Vol.:(0123456789) International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-019-00101-9 1 3 REGULAR PAPER Fossil Fuels Environmental Challenges and the Role of Solar Photovoltaic Technology Advances in Fast Tracking Hybrid Renewable Energy System Williams S. Ebhota 1  · Tien‑Chien Jen 1 Received: 22 March 2018 / Revised: 16 March 2019 / Accepted: 19 March 2019 © Korean Society for Precision Engineering 2019 Abstract The rise in global urbanization comes with sustainable development challenges, especially in lower-middle-income countries. In response to these urbanization and energy challenges, this study focuses on the roles of energy materials (EMs) advances on community-scale hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES). The study proposes the integration of energy material (EM) R&D into HRES (EMR&D-HRES). The study examines the economic benefts and the environmental and health conse- quences that trail the deployment of fossil fuels. Special attention was given to SSA, a region that—accommodates the highest population without modern energy; emits the least CO 2 to the global CO 2 emissions and yet endangered by climate change challenges and air pollution diseases. The study includes global responses to energy challenges, such as increase alternative energies share, with special attention to solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation technologies; policy framework; HRES and efects of PV materials advances on HRES. This study is of the view that a further breakthrough in the production of low-cost fexible thin flm PV modules will facilitate energy trilemma accomplishment. The exploitation of the attributes of atomic layer deposition in manufacturing of thin flm is seen as a potential future production technique, suitable for efcient fexible thin-flm PV module production. Keywords CO 2 emission · Fossil fuel · Renewable energy · Photovoltaic cell · Energy materials R&D · Atomic layer deposition · DSSCs · CIGS 1 Introduction About 70% of the global CO 2 emissions are caused by the burning of fossil fuels in urban areas and land use in the tropical zone due to urban expansion. This accounts for 5% of the annual emission [1]. Urbanisation is expected to spread to all regions of the world by 2050 with Africa and Asia urbanisation faster than any other regions. The pro- jections of urbanisation rise in Africa and Asia are 56% and 64%, respectively [1]. A study predicts that between 2014 and 2050, India, China and Nigeria will account for 37% of the world’s urbanisation growth [1]. Urban areas consume around 75% of the power generated mainly from fossil source globally. The fossil-based power generation is typifed by greenhouse gases (GHG) emission, climate change, and global warming. Electricity and heat generation in 2012 emitted about 42% of the total global CO 2 emission, while transportation accounted for 23% [2]. Singapore, an island city, is one of the highest countries of GHG emissions per capita in the world considering its small area and population size [3]. Despite this report, the facility for liquefed natural gas (LNG) terminal is undergoing expansion massively. Energy Market Authority (EMA) has predicted that natural gas will make up over 90% of Singapore’s electricity fuel mix in the future, in comparison to the current 80% [4]. This reli- ance on LNG energy resource is not desirable at a time the world is saying no to CO 2 emission. If the necessary steps are not taken, Singapore will be vulnerable to climate risks, such as increasing intensity of storms, heat waves and rising sea levels. Due to global clean energy trends, driven by the United Nations, urban energy systems are expected to meet the following sustainability criteria: [5, 6]. Online ISSN 2198-0810 Print ISSN 2288-6206 * Williams S. Ebhota willymoon2001@yahoo.com 1 Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2092, South Africa