Powering the sustainable society

Energy security is becoming one of the greatest issues concerning cities, as energy prices increase and resources are depleting and becoming harder to extract.  It takes a shift in energy sources to reduce our need of these non-renewable sources. People need to be more aware of their usage of energy. Societies need to implement alternative energies, incorporate many different sources and model systems that are more efficient and energy recycling. 

Most of the dirty or damaging energy we use comes from oil, gas, coal, and nuclear. A good amount comes from hydroelectric, where available. In Canada, 32% of the energy comes from oil, 25% fro hydro, 24% from natural gas, 10% from coal, 7% from nuclear, and 1% from other renewable energy sources (EIA International Energy Annual, 2006). The sectors that use the most amount of energy are industry (38%), transportation (30%), residential (17%), commercial/institutional (14%) and agriculture (2%).

In an average home, most of the energy consumption of electricity is used for heating/cooling and water heating. 60% of the energy used in a home is used for space heating (Energy Efficiency Trends in Canada, 1990 to 2005)

Some options to reduce the amount of this energy use include solar, wind, or geothermal technology and alternative fuels. These technologies are currently expensive up front, though can pay back the cost in time. Many communities are helping subsidize the shift to these types of alternative energies, though it takes much consideration and convincing. It takes many solar panels and space to create comparably smaller amounts of energy than conventional methods, though it saves many tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from being emitted over their lifetime. Adequate sunlight is also an issue, though you might find it surprising that Toronto receives more sunlight than Miami, Florida (Ling, 2011).
Micro-generation technologies are beginning to be used, which can come from solar, wind, micro-hydro, biomass heating, geothermal, and ground and air source heat pumps. This allows small communities or separate homes to help reduce their need of energy from the grid.

Biofuels are increasingly being implemented, such as for transportation, though it takes away from the amount of land that could be used for food sources, and also takes a lot of input of energy to plant, harvest and refine. The crops can include wood, corn, sugar cane, grasses, manure, food waste, plant oils, algae, etc. This method basically comes from the combustion of carbon compounds, which doesn’t reduce the amount of greenhouse gases significantly less than petroleum-based fuels.

Tidal is another emerging idea. It is expensive, though very reliable because tides are always constant. The concept uses the movement of tides to turn turbines on the bottom of the seabed. This can also be damage to aquatic life.