Matt Sommer Source 3

How do the Government and Citizens view renewable energy and how can growth of renewable energies be promoted in countries with big fossil-fuel industries?

Lilliestam, Johan, and Anthony Patt. "Barriers, Risks And Policies For Renewables In The Gulf States." Energies (19961073) 8.8 (2015): 8263-8285. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

Summarize:

My third source is “Barriers, Risks and Policies for Renewables in the Gulf States” by Johan Lilliestam and Anthony Patt. This journal is a study of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a group of countries heavily involved in the export of fossil-fuels, and “whether a business case for renewables is present and what obstacles stand in the way of renewables” (Lilliestam & Patt 2). The way Lilliestam & Patt approached this research was to collect data through surveying stakeholders active in the renewable energy sector of the countries in the GCC. The contents of the survey were based around whether renewable energy is needed and if there is a case for renewable energy. The results of this study found that many believe there is a need for renewable energy, and the more experience the respondent had the more they were for renewable energies. Furthermore, most respondents stated that geological conditions in the GCC countries are sufficient to reliably generate renewable energy. Lilliestam & Patt found that the main barriers for investment in renewables are political “the absence of a support framework and red tape are, by far, the most important barriers”(Lilliestam & Patt 12).

Think:

This source was able to give me a new view on renewable energy from the mind of people behind energy funding and government policies. It has changed my thinking about the progression of renewable energy and has given me a better idea of what needs to be done to push renewables as the main source of the world's energy. It was interesting to see that many of these officials believe that renewable energy is needed and that there is a solid business case that deems them profitable. However, because the fossil-fuel industry is so huge these countries would rather play it safe with what already works. Furthermore I had not taken into account how much infrastructure is needed to build up reliable renewable energy sources, therefore until we start mapping out how renewable energy needs to be approached there is no foundation to build off of yet. This process could take decades which is why it needs to start now before fossil-fuels become even more scarce.

Synthesize:

This source further reinforces my previous journals. Naeimi’s journal talked about how these fossil-fuel exporting countries could profit just as much using renewable energies, but there were factors holding it back which he does not discuss. Lilliestam & Patt’s journal is able to shed light on the limiters for renewable energy and why renewable policies have such a hard time being adopted. Furthermore, it is also backed up by Shum’s journal regarding how the United States government has thrown renewable energy to the side since the early seventies.

Question and Plan:

There are several new questions this journal has made me think about. Why are stakeholders in the renewable energy sector not able to better promote renewables when a majority of them agree that it is needed? What kind of framework is needed to begin growing the renewables infrastructure and how is it being held back? Over these three sources I have been able to get an understanding of how renewable energy politics works and why it needs to replace the fossil-fuel industry, but I still need to learn more about how renewables affect the consumers / general public.