Since the industrial revolution, civilisation has been reliant on fossil fuels to provide us with energy. In the modern age, energy is required for more or less everything we do; charging the batteries in our phone, fuelling our cars and even powering the computer on which we’re typing this blog post. Unfortunately, energy isn’t infinite. In fact, many scientists have suggested that we have already reached ‘peak oil’, the level at which global production of oil has peaked and will only fall from now on. Demand, however, will not fall at the same rate, leading to energy shortages and all kind of potentially catastrophic effects. All is not lost. If society can reduce its reliance on oil and other fossil fuels to generate energy, then we could avoid the widespread power outages that may result from oil running out. Nevertheless, reducing our dependence on oil is only the first step. Demand for energy will keep on rising as we as a society continue to rely on more and more gadgets to go about our daily lives. Conversely, reducing the amount of oil we use will mean less energy is being produced. This deficit is what is driving continued research into renewable energy, energy sources that will never run and will ensure that society never has to face the kind of energy fears it is currently facing again. The most widely-used renewable energy sources include wind power, solar power and hydroelectric energy. All of these energy sources are relied upon to some degree already, but our reliance on them will increase further in the future as our dependence on fossil fuels decreases. The ways in which these sources generate energy is unique; rather than burning fuel, natural elements such as the wind, the sun and the sea are used to create kinetic or solar energy. This energy is then stored and transported to a station where is distributed to homes and businesses. But how is this energy transferred from the original source to a station? And how is it taken from a station to a home? Custom cables are widely used in the renewable energy industry; in fact, some cable designers focus solely on creating cables for renewable energy purposes. Without the services of a cable designer, it’s unlikely that renewable energy would as widely used as it is today. Cable designers will also be at the centre of future developments in the renewable energy sector. Over the next few decades, the demand for energy created by renewable sources will increase substantially. This is partly because of the increased onus on ‘clean energy’, but also because of an enforced move away from fossil fuels. As such, the designs of the cables currently used to transport energy from source to station to home will need to be altered in order to facilitate a great energy load. It’s a challenge that cable designers, including Custom Designed Cables, are relishing!