1.1.1 Introducing renewable energy
Renewable energy (RE) is derived from replenishable natural processes, sources, or phenomena such as wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, waves, tides, and biological matter. This energy is renewable in actual or theoretical terms because it can provide an inexhaustible supply of energy to meet the needs of humankind. In contrast, fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal) and nuclear energy (based on uranium) are non-renewable because they are derived from depletable mineral resources. Today, we often refer to renewables in terms of their technological applications, such as wind turbines, solar modules or panels, tidal barrages, and biofuels. These applications can vary enormously in terms of scale, from small solar photovoltaic cells generating a few watts of electricity to power electronic devices such as calculators to huge hydropower dams that provide power to millions of households through national grid systems. Renewable energy technologies can hence be deployed on a micro-scale, where individuals and local communities own installations and are both the producer and consumer, and on a macro-scale, in which RE plants and products serve the energy needs of large parts of the country or even the whole country.
In addition to the environmental virtues of renewable energy, its micro-scale applications are also making an important contribution to reducing global energy poverty (IPCC 2011). Roughly 1.5 billion people currently do not have access to electricity, and many more only have access to unstable supplies of it (REN21 2013). Wind, solar, bioenergy, and small hydropower in particular have scope for deployment in remote areas located far from national grid infrastructures, thus helping to improve livelihoods by using sustainable methods to provide power for schools, hospitals, small enterprises, communications, and other utility services. Renewables have played an important part in the rural electrification programmes of many East Asian countries.
Renewable energy is arguably the main element of a broader green-energy cluster of technologies that additionally includes energy efficiency and saving, electric vehicles, fuel cells, and other eco-industry sectors. The ability of renewables to produce cleaner forms of energy makes them crucial to decarbonising economic activity, achieving sustainable development, and tackling climate change. This is especially relevant to East Asia given that no other part of the world is making, and will continue to make, as big an impact on climate change and global energy security. The region is also the worldâs most important production hub and is experiencing rapid urbanisation; thus, it is where much of the planetâs most carbon-intensive activity is concentrated. East Asiaâs demand for energy across all fieldsâ electricity power generation, transportation, and thermal heatâhas grown almost three times faster than the global average since the 1970s, currently accounts for around a third of the worldâs total, and is set to rise further still. Renewable energy in East Asia is thus critical not only to the regionâs future sustainable development but also to the worldâs.
Box 1.1 Energy units of measurement and statistics
Many readers may not be familiar with energy units of measurement and their use when studying renewable energy. Starting with a simple example, a typical household in a developed country would need a 2 to 4 kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic (PV) rooftop based system to cover all of its daytime electricity demands; this figure is notably lower in developing countries. Small-scale renewable energy devices used at this level tend to be rated in kilowatts. Larger installations or equipment operated normally by companies at the power plant level, such as wind farms and solar parks, are invariably rated in megawatt (MW) terms, with 1 MW equalling 1,000 kW. In certain cases, very large RE plants, such as hydropower dams, may have gigawatt (GW) scale generation ratings, but most often this unit of power is used when examining industry, national, or international capacity levels. A single gigawatt is equal to 1,000 MW, and 1 terawatt (TW) equals 1,000 GW.
The actual power generated by any energy system or plant is expressed in terms of the number of energy unit hours over a particular period of time, normally a year (e.g. GWh per annum). Watt-based power ratings assigned to energy devices or systems relate to their peak or maximum power output levels when working at full potential capacity. Actual output levels achieved will depend on the operational efficiency (or capacity factor) of the equipment used. Due to the intermittency of wind, even high-performing wind turbines will normally have around an average 30 percent capacity factor rating. Thus, a 5 MW turbine would produce the following power output: 5 MW Ă 0.3 Ă 365 days Ă 24 hours = 13,140 MWh or 13.14 GWh. In contrast, more constant and dependable energy streams, such as hydropower, have capacity factors of 90 percent or greater. Watt-thermal units (e.g. MWth) are used to explain the energy produced in heat generation. Meanwhile, tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) is often used to compare energy consumption or production levels across different energy sources.
1.1.2 East Asia: an economic and energy profile
East Asia comprises two sub-regions: Northeast Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, and Mongolia) and Southeast Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). Over the last five or six decades, East Asia has been the worldâs most dynamic and fastest growing economic region. Annual double-digit percent increases in economic growth have not been uncommon for many East Asia countries during this period. Table 1.1 reveals how the region consi...
