Sustainable energy is a principle in which human use of energy "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Sustainable energy strategies generally have two pillars: cleaner methods of producing energy and energy conservation.
Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. Currently, over 1 billion people worldwide still lack household electric power - a jaw dropping 14% of the global population. Electrification typically begins in cities and towns and gradually extends to rural areas, however, this process often runs into road blocks in developing nations. Expanding the national grid is expensive and countries consistently lack the capital to grow their current infrastructure. Additionally, amortizing capital costs to reduce the unit cost of each hook-up is harder to do in lightly populated areas. If countries are able to overcome these obstacles and reach nationwide electrification, rural communities will be able to reap considerable amounts of economic and social development.
The Alternative Energy Development Board or AEDB, is the sole representing agency of the Federal Government that was established in May 2003 with the main objective to facilitate, promote and encourage development of Renewable Energy in Pakistan and with a mission to introduce Alternative and Renewable Energies (AREs) at an accelerated rate. The administrative control of AEDB was transferred to Ministry of Water and Power in 2006.
The energy policy of Australia is subject to the regulatory and fiscal influence of all three levels of government in Australia, although only the State and Federal levels determine policy for primary industries such as coal.
Renewable energy in Australia deals with efforts that have been and continue to be made in Australia to quantify and expand the use of renewable energy in the generation of electricity, as fuel in transport and in thermal energy. Renewable energy is created through electricity generation using renewable sources, such as wind, hydro, landfill gas, geothermal, solar PV and solar thermal.
Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal power and heat. Second-generation technologies are market-ready and are being deployed at the present time; they include solar heating, photovoltaics, wind power, solar thermal power stations, and modern forms of bioenergy. Third-generation technologies require continued R&D efforts in order to make large contributions on a global scale and include advanced biomass gasification, hot-dry-rock geothermal power, and ocean energy. As of 2012, renewable energy accounts for about half of new nameplate electrical capacity installed and costs are continuing to fall.
Renewable energy accounted for 12.2 % of total primary energy consumption and 14.94 % of the domestically produced electricity in the United States in 2016. Hydroelectric power is currently the largest producer of renewable electricity in the country, generating around 6.5% of the nation's total electricity in 2016 as well as 45.71% of the total renewable electricity generation. The United States is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world after China, Canada and Brazil.
A feed-in tariff is a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies. It achieves this by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers, typically based on the cost of generation of each technology. Rather than pay an equal amount for energy, however generated, technologies such as wind power and solar PV, for instance, are awarded a lower per-kWh price, while technologies such as tidal power are offered a higher price, reflecting costs that are higher at the moment and allowing a government to encourage development of one technology over another.
The electricity sector in Colombia is dominated by large hydropower generation (65%) and thermal generation (35%). Despite the country's large potential in new renewable energy technologies, this potential has been barely tapped. A 2001 law designed to promote alternative energies lacks certain key provisions to achieve this objective, such as feed-in tariffs, and has had little impact so far. Large hydropower and thermal plants dominate the current expansion plans. The construction of a transmission line with Panama, which will link Colombia with Central America, is underway.
The electricity sector in Argentina constitutes the third largest power market in Latin America. It relies mostly on thermal generation and hydropower generation (36%). The country still has a large untapped hydroelectric potential. The prevailing natural gas-fired thermal generation is at risk due to the uncertainty about future gas supply.
As required by the Constitution, the electricity sector is federally owned, with the Federal Electricity Commission essentially controlling the whole sector; private participation and foreign companies are allowed to operate in the country only through specific service contracts. Attempts to reform the sector have traditionally faced strong political and social resistance in Mexico, where subsidies for residential consumers absorb substantial fiscal resources.
Solar power in the United States includes utility-scale solar power plants as well as local distributed generation, mostly from rooftop photovoltaics. As of the end of 2017, the United States had over 50 gigawatts (GW) of installed photovoltaic capacity. In the twelve months through December 2018, utility scale solar power generated 66.6 terawatt-hours (TWh), 1.66% of total U.S. electricity. During the same time period total solar generation, including estimated small scale Generation photovoltaic generation, was 96.1 TWh, 2.30% of total U.S. electricity. In terms of total cumulative installed capacity, by year end 2017 the United States ranked 2nd in the world behind China. In 2016, 39% of all new electricity generation capacity in the country came from solar, more than any other source and ahead of natural gas (29%). By 2015, solar employment had overtaken oil and gas as well as coal employment in the United States. In 2016, more than 260,000 Americans were employed in the solar industry.
The electricity sector in Brazil is the largest in South America. Its currently installed capacity by the end of 2016 was 150,338 MW, a 9.500 MW increase on 2015. The installed capacity grew from 11,000 MW in 1970 with an average yearly growth of 5.8% per year. Brazil has the largest capacity for water storage in the world, being highly dependent on hydroelectricity generation capacity, which meets over 70% of its electricity demand. The national grid is composed 80% from renewable sources. This dependence on hydropower makes Brazil vulnerable to power supply shortages in drought years, as was demonstrated by the 2001-2002 energy crisis.
Paraguay is one of the few countries in Latin America that has maintained an integrated public monopoly on electricity. Hydropower comprises nearly 100 percent of electricity in Paraguay; 90 percent of generated energy is exported, with neighboring Argentina and Brazil receiving the majority. Paraguay is one of the world's largest electricity net exporters.
Fábio Luiz de Oliveira Rosa is a Brazilian social entrepreneur whose initiatives have focused on rural electrification and the use of renewable energy sources.
The energy policy of Malaysia is determined by the Malaysian Government, which address issues of energy production, distribution, and consumption. The Department of Electricity and Gas Supply acts as the regulator while other players in the energy sector include energy supply and service companies, research and development institutions and consumers. Government-linked companies Petronas and Tenaga Nasional Berhad are major players in Malaysia's energy sector.
South Africa was the world's sixth hard coal producer in 2009. Hard coal production was 1,620 TWh in 2009 and total energy production 1,995 TWh in 2008.
Energy in Cyprus describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Cyprus. Energy policy will describe the politics of Cyprus related to energy more in detail. Cyprus is a member of European Union and non-OECD country.
The Energiewende is the planned transition by Germany to a low carbon, environmentally sound, reliable, and affordable energy supply. The term Energiewende is regularly used in English language publications without being translated . The new system will rely heavily on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy demand management. Most if not all existing coal-fired generation will need to be retired. The phase-out of Germany's fleet of nuclear reactors, to be complete by 2022, is a key part of the program.
Renewable energy in Costa Rica supplied about 98.1% of the electrical energy output for the entire nation in 2016. Fossil fuel energy consumption in Costa Rica was 49.48 as of 2014, with demand for oil increasing in recent years. In 2014, 99% of its electrical energy was derived from renewable energy sources, about 80% of which from hydroelectric power. For the first 75 days of 2015, 100% of its electrical energy was derived from renewable energy sources and in mid 2016 that feat was accomplished for 110 consecutive days despite suboptimal weather conditions. As a country, Costa Rica has a geographic advantage over others in that its high concentration per capita of rivers, dams, and volcanoes allows for a high renewable energy output. In addition, Costa Rica is the fourth highest nation in terms of rainfall per capita: it receives an average of 2,926mm of precipitation per year. As a smaller nation with a population of only 5 million and no major industry, the need for strong energy infrastructure is less than for larger countries of higher population density. The 1948 elimination of the military of Costa Rica freed up millions of dollars from the government defense budget which are now invested in social programs and renewable energy generation. As president of Costa Rica in 1948, José Figueres announced that the nation's former military budget would be refocused specifically in healthcare, education, and environmental protection.
