University of Florida
Abstract: With increasing concern over the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels,the call for a more sustainable resource base has never been louder. Both developed and developing nations depend on an assortment of primary energy sources to produce electricity,like coal,natural gas,biomass,oil and renewables. This study addresses the problem of transitioning to a renewable energy-based electricity generating infrastructure. To do this,we explored the current and future state of energy affairs in the United States and developing countries of Kenya,Morocco and South Africa. From this research,we created a framework that can be applied to any country to determine the required capacity installations per year until 2040 in order to generate nearly 100% of electricity with renewable sources. This framework utilizes estimates of future electricity consumption per capita to project total electricity demand in 2040. From here,this demand is allocated to a variety of renewable energy generating sources. The framework was then applied to the four study countries,demonstrating how their potential capacity for renewable technologies and energy efficiency measures can transform their energy sectors into more sustainable,diverse resource bases for electricity generation.