The future of energy: change may come sooner than you think

Since the industrial revolution that started in England over 200 years ago, human civilisation has become dependent on fossil fuel. Despite the rising oil prices in recent years, the notion that we could shift to other energy sources is hard to contemplate. So far, we all seem to be making rather slow progress in reducing our dependency on fossil fuel. Can the human imagination bring forth our next source of energy that will be inexhaustible, renewable and clean for the environment?

To complicate the matter even more, our failure of imagination has been at the heart of the debate about climate change. I strongly believe that the green message - "use less energy" - is only one side of the coin and it is not going to solve the problem sustainably unless economic growth stops at the same time. As economies grow, particularly with the rising middle classes of China and India, any efficiency saving will soon be eaten up by higher consumption per head.

However, I think we should not be so pessimistic. In the imaginations of scientists and engineers, I believe an alternative world is taking shape. Governments around the world need to promote the use of alternative energy. There are now five common types of alternative energy. Solar energy is the generation of electricity from the sun. It is split up into two types, thermal and electric energy. The first of these two subgroups heats up homes, the second generates electricity. Wind energy is the generation of electricity from the wind. Geothermal energy is using hot water or steam from the Earth's interior to heat buildings, or for electricity generation. Biofuel and ethanol are plant-derived substitutes of petrol or diesel for powering vehicles. Hydrogen is used as clean fuel for spaceships, and some cars.

Ultimately, we need to think how we can make alternative energy mainstream. I think there are a few crucial obstacles that must be overcome. First, there must be increased understanding of how alternative energies work and why they are beneficial. Second, the availability components for these systems must increase. And third, their pay-off time must be decreased. For example, electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) are on the rise and will be common modes of transport in the coming decade. However, the success of these vehicles depends on increasing volume demand and economies of scale in order to make the parts and components more affordable. Moreover, the hybrid vehicles will depend heavily on an effective charging infrastructure such as a smart-grid infrastructure to be able to implement electricity as mainstream alternative energy for future transport.

Moreover, I think we should push for more funding for research on other new potentials for alternative energy. There is great potential for developing algae as a biofuel. During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass. The benefits of algal biofuel are that it can be produced industrially - thereby obviating the use of arable land and food crops such as soy, palm, and canola - and that it has a very high oil yield as compared to all other sources of biofuel.

Another potential is biomass briquettes. Biomass briquettes are being developed in the developing world as an alternative to charcoal. The technique involves the conversion of almost any plant matter into compressed briquettes that typically have about 70 per cent of the energy value of charcoal. There are relatively few examples of large-scale briquette production. One example is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where forest clearance for charcoal production is considered to be the biggest threat to forestry habitat. Thus, the staff of Congo National Park have successfully trained and equipped over 3,500 people to produce biomass briquettes, thereby replacing charcoal produced illegally inside the national park, and creating significant employment for people living in extreme poverty in conflict-affected areas. Biogas digestion offers a good source of renewable energy as it deals with harnessing the methane gas that is released when waste breaks down. This gas can be retrieved from garbage or sewage systems. Biogas digesters are used to process methane gas by having bacteria break down biomass in an anaerobic environment. The methane gas that is collected and refined can be used as an energy source for various products. Another one is floating wind farms. Similar in other aspects to a regular wind farm, the floating farms are located in the middle of oceans. Offshore wind farms can be placed in water up to 40 metres (130ft) deep, which is the average depth of the Gulf of Thailand, whereas floating wind turbines can float in water up to 700 metres deep. The advantage of having a floating wind farm is the ability to harness winds from the open ocean. Without any obstructions such as hills, trees and buildings, winds can reach speeds twice as fast in the open ocean as in coastal areas. The future of alternative energy seems brighter than one may think; the issue now is how to make it mainstream and accessible to the general public. In any case, I think that rising oil prices in the coming years will ultimately push us off the "energy cliff" towards a new era of non-fossil energy.

Chodechai Suwanaporn is executive vice president of Economics and Energy Policy at PTT.

Chodechai.energyfact@gmail.com

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/06/the-future-of-energy-change-may-come-sooner-than-you-think/