Thursday, December 12, 2013

Sustainable Green Energy In Africa

By Cornelia White


In as much as a country may have an ability to generate power, the most important part will always be sustaining the generation for years and be able to ensure that there is neither any shortage or glitches. Power among other resources is a backbone of every economy and as such, any country short of electricity is doomed to fail. Sustainable green energy in Africa is a contentious issue that every government struggles to provide.

Electricity is an important commodity both at the industrial and domestic levels. Without this resource, innovation is limited as citizens cannot use modern equipment that are solely reliant on electricity. Industries need a lot of energy to operate smoothly to provide goods to the citizens and therefore, insufficient electric supply automatically cripples the economy.

Inasmuch as every country in Africa is pulling hard to advance in technology, insufficient power supply makes it very difficult if not impossible to achieve this. Long-term solutions are the only ways that would ensure that various innovative activities are powered and the right equipment used in these endeavors. Putting up proper strategies and taking into consideration some of the safest ways of generating power is the only way to go.

Industries need a lot of power to operate; this makes it difficult for countries that do not have access to sufficient power to provide their citizens with high quality products and services. There are a lot of sources of power and all of these need enough capital to implement. Some countries lack adequate capital to utilize their raw materials and even explore their potential power sources.

Some of the main sources include diesel, solar photo voltaic, and wind which have different capabilities. Countries with proximity to rivers such as Congo have been able to generate hydroelectric power from rivers such as Nile, Congo, and Blue Nile among others. Africa has an ability of exploiting enough power per year.

Wind, diesel, and the sun have been sources of energy for over 100 years and are used in different environments because the amount of power produced also differ. Hydroelectric power has also sustained many economies for a very long time. Unfortunately, only countries with rivers are able to produce hydroelectric power.

Africa is known to have stable climatic conditions which are mostly sunny. This makes it possible for most countries to harvest solar energy to their advantage. Even though solar energy cannot be used to run big projects, it supports most areas in an economy. Geothermal power sources have also been invaluable to most countries.

Coal power stations are on the decline because it is becoming more difficult to get funding for such power stations. Coal stations have been associated with greenhouse effect that has caused global warming and are also expensive to construct and maintain. It is very possible to have sustainable green energy in Africa to enable the countries to engage in constructive production. It is important to abandon expensive sources and adopt clean and reliable sources.




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