Global Energy Consumption & Energy Demand in Electricity and Transportation

global energy demand
Global energy consumption in the last half century has increased very rapidly and is expected to continue to grow over the next 50 years. However, we expect to see significant differences between the last 50 years and the next. The past increase was stimulated by relatively “cheap” fossil fuels and increased rates of industrialization in North America, Europe, and Japan; yet while energy consumption in these countries continues to increase, additional factors are making the picture for the next 50 years more complex. These additional complicating factors include the very rapid increase fuel economy in energy use in China and India (countries representing about a third of the world’s population); the expected depletion of oil resources in the not-too-distant future; and the effect of human activities on global climate change. (more…)

Wireless Power Transmission and Solar Power Satellites

Approximately 40% of Earth’s population is ‘‘off the grid,’’ mainly in developing countries. Wireless power transmission envisioned by Nikola Tesla a century ago is feasible today. Microwave beams can propagate power efficiently along lines-of-sight over long distances. Orbiting microwave reflectors could form the basis of a global electric grid.

An advanced technology path to electrification is the solar power satellite (SPS) proposed by Peter Glaser. Solar flux is about 10 times higher in space outside Earth’s shadow cone than the long- term average at the surface of spinning, cloudy Earth, and power from space can be beamed by microwave efficiently through cloudy skies to the surface where it is needed. (more…)

Main Energy Sources: Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy

main energy sources
The energy that people use every day comes from many different sources. The resources are divided into two main groups: renewable energy and nonrenewable energy. Renewable energy sources are those that can be used again and again. Renewable energy resources have unlimited supply. (more…)

Biomass and Bioenergy – Taking the Leap to Renewable Energy Sources

biomass and bioenergy
Over the last decade, the number of countries researching the potential of biomass and bioenergy for energy services rose rapidly. This contributed to the biomass as solid and liquid fuels, an interesting and promising option among renewable energy sources available. This includes solid waste and biomass, which comprises of charcoal, firewood, energy crops and forestry and agricultural residues to produce heat and electricity, (more…)

Environment, Economy, Energy, and Sustainable Development

environment energy sustainable development
The convention aims not only at stabilizing CO2 emissions in developed countries but also at ultimately reducing man-made CO2 emissions globally so as to stabilize the global climate. Environmental degradation cannot be singled out as an independent matter among various global issues. (more…)