Picture this.
Clean air, the sound of birds above silent cars, and lovely greenery all round. Public transport feels good, looks good. Every house, hospital, school, office and building is powered by the sun. Every individual doesn’t walk or travel without a way to tap into clean energy as and when they need.
This is the future you can have. There are some which still sound like a dream, however some are closer to reality than you may realise.
So how do we make it happen?
Economy becomes more insulated and resilient
As of 2018-19, Australia generated 378.7PJ of renewable energy, accounting for 6.2% of primary energy generated.
As an economy, Australia is in the green when it comes to the import-export of energy. But a closer look will reveal that most of the oil and diesel are imported, thereby rendering it a heavily dependent economy in terms of energy.
Energy-proofing the economy is the way to go, and is already being considered by many countries around the world. In other words, all energy sources are evaluated in complete detail for whether the country is proficient or deficient in them. These include natural resources (wind, sun, water etc), renewable hydrogen cells, batteries and many more. Countries strive to have a stable local supply of energy to reduce dependency and risk of manipulation by other countries.
Our general well-being improves
With climate change being declared an urgency in some countries (Like Singapore, Australia) and with overall cost of climate related healthcare mounting up for many economies, it only becomes practical to move into a greener energy source than what we have today. Reduction in carbon footprints will truly lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
What this translates into is lesser instances of wild natural disasters like the Australian Bushfires and policies that prevent environmental damage like Amazon rainforest deforestation, and polluting activities. Naturally, our air becomes healthier, cleaner and greener, leading to an overall improvement in our wellbeing.
Energy independence is advocated
Not only at the economy level, but also at an individual level, energy independence will soon be a reality.
Sunshine, if harnessed the right way, would lead to the creation of an abundant energy source in our own homes. While rooftop solar installations sound difficult to implement, they are integrated into construction and maintenance costs by many builders. As of date, a country like Australia boasts of over 2.4 million solar rooftop installations, accounting for 10.4GW of power as of early 2020 as per GTM.
These indicate increased adoption, a genuine concern for the future, involved action by both individuals and Governments alike, and most importantly an urge to leave a lasting clean green legacy for the future generations.
In short, renewable energy touches our lives in more ways than one can imagine, and while some of these we are already aware of, it is important to understand the organic steps taken by Governments to make this a reality for all of us.