Towards sustainable energy: future trends

Energy is moving towards sustainability, customer service or electrification. Renewable energies are increasingly important and environmental criteria already figure among the demands made by our society, which drives energy companies to make changes in their business, as well as in the way they do things, produce and commercialise energy.

In this context, what are the market trends? What is going on within energy companies?

Main trends in the electricity market

Let’s review of some of the changes which have already come true within the energy sector:

• Reductionof CO2 emissions. One of the main environmental concerns is the emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, because it contributes to the creation of the well-known greenhouse effect and, as a result, to the increase in global warming. In order to slow down its production, we tend to avoid, as much as possible, the use of fossil fuels for the generation of energy, as is the case of oil and its by-products, coal, and natural gas. The proliferation of electric cars is a great example of this attempt to reduce the use of these fuels and substitute them for others that are not as harmful for the planet.
• Reduction of atomic energy. This type of energy has two major problems. On the one hand, it generates waste which takes hundreds of years to degrade and can be harmful to our health and to the environment. In addition, it is very dangerous, since a nuclear accident may end up causing long-range irreparable damage.
• Boost in renewable energies. Wind, solar, or hydroelectric energy are just some of the possible winning alternatives in the attempt to reduce the previous ones. As a matter of fact, a major trend nowadays is that of self-consumption, thanks to the installation of solar panels in private houses, companies, or any other space that needs energy or can make the most of the one coming from the Sun. The main problem of these energies is the difficulty to store them: we are having trouble meeting the demand at peak times, or when the weather conditions do not allow for generating enough energy.
• New types of energy, such as green hydrogen. In view of the new needs, researches are looking for energies which are more and more respectful towards the environment, and energies which take consumption needs and costs into account. In this context, we find green hydrogen, a type of energy generated from hydrogen that produces water as sole waste and can be stored in batteries. A source of energy which will probably play a key role in the future, but which still has to overcome obstacles, such as the need for large investments in infrastructures, electrolysers and a legal framework that facilitates its expansion.

Society in general and energy companies in particular are more and more aware of the need to take sustainability into account. For this reason, a series of movements are being made in this sense and companies will have to surf this wave if they want to keep being competitive companies adapted to their environment.