Waste Management & WTE

Energy is widely recognized to be a critical enabler of modern society. Energy plays an important role in providing transportation,comfortable living environment, increasing economic output and improve standard of living. It is estimated that world GDP will more than double by 2040 as a result of increasing prosperity in fast-growing emerging economies, as more than 2.5 billion people are lifted from low incomes. This rising prosperity drives an increase in global energy demand, although the extent of this growth is offset by accelerating gains in energy efficiency.

 

From an energy perspective, the uncertainties in the recent oil prices, economic turbulence and international treaties like Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement are forcing the nations to develop and utilize renewable energy sources. This has resulted in a significant growth in the worldwide renewable energy market. According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the increase in energy demand will be highest amongst the developing countries, where it is expected to increase from 46 to 58% by 2025. Currently, the fossil fuels are the most exploited source of energy supply in both the developed and developing countries where the crude oil, coal, and natural gas sources are utilized to generate approximately 13.7 thousand TWh of electricity that forms about 84% of the total electricity generation worldwide. The total electricity generation through renewables is estimated to reach up to 3.75 thousand TWh by 2020, which is 6 times higher than the total electricity production in the United States (US). In Asia, the electricity generation through renewable sources is expected to increase exponentially.

 

The net power generation from renewable sources is unable to fulfill the total energy demands of the most developing countries. Therefore, their contribution is anticipated to increase significantly in the near future with the help of governmental subsidies, advancement of technologies and reduced capital and operational costs of biorefinery technologies. This will not only assure the importance that is being laid in recent years on renewable energy but will also help to reduce the fiscal deficits resulted from oil import cost

 

To meet the projected global energy demand, we as nations need to smartly exploit various forms of energy source such as fossil based sources (gas, coal, petroleum)  and renewable sources (photovoltaic, tidal, wind, biomass, earth heat, hydro power, etc.). Although the total solar energy incidence on the planet is large (3 850 000 exajoules per year, 7000 times the current human demand), it is also disperse (20 mJ/m2 /day). This dispersed nature requires that for useful power, energy must be captured over a large area and time and then concentrated (areas as large as oceans and times on the order of weeks in the case of hydropower, hydrokinetic, wind, and wave, or much smaller areas as in the case of solar thermal, or not concentrated as in the case of solar photovoltaic), or captured over a longer period of time but used over a shorter time. Thus, given the limitations in availability of area or time of energy production, it is necessary to integrate the energy sources to meet the projected energy demand without limiting the productivity of industries or transport.