coal. The building of Wind Turbines, Hydroelectric power plants etc. Are costly, but once built are free as they use renewable energy sources. They do not contribute to global warming unlike nuclear power plant which is extremely bad for the air. There is also a risk of an accident such as the Chernobyl accident.
In chapter thirteen of our book, Environment by Raven and Berg, it shows us just how important renewable energy sources are. Currently the United States of America thrives on the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power. The main problems with these types of fuel are that they are both limited and can be extremely harmful to our environment. They cause global warming, air pollution, acid rain, and oil spills (Environment), and not only that, but in the grand scheme of things, these sources really aren’t even that cheap of a fuel source. There are many alternatives to these all but outdated fuel sources.
With the depletion of fossil fuel resources comes speculations and debates about alternative energy sources. The world, including the Philippines, is practically dependent on a dwindling non-renewable source of energy. Today, experts are debating about and considering three options: Nuclear, Solar, or Wind Energy. Everyone has been accustomed to the bad image of nuclear energy as a result of the Chernobyl and Fukushima incidents above all others. The popular belief is that radiation from a nuclear meltdown is very harmful to humans and other living things—which is true—and that nuclear power plants are very dangerous and not ideal—which is not. According to Smith, et. al (n.d), all the nuclear disasters that ever occurred were caused by human error and natural disasters like tsunamis, not one because of system failure. Putting the false beliefs aside, with proper engineering and adequate maintenance by experts, a nuclear power plant is a very ideal and viable source of energy for the following reasons:
Using fossil fuels such as coal and oil is inefficient, dangerous, and otherwise a process that is known to eventually fail as a long lasting energy source. Yet, there is hope for the future of energy, this new hope has many shapes and forms, but requires a chance to be fully implemented in our everyday life. Such energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, and hydro power are the key to our future. These energy sources are proven to be long lasting, safe, more reliable, and the next innovation. In short, all Americans should switch to renewable energy, resulting in a safer and more efficient world.
...t the demand for electricity than non-renewable. Also it could be more environmentally friendly. Wind energy, as it can be seen that wind energy might lowest danger and more reliability.