“China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, is poised to install a record amount of solar-power capacity this year, prompting researchers to boost forecasts as much as 80 percent.”–Bloomberg Technology
Right now, almost every country in the world is seeking for a sustainable way for energy generation in order to substitute the traditional ways of generation and reduce the carbon footprint. Traditionally people use fossil fuel power stations which burn coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce energy. On the other hand, most of the renewable energy contains solar-energy, hydroelectric power, nuclear power and wind power.
Nuclear power plant is always a controversial topic, especially after the nuclear leak of Fukushima nuclear power plant during the 2011 Toukoku earthquake, people started to focus on the safety factor of the nuclear plant rather than its efficiency and effect. Although compared with solar-energy, hydroelectric power and wind power, nuclear power plant requires the least of the surrounding environmental situation and it could operate during anytime in the whole year, people do not really trust the stability of the nuclear power and worry about the waste after the operation, therefore the nuclear power plant is not the popular option of renewable energy.
Similarly, people also worry about the safety of hydroelectric power. For example, the Three Gorges Dam in China is the largest hydroelectric power station in the world, but people are worried that in case of terrorist attack and war, the Three Gorges Dam would probably be a target as the dam failure or destruction would cause severe damage of the area at the downstream. Moreover, the establishment of the Three Gorges Dam has influenced the climate of the surrounding area, therefore people are now criticise the establishment of it.
In the meanwhile, the wind energy and solar-power have become more and more popular. For the wind power stations, they occupy quite a few land and could even be settled by the sea, such as the Dutch windpark at Egmond aan Zee and the Lillgrund wind farm of Sweden. (I could clearly see it when I was on the train crossing the Öresund Bridge from Copenhagen to Malmö, it is so amazing!) On the other hand, solar-power is also a preferable to generate power, this year a panda-shaped solar plant was built in Datong, China and has a capacity of 50 megawatts connected to the state grid. Solar-power does not have any by-product, solar panels just stand there and produce electricity. However, it requires a lot of land for placement as well as good weather for operation.
In all, no matter what kind of form to produce energy, as long as it is a renewable way to generate energy and able to ensure long-term operation, then we are still on the way toward a sustainable society.