Go green: The key to nation’s empowerment

The concept of “go green” basically originated from sustainability principles which focus to address the growing concerns of how to go by with increasingly fewer resources when the whole world keeps asking for more, and how to minimize the impact of our economic activities on the environment with more or less resources that are readily available. It’s obvious that the world energy demand and supply is out of equilibrium with consumption quickly outpacing supply.  In the quest to satisfying our seemingly insatiable hunger for energy we place too much stress on the limited energy sources which in turn release into the atmosphere greenhouse gas emissions, creating an enhanced greenhouse effect known as global warming.

In order for nations' energy infrastructure to continue serving the public well and providing for the future economic prosperity, not only is excellent availability and reliability be given adequate attention but "efficiency" must also be considered as the key requirement when it comes to supplying energy for the world’s expanding population.

In view of the foregoing assertions, a nation is empowered if it could efficiently generate and optimally deliver energy to its citizens for domestic and industrial uses with such efficiency as to guarantee sustainable development. Since the world population is steadily growing and the per capita energy demand is increasing as well, the rate of energy consumption is go to rise exponentially in the not too distant future and only countries that do not value their own security and that of their citizens would stand aloof.

Modern civilization is energy intensive and relying on fossil fuel alone is no longer realistic. Hence, energy system based on the environmentally harmful "business as usual" practices of the past through the use of conventional sources cannot be sustained for another century. It is predicted according to several recent projections based on currently known oil reserves that oil production will peak sometimes within the first two decades of 21st century.  Green technology innovations in the entire energy conversion chain from distributed clean generation sources extending through optimization of T&D grid efficiency to demand management solutions are no longer optional but mandatory to getting increasingly more energy from dwindling resources for greener future.

Green economy concept is all about making the most efficient use of all natural resources with no loss of quality in living standards of the growing population. As the popular quote from John Bardeen, one of the co-inventor of transistor at Bell Laboratory rightly says “In looking for alternative sources of energy to meet our future needs, we should not look for easy answers or short-term solutions, but build a broad base in university, government and industry to develop the required science and technology. Many new innovations will be required to bring them to fruition”.

The timing of the advances of green energy technologies to replace our dependence on fossil fuels could be of critical importance to the future of modern civilization and our progress. The economic health and political power of entire nations may be boosted, or in the case of some countries that rely on oil production, sharply diminished. Governments and regulators, utility companies, and technology firms must in a concerted approach scale up what already exists in the laboratory and enact regulatory policies that would encourage integration of green technologies.