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Access to energy is directly related to human development. This is particularly true for women, who spend more of their time collecting fuel and water, and preparing meals. Access to energy would allow them to spend more time on education and work. [20] Women need to be given equal pay, equal treatment and equal status.
Many sources of energy, such as fission, solar, wind, and coal, are not subject to the same near-term supply restrictions that oil is. Accordingly, even an oil source with an EROEI of 0.5 can be usefully exploited if the energy required to produce that oil comes from a cheap and plentiful energy source.
The lowest priority under the energy hierarchy is energy production using unsustainables sources, such as unabated fossil fuels. Some also place nuclear energy in this category, rather than the one above, because of the required management/storage of highly hazardous radioactive waste over extremely long (hundreds of thousands of years or more ...
Renewable energy sources are essential to sustainable energy, as they generally strengthen energy security and emit far fewer greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. [49] Renewable energy projects sometimes raise significant sustainability concerns, such as risks to biodiversity when areas of high ecological value are converted to bioenergy ...
Although the life cycle assessments of each energy source should attempt to cover the full life cycle of the source from cradle-to-grave, they are generally limited to the construction and operation phase. The most rigorously studied phases are those of material and fuel mining, construction, operation, and waste management.
As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or converted to a more energy-dense biofuel like ethanol. Wood is the most significant biomass energy source as of 2012 [103] and is usually sourced from a trees cleared for silvicultural reasons or fire prevention.
Renewable energy sources are even larger than the traditional fossil fuels and in theory can easily supply the world's energy needs. 89 PW [32] of solar power falls on the planet's surface. While it is not possible to capture all, or even most, of this energy, capturing less than 0.02% would be enough to meet the current energy needs.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the mid-20th century. [3] There are many proven approaches for moving to a low-carbon economy, such as encouraging renewable energy transition, energy conservation, and electrification of transportation (e.g. electric vehicles).