Saving Energy for the motive of sustainable development is one of the most sought after issue that is emphasized upon by the modern day governments. For this very reason there exists a system of priority in the energy hierarchy that is meant to be understood by various corporate houses to minimize the unnecessary depletion of resources and subsequently promote conservation of energy. These hierarchies in energy have emerged in the past two decades with the coming in of innovations in the markets and therefore the increased costs of resources. Added to it was the new emerging global concern when it was realized that utilization of energy became an evident contributor and cause for global extinction if not utilized properly.
Therefore here is the hierarchy of energy that should be considered in priority order to ensure a long term success and efficiency in the energy production.
- Energy saving should be the top most priority for all corporate houses, it can be achieved through preventing unnecessary utilization of energy resources which is possible by reducing utilization of heavy volt machines and appliances or cutting down on journeys that are not required.
- Energy efficiency to ensure that energy is produced and consumed properly through conversion. This is next to saving and has very recently developed as a concept due to the increasing awareness among people and a sudden rise in prices of energy.
- Sustainable production has also emerged in the hierarchies with the realization of the need to save resources of energy. It is there obtained through renewable resources, that either do not exhaust such as wind, sunlight, rainwater, waves, earth, etc or the bio energy that is converted through combustion and decay of gases like bio-methane, liquids like bio-fuels or most commonly used solid waste or solids like energy crop and wood.
Though these are highly recommended, yet are inaccessible to a major portion due to the lack of proper knowledge and technology to execute such energy productions in the most efficient manners.
- Low impact production is the next option available. It is not a very effective manner from the business point of view since at high cost there is less production but this option is still available as emits the least level of carbons in the air. Additionally they also have low carbon impact since they are not completely sustainable in nature. Some consider nuclear energy as one of the low impact sources.
- High impact production which is although highly preferred for business purposes due to its cost but comes last in the energy hierarchy as it has the worst impact on the environment. These include unsustainable sources like unabated fossils, highly radioactive nuclear emissions, etc. Energy utilization of such resources has to be minimized to the least.
The very first system of energy production introduced in industries and governments had three tiers; traditional production, production from renewable resources and energy efficiency. Consequently the concept was developed to be the current five tier system by various industries across the world.