Renewable Energy
The pandemic has surely caused massive distress and disruptions in our lives since the beginning of the quarantine season.
But while the death tolls and the looming economic crisis are something we aren’t proud of, two of the positive things brought about by the COVID-19 crisis are cleaner air and the drop in carbon emissions.
Both of these are significantly attributed to the fact that the majority of the population is stuck inside their homes, and most businesses are either operating on a skeleton workforce or closed temporarily.
That said, it comes as no surprise that the electricity demand has massively declined at the peak of the pandemic.
In fact, as reported by UK’s National Grid, the demand for electricity reduced by a fifth while sub-stations reported a never-before-seen huge increase in solar power proportions.
Renewable energy has also played a pivotal role in the electricity demand in Asia, Europe and Middle East as it reached over 65% of the total power supply in the latter part of May.
Because of this, there was no need to fire up coal power plants for two whole months, the longest period since the Industrial Revolution.
However, despite the public’s increased interest in Renewable Energy, clean power providers are worried that once quarantine restrictions are lifted, the fossil-fuel stations will return to normal operations.
To avert this, a group of more than 60 heads of environmental organizations and business leaders decided to send an open letter to the government to push them to create a fairer and more sustainable economy.
Business leaders say that putting nature and climate at the core of the nation’s recovery makes more sense economically, especially since solar and wind energy are a lot cheaper now compared to coal.
To top it off, increased activity in the Renewable Energy sector will produce more jobs and inward investment.