Electricity – a fuel for the very society we live in. Electricity powers us and it would not in any way be an overstatement to say that our dependency upon electricity has progressed to a stage whereby it has become an essential need for survival. In some cases providing light, in other cases heat, electricity gives us power power to control our comforts and our surroundings. Given the crucial role electricity plays in our lives it is very important to realize that now electricity must be a constant in our lives – like food, water or shelter. It must be widely available and constantly available to the masses. However, there are still places in the world where electricity is widely available, however it is not a constant.

In these countries, often times with very large populations, to support the electricity needs of millions or in some cases billions can become very costly. To offset the massive costs, cheaper generations methods are often favoured and the cheaper methods are often the environmentally harmful and non-renewable sources. The electricity infrastructure of a nation is often times very difficult to change and takes time to change. Hence, the country is often faced with a very difficult three way choice between money, electricity availability and environment – all of these three factors being interconnected and influencing one another.

So, in this next set of articles we will be exploring the effects and relationships between all these factors. By exploring the situations of countries who face crisis in the electricity sector we are able to learn about what is required to have a sustainable energy sector. Such fine truths are essential in developing core ideas about sustainability and the steps which must be taken to achieve it.

So, in this article we will be discussing some initial key points related to the energy and electricity sectors. While there are many sources of electricity and energy, we often divide them into two major categories – the conventional sources and non-conventional sources. We can also divide energy sources into the renewable and non-renewable categories. Upon exploring these categories we can also analyse the practicality plus the pros and cons of each type of electricity generation.  The conventional sources of energy are some of the more widely implemented and higher efficiency techniques of power generation. However in the pursuit of this higher efficiency as well as higher electricity to satisfy our increasing need for electricity we often forget about harms of these higher efficiency, more environmentally harmful electricity generation means. However, within the category of conventional electricity generation there lies a hope in the form of hydroelectricity. Hydroelectricity has the efficiency to produce large quantities of electricity for the masses as well as does not exert the same amount of environmental damage which is caused by thermal generation methods (coal, natural gas etc?).  Then there are the non-conventional generation methods. Though they are often not as efficient as conventional means, they do provide an alternate route to ease environmental damage which may be caused by non-renewable conventional means.

Something which is ongoing in many countries is the increasing use of non-conventional means, not for the purpose of replacing conventional means, but for the purpose of complementing them. By easing the load of electricity generations placed on conventional sources we can ensure a more diversified and green energy sector. This is because the non-conventional sources are mainly renewables including solar, wind, tidal and biomass among others. Thought any one of these sources cannot by themselves support the electricity needs of entire nations, efforts to incorporate the non-conventional sources into the sector can ensure both enough electricity generation and also decreasing the environmental harms posed by country?s energy sector. For example, through incorporating hydro into Canada?s electricity sector, a slow change in Canada?s electricity infrastructure was underway. Today, more than half of the whole country?s electricity comes from hydro. Hence, introducing renewables as well as non-conventionals will not by themselves solve the issue of maintaining a balance between environment and electricity demands.

So, in this article we have explored the types of electricity generation – divided into renewable and no renewable as well as conventional and non-conventional. As well we looked at how we can meet the needs of large populace with maintaining environmental friendliness. In the next articles we will be exploring the cost factor into this equation. Often times that is the most key point which must be considered and it is often the point upon which decisions are made. In the meantime, if you have any question or comments for this article please feel free to comment below.

Thank you,

Nitish Bhatt