Since the dawn of the industrial age, the ability to harness and use different forms of energy has transformed living conditions for billions of people, allowing them to enjoy a level of comfort and mobility unprecedented in human history and freeing them to perform ever more productive tasks.
For most of the last 200 years, steady growth in energy consumption has been closely tied to rising levels of prosperity and economic opportunity in much of the world.
Now, however, humanity finds itself confronting an enormous energy challenge. This challenge has at least two critical dimensions.
On the one hand, it has become clear that current patterns of energy use are environmentally unsustainable.
Overwhelming reliance on fossil fuels, in particular, threatens to alter the Earth’s climate to an extent that could have grave consequences on the integrity of vital human and natural systems.
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At the same time, access to energy continues to divide the ‘haves’ from the ‘have-nots’.
Globally, a large fraction of the world’s population still lacks access to one or several types of basic energy services, including electricity, clean cooking fuels and adequate means of transportation.
Energy security and sustainability are undeniably the main concerns in combatting climate change.
While an immediate call for all-green and renewable energy seems to be impossible due to huge financial implications and inadequate supporting energy structure, an alternative to fossil fuels needs to be established.
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Therefore, the notion of green energy must come into the picture. Green energy is any type of energy that is generated from natural resources, such as sunlight, wind or water.
It often comes from renewable energy sources although there are some differences between renewable and green energy.
Green energy is important for the environment as it replaces the negative effects of fossil fuels with more environmentally friendly alternatives.
Derived from natural resources, green energy is also often renewable and clean, meaning that it emits no or a small amount of greenhouse gases and is often readily available.
Even when the full life cycle of green sources is taken into consideration, they release far fewer greenhouse gases than fossil fuels, as well as few or low levels of air pollutants.
Green energy can also lead to stable energy prices as these sources are often produced locally and are not affected by geopolitical crises, price spikes or supply chain disruptions.
The economic benefits also include job creation in building facilities that often serve the communities where workers are employed.
Due to the local nature of energy production through sources like solar and wind power, the energy infrastructure is more flexible and less dependent on centralised sources that can lead to disruption as well as being less resilient to climate change.
Green energy also represents a low-cost solution for the energy needs of many parts of the world. This will only improve as costs continue to fall, further increasing the accessibility of green energy, especially in the developing world.
Green energy has the capacity to replace fossil fuels in the future. However, it may require varied production from different means to achieve this.
Geothermal, for instance, is particularly effective in places where this is easy to tap into, while wind energy or solar power may be better suited to other geographic locations.
However, bringing together multiple green energy sources to meet our needs, with the advancements that are being made with regard to the production and development of these resources, there is every reason to believe that fossil fuels could be phased out.
We are still some years away from this happening, but the fact remains that this is necessary to curb climate change, preserve the environment and move to a sustainable future that has a bearing on sustainable development goals.
