Feature Story:
The world needs more Energy - where's it going to come from?
The need for bodily warmth and for cooking food was what drove the first humans to make use of fire, and it has been a constant of our search for the best energy sources for thousands of years.
Our energy needs may be more varied now and electricity was discovered long ago but heat still forms the basis of many of our systems. Since much of our electricity production has relied on producing steam to move the turbines that produce power, the energy industry has been focused on finding and exploiting the best heat sources. And that has generally meant extracting fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.
It’s not just demand for electricity and process heat for industry putting pressure on fossil fuel resources. They also provide fuel for transport and feedstock for the chemical and manufacturing industries. And, while electricity and hydrogen have both been mooted as potential fuels for the transport industry, this is shifting, not removing, the burden. Electricity must be generated and hydrogen produced and both processes currently rely largely on the same fossil fuel sources that would have provided the transport fuel.
Our demands for electricity, heat, and transport are growing faster than ever. According to US Department of Energy figures, global energy demand – which rose by around 42 per cent between 1980 and 2000 (from 283 quadrillion British Thermal Units btu in 1980 to 400 quadrillion btu in 2000) – will nearly double again in the years to 2030 ... Download the Magazine (below) to read the complete article
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