Renewable Global Energy Production

Renewable energy is predicted to exceed gas and nuclear energy sources by 2016. Whoa. That’s not that far away! Quoting from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report; “Power generation from hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources worldwide will exceed that from gas and be twice that from nuclear by 2016.”

 

That’s a pretty major prediction when you stop and think about it. With ever growing concern and demand for finding, developing and practicing renewable and sustainable practices for all aspects of daily life, this comes as a big boost to those in the trenches of environmental awareness. Renewable energy is the fastest growing power-generating sector and makes up to one quarter of the world wide power mix. It is expected that non-hydro power sources will double in numbers by 2018.

 

There are two key factors behind the increasing demand for renewable energies such as geothermal and solar. The first factor is that investment and consumption are increasing rapidly in up-and-coming markets. In these markets in particular, renewable energy can quickly and efficiently address power supply, diversification needs and pollution concerns. Europe and the USA lead the way in this area.

 

The second factor is that renewable energy is quickly becoming more cost-competitive. That means that renewable energy is beginning to be able to compete with gas power or hydro-electric sources and enables them to be a real consideration and an efficient piece of the energy puzzle.

 

Founder and director, Daniel Kammen, of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley states that the IEA’s predictions are conservative. Perhaps we are underestimating the potential and power of these renewable energy sources?

 

Barak Obama eluded in a speech that the impact to human health is great and far reaching when it comes to global warming and the effort to minimize and curb these factors is of high priorty. Factors that impact human health related to energy sources include: