Future Energy Resources

The meaning of future energy resource

Future energy resources refer to those resources that may become widely available to use in the future, thanks to technological advancements or new scientific discoveries. Future energy resources will differ from today's due to several combined factors.

The types of future energy resources

Efforts are being made to build technology that allows us to harvest and store less dense energy forms, such as sunlight and wind. In this section, we will start with nuclear power, which is ever-present in future energy plans.

Nuclear

Nuclear energy is one of the densest energy forms that humanity is learning to handle. The nuclear technology of the future can be split into fission and fusion.

• Nuclear fission, or the splitting of atoms, is the most common worldwide, but it may be less common in the future.

• Nuclear fusion, or the fusion (combination) of atoms, yields more energy than fission, but it is still in testing.

• New fission technologies include molten salt reactors, laser fusion which fuses atoms through a high-energy laser beam, and thorium or plutonium reactors.

• New fusion technologies include toroidal reactors and laser fusion, which uses a laser beam to fuse hydrogen isotopes.

Renewable

Renewable energy resources were a popular energy choice before the 18th century. They became less common when technological advancements allowed for fossil fuel use.

Technologies of the future include:

• Solar sails and solar photovoltaic panels, more of which may be made from perovskite or gallium arsenide, two materials that can replace silicone. Carbon nanotube materials for solar thermal energy are also expected. Moreover, solar panel fields may be converted into CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) systems that use mirrors to focus sun rays onto a single source.

  Solar panels can now be made transparent and used as windows.

• Water wheels (low-head, for small-scale exploitation), Kaplan turbines or Gorlov helical turbines (different blade designs) will be able to rotate their blades in the direction in which the strongest currents flow to harness more kinetic energy.

  These hydroelectric power turbines may also change their shape or position to match times when the water table is lower or higher.

• Wave energy and tidal power, used close to the seashore, harvest water's kinetic power. In the future, they may also be able to harvest energy from the changing temperature and salinity gradients that exist and mix in layers of seawater.³

  Tidal barrages and lagoons can also be built to amplify the effect of changing water levels.

• Wind power is among the most flexible. Different blade shapes can be designed to increase speed, reduce turbulence and drag or ensure a smoother rotation (e.g. blade-tip fins, blade nacelles, helical vertical and horizontal wind turbine axes -VAWTs and HAWTs).

  Wind-assisted ships that require only one, or very few people, to operate them, will be more common in the future.

• Biofuels can come from agricultural and supermarket food waste and dedicated plantations, such as the grass miscanthus. The biofuel of the future is often considered algae, as it generates methane and hydrogen when decomposing. Liquid (bioethanol), solid (humus) and gaseous (biogas) fuels can be obtained from biomass. All three can also be obtained from biodigesters, which use microorganisms to digest waste.

• Geothermal energy is available only in specific locations that benefit from volcanic activity. Usually, it uses hot water and steam to power engines. In the future, it will be paired with liquids with low boiling points, such as butane, to generate electricity at lower overall temperatures.

Non-renewable

Coal, oil and gas will likely continue to be used in the future due to their high energy output when burned. However, their pollution capacity remains high, resulting in the release of heavy metals or greenhouse gases.

• Coal: coal gasification and liquefaction are processes that convert coal into other usable forms of energy. Both techniques are more efficient than combustion.⁴

  • Coal gasification involves the partial combustion of coal to produce a gas that can be used for heating or power generation.

  • Liquefaction, on the other hand, entails the conversion of coal into a liquid fuel that can be used in transportation.

• Oil: subsea production wells, tar sand and oil shale use, and drilling will be paired with highly efficient enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques. EOR techniques that will be improved upon include the following:

  • Primary oil recovery, pumping oil from the ground and separating it from the water and other impurities.

  • Secondary oil recovery, using water or chemicals to increase the flow of oil from the reservoir to the well.

  • Tertiary oil recovery, injecting steam or other fluids into the reservoir to heat the oil, so it flows more easily.⁵

• Natural gas: enhanced gas recovery could be paired with fracking to capture gases more efficiently.

Examples of future energy resources

The future of energy is ever-changing, making it difficult to forecast what energy sources will be used.

• Molten salt reactors are improved fission technology designs that may serve us more widely as an energy resource. Salt or salt mixtures are used as a cooler and allow nuclear power to operate at higher temperatures than if cooled by water alone.

• Improved fusion technology may obtain energy from deuterium and tritium, which are isotopes ("species") of hydrogen.

Strategies to secure future energy supplies

In recent years, efforts to improve access to electricity have made Earth's population (recorded by birth certificate) change in only 30 years from 70% to 90%.

Some strategies can still be employed to help secure future energy supplies.

• Diversify energy sources using a mix of renewable (solar, tidal, wind, biomass) and non-renewable sources (oil).

  This helps to hedge against price fluctuations and supply disruptions.

• Invest in energy efficiency. Transport, building and industrial energy conservation are paramount to a sustainable future of energy resource usage.

• Develop storage technologies that can store excess energy when demand is high. By employing these strategies, we can help ensure that future generations can access reliable and affordable energy supplies.

• Habitat conservation and enhancement ensure that natural cycles can continue producing energy sources usable by humans.

Issues with future energy resources

All activities, including the extraction, processing, transport, use and disposal of all resources and their technologies (e.g. the building of a wind turbine nacelle), leave an environmental footprint.

Other risks include:

• New energy resources that could be energy dense but difficult to handle, contain and transport.

• Habitat and geological damage.

• "The quickest and cheapest option" decisions.

Non-conventional energy resources

Some non-conventional energy resources are already being implemented.

Magnetic energy is promising, as a set of powerful magnets can both attract and repel. Magnetic energy will be instrumental in the transportation and building sectors. Magnetic fields already help toroidal reactors function.

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) could help reduce the carbon footprint of the extractive industries. Carbon mineralisation uses technology that captures air for its CO₂ molecules and injects it into the ground to form rocks and minerals.

Additionally, the widely available bio-batteries of the future should be able to harness the power of organic molecules, such as enzymes, sugars or bacteria, which could be contained in substances like tree sap or blood.⁸

We will always dream of tapping into energy sources and technologies that allow us to live and learn differently. Whatever their origins, we must ensure that they are ethical and do not cause environmental damage to the natural world or our built cities and landscapes.