Transformative Role of Power Electronics: In solving climate emergency

Long term shifts in weather patterns and temperature are referred to as climate change. Hotter temperatures, more severe storms, increased droughts, food and water insecurity, and economic disruption, etc. are all due to climate change. According to NASA, “
Human activities (primarily the burning of fossil fuels) have fundamentally increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere, warming the plane
t”
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. One of the most difficult challenges faced by humanity is to solve the climate emergency
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. In addition to the climate emergency, the drive to transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy has taken on a new urgency as a result of Russia’s assault on Ukraine
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. The recent Glasgow summit left a huge hole in addressing the challenges of climate change
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. In order to avoid more than 1.5°C of eventual warming, the 2030 goal of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be further reduced by approximately 17–20 bn tones
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. Daring and transformative economic transformations are required to save humanity. There are fundamental differences between green and clean energy sources. Free fuel and renewable green energy sources such as solar and wind have negligible negative impact on the environment and require minimum use of water in electric power generation. On the other hand, clean energy source such as nuclear energy does not produce GHG emission during electric power generation, but mining, extraction, and long-term radioactive waste storage are threats to the environment, and Uranium is a nonrenewable resource. In addition, nuclear energy requires massive amount of water in electric power generation. Thus, renewable, and free fuel-based solar and wind power that have minimal negative impact on the environment are considered as green sustainable power. From safety (death rate from accidents and pollution)
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, minimum GHG emissions
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, negligible use of water in electric power generation
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, photovoltaics (PV) and wind power provide lowest cost
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of electric power generation. In 2020, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that solar power is now the cheapest form of energy
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. The cost of electric power generation by photovoltaics has reached as low as $0.0104/kWh
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. The use of these green sustainable energy sources in place of fossil fuels is the only economical solution to address climate emergency. The objective of this article is to show that power electronics has the potential to achieve the goal of electrifying almost everything by green sustainable energy sources and providing a solution to our shared climate emergency.