Maduka Nweke, [email protected]
Poor electricity to Nigerian homes has dropped to a level where private individuals are searching for personal solutions. Although government has made some promises at various levels, these have amounted to mere lip services to tackling the problems. A number of government officials live in homes that enjoy power supply ceaselessly with tax payers’ money but are often not bothered when the less privileged people do not have light. However in order to get improved power service, private individuals have started innovating with renewable energy as part of the new solutions.
Renewable energy is energy that is generated from natural processes that are continuously replenished. This includes sunlight, geothermal heat, wind, tides, water, and various forms of biomass. This energy cannot be exhausted and is constantly renewed. It is the energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. By this way, the house you live in, the house you want to buy or the house you want to lease or sell will be of economic value.
In a report that examines the ways in which renewable energy demand is expected to increase, an agency’s New Energy Finance (NEF) finds that aggressive decarbonisation will be required beyond 2030 to meet the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Focusing on electricity, the agency’s NEF’s 2019 New Energy Outlook (NEO) predicts a 62 per cent increase in global power demand, leading to global generating capacity tripling between now and 2050, when wind and solar are expected to make up almost 50 per cent of world electricity due to decreasing costs. But with all these in the offing, Nigeria seems not to be thinking how to fit in. For Nigeria graduate into that, it behoves authorities of government to manage the current electricity Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to the benefits of all. This explains the fact that if one cannot walk well, he will not run well. This also means that if the government cannot manage the activities of PHCN well, when the renewable energy will be the in- thing, the country will be found wanting. We should make hay while the sun still shines.
Electricity has become a crucial part of our homes and corporate world. With no electricity, our computers and other electrical devices cannot work. A Ups power supply can be a life saviour when the power goes off, because it allows you to continue your work for a certain time and to save important documents on your personal computer or other smart devices. Uninterruptible power supply will protect electronic devices in your home from various power related problems. Ups power supply is a power protection device that is specially designed to regulate the power in your home to acceptable parameters, and to supply the right amount of electricity when there is no power in your home. But it is not the same with renewable energy. So to understand why the UPS power supply is so important, one will think how such power will sustain until you disconnects it. The report of the NEF concludes that coal will collapse everywhere except in Asia, and, by 2032, there will be more wind and solar electricity than coal-fired electricity. It forecasts that coal’s role in the global power mix will decrease from 37 per cent today to 12 per cent by 2050 with the virtual elimination of oil as a power-generating source. The question here is how ready is Nigeria now to meet the current method of power supply let alone the upgrading renewable energy supply method being envisaged?
There are many different reasons renewable energy is extremely important for the future of our society. Positive environmental impact is certainly one of the top reasons. Fossil fuels when burnt create harmful greenhouse gas emissions that have significantly contributed to global warming phenomenon. Using renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, we would significantly decrease the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions which would help prevent stronger climate change impact. With the number of people employed within the renewable energy industry continues to grow, and this gives many countries an excellent option to boost their economies in this post-recession period, renewable energy is the answer. The global oil market has become extremely volatile and our dependence on oil continues to grow.
With more emphasis on renewable energy and using domestic renewable energy sources instead of importing foreign oil, we would drastically improve our energy security and energy independence. Renewable energy, offers variety of different options to choose from as countries can choose between sun, wind, biomass, geothermal energy, water resources, etc. The global clean energy race is very important and winners in this race will experience many political as well as economic benefits in years to come. The benefit of power in your home include continuity of whatever operation you are in, in your home.
This is one of the biggest benefits that the uninterruptible power supply offers. When plugged into a wall outlet, the Ups power supply allows safe operation for a particular period of time. By switching to using power from batteries, the Ups prevents data loss and allows the operators to shut down the computers or other network equipment in a safe and effective manner. The end result is higher productivity.
Highlighting the regional differences, the report mentioned above finds that the Western European economies are already on a strong decarbonisation path due to carbon pricing and strong policy support; that by 2040, renewables will comprise 90 per cent of the electricity mix in Europe, with wind and solar accounting for 80 per cent; that the US, with low-priced natural gas, and China, with its coal-fired plants, will transit more slowly; and that the China’s power sector emissions will peak in 2026 and then fall by more than half over the next 20 years with wind and solar increasing from 8 per cent to 48 per cent of total electricity generation by 2050.
The 2019 report finds that wind and solar now represent the cheapest option for adding new power-generating capacity in much of the world, which is expected to attract $13.3 trillion in new investment. While solar, wind, batteries and other renewables are expected to attract $10 trillion in investment by 2050, the report warns that curbing emissions will require other technologies as well. But Nigeria can key into this if politics is eschewed for the general benefit of all.
This can be done by setting its departments to action to study how it works. But as long as the powers that be keep this system of demarcation between the poor and the rich, government officials and non- government officials where the government officials get power no matter what it costs, then there will be no progress and if there is progress, it will not amount to success.
If government will make a law that removes the parity between the rich and the poor, and make everybody suffer the same fate irrespective of positions in government, then the society we find ourselves will be better. But because the government officials, the rich get what they want at any point in time, they don’t bother what happens to the greater number of the population that are not in government who are poor.