by Activ Solar
By Walter Brasch
Tokelau, an independent territory of New Zealand, is a
small three island archipelago of about 1,400 residents about 300 miles north
of American Samoa in the South Pacific. In October 2012, the Polynesian nation
turned off the last of its diesel generators and became the first country to
use solar power as its only energy source.
" We know that the
longer the fossil fuel industry gets its way, the worse climate change will be,
and the more sea-level rise will threaten our islands," wrote Mikalele Maiava,
one of its residents.
About 9,300 miles west of Tokelau is
Saudi Arabia. Beneath its sands is an estimated 262.6 billion barrels of oil,
the largest reserve in the word. But Saudi Arabia isn't counting on oil as its
sole form of energy. Within the next two decades, Saudi Arabia plans to have
41,000 megawatts of solar energy, enough to generate about one-third of the
nation's electricity. Nuclear, wind, and geo-thermal energy will provide an
additional 21,000 megawatts, according to Khalid al-Suliman, vice-president of Renewable Energy at King
Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. The project is expected to cost
about $109 billion, and save about 523,000 barrels of oil a day.
On Saudi Arabia's northern border is
the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Beneath its sands is the world's seventh
largest oil reserve. About 75 miles south of Abu Dhabi, its capital, is the
world's largest solar power plant. The 285,000 parabolic mirrors generate about
100 megawatts of energy, enough to meet the energy needs of 20,000 homes. The
solar power plant reduces carbon dioxide emissions by about 175,000 tons a
year. The UAE is planning to build additional solar plants.
India, a world leader in
wind-generated power, is likely to develop what will become the world's largest
solar energy system. The first phase, being developed on a 23,000 acre site, is
expected to be completed by 2016, and will provide about one gigawatt of power.
The 30-year plan will allow India to provide one-eighth of its energy needs,
through solar power.
Two-thirds of the world's increase in solar energy in
2011 was in Europe; a two mile section of track between Paris and Amsterdam
allows trains to run entirely on solar power; Germany's solar energy plants
produced as much power as 20 nuclear power
plants.
Denmark, with the addition of 3.6
megawatts of offshore wind turbines early this year, has more than a gigawatt
of wind energy, providing about one-fourth of all power to its citizens.
Denmark plans to increase wind power capacity to provide about one-half of all
domestic energy needs within the decade .
By the end of 2012, there were 1,662 off-shore wind
turbines, generating enough electricity to power 10 million homes in 10
European countries, according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
The EWEA believes that within a decade, off-shore wind turbines could provide
electricity to about 39 million homes if countries continued to push for wind
energy and rely less upon fossil fuel energy. With political and economic
support, according to an EWEA analysis, "The energy produced from turbines in
deep waters in the North Sea alone could meet the EU's electricity consumption
four times over." It would also mean phasing out more than $4 billion in annual
taxpayer subsidies to the oil and gas industry.
The U.S. Department of Energy suggests, "Renewable electricity generation from technologies that are
commercially available today, in combination with a more flexible electric
system, is more than adequate to supply 80% of total U.S. electricity
generation in 2050."
A significant increase of non-fossil fuel energy would produce a cleaner
fuel source, reduce workplace accidents and significantly reduce the well-documented health and environmental
effects of fossil fuel energy; it would also increase employment, one of
the basic reasons why politicians say they like natural gas drilling.
There is some evidence that Americans are beginning to
understand the need to abandon fossil fuel energy and prepare for a world of
renewable energy.
Lancaster, Calif., a city of about 160,000 in Los
Angeles County, was the first American city to require all new houses to
produce a minimum of one kilowatt of solar energy, beginning Jan. 1, 2014.
Wind turbines already provide about one-fifth of all
power in Iowa and South Dakota.
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