IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2021 - 10

Saifur Rahman
leadership opportunities
the role of PES in the global society
I
10
I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH
you some observations I have gathered
from listening to our geographically diverse
membership. Members have different
priorities depending on whether
they are students, academics, industry
engineers, public sector employees, or
retirees. But, they all have one thing in
common: some level of interest in carbon
neutrality, green energy, electric
vehicles, and electrification.
All of these areas are in the IEEE
Power & Energy Society (PES) field of
interest. Our publications, conferences,
standards-development activities, and
tutorials reflect PES's engagement with
these topics. Our members have a significant
role to play in helping society
achieve various targets policy makers
have set up for their regions or countries.
For example, 100 countries and 400 cities
around the world have pledged to be
carbon neutral by or before 2050.
The U.S. government is demanding
U.S. power-sector greenhouse gas
emissions (GHG) drop to 50% by 2030
and net-zero by 2050 and that the country
as a whole be free from GHG emissions
by 2050. In China, the plan is to
generate more than half of electricity
from renewable sources by 2030. India
has an aggressive national program to
significantly raise the country's renewable
energy output. This is important
because China, the United States, and
India together are responsible for more
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2021.3088703
Date of current version: 19 August 2021
ieee power & energy magazine
than 50% of global carbon dioxide emissions
today. Additional data shows that
20 countries in the world generate 81% of
carbon dioxide globally.
To reduce their GHG
emissions, several countries
are promoting electrification
in various
ways. For example, in
Norway, new car sales
will be limited to only
electric vehicles after
2025. In the United Kingdom,
85% of 29 million
homes are heated
with natural gas boilers.
In Germany, that
number is 47%. The current
government policy
in the United Kingdom stipulates that
gas heating will stop for new homes by
2025, and the country will not allow the
selling of gas home-heating equipment
beyond 2030.
Universities are also becoming engaged
in carbon-neutrality programs.
Virginia Tech, a U.S. university, is making
plans to make the campus carbon
neutral by 2030. Over 90% of the current
fuel mix for the electricity used on
campus is fossil-fuel based.
All of these activities will result in
steep increases in electrical demand
in many countries of the world. For
example, in the United States, due to
the heavy emphasis on electrification,
the electricity-generation capacity is
expected to grow to 3,400 GW by 2050
from the current level of 1,200 GW.
Similar growth in electrical demand is
expected in most other countries around
the world.
These challenges and
All of these
activities will
result in steep
increases
in electrical
demand in many
countries of
the world.
opportunities will allow
PES and its members
to play increasingly
important roles
in the global society.
PES is the only IEEE
Society with " energy "
in its name. With the
active participation of
our members from both
industry and academia,
we have grassroots
connections to engage
in this global challenge.
Our conferences, publications,
and tutorials/webinars on
green energy at the local level are giving
us more visibility and helping us to
match societal needs with our members'
interests and capabilities.
These offer tremendous opportunities
for us to demonstrate our leadership
from grassroots levels all the
way to national, regional, and global
levels. For example, we could organize
industry-driven conferences in
countries where such issues can be
discussed in the context of local challenges
and resources. PES can provide
a platform for exchanging information
among utilities, vendors, consultants,
and regulators. If we are successful in
organizing such conferences, PES can
become the go-to place for regulators,
policy makers, utility decision makers,
september/october 2021
leader's corner
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2021

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