Renewable Energy

Hello to all the ambassadors, members and friends!

"Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, social equity, and environmental sustainability. With access to energy, people can study, go to university, get a job, start a business and reach their full potential", remarked Ban Ki Moon in the context of “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative development in 2012.

Do you know that annual global energy consumption equals only the amount of energy delivered by the Sun in a single hour? Yet over one billion people still lack access to electricity, and three billion rely on pollution-generating solid fuels and kerosene for their cooking and heating needs.

With fossil fuels contributing to climate change and environmental degradation - and likely to be exhausted by 2050 - the world needs to tap into clean, sustainable energy. That’s why Sustainable Development Goal 7 sets a number of important targets, including increasing the share of renewable energy in human energy consumption and doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency 

Benefits of Shifting to Renewable Energy

The last decade has seen the cost of renewable energy decline continuously, making it cost-competitive compared to conventional energy in many parts of the world. Renewable energy are an affordable source of energy, renewables provide a wide range of socio-economic and environmental benefits. The transformation to a 100% renewable energy system in all end-uses would generate millions of new jobs, bring significant welfare gains in the form of health benefits from cleaner air and water, as well as increase energy independence and economic growth as shown in various studies.

Renewable Energy in India

In this report, I wanted to share with you all about the renewable energy in my motherland, India.  India is a country with a population of 1.3 billion.  India is country that produces 35 percent of its energy from renewable energy.   India is running one of the largest and most ambitious renewable capacity expansion programs in the world.  It plans to achieve a target of 450 Gwh by 2022.  India  has taken major steps to achieve this ambitious target.  3 of 5 largest solar parks in the world are located in India.  Another huge step taken by India is the Cochin International Airport which is the only airport in the world that runs completely through solar power.  In addition to this, The establishment of renewable energy targets in 2012 and the 2010 launch of the Solar Mission program can also be considered as landmark initiatives of the past decade.  The Indian Solar Alliance (ISA) is also another significant opportunity to expand renewable energy by connecting India’s solar expertise with countries around the world.

However, in spite of all these steps, the country is still facing some major challenges:

·         The lack of financing for renewable energy is key barrier for india

·         Added to this is the lack of coordination between union and state governments.

·         India’s population growth and the increased energy demand have outpaced the expansion rate of renewables by an order of magnitude

Conclusion

The world is making progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), but will fall short of meeting the targets by 2030 at the current rate of ambition. Renewable energy accounted for 17.5% of global total energy consumption in 2016.A substantial further increase of renewable energy is needed for energy systems to become affordable, reliable, sustainable and focusing on modern uses.