Renewable energy is one of the most efficient ways to achieve sustainable development. Increasing its share in the world matrix will help prolong the existence of fossil fuel reserves, address the threats posed by climate change, and enable better security of the energy supply on a global scale. Most of the "new renewable energy sources" are still under-going large-scale commercial development, but some technologies are already well established. These include Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, which, after 3o years of production, is a global energy commodity that is fully competitive with motor gasoline and appropriate for replication in many countries.
A sustainable energy future depends on an increased share of renewable energy, especially in developing countries. One of the best ways to achieve such a goal is by replicating the large Brazilian program of sugarcane ethanol, started in the 19705. The World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 defined "sustainable development" as development that '`meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (1). The elusiveness of such a definition has led to unending discussions among social scientists regarding the meaning of "future generations." However, in the case of energy, exhaustible fossil fuels represent about 8o% of the total world energy supply. At constant production and consumption, the presently known reserves of oil will last about 4x years, natural gas 64 years, and coal 155 years (2). Although very simplified, such an analysis illustrates why fossil fuels can-not be considered as the world's main source of energy for more than one or two generations.
Besides the issue of depletion, use of fossil fuels presents serious environmental problems, particularly global warming. Also, their production costs will increase as reserves approach exhaustion and as more expensive technologies are used to explore and extract less attractive resources. Finally, there are increasing concerns for the security of the oil supply, originating mainly from politically unstable regions of the world. Except for nuclear energy, the most likely alternatives to fossil fuels are renewable sources such as hydroelectric, biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and marine tidal energy. Figure shows the present world energy use.
A sustainable energy future depends on an increased share of renewable energy, especially in developing countries. One of the best ways to achieve such a goal is by replicating the large Brazilian program of sugarcane ethanol, started in the 19705. The World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 defined "sustainable development" as development that '`meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (1). The elusiveness of such a definition has led to unending discussions among social scientists regarding the meaning of "future generations." However, in the case of energy, exhaustible fossil fuels represent about 8o% of the total world energy supply. At constant production and consumption, the presently known reserves of oil will last about 4x years, natural gas 64 years, and coal 155 years (2). Although very simplified, such an analysis illustrates why fossil fuels can-not be considered as the world's main source of energy for more than one or two generations.
Besides the issue of depletion, use of fossil fuels presents serious environmental problems, particularly global warming. Also, their production costs will increase as reserves approach exhaustion and as more expensive technologies are used to explore and extract less attractive resources. Finally, there are increasing concerns for the security of the oil supply, originating mainly from politically unstable regions of the world. Except for nuclear energy, the most likely alternatives to fossil fuels are renewable sources such as hydroelectric, biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and marine tidal energy. Figure shows the present world energy use.
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