Green energy investment plans hit record high

China helped push global green energy investment plans to record heights in 2015, offsetting a sharp fall in Germany, authors of a UN-backed report said today, predicting further growth.

Solar and wind power, especially in developing countries, are driving spending higher and last year for the first time renewables made up more than 50 per cent of new electricity capacity plans, the Frankfurt School of Finance report said.

“The term ‘niche product’ no longer applies to renewables,” said Ulf Moslener, professor for sustainable energy finance at the school and one of the report’s authors.

“Investments are becoming less expensive, due to falling equipment costs, which will also enable further growth, especially in light of the new momentum from the Paris climate summit goals,” he told reporters.

Firmly committed renewable investment plans totalled $286 billion last year, up five per cent from $273 billion in 2014, as per study, which is prepared annually by Frankfurt School-United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Collaborating Centre and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Solar power accounted for $148 billion, up 12 per cent partly driven by an ongoing solar boom in Japan.

Wind accounted for $107 billion, up nine per cent helped by offshore projects.

Biomass accounted for just $5 billion of investment pledges, down 46 per cent.

The study excludes large hydrological power projects due to environmental concerns. Other studies which include such data therefore may arrive at larger sums.

China accounted for $103 billion of the total, up 17 per cent, ahead of Europe with $49 billion, the United States with $44.1 billion and Asia, excluding China and India, at $48 billion.

China expects its greenhouse gas emissions to peak by ‘around 2030’ as part of its commitments to a global pact to combat global warming signed in Paris last year.

China, India and Brazil and other emerging nations jointly outdid developed nations, with $156 billion or 55 per cent of the total.

Spending plans in Germany, a leader in renewable projects, technology and research, fell by 46 per cent to $8.5 billion in their steepest fall in 12 years.

A version of this article appears in print on March 25, 2016 of The Himalayan Times.

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Why is Renewable Energy important today?

Energy Price Stability

In the last three years, we have seen large fluctuations in the cost of natural gas, oil and electricity due to global economics, market deregulation and political events in some parts of the world. Renewable energy is not subject to sharp price changes because it comes from sources such as sunshine, flowing water, wind and biological waste, all of which are free. This gives people greater certainty about the cost of energy, which is good for society and the economy. By comparison, fossil fuels are limited in their supply and their price will increase as they become scarcer.

Clean Air

Air pollution is a major problem in many cities in Nepal and around the world. The biggest cause of air pollution in cities is the burning of fossil fuels, including fuels used for transportation. The great advantage of using renewable energy in place of fossil fuels is that renewable energy adds very few pollutants to the environment. Renewable energy is considered “clean” and “green”.

Protecting Global Climates

When fossil fuels are burned, they release carbon dioxide. This gas acts like an invisible blanket, trapping more of the sun’s energy in the atmosphere, causing the Earth to warm up little by little. Carbon dioxide is building up in the atmosphere as more and more fossil fuels are used in homes, factories and automobiles. If this continues, most scientists think our planet is likely to become significantly warmer, which could cause many serious problems around the world. These problems could include melting of arctic ice, increased forest fire, rising sea levels, loss of animal habitat, damage of coral reefs, the spreading of tropical diseases, expanding deserts and more frequent and severe storms.

Protecting Landscapes and Watersheds

Some energy projects, particularly big coalmines. Hydro dams and oil & gas activities can have a large impact on lands and watersheds. Damage or loss of natural lands and watersheds is likely to affect humans and animals. For example, wilderness areas could be lost for when energy resources are extracted. Hydro dams can flood large areas, while the facilities associated with oil and gas and oil sands development can affect forests and disrupt animal movements and migrations. On the other hand, Solar energy can provide a continuous supply of energy, which is integrated directly into buildings so that it has very little impact on land use. Run-of-Rover hydro plants can be designed to allow for free flow of existing streams.

Unlimited Supplies

Renewable energy supplies will never run out. While the supplies of coal, oil and natural gas are limited, sunshine, wind, biomass and water power are considered almost limitless resources. Our large, untapped supplies of wind, sun, water and biomass can power our society indefinitely.

Jobs and Economy

Renewable energy can be developed in such a way that every household or neighbourhood could have its own renewable power generating equipment. This would create many new jobs for people involved in setting up and maintaining this energy supply and in manufacturing the equipment. It is also more efficient to produce renewable energy in small amounts right where it is needed. The energy loss and equipment needed to transmit power over long distances can also be minimized in this way.

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Kinds of Renewable Energy

Solar Energy

For billions of years, the sun has poured out huge amounts of energy in several forms, including light, heat, radio waves and even x-rays. The Earth, in orbit around the Sun, intercepts a very small part of the Sun’s immense output. On Earth, the direct sunlight is available from sunrise until sunset, except during solar eclipses. Solar collectors and modules are designed to capture some of the Sun’s energy and change it from radiation into more usable forms such as heat or electricity. In fact, sunlight is an excellent source of heat and electricity, the two most important forms of energy we consume. Solar energy is becoming increasingly popular for remote power needs such as telecommunication towers, agricultural applications (irrigation & pasture management), in tropical countries that are not connected to an electrical grid, for heating swimming pools and many other applications around the world.

Wind Energy

Wind energy is really just another form of solar energy. Sunlight falling on oceans and continents causes air to warm and rise, which in turns generates surface winds. The wind has been used by humans for thousands of years, first to carry ships across oceans and later to pump water and grind grain. More recently, wind has been harnessed as a clean, safe source of electricity.

Biomass Energy

The term “Biomass” refers to any form of plant or animal tissue. In the energy industry, biomass refers to wood, straw, biological waste products such as manure and other natural materials that contain stored energy. The energy stored in biomass can be released by burning the materials directly or by feeding it to micro-organisms that use it to make biogas, a form of natural gas. Energy from biomass is still used around the world, for everything from cooking and heating to generating electricity.

Moving Water

Humans have used water power to supply energy for almost as long as we’ve used wind. Archaeologists have discovered descriptions of water wheels used for grinding grain that date back to more than 3,000 years ago. Today, the energy of falling water is used mainly to drive electrical generators at hydroelectric dams. As long as snow and rainfall can fill the streams and rivers, moving water can be a renewable source of energy.

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Non-Renewable and Renewable Energy

Non-Renewable Energy

Much of our energy supply comes from coal, oil, natural gas or radioactive elements. They are considered as non-renewable energy because once they are removed from the ground and used, they are not immediately replaced. In fact, the world’s natural gas, crude oil and coal deposits took millions of years to form. Uranium, which is used for nuclear energy, has limited supply as well. Humans will have used up most of these deposits in less than 200 years. Once they are gone, non-renewable energy supplies cannot be replaced within human time scales.

Renewable Energy

Renewable energy on the other hand quickly replaces itself and is usually available in a never ending supply. Renewable energy comes from the natural flow of sunlight, wind or water around the Earth. With the help of special collectors, we can capture some of this energy and put it to use in our homes and business. As long as sunlight, water and wind continue to flow and trees and other plants continue to grow, we have access to a ready of supply of energy.

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Most Common Forms of Energy we use in our Daily Life

Energy is easily converted from one place to another. This is an important and very useful property, because we rarely produce energy using the same device or in the same form as what is needed for the task at hand. Since energy is often produced at some distance from its end use, we also need to transmit it from its source location to where it is needed. This is done by means of wires in the case of electricity or pipelines or tank trucks in the case of oil or natural gas. Not all forms of energy can be easily stored or transported. For instance, light is impossible to store directly. It has to be converted to some other form, such as chemical energy first.

The two most common forms of energy we use are heat and electricity. Heat is the energy of moving particles in any substance. The faster the particles move, the warmer the substance is. Electricity is the energy of electrons moving along a conductor like a copper electrical wire. Besides heat and electricity, we use many other forms of energy every day of our lives. The table below summarizes some of the more common forms of energy and how they are generated and where they are often used.

Forms of Energy	What is it?	How is it generated?	Where or how it is used?
Heat	The energy of moving particles (atoms & molecules) of solid, liquid or gas matter.	·  By burning fuels such as oil, natural gas, gasoline ·  By solar radiant coming from the sun which warms the air, water and ground ·  From nuclear energy ·  By the Earth’s core which can provide usable heat from ground sources ·  From electricity passing through a heating element	·  Heating air and water in homes and offices ·  Melting and shaping materials such as metal and plastic ·  Cooking ·  Transportation
Light	Radiant energy , in the form of photons	·  By the Sun ·  Using fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs ·  From Light Emitting Diodes ·  Lasers ·  By burning fuels such as wood and natural gas	·  Illuminating working and living spaces ·  Laser surgery ·  Communication and advertising ·  Data transmission for example on fiber optic network
Electricity	Energy of electrons moving through a conductor	·  By photovoltaic panels ·  By alternator or dynamo generators ·  From batteries ·  Using hydrogen fuels ·  From friction (static electricity)	·  Turning motors ·  Generating heat ·  Running computers ·  Communication systems and data transmission
Radio Waves	Electromagnetic energy	·   By radio transmitters ·   Microwave emitters	·  Cooking in microwave ovens ·  Voice communication(e.g. radio, TV, cell phones) ·  Radar navigation
Mechanical	The force of moving objects	·   Falling water at hydro electricity facilities ·   Motors ·   Springs and elastic bands	·  Automobiles, aircraft, other forms of transportation ·  Many home appliances and tools ·  Generating electricity
Sound	Vibrations passing through gaseous, liquid or solid materials	·   Using speakers ·   By vibrating surfaces	·  Musical instruments ·  Sonar navigation ·  Communication

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Energy is all around us

We use energy every day. It surrounds us in different forms, such as light, heat, chemical energy and electrical energy. Our bodies use the energy stored in molecules of substances like carbohydrates and protein to move, breathe, grow and think. We also use energy to do work and to play. Humans have invented thousands of machines and appliances that use energy to make our work easier, to heat our homes and to get ourselves from place to place. Some of these machines use electricity while others, like automobiles, use the energy stored in substances such as gasoline. These different forms of energy can be grouped into two types; Kinetic Energy & Potential Energy.

Kinetic Energy

Kinetic energy is motion of waves, electron, atoms, molecules, substances and objects.

Electrical Energy: It is the movement of electrical charges. Everything is made of tiny particles called atoms. Atoms are made of even smaller particles called electrons, protons and neutrons. Applying a force can make some of the electrons move. Electrical charges moving through a wire is called electricity. Lighting is another example of electrical energy.

Radiant Energy: It s electromagnetic energy that travels in transverse waves. Radiant energy includes visible lights, x-rays, gamma rays and radio waves. Light is one type of radiant energy. Solar energy is an example of radiant energy.

Thermal/Heat Energy: It is the internal energy in substances- the vibration and movement of the atoms and molecules within the substances. Geothermal energy is an example of thermal energy.

Motion Energy: It is the movement of objects and substances from one place to another. Objects and substances move when a force is applied according to Newton’s Laws of Motion. Wind is an example of motion energy.

Sound Energy: It is the movement of energy through substances in longitudinal (compression/rarefaction) waves. Sound is produced when a force causes an object or substance to vibrate- the energy is transferred through the substance in a wave.

Potential Energy

Potential energy is stored energy and the energy of position– gravitational energy. There are several forms of potential energy.

Chemical Energy: It is the energy stored in the bonds of atoms and molecules. It is the energy that holds these particles together. Biomass, petroleum, natural gas and propane are the examples of stored chemical energy.

Stored Mechanical Energy: It is the energy stored in objects by the application of a force. Compressed springs and stretched rubber bands are some examples of stored mechanical energy.

Nuclear Energy: It is the energy stored in the nucleus of an atom- the energy that holds the nucleus together. The energy can be released when the nuclei are combined or split apart. Nuclear power plants split the nuclei of uranium atoms in a process called fission. The sun combines the nuclei of hydrogen atoms in a process called fusion.

Gravitational Energy: It is the energy of position or place. A rock resting at the top of a hill contains gravitational potential energy. Hydropower, such as water in a reservoir behind a dam, is an example of gravitational potential energy.

Energy is easily converted from one place to another. This is an important and very useful property, because we rarely produce energy using the same device or in the same form as what is needed for the task at hand. Since energy is often produced at some distance from its end use, we also need to transmit it from its source location to where it is needed. This is done by means of wires in the case of electricity or pipelines or tank trucks in the case of oil or natural gas. Not all forms of energy can be easily stored or transported. For instance, light is impossible to store directly. It has to be converted to some other form, such as chemical energy first.

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Solar Energy Facts

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Did You Know about Solar Energy Facts

The consumption of non-renewable sources like oil, gas and coal is increasing at an alarming rate. The time has finally come to look after some other renewable sources of energy i.e. solar, wind and geothermal energy. Although many countries have started utilizing solar energy extensively but still they have to go a long way to exploit this energy to fulfil their daily demand for energy. Here are few facts on solar energy that can help you assess the potential of solar energy to meet global requirements.

1. Solar has Incredible Potential

If we add the amount of solar energy that is absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans every year, we end up with approximately 3,850,000 EJ (exajoules or 10^18 joules).

To put it in more understandable terms, this amount of energy is equivalent to: 

2.7 million earthquakes of the same size as the Tohoku earthquake in Japan (2011). 40 000 times the total energy consumption in the United States 8 000 times the total consumption in the whole world. About 40% of the energy that is required to heat the entire volume of water we have on Earth by 1°Celsius 

Unfortunately, harnessing all this energy is not achievable. Here’s an overview that illustrates the potential of solar power more realistically:

2. Is Solar Power Green?

Let me get one thing clear: Solar power is certainly greener than conventional ways of harnessing energy sources such as fossil fuels and coal.

On the other hand, there are issues regarding manufacturing of the solar panels, as well as disposal and recycling of byproducts. Where does the solar panel end up when it is no longer usable? (Most solar panels for home only have a warranty of 25 years).

Emissions of greenhouse gases do take place during the manufacturing. Dangerous climate gases such as nitrogen trifluoride and sulfur hexafluoride are both on the list. These literally have many thousand times the impact on global warming as an equal amount of carbon dioxide would.

3. Solar Powered Aircrafts!

Yes, it’s true. NASA has been working on a series of solar powered unmanned aircraft since the 1980’s. Pathfinder, Pathfinder Plus and Helios Prototype, is the result of NASA’s efforts to use solar power for long duration high altitude flights.

4. Solar Energy is Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear power is a term we use to describe ways to harness energy through nuclear fission and fusion processes. Conventional nuclear reactors rely on the fission of uranium atoms to produce heat, which we use to generate electricity. Nuclear fission processes releases vast amounts of heat, but is still far from the potential of fusion, the exact same phenomena that powers the Sun (as well as other stars).

Scientists are now working on what can be described as “the holy energy grail of energy”, or how to harness nuclear fusion, and they have been doing so for the last 70 years.

If we are able to tame this power before we reach a century of scientific efforts is uncertain. What is certain is that once we reach this milestone, the way we harness energy will be revolutionized. We are no longer dependent on resources when it comes to energy. Terms like renewable and sustainability will become meaningless. We will move into a new paradigm where knowledge = energy.

Heavy hydrogen (also known as deuterium) that is extracted from not more than 1L seawater, can with nuclear fusion generate energy equivalent to what we find in 300 L petrol.

5. The Sun is Dying

You probably know that solar energy is considered a renewable energy source. The reason for this is that the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the Sun (also known as sunlight) will be around for us to harness, and will not disappear anytime soon:

According to astrophysics, the Sun was born about 4.57 billion years ago and has another 6-7 billion years before it becomes a white dwarf (a planetary stage where nuclear fuel in the star is exhausted).

Fortunately you don’t have to worry about this. When the hydrogen reserves on the Sun are depleted, it will expand into a red giant, and will likely swallowing the Earth. Luckily we have another 5 billion years before this will happen!

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