Green energy is renewable and sustainable. It is renewable because it is not depleted easily and is naturally replenished. Green Energy is sustainable because no matter how recklessly we use these resources the future generation is not likely to suffer because of that!
Solar power, hydro electric power, wind power, Geo Thermal power, bio fuels and wave power are some of the green energy sources that can be used to an alternative to our conventional sources of energy.
Why do we have to switch over to a new type of energy source?
The rationale behind the mankind’s search for alternative sources of energy could be attributed to two reasons. Firstly the coal and oil produce of the world is not renewable. This means that in the near future we are likely to run out of these fuel sources. Imagine a world without vehicles and electricity. We will be pushed back to the dark ages!
Secondly, mankind has been too unkind to the earth’s environment. Ever since the discovery of coal the amount of harmful gases that are emitted from the exhausts and industry furnace have killed some of the important elements of our atmosphere. This is definitely not the right way to repay the atmosphere which has been acting as a blanket preventing us from a variety of harmful elements of the outer space.
We have managed to create a huge hole in the ozone layer. The thick layer of ozone in the atmosphere prevents UV rays from the son from scorching our earth. The incidence of Ultra Violet rays on our skin could potentially bring us cancer. The depletion of ozone layer is due to the excessive release of gases which are emitted as a result of incomplete combustion of coal and other conventional fuels.
So many of us might have heard of the term global warming! Many of us find it unable to believe that our earth in a phase of destruction which we can prevent only through drastic measures.
How does global warming affect us?
A layer of gases is formed at the top of our atmosphere, right above us. This gaseous layer acts as a blanket and a one way door. Sunlight enters the atmosphere percolates this layer of gas and hits our earth. The various objects on the earth and the surface of our earth reflect the heat back to the atmosphere. But the layer of gases at the atmosphere prevents this radiated heat from escaping and sends them back to the earth again by reflection. Because of this effect our earth experiences higher temperatures! The gases at the top simulate a greenhouse and thus are called as the green house gases.
The more and more we burn conventional fuel, the more and more we are consolidating the greenhouse gases. The temperatures will continue to rise, the arctic and the Antarctic will begin to melt and sea levels will increase. Destruction might not happen in your life time but this is no legacy that you want to leave for your children and green children!
Green energy offer an effective replacement to these conventional sources of energy because are pollution free!
SOLAR ENERGY
Sun emits enormous amount of heat and light energy. Sun in essence is a nuclear reactor in which the hydrogen-helium fusion creates the heat and light energy we see. Earth being a tiny speck considering the size and the mass of the sun, receives only a very tiny fraction of the total energy of the sun. If human beings find a way to tap about one half of the energy incident on the sun we would be producing power and electricity that would be un manageable !
Solar energy will continue to exist for at least another million years. That is when we might expect sun to enter into a different phase in the star lifecycle. Only then can we must worry about another alternate source of energy to sun. At this rate of pollution we might be extremely lucky if our earth was able to survive one tenth of that duration. Further as soon as soon dies our earth would no longer exist in which case we might not be around to worry about energy sources!
There are two different ways to make use of the solar power incident on the earth; the active method and the passive method.
In the active method solar cells are arranged in solar panels. These solar cells are photovoltaic in that they convert the incident light energy into electricity. These solar panels could be connected to dc batteries for storage purposes. This should be enough to handle night lighting and winter lighting.
The solar cells are not cheap. Building a big enough panel to produce energy for a city would require hundreds of square feet of area and cells. This alone is the singular reason why solar energy has not replaced the conventional sources of energy. But with the advent of miniature chip technologies like the nanotechnology, we are not far off from building a realistic solar source that could power a substantial part of the earth. Even now a good number of countries have realized the importance of preventing our environment. They have recognized the enormous potential of sun and have started using it commercially.
The passive solar powering involves building apartments and blocks to make use of the sun directly. Without tapping into the energy part of the sun one can make big use of the sun. Some of the utilities include ventilation, water circulation, cooling and heating. All these processes make use of thermodynamic concepts to directly use the solar heat.
Green house gases are a bane to our world. But green house in general is an effective agricultural practice to grow certain types of crops which need high temperatures and humidity all around the year. Green houses use the sun and its heat energy to trap the heat in an enclosed shelter to accelerate the growth of plants.
Thus this ever present source of power could be tapped to meet every conceivable need of mankind with little intelligent effort on the part of human beings!
WIND ENERGY
Wind power generation is the process of converting the wind energy into electricity or other useful form of energy. One might easily comprehend that wind power is sustainable and renewable. There is no way mankind could find to use all the wind in the world!!
What is wind?
The earth lives at the mercy of the sun. The sun provides earth with heat, light and wind! Because of the shape of the earth and the tilt in its axis certain parts of the earth are heated more than the others. The poles are definitely on the extreme where they receive considerably less heat than other parts. Further land area tends to heat up more than the water bodies. All this difference in heating causes convection. This convection is what we call as wind! As long as the earth stays round and revolves titled around the sun wind energy will exist.
One might ask where all the wind energy does anyway. As the wind comes in contact with the earth friction is created. This friction leads to heat which is released.
Wind power is generated by placing huge turbines in windy areas. As the wind causes the huge turbines to rotate the wind is converted to mechanical energy. This mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy of other form of energy through special apparatus. This process is akin to a bi-cycle dynamo.
Wind energy at present caters to more than one percent of the energy needs of the world. With more careful study and implementation further advancements could be made in this field. More than eighty countries have understood the utility of wind power and have taken steps to commercialize it.
Besides the obvious advantages in wind power there are limitations to it. Wind power unlike other power systems is not transferable. This means that wherever the energy is produced it must be used. One cannot dispatch this energy to other areas. They must be used as soon as they are produced.
Two other reasons some people quote as points against wind power is that they are not good looking and they might kill birds. While the first issue seems to be stupid considering the fact that we are no longer in a situation where we can afford to not use the wind power as long as we find a suitable aesthetically pleasing alternative. The second reason though is a small cause for concern. Migratory birds and bats are known to have been killed by the giant wind turbines. Bats are also harmed by the high pressure region near the wind turbines.
But the estimated amount of casualties of birds caused by the wind turbines all around the world is highly negligible. One has to accept this as a necessarily evil as wind power is perfect in every other way.
It has been predicted that wind power can be used to produce several tens of TW of power. Thus the pros of using wind power outweighs the cons by a long way!
GEO-THERMAL ENERGY
So much is talked about the need to quash the use of traditional non eco friendly energy fuels. But most of these people fail to show what could be done to replace these fuels.
Let us try to define our requirements first. We need an energy source that is abundant. We also need it to be efficient enough to replace our conventional fuel. Further we need our new source of fuel to be easily accessible. When these primary requirements are met we need to make sure they are green energy sources, by which I mean they should be renewable, sustainable and eco friendly.
A handful of such sources come to mind and Geo thermal energy offers a very lucrative alternative.
What is geo thermal energy?
The core of our earth contains dense mass of metals and minerals in a plasma state! The temperature is extremely high in those regions. These minerals are in a constant state of radioactive decay.
This process is nothing but the deformation of complex elements in to its constituent radioactive primitives such as alpha and beta particles. As a side effect of this process tremendous amount of heat is produced and is pent up under the earth.
All this compressed heat could be effectively utilized for generating tons of energy and power which could fuel a substantial amount of our earth’s requirements.
How do we procure this geo thermal power?
The earth beneath us has tectonic plates. These tectonic plates are constantly under motion. They are also the source of seismic, volcanic and tidal activity in many parts of the world. Further at the fringe of these tectonic plates we can find the geo thermal wells where one can tap the necessary emissions of heat.
The geo thermal emissions are eco friendly. Unlike the traditional sources of fuel they will not harm the environment in anyway. Further the millions of years of radioactive decay must have created a lot of heat. All that has to be done is to tap them.
At present less than one percent of the earth’s requirements are met by geo thermal energy. Scientists are exploring ways to tap this energy profitably. A theoretical estimate shows that we should be able to produce another 30 Mw of energy with the known sources of geo thermal energy. On the other hand people who are researching this area suggest that the geo thermal energy has the potential to satisfy all of mankind’s needs and much more! The efficient and profitable utilization of the geo thermal source of energy is the need of the hour.
This energy could be use to produce electricity. Further heating pools and rooms could be facilitated as a direct use of geo thermal energy.
The geo thermal energy is earth’s way of collecting heat due to its motion and the radioactive energy of minerals. As the amount of heat within increases the earth is now finding way on its own to give them out. We are just tapping a small fraction of that energy without necessarily speeding it up. Thus geo thermal energy is renewable, sustainable and eco friendly.
HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER
The water bodies in the earth which makes up two thirds of the area are potentially never depleting. The water cycle of the earth ensures that the earth has the same amount of water at all times. However if we are able to use the water in a way that would not destroy any of its physical or chemical properties there could no better solution to our energy hassles.
If we are further able to create energy and power out of water there will no worries about our global warming. Many countries in the past have understood the mechanics of moving water and have developed various appliances that make use of water and compressed water.
Hydro electric power is the process of converting moving water into electricity. Water flowing down due to the action of gravity is made to rotate huge turbines on its way to generate hydro electric power. This source of electricity generation is the purest form of generation. Green house gases which are liberated due to partial burning of fossil fuels are no longer in picture. As long as we are able find ways to install hydroelectric turbines in spatial locations the amount of electricity and energy one could derive from water is potentially incalculable!
At present hydroelectricity accounts for about twenty percent of the earth’s power needs. Thus hydroelectricity is a major contributor in the eco friendly energy resource family. United States of America, Canada, Australia and Chile are some of the earliest to use the hydroelectric power as a source of energy.
The most common way of generating hydroelectric power is by making water that is stored in damn to rotate turbines connected to electricity generators. The potential energy of the stored up water is converted into kinetic energy as the water flows, which is made to turn the turbine. After this the mechanical energy of the rotating turbine is converted into electricity.
One other form of energy generation is by using reservoirs in varying altitudes. As water moves from a higher altitude reservoir to a lower altitude one, they are made to activate the turbines. Electricity is generated in surplus using this method. The excess electricity could be used to move the water up to a higher elevated reservoir for future use. Thus a very optimal balance is achieved.
Hydroelectricity generation involves none of the hazardous gas emissions. Further it is easily available. Hydroelectric power plants have better abilities to vary power according to power demands. This is the advantage of having a reservoir near the power house.
China, India Canada, United States and Russia are at the top of hydro power generation. But Norway is one country which is using hydro electric power as the main source of electricity as it caters to more than ninety percent of the countries power needs. Brazil too has a very high percentage of power coming from the hydro electric power projects.
Using the potential of water to create electricity is one of the best alternatives available to us!
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rubbish is dumped into the world’s oceans, 80% of which is plastic, and a further 10% of this being plastic bags. With an estimated 46,000 pieces for every square mile of ocean, plastic is responsible for killing 1 million sea birds and over 100,000 sea mammals each year. Turtles, whales and sea birds mistake rubbish for food or get entangled in it, resulting in painful injuries, or even death.
