Three things about the present global energy system are absolutely clear:
The current form of energy is the largest emitters of the green-house gases that is causing the unwanted climate changes, exposing the people and critical infrastructure to risks.
Universal accessibility to modern form of energy at an affordable price is a must for all to prosper, learn, and be productive. But it is unevenly distributed.
The present pace of the shift from the fossil-fuel based energy sources to the renewable energy sources is not sufficient to meet the climate-related commitment to contain the global surface temperature within 1.5-degree C.
The following article explores the current state of the global energy system, the transformation needed to combat climate change, and the challenge the world is facing in energy transition.
Current State of Global Energy System and Key Trends:
Global energy system comprises the present primary energy consumption and supply system. The energy supply comprises of the coal, oil, natural gas, biofuels and wastes, nuclear, hydro, etc. The final energy consumption comprises of oil, natural gas, electricity, biofuels and waste, coal, etc.
The above pie chart represents the current state of the global and it shows that global energy supply system still predominately depends on fossil fuels-based energy sources like coal (26.8%), oil (30.9%), and natural gas (23.2%).
Following trends in the changes in the global energy supply system is also observed:
Governments have become increasingly proactive in commitments to the adoption of clean energy technologies and sources.
The energy mix now comprises of the conventional sources like coal, oil, and natural gas, non-exhaustible sources of energy like nuclear, hydroelectricity, and new renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, bioenergy, etc.
Industries are pledging their commitments to net-zero and hence increasing trying to move to cleaner and climate friendly technologies to meet their production and organization goals.
Transformations needed to combat climate change:
The systemic changes are needed to drive the fight against the climate change- clean electrification, demand-side management, and supporting innovation.
Clean Electrification:
Cleaning up the electricity mix and extending the electricity to the end-use sector is the key to the transformation desired. It is part of the structural changes needed to reach the net-zero stage.
This idea has two components: Cleaning up the electricity mix and extending the electricity to the end-use sector.
Coal remains the largest source of the electricity worldwide and also the largest emitter of the GHG emissions. The time-bound decarbonization of the electricity is a must for the ensuring the world reaches its commitments. The world is already switching away from the coal and new renewables like solar and wind is already gaining traction. The WEO-2021 suggests an ambitious goal to retire 100GW of coal-based generation annually in NZE by 2050.
End-User Sector can contribute to the energy revolution by growing electrification. 5% of the total passenger vehicles sold in 2020 was electric vehicles. The world still relies on the use of natural gas, especially in colder climates of European countries. End-use electrification includes electrification of the vehicle fleet that can reduced the reliance on the oil and gas, growing mix of the electricity in the other household use like cooking and heat-pumps.
Demand-Side Management:
Demand-Side Management is an often-ignored aspect of combating climate. It is simple and cost-effective methods that can help reduce the burden on the other climate-mitigation related efforts. Demand side management comprises of the three key elements-energy efficiency, avoided demands, and behavioral changes.
Energy Efficiency is getting the desired output with lesser energy input. The industry sectors can play their part with a shift to energy-efficient technologies and hence can reduce the carbon footprint.
Avoided demands can be used when demand-side management of the energy can reduce the burden on the supply-side of the energy sector. Every unit of the energy saved at the end-user have a potential to save at least six units of the energy generated.
Behavioral changes regarding the energy use can be achieved by numerous tools available with the government and private industries through awareness, labelling, and information sessions.
Supporting Innovation
The present drive to the climate change including the technologies like Solar PV, Windmills, batteries, hydrolysers, and digitization tools can be considered to be an innovative product two decades ago. They have changed the pace of the adoption of the climate-friendly technology in present global efforts to the reduce the impacts of global warming.
Innovation is to be a collaborative effort of the government, academician, and industries. The field to explore are numerous like advanced batteries, low carbon fuels, hydrogen electrolysers, direct carbon capture, etc.
Better technology diffusion of the innovation can help in reducing the technological divide between the rich and poor nations.
Challenges faced by the Global Energy System
World is already facing numerous which makes the structural transformation in the energy sector a difficult path to follow. Some of these are as follows:
The world is currently facing a global energy crisis caused by the supply chain disruptions due to Ukraine-Russia Conflicts, multiple rounds of COVID-infections, and other numerous reasons. This has led to increased energy prices and hence the affordability to the climate-friendly solutions to the energy is being compromised.
The growing need of the technology-driven climate solutions like electrification of end-use sectors, advanced batteries, electrical vehicles, hydrogen fuel-cells, and other technologies has put an unchecked demand on the critical rare minerals like copper, lithium, cobalt, nickel, etc. The prices of these critical minerals are already increasing at an unprecedented rate. The path to the transition is not so smooth.
The growing concerns of the government regarding the energy security has made a few states to take a few steps that are not necessarily in compliance with the climate. A few countries are already moving back to the traditional energy sources to the provide energy during this chilling winter.
The labor-market which comprises mostly of the poor of a country is facing increasing issue of loss of livelihood which generally depended on the traditional sources of energy. There are opportunities in the new renewable sectors and clean energy technologies but there is a growing concern of the labor and skill dislocation, i.e., the skills required, and labor required might not be available at the place where the labors are affected by the energy transition.
The path of the transformation is tough for everyone. Governments have a tough task to match the global commitments and aspirations of the populations. Tough decisions like abating coal generations, moving to the investment-led new renewables sector, and promoting energy-efficient technologies needs to be a part of their policy making framework.
Key points of the above blog are presented in a concise way in the following infographic:
The above blog is authored by Pankaj Prasad.
Insightful article ❤