Fossil Fuels Vs. Clean Energy
I’ve now discussed a little bit about the positives of clean energy and the impact it can have on our environment. But how exactly does it compare to fossil fuels, the source that currently is being used to fulfill the majority of the world’s energy requirements? In this post I will be citing data from a peer reviewed article from the International Journal of energy research that goes into greater detail on the future unreliability of fossil fuels and also compares its outputs to that of clean energy.
The first figure here provided by the article, is from 2012 and consists of data gathered by the International Energy Agency. As we can see, fossil fuels account for a vast majority of the world’s fuel shares by a very wide margin. It also accounts for essentially all the greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere on a yearly basis. This is a problem because our energy needs are only going to grow as the population continues to increase and standards of living continue to improve all around the globe. The article further emphasizes this point by pointing out that fossil fuels are not a renewable energy source, and that there is only a finite amount so our continued reliance on them is not sustainable. We have already experienced issues as there is a lack of uniform distribution of fossil fuels globally, so many countries rely on others entirely for their power needs. One example of this has been the ongoing violent conflict between the United States and the Middle East over their vast oil supply.
While the use of fossil fuels certainly isn’t sustainable, Dincer and Acar list criteria for energy which does make it so. They say, “To be truly sustainable, an energy system must meet the following criteria: (i) minimal or no negative environmental or social impact; (ii) no natural resource depletion; (iii) being able to supply the current and future population’s energy demand; (iv) equitable and efficient manner; (v) air, land, and water protection; (vi) little or no net carbon or other GHG emissions; and (vii) safety today without burdening future generations.” (Dincer, Acar, 2015) No clean energy source yet meets all of the listed criteria, but they currently have the potential to meet a few of them. Dincer and Acar state, “Clean energy systems have the potential to the following: (i) reduce emissions by taking advantage of renewable and cleaner sources; (ii) lower energy input requirements; (iii) increase system efficiencies by expanding useful outputs (i.e., multigeneration); and (iv) reduce emissions and waste by recovering energy.” (Dincer, Acar, 2015) Currently our clean energy sources like solar and wind met these requirements fairly well, so the continued development of them should result in these mets being met even further.
The next figure is a table that directly compares the outputs of clean energy sources, fossil fuels, and other commonly used sources.
We can see that on average, fossil fuels( first three) are generally cheaper and have a greater energy output, but they also have far more carbon emissions and energy requirements to produce. Nuclear fusion, although not as clean as solar and wind, is far cleaner than the fossil fuels and has a similar inexpensive production cost. Solar and wind may seem like the inferior option given the model here, but when you factor in that they are both renewable and far better for the environment, we have to consider them as viable options in the long-run.
Ibrahim D., Canan A. (2015) A review on clean energy solutions for better sustainability. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/doi/full/10.1002/er.3329#
