Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Low-carbon
energies
Picking winners
Renewable energy developers are rarely in it for just the money: usu-
ally the reward of knowing they are moving the planet in the right
direction is the most significant factor. This is just as well. For low-
carbon energy innovation is still not for the financially faint-hearted.
Here are three related reasons.
Competition
This is intense. Low-carbon or renewable energy enters a sector domi-
nated by fossil fuels. The infrastructure carrying fossil fuels - grids and
pipelines - has been refined and optimized over the past century. So have
the machines - notably the internal combustion engine - and they are
engineered to use fossil fuels. The investment in both infrastructure and
machines constitutes an enormous investment, that is hard to displace or
integrate with.
Rewards
These are often low. For the biggest challenge of renewable energy is clean
generation of electricity, which is a standardized commodity. Electrons
are electrons and they will power whatever they will power irrespective of
how they are generated. Few people will, of their own accord, pay extra
to cover the higher early costs of a low-carbon technology that produces
electrons which are indistinguishable from those produced by fossil fuels.
It is true some early “green” products, such as the Prius hybrid car, are
chic enough to command a high price. But it is nothing compared with
the readiness of people to pay hundreds of dollars for the distinction of
