A thesis for master in economics from Ain shams
university
Faculty of commerce

Economics' department
Thesis presented by:
Kholoud Hosam Hassanean Hassan
Supervised By:
Prof .Dr. Ihab Nadim

As everyday passes by, the human needs to energy increases dramatically,
especially after the manufacture evolution. Humans discovered lots of
sources of energy beginning with coal. Coal was a very good source of
energy but it was soon known that coal was a huge source of pollution. After
that, oil and natural gas were used as the main source of energy in
manufacturing. Soon, humans realized that all those sources are not
renewable and at some point those sources will run out so the research began
for a new source that can replace oil and natural gas. Using advanced
technology, scientists were able to use nuclear power as a source of energy.
Another problem appeared with all those sources of energy. They all have a

huge effect on the environment causing pollution. Coal, oil and natural gas
create poisoning gases as a result of the combustion process. Also, these
gases cause the global warming problem known as the glass house effect. On
the other hand, nuclear power plants are also a dangerous source of
pollution. The waste of these power plants is radioactive materials with long
half lives that exceeds hundreds of years. Scientists are still researching for
another source of energy that is renewable and at the same time doesn't
harm the environment. Renewable energy consists of wind, solar energy, bio
energy, small-scale hydro, Geothermal, wave and tidal Energy.

1-Wind energy:
Compared with traditional energy sources, wind energy today is competitive
at very good sites, even without compensation for the environmental
advantages. For less favorable sites, wind energy can compete if carbon
dioxide credits are taken into account.
Wind energy is mature compared with many of the other renewable. Even at
today's cost levels, it is close to being competitive with other power
generation technologies in some circumstances, and may even be cheaper at
good sites as fuel prices rise. The pace of research and development have
slowed as the technology has matured; however, as we have shown, there is
still significant scope for further cost reductions, and a number of promising
areas to explore through research and development to achieve these cost
reductions.
For society benefit as a whole, wind energy, like other renewable energy
technologies, represents the following values:
\u2022 displacement of fossil fuels that cause hazardous gas emissions
\u2022 displacement of (limited) installed power in fossil fuel and nuclear energy
plants
\u2022 saving natural resources
\u2022 creation of sustainable employment
\u2022 Independence from politically sensitive fossil fuel resources (increased
supply security).

2- Solar energy:
Solar energy is the oldest energy used on earth. It is used by the plants as
their main and only source of energy. Plants use solar energy to create its
needs through a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a complex
biochemical process that the plants as they absorb water through their roots
and carbon dioxide through their leaves. Using different pigments, plants are

very efficient in using the solar energy. Scientists realized that they can do a
parallel process to the photosynthesis so that they can create energy using
cells that absorb the sun light and they were called PV cells. Scientists are
still trying to discover more efficient way in using the solar energy.
Solar thermal are divided into three categories:
Low-, medium-, and high-temperature collectors. The type is usually
determined by the level of heat generated.
The amount of renewable electricity generation must increase significantly to
achieve effective climate protection. However, solar energy has the highest
potential. Solar thermal power plants using only 1% of the Sahara desert
could meet the whole electricity demand of the world at the lowest possible
solar electricity costs. The possibility of integrating solar power into
conventional power systems eases the transition to a fully renewable
electricity supply, giving the possibility of green empowering of existing fossil
fuel-fired plants. There are numerous technical variations of solar thermal
power. With the further development of this technology, much higher
efficiencies and costs that are comparative to conventional power plants can
be expected. As a result, solar thermal power will be an important step up the
ladder to a sustainable electricity supply.

The various types of new and emerging renewable resources, such as solar-
photovoltaic differ at points on the path to being mature industries. The path
is made up of the developed steps - technology development, resource
surveys, and implementation - with some feedback, or backtracking between
each one. For the journey to implementation to be successful a favorable
commercial environment must exist. There is an important role for policy
and the monitoring of progress in creating this environment.
Solar energy has many advantages that all the other sources of energy don't
have but it also has some disadvantages. The following are the advantages
and disadvantages of solar energy:

\u2022 Infinite and renewable amount of energy
\u2022 No pollution; environmentally friendly.
\u2022 Has no cost more than the initial setup of solar cells.
\u2022 Solar energy is flexible and expandable (depending on increasing energy
need in time)
\u2022 Solar energy saves resources of fossil energy
\u2022 The absence of waste: Solar energy doesn't have any waste
\u2022 Easy to handle, to process and to transform