Written By: Agastya Asthana
Clean energy is question understood by most but addressed by the few. 90% of the people claim that global warming and climate change are problems that should be addressed, yet only 5% of those 90% have taken action by buying electric cars or installing solar panels. The only reason demand is so low for clean energy generating devices is that clean energy is a want, not a need. People have grown complacent of their sources of energy for their daily use and consider switching to cleaner methods as a menial and lengthy task. What people are not realizing is that increased CO2 levels will prove themselves to extremely noxious for humans to the point where clean energy generating devices will be a communal need.
-courtesy of Rocky Mountain Institute
Industrially, there are not many solutions that exist out there, which will be able to meet the rising demand of clean energy. Most products are either hard for people to get their hands on, too expensive, require daily maintenance, or simply don’t produce enough energy to light up a single home. The normal coal and gas powered energy producers are enticing their customers in future investment of upwards of $1 trillion. Companies like PaveGen are in the development of producing such devices but unfortunately they are currently focusing on a single method of electricity generation. As a result, I have taken it upon myself to deal with this situation. For my Engineering Design & Development class, I have embarked on the idea of creating a single company that would be able to provide cutting edge technology on creating energy generating devices. Some of the prototypes are as follows: Tiles that generate energy as people step on them - courtesy of PaveGen, door knobs that harness the rotational energy that humans exert on them, and doors that harness the pushing energy exerted onto them. Having all of these products one supplier will increase demand in the same fashion Apple devices are so popular worldwide. When buying an IOS device or a Mac, you simply have to look at different options that Apple offers, whereas buying a windows or an Android device requires you to research over 1000 different companies that produce them.
-PaveGen proto tile
If such products achieve a high status in the market, then I fail to see why humanity's future won’t be bright.
Works Cited
Brueck, Hilary. “In Washington, DC, People Are Using Their Feet To Turn On The Lights.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 18 Nov. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/hilarybrueck/2016/11/18/pavegen-energy-generating-sidewalk/#5018bb9c78da.Litwhiler, Dale H, and Thomas H Gavigan . “A Door Motion Energy Harvesting System for Powering an Electronic Door Lock .” A Door Motion Energy Harvesting System for Powering an Electronic Door Lock , cd14.ijme.us/papers/013__Dale%20H.%20Litwhiler%2C%20Thomas%20H.%20Gavigan.pdf.
“The Economics of Clean Energy Portfolios.” Rocky Mountain Institute, rmi.org/insight/the-economics-of-clean-energy-portfolios/.
Well you see Gus many people want to take action but many renewable resources are more expensive than the non renewable resources, so people are more likely to buy the cheaper of the two even if it means destroying the environment.
ReplyDeleteIn our society, we as consumers want to have the newest and latest technology to either better our lives or a product we need to have to keep up with the ever changing world of technology. Picking to choose between creating a better environment to a consumer at the moment too high in price for households and businesses to consider, and marketing is not strong enough to make consumers want to make a difference. We all know that climate change and global warming exist in the world, but nothing is making us as consumers want to make the everyday decisions to fix that problem. Marketers need to think about how to advertise environmental solutions to current problems that will make consumers want to once again make that change to solving global warming and climate change.
ReplyDeleteAgastya, this post is rather insightful into the current energy crisis in America, and you talked about a lot in this post, but I want to more, how could this company of yours be a better solution than the current clean energy solutions in the market like Tesla's solar panels? How could you make this company be as successful as possible? How would you provide a better product? Would you undercut the price of you're competitors or would you produce devices that generate more energy with less motion? I want to hear more and I really think that you could provide more.
ReplyDeleteThe glaring problem here is that many renewable sources require more money to produce, and while the effect is much better for our environment in the long run. It is much cheaper to utilize non renewable sources, which in turn prevents the full use of renewable resources. However what you bring up is a very interesting idea, I could definitely see this coming into effect sometime in the future. But the only way to really get the ball rolling on renewable resources is for people to start picking the more expensive option.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a different side to clean energy that often isnt talked about as well. People often go on about wind turbines and how dumb they look but think about how many clean options exist that are subtle. For example, roads are mainly black which takes in heat but rarely do we harness that power. Think about how much energy we would have and the money we would save if every road was solar. With that being said, your point still stands in that it is a want not a visible need so people often dismiss it.
ReplyDeleteAgastya, this was very eye-opening. Sharing your ideas on how to make the planet more Eco-friendly is very inspiring, however, as you stated earlier the main problem of green tech. not being in the forefront of markets is because of the pricing. Yes, having a doorknob that can turn exerted force into energy is a great idea. But I think there are better options. Not saying that the eco-friendly door knob is not great, rather in the point in time people are more likely to buy something that is really expensive for something that is more grand. Such as buying a Tesla, rather than an above average cost of a door knob. Although I truly am heartened that you want to make a change in the world. #fridaysforthefuture
ReplyDeleteI think it is a valid point that the new renewable sources would help the environment, but those 5% of people that are helping with the environment probably had the money in order to help. Most people will choose the cheaper side of things even if it means hurting the enviorment.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that renewablew resources are good for the environment and that it would be more effective than burning fossil fuels. However, since so many people are penny pinchers, people that see a cheaper price tag will go that route no matter the situation.
ReplyDeleteAgastya I like the ideas you brought up in this post, the pressure plated floor is a great idea and I hope to see that used regularly one day. I like that you call out that everyone is going for the cheaper non-renewable resources instead of the more expensive but eco-friendly options.
ReplyDeleteI think that your ideas and solutions to the energy crisis were very creative and unique, I definitely never would have thought of those. While I think that these are really good ideas, I feel as though it would be difficult to implement this widespread enough to make a large difference, since as you said most people still see this energy crisis as a want, not a need. However, as a country we do need to find ways to fix this and I think your idea of having all of the methods from a single company would be a good start.
ReplyDeleteAs a society, it seems as if we love to push problems that we cannot necessarily see right now and say "I won't be around by then anyways." Renewable energy seems to fall into the category. I agree with most of what everyone else said - that while your ideas and solutions were creative, unique, and a lot more plausible than expected, the simple fact is, is that renewable energy is more expensive. It takes more time and more maintenance, and because it is very difficult to place a monetary value on the environment, I expect it to take a long time until a majority people have renewable energy, solely because of the price tag associated with it.
ReplyDeleteYour article was very well articulated(Membene Level 3 Words), and your point was made clear. I really liked your shameless plug about your company, it made me laugh for sure. I just believe that you did not dive deep enough into the positives of solar panels. Even though solar panels are expensive, if you live even in a semi-sunny environment you can make back your money in 15 years. If you live in a place such as California you can make your money back in 7 years. That can be achieved if you sell your electricity to the power grid during the day and buy from the grid at night. So for 100 million people, it is worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. Clean energy isn't talked about as often as one might think it would be (or perhaps as often as it should be). I enjoyed reading through solutions that you believe would help alleviate the issue. I feel as if it would be expensive to install these devices initially, but could save money over time. How would you go about encouraging change and improvement in energy conservation and production so that the average consumer will buy into your idea?
ReplyDeleteThis topic is absolutely relevant, and I feel you did a good job addressing your opinion on energy. I definitely agree that global warming exists, and feel as if solar energy and other forms of energy will definitely limit the rate at which global warming occurs. But, this clean energy is much more costly at the moment, and because of this, the consumers pay for more dirty forms of energy, at a much cheaper price. Until the prices of cheap energy decrease, I don't see consumers paying for the same result at a much higher price.
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