What is Sustainable energy?
It is a form of energy that is an important currency behind everything we do without expiring or depleting levels so they can be used over and over again. It is a basic need for all living activity, commercial or otherwise, whether the needs are for calories, kilowatts or an embedded component of the goods or raw materials we buy.
How do we measure sustainable energy?
The use of energy, its sources and the effects which come as a result of these, are current topics, with and increasing understanding and acknowledgement of our need for fossil fuel. More research, by Terrafiniti, a sustainability and CSR consultancy, has gone into finding out how we can develop sustainable energy systems.
The focus of this research has been in two main areas:
· Increasing the productivity of energy use, and
· Shifting the sources of energy used for commercial, industrial and domestic purposes.
Energy efficiency, known as the ‘5th Fuel’, has played a vital role in regulation. ESOS (Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme) and the CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) are two initiatives which apply to business, but there are also energy efficiency labelling systems for domestic goods, cars, private houses and requirements for minimum energy (MEES) efficiency performance for residential letting, according to Terrafinit.
Although new technology has provided energy saving devices like LED lighting, society’s need for mobile has increased the need for energy consuming devices. An average smartphone has an energy footprint of one gigajoule.
Whilst there is a general move towards conserving energy of these products, through an increase in online activity and electronic trade, there have been some benefits in terms of energy consumption but results are not straightforward. Server farms are energy sappers and where we save in one place we spend elsewhere.
However, were we able to access cheap and clean energy, then the efficiency of our use would be less of an issue. Unfortunately, though, our energy infrastructure (especially in the western world) has been designed according to a model of large-scale generation and long distance transmission. This is something that renewables struggle with. Renewables provide energy that requires aggregation (concentration before use) whereas fossil fuels provide forms of ready-concentrated energy.
Our facility to move from a dependence on one type of energy to another is mainly due to the infrastructure in place. The UK has a grid system that is not two-way and does not allow the aggregation of many small sources of energy generation. However, this may be changing with the development of smart grids.
When renewables are measured against coal, oil and natural gas (CONG) as direct substitutes we encounter issues as they are not ‘always on’ (on the contrary not always burning fuel) and they can lack the energy concentration or power required to provide a direct substitute. Moving away from this towards an ecosystem-based upon renewables will require bigger changes in the way we provide and use power and likely a higher level of differentiation between uses and the systems that support them than we have currently have in place.
To make the best use of renewable energy we need to develop varied models of energy supply and demand which may be defined by a new typology of demand, distinguishing the needs of consumers.
For example, an industrial system that needs high quantities of continuous power could be provided as a function specific to use. Domestic energy needs may be met individually through multiple systems; space and water heating provided by solar with or without short-term interim storage. Transient high power needs such as cooking could be met through a battery, flywheel or pumped storage or via neighbourhood flow batteries. There is also scope for the further development of stock-able renewables (e.g. biomass, ethanol, hydrogen etc.) which would help moderate energy supply and distribution issues.
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