CLIMATE, ENERGY & POLICIES

 

CLIMATE, ENERGY & POLICIES

“Collaboration & Augmentation are the foundational principles of innovation” - Vaclav Smil

 Hello readers!

Caution: It is always interesting to view what you are very passionate about from the opposite pole to understand things better. This article is one such attempt. All I wrote here is healthy criticism and I am not taking any sides or proposing anything here. Thank You for understanding in advance!!

There has been a pressing need to transition towards renewable resources in order to avert the current climate crisis, which in long run is even more catastrophic than any pandemic, and create a sustainable globe. Interestingly, all the key stakeholders involved in the energy sector, i.e., Engineers, Scientists, Financiers, Policymakers etc. are elucbrating. Nonetheless, there always seems to have a significant gap between the targets set and the results achieved despite the constant evolution in the technology, owing to many factors. In due course of this essay, one such factor which is the root cause behind this hindrance is discussed: energy policies. 

I have always believed that every new solution will induce a new challenge in the system. However, one must critically question and condemn the development of policies that are going to dictate the rules of millions of lives and euros at stake. When the whole saga of climate-action has come into play, undoubtedly the EU & the US showed the path with their magnificently appealing target-oriented policies, the breath-taking technologies that were conceptualized and the constant buzz from the citizens demanding for “Save Climate”, “Go Green”, etc. However, these questions remain: How compatible are these designed pilot-phase/upcoming/mature technologies? Are these policies just fickle and fudged via the media to present a utopian world to the public who demand a cleaner and greener world?

For instance, take the case of electric vehicles (EV’s) themselves, are these really new to the world? No. Let us remind ourselves about the Ford Model T cars, which were the first Electric Vehicles from the 1920s. Unfortunately, they couldn’t even run for a decade and were quickly replaced by the noisy and pollution friendly gasoline-run cars. The sudden awareness and concern towards air bought the EV’s back into the minds of researchers in the 1990’s, only to be quickly replaced by fuel-cell run cars in the 2000s and finally settling down for the hybrid models during the early 21st century[1]. Now, when the technical researchers themselves are rapidly changing their solutions, then what kind of policies the authorities have to draft, or the financiers to invest in, or manufacturers to start mass production and ultimately make the commoners adapt to?

Honestly speaking, won’t these situations jeopardize the market? Consequently, what good are EV’s or fuel-cell or hybrid vehicles when approximately 52% of the world’s energy generation comes from coal?[2] What good is reducing emissions from transportation going to do, while the escalating emissions from the generations and setting up of new infrastructure still continue to be a nemesis to these eco-friendly measures? Anyway, I am very curious right now to see what’s going to happen with the automobile industry. Will Tesla succeed or will the latest buzz in the market called Hydrogen fuel cells succeed, which of course, is backed by the major economies, whose climate and energy policies are indirect/directly controlled by huge, powerful multi-million-dollar oil and gas corporates.

 Another interesting example is the rapid investments the EU is doing in the Photo Voltaic (PV) and Wind-based generations (almost double the generations when we compare 2008 & 2020). It is indeed a good sign to encourage and promote sustainability, but are we fully ready for this transition? With a maximum of 22% efficiency, how good are PV cells or wind turbines which sit at an efficiency of 30%? And not to forget the huge investments costs and breakeven involved a wind plant (again almost double the cost for an offshore plant when compared to onshore)![7]

 Aren’t we aware of the issues the German grid operators are facing due to the duck curve? Yes, one can say that we have adequate storage options available to curb the uncertainty and satiate the unpredictable supply-demand curves. However, again my question is, how many fully operational large-scale storage plants (such as Pumped Hydro Storage, Compressed Air Energy Storage, etc.) does the world have at the moment (or) should we start replacing our agricultural farms with battery farms to resolve the duck curve? Also, wouldn’t it be an obvious tectonic shift in the global power towards countries that have large deposits of rare earth elements such as Lithium, Silicon etc., which go into manufacturing this material? Will the global superpowers really be interested in surrendering to these developing or trying-to-be-supreme economies to take over their position in the name of climate or come up with strategies to save their power? Again, now with all these issues what type of policy is one expected to draft?

One can go on and on with the various revolutions happening around us such as nuclear power, recycling etc. Yet, despite everything well said and well known to the 1.2bn, ready-to-eat instant souls, we prefer to run after these new fancy tech toys and allow the manipulators to manipulate us in the name of climate-oriented green policies and turn a blind eye to the realities.

What has to be done now, with almost all the green policies being inherently flawed, indeterminate and prone to heavy criticism?

 It’s high time to return to the old school methods right now. Try to repair the product that has been damaged, or at least try to, instead of throwing it away immediately and search for a new option. One should focus on improving the efficiency of the thermal power plants, work on reducing emissions or improve the gasoline-run automobile 4-stroke engine efficiency. Simultaneously appreciating the scarcity of fossil fuels, rapid development in sustainable technologies is vital. However, commercialization of these technologies must happen only once they are highly stable and reliable. One can save a lot of money, time, effort and avoid chaos by doing so.

REFERENCES

1.     SMIL, V. (2010). Energy myths and realities: bringing science to the energy policy debate. Washington, D.C., AEI Press.

2.     Iea. “Data & Statistics.” IEA, 1 Apr. 2021, www.iea.org/data-and-statistics?country=WORLD&fuel=Electricity+and+heat&indicator=ElecGenByFuel.

3.     Iea. “Data & Statistics.” IEA, 1 Apr. 2021, www.iea.org/data-and-statistics?country=EU28&fuel=Electricity+and+heat&indicator=ElecGenByFuel.

4.     Iea. “Data & Statistics.” IEA, 1 Apr. 2021, www.iea.org/data-and-statistics?country=GERMANY&fuel=Electricity+and+heat&indicator=ElecGenByFuel.

5.     “Europe Emerges as Leader in Hydrogen Economy.” IHS Markit, 14 Jan. 2021, ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/europe-emerges-as-leader-in-hydrogen-economy.html.

6.     “The History of the Electric Car.” Energy.gov, www.energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car#:~:text=Electric%20cars%20quickly%20became%20popular%20with%20urban%20residents%20%2D%2D%20especially%20women.&text=Introduced%20in%201908%2C%20the%20Model,electric%20roadster%20sold%20for%20%241%2C750.

7.     Albadry, Tahseen. (2018). Comparison of Power Production and Performance of Wind Turbine and Solar Cell Systems. 10.13140/RG.2.2.15499.75042.