Topic: Are Renewable Energy resources the future? - page 6. (Read 896 times)

A case could be made for renewable energy representing the future, due to them producing energy more affordably in contrast to fossil fuel based energy.

But there is future technology with the potential to generate power more affordably than current day renewables.

A catalyst could someday be found to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen more efficiently. Paving the way to a hydrogen based economy becoming more sustainable. There are researchers who are actively pursuing this, as far as I know. Every few years one of them claims a breakthrough.

Methane based solutions could gain favor due to methane being more damaging a greenhouse gas than carbon, per gram. Burning methane I think produces carbon which is better for the environment than methane is.

If closed loop steam engines powered by sunlight could be developed. I think they would have a cleaner carbon footprint than current renewables. The way it might work is, big mirrors focus sunlight on a steam boiler. Using special materials to insulate and contain the heat. Water (or molten salt at very high temperatures) boils producing steam. Which drives the engine. In a perfect world, the boiled water would be recollected in a closed loop so water wouldn't need to constantly be added. The good thing about steam engines is they can last 100+ years. While the longevity of windmills and solar panels is far shorter.

There's a list of potential future energy sources, which could be developed if science continues to progress.

In my opinion these are the energy sources of the future, because most of the resources such as coal, oil, .... we humans have exploited are increasingly exhausted and if there is no alternative resource. OK. It is very possible that one day humanity will return to the primitive age without electricity without modern devices as it is now. but currently it is very limited and is only widely used in developed countries with modern scientific technology.

It's a two-part issue. Whilst renewables are getting cheaper, non-renewables will also become increasingly expensive as easy-to-reach reserves become ever more depleted.
Green, renewable energy certainly should be the future from an environmental, climate-change angle... but I think it will be the future not because it is better morally, but because as costs drop and the costs of non-renewables rise, it will be cheaper. Money tends to be the driver of decision-making.

A few posters have mentioned nuclear fusion, and this is of course the end goal. While the joke is that this is always a couple of decades away, there have been some major advances recently and some quite innovative new designs, notably from CFS (a spin-off from MIT)... they hope their new compact design can demonstrate net gain by 2025. There is at least the possibility of a commercial reactor within the near(ish) future. I remain optimistic.

If the cost to buy solar panels is not too expensive, people will prefer to buy that and will install at their home to reduce the electricity fee. But unfortunately, not many people can buy solar panels and can only use the current electricity they already used years ago. But I am sure that in the future, when the raw materials price to make solar panels is reduced, the cost will also reduce.

I also starting my journey using this system and from where am I where electricity is really expensive, the risk

of buying solar panels and other devices to make this system works is not that cheap. But from this previous

generations of electricity where i can enjoy unlimited energy without worrying for another high monhtly bills

I think solar energy if being focused well, may be a big help for communities.

I have heard a lot about Tokamak. But the truth is that after more than half a century of research, the technology is still not safe enough to produce electricity on a large scale. Some two dozen or so Tokamak reactors are currently operational. But all of them are either research or experimental reactors. In theory, nuclear fusion is one of the best methods to generate electricity without any environmental damage. But I am afraid that we are at least a few decades away from doing that outside research purposes.

I think the only way this goal can be achieved is solar energy. solar is really the only real unlimited energy which we are really wasting. Also there are very minimal effects on the nature if we use this energy. Infact if solar energy is used on Massive scale it could even result in reduction of global warming altogether. And I am pretty much sure that we will be using methods to use this energy the most. Home solar panels are already the new cool where everyone is focused on making this one time investment, sooner or later we could be self sufficient in our power needs.

It might but most of the energy source we have today are powered by Coal and Natural Gas. World Data on Renewable Energy  So far most countries opt to use renewables depending on its geographical location and energy yield. If developments regarding efficiency and power delivery are being enhanced exponentially yearly we might achieve it.

My best bet is Tokamak will be available to provide a massive leap in our energy crisis. Thus, solving our power needs and might lead to even new frontiers.

The main problem with renewable sources is their consistency, for example in the case of the wind you can get a lot of energy form it if the wind is blowing strong but none if there is no wind, and you cannot have a country stop just because there is no wind, so I think we could get through a point in which the majority of the energy is generated by renewable sources but we are still going to need some fossil energy sources so we have a backup in the case renewable sources are not generating enough energy for a few days.

Yes, definitely. bitcoin and bitcoin miners can be the course of this adoption because there are bitcoin is under pressure from some people who believe bitcoin is consuming too much energy and making the earth warmer. After this stuff happening we can see many major miners are trying to use more renewable energy and decrease the usage of fossil energy in the world. In my idea, the government and the organizations that try to do some progress with renewable will be the most powerful ones, because soon after people find out what they did to earth they will rush to use renewable energy resources.

The world will not be 100% dependent on renewable energy sources anytime soon.  I believe that renewable energy sources are meant to coexist or complement fossil fuels. I can only say that the world will definitely experience a decrease in the dependence on fossil fuels. However this is going to happen more in developed nations where they have the resources, policies and enabling environment to adapt and adjust. In underdeveloped countries, hmmm, I don't think so.

No matter how much progress the world has made now with  solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy, tidal energy etc we still have a long way to go and lots of ground to cover.  Personally I am delighted that solving climate change issues, ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all are part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Soon we'd achieve them

the problem in my opinion is not the renewablitiy or the pollution that some energy production methods (such as burning fossil fuel) produce but the problem is the efficiency of these methods.
for example how much energy can burning a gallon of crude oil produce? compare that with a gallon of gas.
how much can a single solar panel produce and what happens when it is cloudy?

i think in the future the focus is going to be more on the efficiency. imagine a single nuclear plant that can power then entire country.

A few years ago, I believe that renewable sources of energy are not viable, because they are much more expensive when compared to fossil fuels. But the technological advancement in this field has made wind/solar/tidal/geothermal energy very competitive when compared to the other sources. One big issue is with oil. While renewable sources of electricity will be able to replace coal and natural gas in electricity generation, there exists no good alternative for gasoline driven vehicles. EVs are 2-3 times more expensive when compared to gasoline driven vehicles. I just hope that this situation will change in the near future.

In an environment where the world is running out of conventional fossil fuels, it is refreshing to learn about the renewable resources that are now a reality. Alternative energy sources such as solar and wind, biomass, geothermal and hydropower seem to be a future of this world, with innovations such as "smart" products that harvest energy by tapping into the environment. I am a supporter of renewable energy sources, with hydrogen fueling cars (combined with electric cars) and fuel cells as a feasible replacement for fossil fuels. But, can the world be 100% dependent on renewable energy sources? My belief is that it is possible. The question is only how long it will take and what it would take.

Green energies and sustainability projects are things that institutions and individuals pressure large companies to reduce the lack of concern for the environment, but this does not mean that they should get rid of traditional sources and resort to alternative energies.
Green energies are not always green, there is a lot of waste that is generated from it and some of it ends up in the dumps, which represents another problem (recycling).

I believe that there will be a balance in the sense that the number of harmful waste that exists globally, there will be requests to reduce emissions, increase tree planting, and reduce sources harmful to the environment.

Renewable energy a resource for the future.
Most time when the word future is mentioned, majority thinks it the next fifty years or next generation to come but the simple truth about future to me is the next second.
Renewable energy been classified as a thing of the future is inappropriate.
The truth remains that renewable energy is in almost all part of the world today. But it sustainable is the major challenge.

I agree, renewable energy sources will be cheaper to implement in the future, they are a relatively new technology, which is now facing a larger adoption.

Just like mobile phones, which were way too expensive 10 years ago, and now they are dirt cheap. Solar and wind energy are the most basic source someone can have, I don't know how efficient they are though.

Yes we can make our energy sources renewable if we as humanity abolish the current energy industry that only aims to profit but not care about the pollution that they are emitting because they don't care about the future generations. If the people in position and power have integrity and won't easily be outshined by money, we will probably see a future where we are reliant on renewable energy.

If we can improve efficiency and create new tech to lower the cost, then it will be cheaper in the future. I think it's just how tech works. Just take a look at the computer market for example. You can find a fast processor for under $100 now, which can compete with the top 10 CPUs in the 90s, and so on. Tech will improve, so time will tell whether we can solve that problem or not.

Unless it was monopolized, and the government doesn't support innovation, I don't think lowering the cost will be a huge problem.

That's what I also believe. It's highly unlikely that the whole world will be dependent on renewable energy sources. They are quite expensive to implement and complicate. I think that these two ways of creating energy will co-exist for many years to come.

On top of that, not all countries can depend on solar energy, for instance, we have more than 300 days of sunshine per year, thus, some areas could possibly benefit from solar panels.