Global energy consumption is the amount of power used providing by different type of non-renewable and renewable energy sources. Many countries need energy supply and consumption for its economic development. Energy consumption for some countries in the world is very high than other countries. For example, China consumes energy 1.67 times than USA, 2 times than Canada and almost 5 times than the rest of the world.
Several developing countries started to use renewable energy like Hydro, Biofuel, Solar etc. which is really essential for the wellbeing of global climate change. Energy consumption in the world increases each year, but, we see two abrupt changes at near 2009 (economic crisis) and 2020 (Covid-9 pandemic).
During the period 1990 to 2008 it is seen that the change rate of world energy consumption varies between 0 and 4 per cent which is also true for the period 2010 to 2019. Only for year 2009 and year 2020, negative value is observed. For 2008-2009, economic crisis causes the strong high oil price. For 2020, we have Covid-19 pandemic that fall world energy consumption considerably.
However, there are 5 types of non-renewable energy sources that most countries uses for their energy consumption i.e. Coal, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Oil and Waste. There are 6common types of renewable energy sources that most countries use for their energy consumption i.e. Tidal, Hydro, Wind, Biofuel, Solar PV and Geothermal. Tidal produces most renewable energy than Hydro, Wind, Biofuel etc. allover the world.
Renewable energy sources of top 20 energy consuming countries it is seen that for Hydro feature, three countries (China, Brazil and Canada) outperforms the power generation where 17 countries out of top 20 energy consuming countries does not exceeds 359.17 TWh. For Biofuel, two countries (China and USA) outperforms the power generation where 18 countries in top 20 countries does not exceeds 123.77 TWh.
For Solar PV (China, USA and Brazil) outperforms the power generation from this source. For Geothermal, two countries (USA and Indonesia) outperform but 18 countries in top 20 cannot exceed 7.93 TWh. Now the question is which type of renewable energy source is improving rapidly? From the following figure we can answer it. Solar PV and Biofuel grow exponentially. So Solar PV improves faster than other sources.
The whole world’s energy consumption is also affected by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine just after the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the countries of the world are searching for alternative sources of energy for keeping the expenses of life standard under control for their people. Renewable energy in Bangladesh is an energy sector with room to vastly expand.
At present “Load Shading” becomes a serious issue in Bangladesh. As of May 2022, Bangladesh currently relies mainly on natural gas, other fossil fuels and biofuels. Bangladesh’s renewable energy policy journey began in 2008, when the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources published their policy guidelines. Since then, up until 2022, Bangladesh has made a small but steady progress. Renewable energy sources in Bangladesh, like solar, and now take up a larger share of the energy mix.
As a result, the installed capacity of renewable energy in Bangladesh is 579 mega-watts (MW). This includes on-grid and off-grid installations. Solar PV accounts for 59.5 per cent, with small-scale hydropower and biomass-biogas at 39.7 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively. Fossil fuels, like natural gas still make up over 65 per cent of power generation. However, this number is slowly decreasing due to renewable energy sources in Bangladesh like solar PV, wind and hydropower.
Bangladesh’s National Solar Energy Action Plan introduced plans to shift its renewable energy policy. This aims for up to 40 giga-watts (GW) to be installed by 2041.Furthermore, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), there is over 20,000 km2 of land where wind speeds range between 5.75 and 7.75 m/s. This equals to a potential of over 30,000 MW.
Cox’s Bazar wind farm, with a total installed capacity of 66MW, is the first large-scale centralized wind power project in Bangladesh. There are two more wind power generation projects in Bangladesh, the Muhuri Dam wind power project and the project in Kutubdia Island. Muhuri Dam Project is the first grid-connected wind plant in Bangladesh.
So for keeping up the ongoing development of Bangladesh the Government should increase the energy production from renewable sources especially from the two sources Solar PV and wind power. We expect to see Bangladesh will produce energy in (TWh) unit from these energy sources in future.
Faroque Ahmed, Senior Research Associate (BIGM) and Md. Monirul Islam, Assistant Professor (BIGM, Pursuing PhD at UrFU, Rassia).
Faroque Ahmed & Md. Monirul Islam
