Energy of the future

Everyone, and everything, needs energy: energy to make things, to offer services, and even to do neither and take a holiday. It forms the basis of the way we organise our lives. The problem of the limited number of energy sources was thrown into sharp relief during the oil crisis of the 1970s. It was then that many countries, including the Nordic countries, began turning more attention to energy efficiency and renewable energy. But then the price of oil came down again…

The core of the problem

With a number of factors having coincided and been amplified in recent times, energy is one of the most hotly debated issues in international politics and everyday life in the 21^st century. The rapid rise in the global population and global consumption has led to energy shortages and price hikes. There are also shortcomings in energy security and growing concern about (and awareness of) the environmental problems we have caused, climate change and just how much strain our planet’s ecosystem can take. In the 21^st century we are faced with a much greater problem than we were during the oil crisis 40 years ago.

Solutions

So what will help? More widespread use and more efficient consumption of renewable energy certainly, as well as recycling and reuse, and analysis of the life-cycle of the things we use. Energy derived from renewable sources – the sun, the wind, biomass, geothermal heat and water – has less of an impact on the environment, whilst reinforcing energy security. Fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) currently form around 80% of the European Union’s energy consumption.[1] Sweeping changes are needed from the point of view of guaranteeing energy supplies as well as from that of the environment and climate.

The EU’s energy and climate change policy sets out three 20% reduction objectives by 2020:

– reducing emissions of greenhouse gases;

– reducing consumption of energy through more efficient use; and

– renewable sources from energy consumption.

It is currently thought that renewable energy will form app. 19% of global energy consumption by 2020.[2]

Looking to the future

This means that wind energy will continue to gain ground around the world, with an ever-increasing focus on wind parks in the open sea, as well as on micro-production at the community level. Technology will also be advanced for deriving energy from ocean currents and tidal movements.

Solar panels have proven their worth even in the North, and long gone are the days when waste was merely for disposal – thanks to modern environmental technology it can now be used to produce electricity, heat and even fuel for transport. Communities too are starting to produce pure energy from local sources, selling any they don’t need themselves to local networks.