A grid must also ensure the dynamic management of the production - transport - consumption assembly, implementing adjustments aimed at ensuring the stability of the assembly.

The most widely exploited renewable energies today are: hydro energy, wind energy and solar energy. 

In addition, these renewables’ power consumption has been growing over the last year. They have provided 8% of the world’s electricity in 2017 and they now cover 1/3 of the power mix in Europe. 

—> Coal is a material usually found in sedimentary rock deposits where rock and dead plant and animal matter are piled up in layers. More than 50 percent of a piece of coal’s weight must be from fossilized plants. 

—> Oil is originally found as a solid material between layers of sedimentary rock, like shale. This material is heated in order to produce the thick oil that can be used to make gasoline.

—> Natural gas is usually found in pockets above oil deposits. It can also be found in sedimentary rock layers that don’t contain oil. Natural gas is primarily made up of methane.

According to the National Academies of Sciences, 81 percent of the total energy used in the United States comes from coal, oil, and natural gas. This is the energy that is used to heat and provide electricity to homes and businesses and to run cars and factories.

As a result of unbalancing the weather of Earth, the sustainability of the planet’s ecosystems is under threat, as well as the future of humankind and the stability of the global economy. 

The cause of current climate change is largely human activity, like burning fossil fuels, like natural gas, oil, and coal.

The technology, which was designed to simulate the natural energy-generating process of photosynthesis used by plants, was first successfully developed by American chemist Daniel G. Nocera and colleagues in 2011. 

The primary application of the artificial leaf is the clean production of hydrogen.

 The Forum podcast is also part of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Challenges in Chemical Renewable Energy. One of the biggest issues of our generation is to find a substitute for fossil fuels. Indeed, the reserves of fossil fuels are dwindling. 

 According to those scientists, we already have the technology, knowledge and all the renewable energies that we need to change it. These energies are coming from the sun, water, wind, bio fuels and earth heat.  But we don’t use them enough in our production of energy, which is a problem. Only 10% of the global energy that is produced comes from renewable energies. The main reasons for this very low percentage are costs, government policies, taxes and technical issues. 

 If we look at other countries, we realize that government policy plays an important role in this challenge. For example in Brazil 47% of the energy used is due to renewable energy. Out of that, 18% comes from sugar cane which is used for bio fuels and bio electricity. In Brazil, the government has raised awareness about the need of bio fuels and bio electricity through several new policies. 

 Concurrently, innovations should be made about nuclear fusion and artificial leafs. One of the members is convinced that there is not one unique solution for every country or region. According to them, the best answer is to find the most adapted renewable energy for each place. Some could use the ocean and some others the sun or the wind. Therefore the real solution is the combination of those energies. 

 Another challenge for the future will be to improve the storage of energy by developing better batteries. Additionally, scientists need to develop long time storage that could avoid the lack of energy when the renewable energy is not workable for a certain amount of time. Indeed, everyone understands that if we can store more energy, we’ll need to produce less. The problem is, there are some limitations to storage in a battery dictated by the mass and the number of electrons you can get in it. One method used by scientists is Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The principle is to use protons (here lithium protons) to figure out what is happening at the atomistic level in batteries in real time. This method allows scientists to know exactly what is going on in the different components of a battery, to see how they function and also how they fail to figure out where the improvements need to be made. 

 Another concern is the transmission of this energy. One of the ways to improve the transmission is to decentralize the energy producers and to adopt smart grids. 

 Yet, it is important to remind that the challenge is not only about technical improvement but also about economy! It is important to develop good ideas that will not engender waste of money and a gap in the benefits of people and companies. For example, how to clean solar panels in desert to make the most of their capacities. Therefore scientists also need to find investors for their new technologies.

 According to one of the assembly member, the revolution of renewable energy will be done by young people talking together and trying to find alternative solutions. On top of that, less developed countries will play an important rule in the development of low-cost energies.

Biofuels are mainly used as additives or as a supplement to fossil fuels. Their addition makes these fossil fuels less harmful to the environment.

There are three generations of biofuels depending on the origin of the biomass used and the associated transformation processes. There are two major biofuel production sectors: the “gasoline” biofuels sector and that of “diesel” biofuels.

Bioenergy comes from solar energy stored by plants, in the form of wood, stems or grains, from which solid (wood pellets), liquid (ethanol, biodiesel) or gaseous (gas renewable natural) energy products can be obtained.

Bioenergy is considered a renewable energy because the sources of organic matter used are replaced, as is the case with wood in the forestry industry, for example, where trees are replanted.