Renewable energy - the way forward

This paper outlines the growing need of energy in the developing countries and the acute population growth, which will exceed 10 billion by the year 2050. It describes the achievement and progress made in geothermal, hydro-power, biomass conversion, solar thermal technology, wind energy conversion and the ever increasing usage of photovoltaics. The paper also addresses the barriers and problems which face renewable energy users and producers. It is evident now that global warming is setting in and is going to change the climate as well as the terrain of many countries unless drastic measures are taken. The recent Kyoto meeting emphasised the importance of limiting CO2 emissions and to abide by some form of agreement to reduce emissions. Countries such as India, China and Indonesia, which represent nearly half the world's population, are actively involved in using renewable energy as the only means of sustaining their energy growth. It concludes that renewable energy penetration into the energy market is much faster than was expected a few years ago and by the year 2020, 10-15% of our prime energy will be met by renewable energy. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.