Renewable energy, improved batteries light way to cleaner future
From advanced artificial intelligence, to medicine, to smartphones, there are many technological innovations that are changing the world today at an exponential rate. However, the most practical, influential and important innovations for the near future are the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Renewable energy technology is advancing extremely fast. This is due in part to public sentiment becoming increasingly supportive of environment friendly policies. As the dangers of global warming become more tangible, the public is becoming more willing to be eco-friendly.
This forces politicians and major corporations to adapt to the changing public sentiment and market, as seen by the increasing government subsidies of sustainable products and the recent rise in electric cars produced and sold by major car manufacturers.
Analysts from Bloomberg have predicted that electric vehicles will make up 35 percent of all new vehicle sales by 2040. Other organizations put the percentage even higher. This means that more and more money is being invested into the research and development of sustainable energy.
As the technology advances, renewable energy is becoming increasingly cheaper and more efficient. One classic problem with sustainable energy has been storing the energy once it has been obtained. This has made it difficult for solar panels to be effective in places that do not receive enough sunshine.
Even in places that receive a lot of sun, they have often been not efficient enough to exclusively power large houses or buildings; however, solar panels and wind turbines are getting more efficient at collecting energy, and batteries especially are becoming better at storing the energy from wind and the sun.
Tesla’s Gigafactory is proof that there are those who are ready to make the conversion from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The factory is located in Nevada, and it is about 5.5 million square feet, making it the largest building in the world. Tesla plans on building a second story, which would effectively double the size.
This factory will be the largest producer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, which were previously too expensive to use in electric cars. According to Bloomberg, the Gigafactory will “single-handedly double the world’s production capacity for lithium-ion batteries,” and it will drastically lower the cost of battery production. This will make the mass consumption of renewable energy by the public more viable.
A major problem facing the conversion from fossil fuels to renewable energy is the sheer scale of the oil and gas industry. Millions of people throughout the world support their families through jobs in oil and gas. It is understandable why so many people are hesitant to make a shift towards renewable energy.
This is why the change cannot happen rapidly; there are too many people who have skills that apply to the fossil fuel industry that would not be applicable in other areas. It would be difficult for older people to change industries because they would have to be retrained.
Companies would not be willing to invest in training people who are nearing retirement. Therefore, change has to happen gradually so that the older people working in the industry can retire, younger people can be trained in the new areas of the renewable energy industry.