Energy And Waste Sustainability In Australia And Iceland

Sustainability: –

Sustainability is defined as the process of utilization of resources by the present generation without affecting the requirements of future generations to fulfil their needs is termed as Sustainability. The World is facing serious problems concerning the depletion of natural resources. to avoid this problem, sustainable resource management in waste and energy is useful.

Energy Sustainability: –

Sustainable energy is the form of energy that can’t deplete and control the negative impact caused by the conservational energy resource.

Different type of sustainable energy includes: –

• Wind energy.
• Solar energy.
• Bioenergy.
• Geothermal energy.
• Hydropower.

Step 1: –

Australia: –

a) government regulations on energy sustainability: –

Australia is a less populated country and it mainly depends on fossil fuels for the generation of electricity. Almost 74% of electricity generated from fossil fuel. Due to the overexploitation of these natural resources Australia facing serious consequences, only 2% of the energy is produced from the renewable energy sources and government of Australia forecasting that only 6% of growth will be noticed by the end of 2029. (Energy Sustainability in Australia, 2011).

Australian renewable energy agency act 2011: –

• Development of new technologies in clean energy source
• Increasing in generation and supply of energy production
• Providing financial assistance and support to the ongoing projects and future projects

The Australian government set the target of production and supply of 41000GWH renewable energy by 2020 but due to some issues, the target was reduced to 33000GWH.

Clean energy finance corporation (CEFC): –

Australian government allocated around $100 million every year to innovate, develop and generation of clean energy. Clean energy finance corporations started to research, development, and production of bioenergy, solar power projects and wind power projects on a large scale. (Tomas, 2016).

b) key scientific research and technological innovations in Australia: –

Australia’s renewable energy agency started the development of new technology by interlinking the wind, solar and battery power using the formation of new grid design to store the energy to provide backup energy for different consumers. The total cost of the project is $11 million.[image: ]

The project involves an arrangement of 2.5MW wind turbines,1MW solar panels and 2MW/0.5MHh battery cells to provide energy to the Garnet mines.

Data fusion and machine learning:

Geothermal energy is the energy produced from piles of earth heat. software technique helps locating and identification of suitable conditions for exploration and provides the data regarding uncertainties caused during the exploration of geothermal energy from the rock and water bodies and soil. 1% of Geothermal energy can fulfill the needs of a nation’s energy requirements for 26000 years. The total cost of this project is $6.59 million. (Data fusion and machine learning, 2019)

Distributed energy integration project:

This is an innovative project which is the partnership of government bodies, market sectors, private industries, and public consumers to enhance their requirement by the distribution of energy resources to all type of consumer (DISTRIBUTED ENERGY, 2019)

Actions of NGO’S and private sector regarding energy sustainability:

Solar citizen is one of the independent non-governmental organization working on energy sustainability that brings millions of peoples together and creates awareness among people by educating them usage of clean energy. Effect of this movement 2million Australians installed solar panels at the top of their roof, 1 million people installed solar hot water panels at their home and also runs so many campaigns save clean energy. (solar citizens, n.d.)

Example projects: –

Some renewable energy projects are undertaken by the government of Australia for sustainable development and to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by using clean energy.

• Biosolids gasification project in Logan city which deals with the conversion of sewage sludge into energy. Project cost is $17.28M, Production and refueling of renewable hydrogen project. (hydrogen production, n.d.)[image: ]

Iceland:

Iceland is the eco-friendliest country whose energy is completely generated from renewable sources.75% of its electricity is generated from geothermal, renewable hydrogen, etc…

a) Government regulations regarding energy sustainability: –

according to the article 2009/28/EC national renewable energy action plan undertaken by the Iceland government set a target to achieve 80% of energy is renewable by 2020.the regulations includes an increase of production of biofuels which replace the conventional fossil fuels, preparation of effective energy sustainable plan for both public and private sectors, precautionary measurements during usage of hydropower and geothermal energy, collaboration of Iceland energy system with European countries. Increase of energy sustainability in the transportation sector from 0.35% to 10% by 2020. Some certificates will be required for the usage of electricity by industries and households. (Ares(2014)806315, 2014)[image: ] (ASKJA ENERGY)

b) key scientific research and technological innovations in Iceland: –

innovation center Iceland started its scientific research to decrease carbon footprints and focus on the production of electricity from the waste produced from the power plants. Iceland becomes 100% renewable energy-producing country in the world. Power to X is the technology that converts renewable sources into the fuel or gas. The utilization of geothermal energy for Biomass processing.

C) Actions of NGO’S and private sector regarding energy sustainability: –

So many NGOs’S actively participating in creating awareness to use renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels. HS ORCA is the third biggest private firm that provides geothermal energy of 13MW. (ENERGY, 2019)

d) Example projects: –

Iceland planned to initiate seven geothermal power projects of 585MW capacity by 2030, among these already 45MW plants construction started. Three projects are undertaken by the national power company of capacity 45MW,100MW,105MW respectively.

Step 2:

Waste Sustainability: –

Australia:

Waste is produced from different sources that can’t recyclable causes serious environmental problems. waste management strategies can reduce the impact caused by the waste materials, due to these practices waste produced from per person is reduced by 10% from 2006 and recycling waste materials is increased by 8% from 2006 to 2017.

a) Government regulations regarding waste sustainability: –

National energy policy 2018 deals with the circular economy which deals with the waste management system include five principles for sustainable waste management they are…

• Avoid waste
• Quality of recovery materials
• Usage and value improvement for recycled materials
• Innovation and design of recycling techniques
• Proper waste management for eco-friendly and human health

(National waste policy, 2018)

b) key scientific research and technological innovations: –

• Anaerobic digestion treatment of waste is a new technology that helps to treat and composting of waste.
• Pyrolysis, hydrolysis is the methods useful for the treatment of waste. (Waste Technology and innovation study, 2009)
• Circular economy in a waste management system.

(Australian government, 2018)

C) Actions of NGO’S and private sector regarding waste sustainability: –

Food waste is one of the major concerns in Australia, around 2 million tonnes of food waste is produced from households and 3 million tonnes of food waste is produced from the industries. To reduce the food waste non-government organizations and private sectors play an important role by running campaigns to create awareness regarding waste sustainability and to reduce food waste.

d) example projects: –

• Conversion of Waste to energy by using micropower network

Blue environment organization develops technology to convert waste into energy by considering various factors which include consultation of stakeholders, collection of waste data, design, site inspection.

• Biosecurity analysis

This project is performed on agriculture and horticulture in the Goulburn valley to improve recycling and reduce waste produced from agriculture.

Iceland: –

Iceland waste disposal method is pit burning, after collaboration with EU these techniques are changed to incineration and landfilling.58% of the waste produced from the different source were recyclable.

a) Government regulations regarding waste sustainability: –

main objectives of Iceland government regarding waste sustainability includes

• Reduction of production of waste.
• Hazardous waste should not deposit into the environment.
• Achieving legislation targets of waste minimization, recycling of organic and electronic waste.

Processing charges will be applicable to the collection and recycling of domestic waste. (SOER Common environmental theme from Iceland, 2015)

b) key scientific research and technological innovations: –

• Biodegradable waste management: –

The main theme in waste sustainability includes

Reverse vending machines:

These machines are used to recycle the plastic waste produced from the household and industries. Theses machines were arranged at supermarkets to recycle plastic waste, around 1Million plastic bottles recycled by using these machines.

c) NGOs’S and private sector responsibilities in energy sustainability:

Waste sustainability is not only government responsibility, but it is also the responsibility of society and so many NGOs’S and private sectors stared their contribution towards the waste-free environment by taking

d) example projects of waste sustainability:

waste to fuel project: –

Iceland government makes a contract with the Gemionr company to convert the waste into the usable fuel. Approximately 70000 refused waste materials exported to convert into fuel. (Iceland inks “first-ever” waste-to-energy fuel export deal, 2019).

Recyclable packaging: –

This program is a package against recyclable plastic bottles and packages to reduce the greenhouse effect on the environment.[image: ]

Step 3: –

Comparison of energy and waste sustainability in both countries: –

Australia and Iceland both countries implementing sustainable energy practices in both energy as well as waste management. In commercial energy usage, Iceland is two times more than in Australia. Australia emits carbon dioxide 103 times more than Iceland. Iceland uses geothermal energy 4654 times more than Australia this indicates that Iceland renewable energy utilization is more than Australia. Iceland is having 4 times more renewable sources than Australia. For energy sustainability Iceland having a better resource than Australia. The Australia government should control the usage of fossil fuels and need to create opportunities and advanced research need for clean energy and geothermal power utilization. 642,415 tonnes of waste created in Australia whereas Iceland emits 8501 tonnes waste, Australia implements better waste sustainability plans and the dissatisfaction rate of Iceland is 72% more than Australia. Both countries’ governments having regulations regarding energy and waste sustainabilities and many projects were initiated to sustain energy and waste through different regulations. (nationmaster, n.d.)

References

1. (n.d.). Retrieved from solar citizens: https://www.solarcitizens.org.au/about
2. Ares(2014)806315. (2014). ministry of industries and innovation. 62.
3. ASKJA ENERGY. (2016, July 9). Retrieved from Iceland is the greenest energy country in Europe: https://askjaenergydotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/eu-efta-renewable-share-in-gross-energy-consmuption_askja-energy-partners-2016.jpg
4. Australian government. (2018). Retrieved from the national waste policy: https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/d523f4e9-d958-466b-9fd1-3b7d6283f006/files/national-waste-policy-2018.pdf
5. Data fusion and machine learning. (2019, August 15). Retrieved from ARENA: https://arena.gov.au/projects/data-fusion-and-machine-learning-for-geothermal/
6. DISTRIBUTED ENERGY. (2019, Feb). Retrieved from the arena: https://arena.gov.au/assets/2018/11/deip-overview.pdf
7. Energy Sustainability in Australia. (2011, April 19). Retrieved from Lumo energy: https://lumoenergy.com.au/blog/energy-sustainability-australia#targetText=Energy%20Sustainability%20in%20Australia&targetText=Renewable%20energy%20only%20accounts%20for,of%20Australia’s%20consumption%20by%202020.
8. ENERGY, A. (2019, May 7). Retrieved from The Independent Icelandic and Northern Energy Portal: https://askjaenergy.com/
9. hydrogen production. (n.d.). Retrieved from the arena: https://arena.gov.au/projects/renewable-hydrogen-production-and-refuelling-project/
10. Iceland inks “first-ever” waste-to-energy fuel export deal. (2019, June 7). Retrieved from smart energy international: https://www.smart-energy.com/renewable-energy/iceland-inks-first-ever-waste-to-energy-fuel-export-deal/
11. (2018). National waste policy.
12. nationmaster. (n.d.). Retrieved from environment stats: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Australia/Iceland/Environment
13. SOER Common environmental theme from Iceland. (2015, March 21). Retrieved from European environmental agency: https://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/countries/is/waste-national-responses-iceland
14. tomaas, j. (2016, April). parlament of australia. Retrieved from renewable energy policy: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/RenewableEnergy
15. (2009). Waste Technology and innovation study.