Why clean energy?

Energy plays the most vital role in the economic growth, progress and development,
poverty eradication, and security of any nation. Uninterrupted energy supply
is a vital issue for all countriestoday. Future economic growth crucially depends
on the long-term availability of energy from sources that are affordable, accessible,
and environmentally friendly. Security, climate change, and publichealth are
significantly dependent on the energy as schematically shown in Fig. 1.1. Abundant,
cheap, and clean energy are prerequisites for decent human living conditions
and a healthy economy.In recent decades, the overwhelming increase in development
activities have triggered the increasing demand for energy [1–4], resulting
in further contributions to green house gas (GHGs) emissions.The world had
already experienced its first and second energy crises due to the oil and gas
scarcities in 1973 and 1979, respectively.
The recent International Energy Agency (IEA) World EnergyOutlook Report
shows that over 20% of the global population or 1.4 billion people lack access to
electricity [5, 6]. Nearly 40% of the global population or 2.7 billion people, mostly
in rural areas,rely on the traditional use of biomass for cooking. To meet the
growth aspirations of billions of off-grid people, the development activities in the
energy sector are expected to be acceleratedglobally. The world energy demand is
projected to rise by 50% over the next 20 years, mostly because hundreds of
millions of people in China, India, and other developing worlds will be buying cars
andliving more energy-intensive lives. The future projection of energy needs is
displayed in Fig. 1.2. The production of fossil fuels, particularly oil, is going to
have trouble keeping up with thatdemand. And even if we could meet that demand
with fossil fuels, we would end up with irreversible climate change. At present,
80% of our energy comes from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural...