Free Essay Example on Sustainable Energy Production

Statistics prove that an estimated 1.6 billion people, a quarter of the total population in the world, live without electricity (Espinosa, 2012, p5118). The electrical demand in the society aids various sectors in the society among them being helping people to read at night, pumping of water to various homes and broadcasting through radios and televisions. The high numbers of the population in the world that live without electricity has not changed from the year 1970. The amount required to cover to the deficit electricity supply in the society would not amount to more than 1 percent of the total energy demand in the globe. The developing economies have two problems that they need to tackle at the same time (Arvidsson, 2012, p55). The first problem is to increase electricity supply in order to cater to the high demands of electricity in the society and at the same time deal with the problems of environmental degradation and emission of greenhouse gases. In this light, the growing economies need to ensure production of clean source of energy which emit low carbons to the atmosphere.

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The need to ensure reduction of environmental degradation and provide increased efficiency, de-carbonization and ensure greater fuel diversity to lower emission of pollutants in the society should be increased in the society (Bribian, 2011, p1135). The need to provide clean energy and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere leads to the need to devise alternative ways of energy production. The alternative ways of energy production consists of the development of indigenous renewable resources and the reduction of the levels of environmental pollution in the society. There are, however a trend show and relate to the high levels of pollution in the society and the need to provide alternative energy sources (Hall, 2012, p121). The second issue affecting energy trend in the society is the increase in efficiency and power of the energy-producing and energy-using technologies in the society.

Sustainable energy policies should therefore be developed to ensure that they meet the societal and economic development goals of various countries in the society (McCarty, 2011, p7102). Countries should adopt ways that help in the development of synergies and put preservation of the environment as one of their major objectives and avoid cheap ways of energy production that destroy the environment. The energy trends in the society are due to a number of factors. One of them is the increase in the consumption of energy due to the increase in industrialization, amassing of wealth by different countries and the shift that the society from using traditional sources of energy to the use of commercial source of energy. The third issue affecting the trends in the energy use in the society is due to de-carbonization and the diversification of fuels that are used in the production of electricity, this started in the 20th century (Tan, 2013, p120). Finally, there is a reduction of the quantities of pollutants in the society due to the use of energy.

The energy industry, all industries involved in the production and sale of energy in the society that entails extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution of fuels in the society, considers a number of avenues that it can use to reduce environmental pollution (Bassam, 2013, p102). The industry also plans to employ ways that it can use to ensure that energy production matches the high levels of energy requirements. The increase in infrastructural developments in modern economies accounts from the mass of the energy demands in the modern societies (Roman, 2012, p80). One of the ways that the energy industry plans to ensure sustainable energy production and conservation of the environment is through the efficient use of secondary raw materials.

Raw materials in the society entail both living and non-living resources. The renewable sources of energy entail a number of biotic substances among them being wood fibres from the forest (Winter, 2012, p312). Modern energy trends consider moving from the non-renewable sources of energy such as fossil energy among them coal and gas and a number of minerals for cartonboard to produce energy. This is because environmental experts prove that by replacing non-renewable sources of energy by renewable sources of energy greatly helps in providing sustainable energy production. Additionally, the renewable sources of energy prove to be environmentally friendly and this helps in providing a clean environment for the current society and the future generations (Panwar,2011, p1515). The eco-design principles of energy production ensure that products should be used as raw materials at the end of their useful life. This would serve to reduce energy requirement in the society.

Research questions

-What are the causes of environmental degradation?

-What are the impacts of environmental degradation in the modern society?

-How does the use of secondary raw materials help in sustainable energy production?

-Name the various sources of secondary raw materials?

-What environmental policies are needed to encourage the use ot secondary sources of energy?

Aims and objectives of the research

-To enlighten the society about the effects of environmental destruction and the role of the society to achieve a clean environment.

-Review the effects of environmental degradation to the corporate social responsibility and the impacts of secondary raw materials to ensure clean environment.

-Evaluate the potential challenges to the environment to sustainable development and challenges to the implementation of secondary sources of raw materials of energy production.

-The benefits of sustainable energy production in the modern society.

Scope and constraints of the study

Sustainable energy production is an issue that has gained attention due to the societal effects and the need to ensure proper reduction of emission of greenhouse gases and the influence in ozone layer. Energy production requires contribution from professional from different environments among them being political leaders, environmentalists and the experts from the energy sector. Due to limited resources, the study is likely to get the views of subordinates and junior leaders in environmental agencies and energy industry and will not include the larger cohort professionals in the field. This will not affect the outcome of the research in a great manner since the middle level and the low level employees are in a suitable position to give respond to the questions adequately. Additionally, the research is limited to government environmental institutions and energy sector since this would help to prove the authenticity, credibility of the findings and aid in making suggestions to include when amending and formulating the laws concerning environmental protection and energy production.

Significance of the research

The findings from this research would help various companies and organizations to understand the various challenges in the society relating to poor sources of energy. Additionally, the environmental preservation initiatives would get a boost from the findings of this research. Understanding the sources of problems and devising solutions to the problems would then help the society to create lasting solutions for the issues relating to environmental conservation and energy production in the society. Additionally, the recommendations that would be made at the end of the study would be helpful in the formulation of laws that regulate the systems of production of energy and environmental agencies. Moreover, governments would find the recommendations of great use since it would assist them to revolutionize the methods of building sustainable energy production and reduce depletion of raw materials from the environment. The environmental protection agencies would also benefit from the research since it would help in the development and adoption of proper modern environmental protection practices. Finally, the study seeks to develop new ways of skill development and borrow from the existing knowledge on the social, economic and environmental challenges to create remedies for the same. This would ensure proper conservation of the environment and development of clean environment for the modern society and the future generations.

Literature review

Various researchers have carried out studies to help in the evaluation of the benefits of sustainable energy production by employing efficient use of secondary raw materials. Jones (2013) talks about the sources of secondary raw materials and help the society in the easy identification of the materials. This helps the society to ensure that the society engages in the preservation of the environment. Jones identifies wood fibres that are retrieved from the sustainably managed forests. Jones also confirms that there are a number of benefits that the forests bring to the society. Some of the benefits include economic, environmental and social benefits. In addition, the forests provide jobs, raw materials for various industries and serve as a source of renewable energy. Most of the forests in Europe are used to make paper and boards and this greatly helps in the reduction of depletion of sources of energy in the society.

Madlool (2011) confirms that every year, the new growth of trees exceed the trees harvested by an area that is equivalent to 1.5 million football pitches. It relation, the forests in Europe have increased by 512,000 hectares and this proves the idea of Jones that forests are renewable resources in the society. Additionally, statistics prove that the forests in the modern society are more than 30 percent larger than the forests that were in the 1950s. Another secondary source of raw materials as Franck (2012) claims are the bio based products. This is where chemical pulping is done to the wood fibres and this results in a by-product that serve as a source of energy during the pulping process. An integrated cartonboard mills is also of great use during the production of energy. The by-products of wood therefore aid in the provision of energy in form of electricity and steam. This form of electricity is used in the manufacturing process and this proves that the bio based products can be a secondary raw material for sustainable energy production.

Another author who talks about the secondary raw materials to be used for sustainable energy production is Parshetti (2013) and he appreciates the use of wastes as resource for energy production. Parshetti explains in details how wastes can be used as a secondary raw material for sustainable energy production. In his view, Parshetti explains how the wastes can be collected as paper and board and the delivered to the processing mill or the recycling process. Parshetti then explains that when cartons cannot be recycled as fibre due to reasons of technical or cleanliness issues, the energy that they contain can be recovered in an energy-from-waste incinerator. Additionally, as Galbe (2012) suggests, energy can be produced from the secondary sources of raw materials during the production of paper and board. This is the process that involves the burning of wood in order to generate energy which can be fed into the national grid in order to supply energy to the citizens. Therefore, biomass serves as a good secondary raw material for the production of sustainable energy.

However, Jones opposes the idea of Galbe to use biomass for sustainable energy production in the society. Jones proves that using biomass as a...