The war between Russia and Ukraine has brought to the forefront discussions about energy security and the precarious nature of relying on other countries for basic energy needs. As the war rages on and sanctions stay in place, fuel prices continue to rise in countries worldwide. This isn’t a surprise, either. Russia is one of the world’s largest oil distributors, and in 2020, Australia bought 147 megaliters of crude oil from the country.
Russia also supplies much of the European Union’s natural gas, which powers electric power plants all over the continent. With so much reliance on other countries, even slight disturbances in international relations can have far-ranging detrimental impacts on energy availability in many other nations, leaving citizens to fend for themselves. With supply shortages all over the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the global energy landscape appears volatile.
With so much at stake, there’s a reason that global leaders are starting to change their approach to the energy market. While oil, coal, and natural gas were the gold of the industrial age, our modern era has found ways to tap into many sources of energy that aren’t solely dependent on finite stores available only in specific areas. Solar energy, wind energy, and even geothermal energy are on the rise, with the European Union unveiling a new plan for mass rollouts of solar panels to wean off of natural gas. In addition, several startups and companies in the European Union have begun drilling for geothermal energy, jumpstarting a potential new future in renewable energy for the continent. Still, there are many challenges ahead when dealing with these new energy sources- namely, how to store them efficiently and safely.
Chemical batteries have long been the mainstay of storing energy – used in households to power small appliances and also in large devices like electric motor vehicles. However, there are still challenges with this traditional form of energy storage. For one, they are not known to be the safest and most stable, as anyone witness to the smartphone battery combustion phenomenon can attest to. Moreover, chemical batteries themselves are harmful to the environment, as corrosion and decay set in quickly over their short lifespans.
However, there may still be hope in the renewable energy future with innovative energy storage technologies. One such invention, the flywheel, uses kinetic energy – the energy of motion. Amber Kinetics, the global leader in kinetic energy storage solutions, steadfastly maintains its mission to use earth-friendly materials that are not in low supply to create efficient, environmentally safe, and long-lasting energy storage solutions. With so many new innovations in renewable energy and energy storage, it’s high time that international energy reliance becomes a thing of the past. In the wake of two major global crises, leaders must take action and ensure a path to an energy-secure future.
