MEM600:

Engineers In Society

Title:
Sustainable Development - Solar Energy
Lecturer:
Dr Mohamad Ali Ahmad

NO NAMES STUDENT ID

1. MARIANA BINTI MAHAMUD 2015250114

TABLE OF CONTENT

1.0 INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.................................................... 3

1.1 SOLAR ENERGY..................................................................................................................5
1.2 TYPE OF SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM................................................................................6
1.2.1 PASSIVE SOLAR SYSTEMS........................................................................................6
1.2.2 ACTIVE SOLAR SYSTEMS......................................................................................... 6
1.3 THE EFFECT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ON SOLAR ENERGY................11
1.3.1 HUMAN SOCIETY...................................................................................................... 11
1.3.2 WORLD.........................................................................................................................12
1.3.3 HEALTH....................................................................................................................... 14
1.3.4 CULTURE.....................................................................................................................14
2.0 SUGGESTION AND CHALLENGE FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND SUPPORT UNITED
NATION SUSTAINABLE GOAL................................................................................................15
2.1 UNITED NATION SUSTAINABLE GOAL...................................................................... 15
2.2 SUGGESTION.....................................................................................................................17
2.3 CHALLENGE......................................................................................................................18
3.0 THE “DOS” AND THE “DON’TS” OF THE SOLAR ENERGY OPTION..........................19
THE DON’TS............................................................................................................................ 19
4.0 INFORMATION AWARENESS............................................................................................ 20
5.0 DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................................... 22
6.0 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................23
7.0 REFERENCE...........................................................................................................................24

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1.0 INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without trading off
the capacity of future ages to address their very own needs, ensuring the harmony between
economic growth, care for the earth and social prosperity. Sustainable development is in the
news consistently as the world adapts to environmental change, biodiversity misfortune, conflicts
and resource scarcity.

It is usually presented as the intersection between environment, society and economy, which are
conceived of as separate although connected entities. The economy is regularly given need in
approaches and the environment is viewed as separated from humans. They are interconnected,
with the economy reliant on society and nature while human presence and society are subject to,
and inside the environment.

Discussions about sustainable never again consider sustainable solely as a natural concern, yet
additionally incorporate economic and social dimensions. Stimulated by recent technological
developments and increasing concern over the sustainability and environmental impact of
conventional fuel usage, the prospect of producing clean, sustainable power in substantial
quantities from renewable energy sources arouses interest around the world.

Renewable energy has a direct relationship with sustainable development through its effect on
human advancement and financial efficiency. Renewable energy sources give openings in energy
security, social and monetary advancement, vitality get to, environmental change relief and
decrease of ecological and wellbeing impacts

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 Figure 1 :Opportunities of renewable energy sources.

Global energy consumption is projected to increase, even in the face of substantial declines in
energy intensity, at least 2-fold by midcentury relative to the present as a result of populace and
economic development. Access to clean, affordable and reliable energy has been a cornerstone of
the world's increasing prosperity and economic growth since the beginning of the industrial
revolution. Our use of energy in the twenty–first century must also be sustainable.

We use electricity to fuel our homes and business to power our appliances and to provide light.
To get power we utilize consuming fossils, consuming of coal and utilize nuclear. These sorts of
power age deliver ozone harming substances, which add to a worldwide temperature alteration,
make toxic bio products, for example, acid rain, unpleasant smell, it discharges carbon dioxide,
contaminate the air, pollute water, and create toxic waste. This demand could be met, in principle,
from fossil energy resources, particularly coal.

If we keep doing what we been doing the past century this may result in our own destruction and
all living things on the planet. The question is how we can avoid this with the use of alternative
renewable energy like solar energy to produce electricity for our energy needs.

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Research has shown some of the deadly results of global warming emissions from sources such
as human activities and electrical production, which steadily drive up the planet’s temperature.
The rise of this blistering temperature creates significant and harmful impacts on the
environment, health and climate. With a focus on coal mining and natural gas drilling, they can
pollute sources of drinking water contrary to fossil fuels.

However, in contrast to the above collisions, renewable energy sources are safer because they
produce little to no global warming emissions.

1.1 SOLAR ENERGY

Solar energy is the combination of light energy and heat energy from the sun to generate
other type of energy through many advancement of technology. Solar energy is clarified as the
most green and abundant type of energy available around the world. As an example, solar energy
application are the solar panels, artificial photosynthesis, solar architecture and many more.
Through advancement of technologies, it can be classified that there are two type of solar energy
systems which are the passive system and the active system. Both has the same function which
are utilize the solar energy as the main source but different mechanism.

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1.2 TYPE OF SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM

1.2.1 PASSIVE SOLAR SYSTEMS

Passive system is a mechanism that doesnt relies on any external electrical or mechanical devices.
It is a process that directly uses the sunlight energy and usually focuses on architecture of a
building. Like the position of the roofs, windows and while designing, the position of the sun is
always taken into consideration. Mostly this applications are uses in countries that has four
seasons.

Passive system concern on the way of designing the building, besides the position of the sun, the
way the light rays hit go throught the window also, strike the walls making the walls absorb heat,
in the mean time increase the room temperature. It will also effect the way of heat ventilation in
the room naturally, thermal heat will be releases at night making the room temperature dropped
ar night.

Figure 2: Passive Solar Energy System In a House Design

1.2.2 ACTIVE SOLAR SYSTEMS

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Active system relies on external devices to generate electricity such as heat pumps, steams or
radiator. As technology advance, there are many type of active solar plants invented. Solar
system can be using thermal and also, photovoltaic.

Figure 3: Basic Active Solar Heating System

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1.2.2.1 TYPE OF ACTIVE SOLAR POWER PLANT

As the world acknowledging the importance of solar energy as the renewable sources, many
solar power plants are built around the world. There are several types of solar power plants
which are;

1. Photovoltaic Plant
This is one of the most common solar plants. It is made of photovoltaics panels. When
sunlight hits the panels, the reactions between the cells in the panels will generate
electricity.

Figure 4: Photovoltaic Solar System Farm in Hungary

Figure 5: How PV solar system work

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2. Solar Thermal Energy Plant
This process will generate using parabolic panels, the electricity will be generated
through harnessing sunlight rays to thermal energy and convert it later into electricity.

Figure 6: Solar Thermal Energy Plant

Figure 7: How Solar Thermal Power Plant work

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3. Concentrating Power Plant
This plant use mirror as their panels. The sunlight rays will hit on the panel and will
reflect to concentrated tower. This process will generate thermal energy and transform itt
into electricity.

Figure 8: Solar Thermal Energy Plant in India

Figure 9: How Solar Thermal Energy Plant work

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1.3 THE EFFECT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ON SOLAR ENERGY

1.3.1 HUMAN SOCIETY

Solar energy is one of the most abundant energy sources. We don’t have to worry about losing it
in term of quantity in the future. Besides that, it is one of the most clean energy source, it emits
no harmful gas to the environment and doesn’t pollute the environment.

Installing solar panels into buildings may need high investment, however it actually saves more
money as it generate own electricity and can pay itself many times. It can even last up to 25
years and no maintenance required, solar panels can always be added if more energy are required.

Also, it caters to basically all the energy needs in a home, from the lighting to heating systems of
the building.

Figure 10: Solar Energy Application in daily life

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1.3.2 WORLD

Solar energy system generate clean and dont pollute the environment electricity. This can be a
solution to lessen the issues that affect the environment directly. Many researchers has discover
potential in solar energy to replace the conventional source of energy which are mostly the non-
renewable energy.

In many developing countries, solar energy has gain a stance in the most secured energy to
replace the conventional ways as we believe solar plant could help in driving the countries into
greener nations. Thus, increasing the usage of solar energy instead of the non-renewable energy
will help in improving the global warmth issue.

The Paris Agreement which was signed by many nations in 2015 has objective to keep the
expansion in worldwide normal temperature to well underneath 2°C above pre-industrial level;
and to restrain the increment to 1.5°C, since it is believe this can at least help diminish harmful
environmental effect. In effort to support the 2015 Paris Agreement, many government built
solar plants across the world to have a greener nation by 2020.

For quite a while, USA been pioneering in solar plant advancement, however today, many Asia
countries has built their own solar plants, Malaysia too, has start introducing solar energy as one
of the electricity resources.

Figure 11: Solar Updraft Tower in Australia

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Figure 12:A closed landfill in Pajam, Negri Sembilan,– as a 8MW solar farm

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1.3.3 HEALTH

Due to the harmful substances released to the environment due to the use of non-renewable
resources, health hazard has been a common problem for human. This is why solar energy
significantly better for human as it doesn’t release harmful substances to the air. The impact on
solar development on human health are very positive.

1.3.4 CULTURE

Solar energy facilities usually need large space in order to operate and could actually gave
impact on areas where they built in. Impacts could occur in many ways, either during facility
construction and operation.

There are several ways impacts on cultural resources could result, as described below.

• Complete loss of historic properties could result from the clearing and excavation of the area
the solar plant be built on.

• The area of the plant built will be more technology advance and help the locals to go to
urbanizations.

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2.0 SUGGESTION AND CHALLENGE FOR
IMPLEMENTATION AND SUPPORT UNITED NATION
SUSTAINABLE GOAL

2.1 UNITED NATION SUSTAINABLE GOAL

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, received by every single United Nation Member
States in 2015, gives a mutual outline to harmony and flourishing for individuals and the planet,
now and into what's to come. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which are a dire call for activity by all nations - developed and developing - in a global
association. They perceive that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with
strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all
while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform our world:

1. No Poverty
Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through
improved development cooperation, with the end goal to give satisfactory and predictable
means to creating nations, in particular least developed countries, to execute projects and
policies to end poverty in all its dimensions.
2. Zero Hunger
Embrace measures to guarantee the best functioning of food commodity markets and
their subsidiaries and encourage opportune access to advertise data, including on food
reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility.
3. Good Health and Well-being
Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early
warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.
4. Quality Education
Ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care
and preprimary education so that they are ready for primary education.

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5. Gender Equality
Embrace changes to give women equal rights to economic resources, and also access to
ownership and control over land and different types of property, budgetary
administrations, legacy and regular assets, as per national laws
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and
sanitation management
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological
upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-
intensive sectors
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization
10. Reduced Inequality
Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of
age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable
tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products
13. Climate Action
Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
14. Life Below Water
Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources
15. Life on Land
Mobilize significant resources from all sources and at all levels

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 16. Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.
17. Partnerships to achieve the Goal
Promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound
technologies to developing countries on favourable terms, including on concessional and
preferential terms, as mutually agreed

2.2 SUGGESTION

1. To bridge the gap between the production and consumption level of conventional sources
of energies like coal, lignite, natural gas, crude petroleum, hydro and nuclear electricity
in India it is encouraged to increment in the generation limit and utilize all accessible
limit of these energy resources.
2. Despite the overall increase in energy demand, per capita energy consumption in
Malaysia is still very low compared to other developed countries. Therefore Government
of Malaysia has to make necessary efforts to increase in the per capita availability of
energy in Malaysia, by increasing the production capacity and by using more renewable
energy resources. Thus, it is the time ensure minimum per capita availability of energy by
the government.
3. Electricity is one of the main inputs for any economic and domestic activities of any
country. Thus, the sufficient electricity to all sections of the society in Malaysia has to be
made available. This can be made possible, not only by using conventional sources of
energy like solar energy and other renewable energy sources.
4. Government of Malaysia, while allotting electricity and funds for the energy projects to
the different states, it is suitable to consider the socio-economic progress, availability of
per capita energy, size of the population, all ready availed benefits,
5. To enhance the use of solar energy in Malaysia, Government can set the target to each
stale in the proportion use of renewable and non-renewable energy depending upon the
availability of these resources in the state.

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 6. More serious action has to be taken on the companies emitting green house gas after
prescribed level. Like, canceling the license, more fines and penalties should be levied on
the companies emitting more green house gas.

2.3 CHALLENGE

The progress of power generation by new energy is very low carbon and environmental, but the
development of new energy may have many challenges in order to be use as the main source of
power generations. Some of them main challenges in introducing this energy are discussed below.

1. Lack of infrastructure
Large initial investments to build infrastructure has a relationship with the cost and profit
analysis that we have mentioned in the earlier discussion. Current scenario, the investors
have no sufficient green infrastructure to support renewable electricity. The investors
need to specifically find the regulatory acceptable sites with good resources and with
access to transmission lines. The renewable energy issue of installation and lack of
infrastructure will be a threat if the supply disruption occurs.
2. Lack of technology
The investors are aware the important of RE technology for business sustainability and
updating the energy engineers with latest renewable technology. Yet, the devices are not
as the plug and play systems where the engineers also need to consider the employees
and society well being. The technology of green gas emission should also view as the
prevention action, not cure. The successful implementation of RE installation should be
measurable.
3. Take a long-term approach to technology development
Photovoltaic (PV) facilities account for most solar electric generation in the US and
globally. The dominant PV technology, used in about 90% of installed PV capacity, is
wafer-based crystalline silicon. This technology is mature and is supported by a fast-
growing. Therefore, federal R&D support should focus on fundamental research into
novel technologies that hold promise for reducing both module and BOS costs.have no
sufficient green infrastructure to support renewable electricity. The investors need to
specifically find the regulatory acceptable sites with good resources and with access to

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3.0 THE “DOS” AND THE “DON’TS” OF THE SOLAR ENERGY
OPTION

Solar energy has already successfully secured a prominent place for itself in the off-the-grid
movement, and is popular among those who are looking for a highly efficient and green
technology

THE ‘DO’S’

1. DO install solar panels at home. It starts at home, besides saving some money for
ourselves, we actually help in driving the country toward greener nations.
2. DO encourage future generation the importance of green energy in ensuring better
environment in the future. Tell them the benefits and the effects of green energy on our
daily life.
3. DO take full advantage of every state, local, and federal tax credit, subsidy, rebate, and
exemption that you can find for using green energy. Governments provides incentives
that can help make solar energy systems more affordable for the average consumer.
4. DO correct people perception on the high amount of money needed for using solar panels.
Think of it as an investment and see how the money flows back to you.

THE DON’TS

1. DON’T expose the solar panels to the possibility of Galvanic corrosion. This will
cause the solar panels to corrode and make it less efficient to generate power. Thus,
instead of saving more money, you can make the money go to waste.
2. DON’T underestimate your power usage. You may thought that after installing the
solar panel, you can run everything in the house. While that is the best goal, the truth
maybe your power usage may be higher than you have estimated.
3. DON’T believe everything you read. Although it is undeniable that solar panels are
easy accessible, seeks for professional to make sure of informations.

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4.0 INFORMATION AWARENESS

Public attitude towards renewable energy sources has positively changed in recent years.
Determining factors are the rapid growth of energy demand, depleting fossil fuels
resources and the negative effects of climate change.
I am, as someone who concern about the environmental climate change, I spread some
awareness to increase the public knowledges abour renewable resources. Below are
screenshots of what ive done.
1. Facebook

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2. Instagram

3. Twitter

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5.0 DISCUSSION

Renewable energy resources appear to be the one of the most efficient and effective solutions to
replace the conventional resources of energy which are mainly the non-renewable energy. There
are reason why renewable energy and sustainable development are closely related. Energy is the
convertible currency of innovation. Without energy the entire structure holding the system
together will diminish, we can even see when power supplies are cut in 24 hours can actually
cause chaos to a city. This demonstrates how humans are totally dependent on continuous energy
supplies.

The issues on this day is that energy supplies right now are closely related to harmful
environment effects such as air pollution, acid rain, ozone depletion and many more. These
issues must be discussed until a solution is provided as this will the environment in future days.
Without any awareness, the environment will continue be negatively affected if humans didn’t
want to stop corrupting the environment.

Solar energy is one of the best solution and steps to diminish this continuing environmental
effect. It is clean and abundant, we don’t have to worry about losing the source in the coming
future. This energy can be used in many different ways. It can do heating with solar collectors to
attic cooling with solar attic fans for domestic use. It also can be use with complex technologies
of direct conversion of sunlight to electrical energy using mirrors, boilers or photovoltaic cells.

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6.0 CONCLUSION
.

Solar energy sources are the most prominent sources among the renewable energy resources. It is
the most abundant clean energy in the world. Electricity generated from solar energy does not
increase carbon dioxide emissions into the environment, it also does not cause as many harmful
effect to the environment. Solar energy can be conclude to be very nature friendly.

Users of solar energy should be given variety of important incentives, for example, increasing
prices of solar energy purchases by the governments. It can actually attract many people to be
interested in installing solar panels at their home.

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7.0 REFERENCE
1. S. Naz, R. Sultan, K. Zaman, A. M. Aldakhil, A. A. Nassani, and M. M. Q. Abro,
"Moderating and mediating role of renewable energy consumption, FDI inflows, and
economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions: evidence from robust least square
estimator," Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, Nov 28 2018.
2. K. Ahmed and I. Ozturk, "What new technology means for the energy demand in China?
A sustainable development perspective," Environ Sci Pollut Res Int,, Oct 2018.
3. M. J. Ketlhoilwe and K. M. Kanene, "Access to energy sources in the face of climate
change: Challenges faced by women in rural communities," Jamba, 2018.
4. M. Beller, G. Centi, and L. Sun, "Chemistry Future: Priorities and Opportunities from the
Sustainability Perspective," ChemSusChem, Jan 10 2017.
5. S. Chu and A. Majumdar, "Opportunities and challenges for a sustainable energy future,"
Nature, Aug 16 2012.
6. "Energy and the challenge of sustainability" (PDF). United Nations Development
Programme and World Energy Council. September 2000.

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