Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Make renewable energy cost-effective

Ghana discov­ered significant oil reserves in 2007 and production started in December 2010.

Thus, it can be said that the country started accruing oil revenue in 2010.

There is a report that there are 12 priority areas in which oil revenue spending is done, including alternative energy.

This means a suggestion to invest part of the coun­try’s oil revenue in renewable energy technologies like solar power is in order.

The idea is that the coun­try can reduce its reliance on traditional fossil fuels, thereby contributing to both economic and environmen­tal sustainability.

Renewable energy is nat­ural and self-replenishing, and usually has a low zero-carbon footprint, includes wind power, solar power, bioenergy (organic matter burned as a fuel), and hydroelectric, for its nature of being harmless to human health and the environment.

Renewable energy is referred to as clean energy, whereas non-renewable sources such as oil, gas, coal, and firewood are referred to as dirty energy.

Dirty energy sources are only available in limited amounts as they come from sources that will run out or will not be replenished in our lifetimes.

It is recorded that non-re­newable energy sources gen­erally can endanger human health and the environment.

For example, oil drilling might require fracking, which is the process of injecting liquid at high pres­sure into subterranean rocks, to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas and this technology can cause earthquake and water pollution.

The worst of it all is that the whole process of generating and using dirty energy contributes to global warm­ing.

Considering nature and how to make use of the two types of energy, the sug­gestion to invest in renew­able energy comes in as one that must not be ignored.

Currently, Ghana’s power mix includes thermal gen­eration, accounting for the largest share of 66 percent, hydro accounting for 33 percent, and solar one percent.

Ghana’s thermal power generation is fuelled largely by natural gas, but occasion­ally using light crude oil and diesel.

We believe the suggestion is given in the context of safeguarding human health, protecting the environment, and eventually making en­ergy cheaper for people to use.

Currently, it is more expensive to produce renewable energy, which is why even the US, a rich country, for example, has less than 20 percent of its energy mix as renewable.

It is, thus, no wonder that the records indicate that over the past 500 years or so, humans have increasingly turned to cheaper, dirtier energy sources such as char­coal and firewood as is the case in Ghana.

However, new research shows that in the long run, renewable energy is more cost-effective than non-re­newable energy.

It is said that wind and utility-scale solar eventually can be the least expensive energy-generating sources because there are now in­novative and less-expensive ways to capture and retain wind and solar energy.

Against this background, we support every suggestion to the government to invest part of the country’s oil revenue in renewable energy sources like solar and make them cheaper for the people.

Besides, the country will be contributing to reducing climate change as the use of dirty energy will decrease.