Human activities currently consume close to 150,000 terawatt-hours of energy each year – 25 times more than in 1800.
Today’s energy supplies are largely derived from fossil fuels, which have been proved to contribute significantly to climate change.
“It’s clear that they are great pollutants,” Eddie Rich, CEO of International Hydropower Association, a non-profit organisation working to advance sustainable hydropower.
It’s clear that fossil fuels are great pollutants … they are contributing enormously to climate change. We have to do something to move beyond this reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energies
“[We] are using up the world’s resources and they are contributing enormously to climate change – man-made climate change. We have to do something to move beyond this reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energies.”
As reserves of fossil fuels are being depleted, industries and governments are increasingly looking at other alternative sources of energy, particularly renewable energy.
The focus of renewable energy has been centred on solar and wind energy, but what happens when the sun goes down and the wind speed drops?
The Malaysian state of Sarawak – home to more than 55 rivers with a combined length exceeding 3,300km (2,050 miles) on the island of Borneo – is playing to its strengths and sustainable competitive advantage by investing in hydropower to drive development. The goal is to supply Sarawak with full electrification by 2025.