Green energy is at its highest peak of fame nowadays, thanks to the coronavirus. Our modern lifestyle and technology make us highly dependent on the presence of electricity during this difficult time for a lot of reasons, too much to be mentioned one by one.
Some of the most important reasons are electricity powers up important devices we need to fight this virus. Starting from medical devices in the hospitals, computers processing data in laboratories, to Wi-Fi routers you use to access newest information or merely get rid of your boredom.
Most of energy, in this case electricity, generated globally comes from fossil fuel. And we need to spend a lot of money to generate that dirty energy. However, not all energy generated needs a lot of money. Instead, it is free and might be able to help the countries to recover financially after the pandemic.
In this article, we will talk about how green energy can help nations recover from them financial trouble they face during COVID 19 pandemic.
Britain’s Financial
In the year 2020, for the first time in history Britain could eclipse the amount of energy generated by fossil fuel with green energy. The good news came in earliest months of 2020, but the good news soon got eclipsed by coronavirus.
Lesser we know, Britain is now still generating most of its energy from clean energy projects harnessing the sun, wind, and sea. Not only it helps them to reach clean energy target, it apparently also helps Britain financially.
“After the last financial crisis, the UK’s green economy contributed substantially to new fiscal growth, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and finding new export markets around the world,” Nathan Bennett from RenewableUK said to The Guardian.
It can be seen from when Britain’s banks and financial services are floundering, with growth below 1% only, green energy economic value keeps rising up. Even during this situation, the growth of offshore wind is rising to 17%, while solar industry grows into 7% in economic value.
Britain is just one example how harnessing free energy that the universe provides to us is much more beneficial compared to using fossil fuel in every aspect. In addition, it continues to happen even in hard times such as this coronavirus pandemic.
Global Case
Can we take example and data from Britain’s green energy generation and apply it in global energy generation? Experts said that the result would 100% be similar. The reason is because renewable energy technology is not as expensive nowadays compared to decades ago.
Global climate concerns have pushed investors to take the greener way to invest in energy. Even today we can witness that global oil industry has left broken with plummeting oil price. Analysts said that after coronavirus pandemic, oil and gas sector would never be the same again.
“The price war and Covid-19 have really thrown the oil and gas sector into turmoil, and now we have companies really in survival mode,” said director of corporate research at Wood Mackenzie, Valentina Kretzschmar.
Instability in the sector and option for better alternatives have made investors to be far more cautious in investing to gas and oil sector. In addition to that, the financial growth shown by green energy generation sector is promising.
It is like a comparison between buying a basket of rotten apple or a cart of fresh orange. Most of us would definitely choose the more appealing one which is the oranges. Only those who are deeply in love with apple so much that they will avoid choosing the cart of fresh orange.
Stable Green Energy
The condition seems like worsening for oil industry as the fear of second coronavirus wave would happen. Many countries that used to be the main consumer for crude oil keeps denying to pay the price for oils offered by the producers because they still have crude inventories.
Whether or not the second wave is coming, there would be no problem for green energy generation and the stakeholders. On the other hand, it would be a huge problem for fossil fuel industry if the prediction of second coronavirus wave comes true.
“Oil prices are being undercut by fears that a resurgence of the coronavirus may prompt countries to keep lockdowns in place for longer, hurting global economic activity and energy demand,” said Avtar Sandu, manager at Phillip Futures in Singapore, to Al Jazeera.
It clearly shows that when the demand for fossil fuel is brought to the lowest, even big players cannot do anything. On the other hand, when the optimism shows we prefer greener energy, the growth would happen no matter what and when.
What Happens Next?
The question now is, whether or not we will have greener planet after this coronavirus problem. The fall of fossil fuel market is one example of how when we lower our demand for it, it will face grave danger that even the big players cannot control.
In some cases, our silent protests would work better than going down to streets. It shows how demand is the biggest motive for production, and when the demand is at rock bottom, the producers would sacrifice anything to survive.
Who thought that such condition can happen during our worst times? Thus, it can be a good lesson for all of us. Even the biggest companies are afraid of our power when we become one and strike as hard as we can.
We are getting unwanted help from this pandemic. Unwanted because we are also victims in this case. But after we regain our control after it all ends, we should have the upper hands. “The climate emergency has not gone away. If anything, the Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the need to make sure our economy is sustainable and resilient in the long term,” said Bennett.
To reclaim the nature, we might need to keep fighting for it by demanding more green alternatives in the market. Who knows that such condition can also happen to single-use plastic industry, illegal loggings, even meat productions?
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