Is the power generation industry capable enough to satisfy the people’s growing demand for energy?

Understanding Major

Users of Electricity in Detail

• Residential Worldwide, the consumption of electricity is highest for households. The energy is used for varied purposes in household which includes space & water heating, lighting, and more.
• Industrial The consumption of electricity is also growing in industrial sectors owing to the rise in industrial activities. In 2021, the industrial sector consumed about 37% (approximately 168 EJ) of the world's total final energy, a rise from about 32% in 2000. The industrial sector mostly consumed energy for various manufacturing processes which includes boosting the components’ temperature for giving the shape to the product in a desired manner.
• Commercial buildings Commercial buildings such as hospitals, schools, hotels, shopping malls, offices, and more require huge amounts of electricity in order to provide proper air ventilation, or conditioning atmosphere, along with lighting, and heating.
• Transportation The importance of electricity in transportation is growing. Along with its growing use in fueling railway networks, it has now gained a position in electric vehicles. Electricity is needed to charge this electric vehicle. Though recently the consumption of electricity is low for electric vehicles owing to a lack of awareness, it is expected that in the near future, it would grow. Different sources of power generation include fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas. However, all these sources have led to a rise in pollution globally. About 25% of emissions of greenhouse gases came from electricity production in 2021. Hence, with the growing demand for power, the pollution level is also estimated to grow. However, the power consumption cannot be reduced. Hence, the prevalence of alternative sources or renewable sources for producing electricity is growing. As compared to fossil fuel the emission of greenhouse gasses is reduced with the use of renewable technology.

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Alternative Sources of Producing Electricity

• Solar Energy The availability of solar energy is in abundance in nature hence it could be used to satisfy the expanding demand for power. Moreover, they could be used under cloudy conditions. Solar technologies have the capability of supplying heat, cooling, natural lighting, power, and fuels for a variety of applications. Additionally, the price of solar panels has declined drastically along with making them available in many parts of the world. Also, the lifespan of solar panels is about 30 years which is why they are expected to satisfy the demand.
• Wind Energy Wind energy has turned out to be one of the most used renewable sources of energy in the world and it has been used for the last several decades. With the greatest increase of all power production technologies, the amount of global power produced by wind grew to about 272 TWh in 2021 (up about 16%), a growth which was approximately 54% more than that observed in 2020. However, there has been growing innovation in onshore and offshore technologies for collecting wind energy. Hence, their presence is growing. Despite the fact that typical wind speeds vary significantly from place to place, the majority of the world has an opportunity for considerable wind energy installation. In fact, the technical capacity for wind energy is more than the global power output.
• Hydropower Energy The method of capturing the energy of water flowing from higher elevations to lower elevations is called hydropower energy. This energy could be generated from the river or reservoirs. Even though this method could also be also the highest utilized renewable source of energy, it is still impacted by various factors. Though this source depends on rainfall patterns, a light disruption in climate caused by climate-induced droughts or changing patterns of ecosystems may cause this source to fail.
• Geothermal Energy By utilizing the thermal energy that is available from the Earth's interior, geothermal energy is produced. With the help of a well or various other methods geothermal could be heated. Additionally, there are reservoirs that don’t need heating since they are naturally warm. Hence, such reservoirs are called hydrothermal reservoirs. Whereas, there are some reservoirs which need improvising along with hydraulic simulation. Such reservoirs are known as enhanced geothermal system.
• Ocean Energy Ocean energy is generated by processes that utilize the kinetic and thermal energy of ocean waves and currents in order to produce heat or electricity. However, this process is still under development and research is going on various prototype wave and tidal current devices.
• Bioenergy Bioenergy is created using multiple natural resources, also known as biomass, encompassing wood, charcoal, dung, and other fertilizer for the generation of heat and power, as well as crop residue for the generation of liquid biofuels. The majority of biomass is utilized by impoverished populations in developing nations in rural places for cooking, lighting, and space heating. However, this energy is expected to be used without causing much harm to the forest.Hence, all these renewable energy sources are projected to satisfy a large number of people and further reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses.

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Which different regions are

Adopting renewable energy?

Asia Pacific region is known to be the largest consumer of energy and also most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In 2021, Asia Pacific consumed about 271 exajoules and became the primary energy consumer in the world. Among this energy consumed, fossil fuel is the most used energy source which has also caused heavy emissions of fossil fuel in this region. Hence, the use of renewable sources of energy is growing. Renewable energy production is projected to continue to grow in Asia's whole power capacity, hitting about 62% in 2035 from approximately 39% in 2022. Despite the fact that oil's thermal capacity is expected to decrease by about 14% by 2035, gas's thermal capacity is projected to rise by roughly 43%. This is a consequence of a greater need for fuels that have lower carbon emissions, which favors natural gas over oil. Additionally, after China, the US possessed the second-highest potential for renewable energy in 2021. The US utilized an about 324 GW capacity for renewable energy last year. The demand for renewable energy is rising. Fortunately, the US is aggressively promoting the expansion of renewable energy projects and increasing their availability.