Adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are set to influence several facets of decision-making – including energy. Sustainable energy has been an up-and-coming sector long before the introduction of the SDGs, but recent improvements in both the scientific and technological fields have made it much easier to procure and finance. Defined as energy that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability to power future generations, sustainable energy is strongly tied to the concept of renewable energy, in which energy is generated from sources that are naturally replenished and produce little to no carbon emissions.
Renewable energy sources range from mainstream options such as solar, wind or hydro to less conventional ones like geothermal, tidal and wave-based energy – all of which are almost inexhaustible. However, there has always been one major hurdle in the way of sustainable energy: storage. The production of renewable energy through photovoltaic cells or wind turbines can be interrupted by natural fluctuations in availability, therefore minimizing the capacity for sustainable energy to become a reliable and constant source of energy like fossil fuel power-plants. This means that it is vital to invest in power storage to enable utility companies to use and store higher percentages of renewable energy.
While fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal are able to provide energy continuously as long as there is fuel to burn, they are not renewable resources and produce very high amounts of carbon emissions. Located in limited stocks around the globe, fossil fuels usually require a high amount of energy to be expended to find, extract and refine, prior to being used for energy production. One of the leading causes of global warming and pollution, reliance on fossil fuels has begun to lessen as sustainable energy develops. One of the drivers of renewable energy production has been the use of lithium-ion batteries which have proven to efficiently store power produced by photovoltaic cells, wind turbines, hydroelectric facilities and other forms of renewable energy.
Versatile and on the cutting-edge of technology, lithium-ion batteries stand to be at the forefront of the sustainable energy revolution, and companies are beginning to take notice. Like many other industry leaders, EnergyX believes that renewable energy generation and cost-effective energy storage have the potential to replace fossil fuels as our societies go-to energy sources. Sustainable energy is no longer a future agenda item, it is a current necessity.