The majority of the present population has been heavily dependent on non-renewable energy such as fossil fuel to live and in order to survive. However non-renewable energy is not sustainable as it will eventually run-out. As an example, through a macro-level perspective, oil and natural gas production and commoditization appears to provide substantial economic benefits towards oil and gas producing countries. This is perhaps due to the high global demand that appears to be gradually increasing (Tomic, 2011, cited in Orphanides, 2011). The intensifying demand of oil and gas may possibly be driven by the dire need - or rather the global addiction on energy consumption. The forms of energy consumption encompasses the daily lifestyle of a civilization from as minute as using natural gas for cooking to as vital as using crude oil for the generation of electricity for daily energy consumption. Quoting the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy?s (CARE) article on environmental policy ?if we are to live without liquid fuels and electricity, what are we going to do for transportation?? (CARE, 2011, p.5) reflects the idea that such addictions towards energy consumption (with oil the renewable energy development quickly became apparent that the segment of the project could benefit to the reduction of pollution and environmental degradation.

This leads to the question that the world population has always ponder upon, non-renewable energy may not last long for the future and the alternative of a non renewable-energy is a renewable energy, therefore can renewable energy save the world?   By that the simplest yet the most complicated answer is reach to answer the question, renewable energy can replace the non-renewable energy. However, the complicated part came, where questions such as can really renewable energy save the world? Is renewable energy as efficient as oil and gas? This essay aims to identify several differences portrayed by renewable energy namely, solar energy and how solar energy promise to gives a sustainable future.

The concept of renewable energies are characterized by several technology that utilize power from the environment such as wind, water, sun, earth and organic matter which give little impact on the environment. Global Environment Facility (1991) stated that once the technology is powered and set, renewable energy has the capability to provide lightning, heating, cooling, communications and water pumps such as those fossil fuels are capable to do so.

There are many ways to capture solar energy such as using photovoltaic to manufacture solar thermal technologies. Photovoltaic is semiconductor materials to convert sunlight directly into electricity such as space heating and water heating for residential, commercial, and industrial uses. Year by years the solar panels are developed and designed for maximizing the sunlight energy harvesting to power. The growing development of solar energy is mostly due to solar energy has a consistent power source as the sun is considered the most clean and readily available renewable source. As the power is harness directly from the environment, the sun, renewable energy also assist in the economics? country by opening job opportunities from the technology developed. For example houses that adapt renewable energy to power their houses authorized long hours for income-generating activities. This also prevent non-natural resources producing countries to be heavily dependent on import commodities such as oil and gas since it provides a heavy reliance on the outside world as it is tied to the volatile global oil prices.

Electricity that is powered by renewable energy also improve the social term of a country, for example lighting allows evening study by children and frees women from time-consuming fuel collection or allows them more time for household chores. Since the source of renewable energy is available in most part of the world, it allows technology to even take place in isolated rural population therefore it enhances community social life and safety. Another reason that renewable energy is beneficial is it improved health by reducing the physical stress of gathering fuel and diminishing indoor and outdoor pollution. Lastly in environmental term, renewable energy has many fewer environmental impacts, reducing air and water pollution, discouraging destruction of natural areas for fuel wood, and substituting for fossil fuels, thereby, reducing contributions of greenhouse gases, the cause of global warming which is one of the reason that exhaust the earth.

Though renewable energy has many benefits, the possibility for renewable energy to assemble into technology is challenged by several factors, such as capital intensive. The costs of installing equipment capital will be used for lease for buildings and such and the purchase of machinery needed to assemble the solar cells. For example, the existence of techniques to produce usable energy from renewable sources in no way ensures that they will be employed. Other factors are employing solar energy also means that it difficult to institutional, regulatory, and capacity barriers also hamper efforts to promote renewable energy.

As much as the challenges surpass the benefits, the transition to renewable energy is inevitable. The reason of this in numerous mindset are because of fossil fuel supplies will run out—large reserves of oil, coal, and gas remain in the world—but because the costs and risks of using these supplies will continue to increase relative to renewable energy (Union of Concerned Scientists, 1999). It implies that since the environmental impacts of using non-renewable energy such as fossil fuels are increasing, it directly affects the cost of energy as it is depleting. Using renewable energy also avoid costs and fuel price risks thus, as the costs of renewable energy technologies continue to fall, renewable energy is expected to overtake fossil fuels as the lowest cost, least-risk investment.

Furthermore, Global Environment Facility (1999) stated that the solar industry has grown on average more than 17 percent a year since 1992 where as developing countries exhibit strong potential for growth in off-grid applications. In addition, more than half a million individual ?solar home systems? already provide lighting, entertainment, and income generation for rural households in developing countries.

In Burkina Faso of the Sahel region, solar power is used as their alternative energy. It started off in 1988 whereas a Spanish solar energy company called Atersa launched a project to electrify 125 rural villages in Burkina Faso. In order to make it successful, the company was funded by the Spanish Development Fund. The project installed solar systems for lighting for streets and lighting, refrigeration, televisions and radios in schools, health dispensaries, and social centers. The engineers in Atersa used the same components of solar systems in technologies used to make it easier for the installation and maintenances. For instance, the gel batteries requiring no water refills. Since the country?s weather is average humid and dusty, Atersa modify its solar energy system technology to its climatic conditions such as isolating regulators in plastic boxes and 18-watt lamps to avoid degradation. 125 local technicians were also trained in part of the development.

An organization called World Water Corporation uses a program that combines solar powered water pumping technology, financing mechanisms with full-cost recovery through pay-for-service methods, and meaningful social preparation of beneficiary communities that supply water to 100,000 people in Cebu, Philippines and the program successfully reach into Phillipines remote village, Barangays showing that solar power technology can also be designed in any part of the world. WorldWater will also provide turnkey engineering services, including hydrogeologic assessments, new wells, storage, and distribution and use of prepaid ?smart? water cards to collect fees.

Morocco?s Office National de l?Electricite that had been partnering with French Oil Company to supply electricity altered to solar energy in June 2002 to electrify households. The initial purpose of the solar energy project was to provide photovoltaic kits to over 58,000 households in the rural area of Morocco as a result to attain the basic energy needs but had grown into 14,000 households in 400 villages by July of 2005. The increase of the demands of the solar energy directly influences Morocco?s Office National de l?Electricite to invest heavily in staff development, creating more job opportunities in the rural area where job is scarce. The government of Morocco and Office National de l?Electricite agreed to a fee-for-service business model in order for the project to be sustainable. This way, Office National de l?Electricite provides an equipment subsidy that enables the partnership to offer electrical service at affordable rates, by offsetting the high installation and maintenance costs associated with solar home systems.  Due to this subsidy, the partnership is able to offer rural customers comparable rates to what Moroccan households that are connected to the grid pay for service.

Implementing solar energy not just can benefit a country?s well being it can also be spread by awareness especially to children. Windsor High School in Windsor, CA has flipped the switch to solar power to control rising energy costs and at the same time provide an example in teaching students about energy conservation and sustainability. Not just solar power could produce 36,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually, the recently used system also reduce the school?s utility costs by thousands of dollars freeing funds for educating students. The excess power that is not used during the day is stored for future use providing Windsor High School a clean, reliable and energy savings for decades to come.

In Brunei Darussalam, the government in support of Mitsubishi Corporation developed the Tenaga Suria Brunei Photovoltaic Power Generation Demonstration Project installed at the Seria Power Station in Belait district. Although the power amount produced by solar energy depends on the climate conditions of Brunei, on average, the solar energy system is designed to generate 1,344 megawatt-hours of electricity per year enough to provide electricity to 200 homes. Since Brunei Darussalam is blessed by fossil fuel to run everything, if solar energy is used, the technology is predict to save 340,000 litres of crude oil and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 960 tonnes which is equivalent to the carbon dioxide absorption power of 260 hectars of forests.

Generally, in Brunei Darussalam, Hj Jamain Hj Julaihi, the Prime Minister?s Office stated that minimum of 435 and maximum of 1000 watts per square metre of sunlight reaches the country each day which equivalent to 10terawatt hours energy each year if the country is covered with solar panel. This demonstrates that the solar energy produce three times more than the annual electricity need. If 36,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually could prevent 690 tons of carbon emissions as mentioned above in the given example of Windsor High School in Windsor, CA, imagine what a 10terawatt hours of solar energy can do to save the world from pollution and that just comes from Brunei Darussalam.

In conclusion, the use and consumption of fossil fuel as energy may harm the environment especially the global warming and this has been agreed by many scientists and educators. This is due to the massive release of carbon dioxide by the consumption of fossil fuels and has many effects to the environment and social of a country such as sea-level rises and extreme weather that may affect the well-being of humans, and economics of country such as the loss of crop. This essay stresses on the solution to save the world is by the use of solar energy as was argued above along with the plethora of other renewable energy sources. The use of solar energy technologies can save the world in many ways as it also creates a promising sustainable future. As warned by Oliver Schfer, EREC policy director, "Decisions made in the next few years, will continue to have an impact in 2050. Only if a renewable energy path is taken, can we avoid the worst excesses of climate change,"

References:

Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). (September, 2011). Policy Studies: Environmental Utopia: What would life be like if the environmentalists were in charge. P5

Global Environment Facility (November, 1999). CLARIFYING LINKAGES BETWEEN LAND DEGRADATION AND THE GEF FOCAL AREAS:  AN ACTION PLAN FOR ENHANCING GEF SUPPORT. Taken from http://www.thegef.org/gef/sites/thegef.org/files/documents/gef_c14_4.pdf by 14th December 2012

Orphanides, S. (2011). Oil and Gas Demand Will Rise and Remain High, Noble Energy Says. Retrieved by 28^th September 2011 from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-21/oil-and-gas-demand-will-rise-and-remain-high-noble-energy-says.html

Union of Concerned Scientists Powerful Solutions: Seven Ways to Switch America to Renewable Electricity, UCS, 1999