Energy Management for the Future
By Leila Bakhtiari*
*This article was written by Leila Bakhtiari, and selected as the winning essay for the EnergyRates.Ca College Scholarship 2022. Bakhtiari is a Ph.D. Candidate in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Western Ontario.
The modern world that is based on industrialism is extremely dependent on energy. Recent researches report a considerable increase in energy consumption during the current century, explaining that its consumption growth per capita is predicted to be about 56% from 2010 to 2040 (Sharifi et al. 2020). Fossil fuels still supply a much higher percentage of energy consumption as the main source of energy worldwide. Even though the conventional sources of energy, fossil fuels, have many advantages, their greenhouse emissions cause some serious environmental degradations such as global warming. Due to the environmental concerns caused by fossil fuels, renewable energies attract attention as safer and infinite sources of energy. In 2021, reports show that nearly 14% of world energy consumption is related to renewable energies. It is also projected that this amount will reach 30%-80% by 2100 (Kralova et al. 2010).
However, at the first glance, shifting from conventional energies to renewable energies including hydropower, solar, and wind energy, seems good and simple, there are many factors and influential details that need to be checked. The main problem with using a renewable source of energy is its intermittency problem. In recent decades, a reliable achievement was obtained to solve this problem; using renewable energy sources paired with an energy storage system. Via adding storage to the energy system, the excess energy can be saved for the off-time of the renewable energy source. For years, many types of energy storage systems have been proposed and examined such as electrochemical batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, pumped hydro storages, and compressed air energy storage. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages as well. Therefore, more research still needs to be done in this area. In addition, it will take many years and so much professional work to reach a more efficient storage system. There is hope to gain an optimized and efficient energy system based on renewable energies in the near future. It would be a significant achievement to reach a sustainable and environmentally friendly energy system.
The other alternative for fossil fuels would be biofuels. Using biofuels as a main source of energy is one of the more controversial topics these days. Despite being introduced as an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly renewable source of energy before, some research, recently, illustrates the opposite results about biofuels. But a bright future is expected for biofuels with more investment in research.
In my point of view, today’s human has been captured in a vicious cycle of more consumption for more production. This vicious cycle in the form of creating more well-being and more economic prosperity leads to more energy consumption and more environmental damages including accumulation of waste in nature and global warming. Apart from the changes that need to be made to promote the culture and attitudes of societies, in the field of energy, most research should focus on reducing energy losses in all sections of an energy system.
References
Sharifi S, Nozad Heravi F, Shirmohammadi R, Ghasempour R, Petrakopoulou F, Romeo LM.( 2020) Comprehensive thermodynamic and operational optimization of a solar-assisted LiBr/water absorption refrigeration system. Energy Reports, 6: 2309–23.
Kralova I, Sjoblom ¨ J. (2010) Biofuels-renewable energy sources: A review. J Dispers Sci Technol, 31(3):409–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/01932690903119674.
