What is green energy?

Green energy is energy that is produced to minimize its negative impact on the environment. Traditional energy sources, especially fossil fuels, are produced by greenhouse gases, which are considered to be the primary cause of the effect known as global warming or climate change. Sources of green energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydro power, develop and promote as alternative sources that contribute only a small or no contribution when climate change. Even nuclear energy is sometimes considered a green energy source, because some types of nuclear technologies produce much less waste than oil and coal.

Why is green energy important

The Industrial Revolution, which began in the second half of the 18th century, changed the world, with new methods of production based on the machine led to a significant increase in economic growth, population growth and quality of life. At that time, long -term consequences could not be conceived, much less felt; however, burning aboutBrovský's amount of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, caused great environmental damage. Most climatologists agree that the use of fossil fuels significantly contributed to global warming. This term refers to the measured increase in the Earth's surface temperature since the end of the 19th century and the environmental effects of this change.

The primary goal of developing green energy sources is to generate energy and at the same time minimize both waste and pollution, thereby reducing the impact of energy production on the environment. Scientists who advocate the use of green energy claim that the use of such sources will reduce the speed at which climate change, although it cannot stop or reverse the temperature increase. Another important goal is to create energy sources that are renewable. This is unlike fossil fuel sources that are final and estimated to be exhausted before the end of the 22nd century.

hydro eNergy

This technology uses water movement to power turbines connected to generators and provides more energy in many countries than any other green sources. The water force does not create a significant amount of waste and provides a unique advantage in the environment. Many of the largest hydroelectric damages use a tank that can serve as a place for recreational activities. The presence of large water supply can also provide valuable support for agricultural areas.

In some cases, however, it can damage the environment and create an artificial lake. Fish may not be able to pass through the dam, for example to reduce their population. Artificial tanks require the flood of an area that was previously dry and changed dramatically. The Three Gorges Dam in China offers a clear example of both: Dolphin Baiji or Yangtze, WH, WHICH lived in the river where the dam was built now is functionally extinct and more than 1 million people were forced to move when their cities were covered with water to make youIt formed a tank.

solar energy

solar energy does not create any emissions, is renewable and is highly suitable for powering portable devices and houses. Many new houses take into account the generation of solar energy as a design concept with solar panels and water heating systems. While the solar transport target has not yet been achieved, the panels can be used in vehicles as a source of energy for air conditioning.

As regards the production of energy on a large scale, the main disadvantage of solar technology is that solar panels and energy storage devices use a significant amount of soil. This can be paid somewhat by building on the ground that is not suitable for other uses. Although this technology has improved, most of them are only about 20% efficient and can be expensive to install.

wind energy

The wind is used to produce energy with large turbines connected to the system of collection, storage and power distribution. This type of energy production is a highly effective method afterSquircing electricity by small isolated communities. They are often preferred over solar methods in agricultural areas, because the soil that contains wind turbines can be used more easily for other purposes. Wind farms on the coast have much higher construction and maintenance costs, but are able to use stronger and more consistent winds.

Because turbines are large, some people complain that they are eyes that turn away from the beauty of the environment. There are also concerns that they could harm the local populations of birds and bats.

geothermal energy

geothermal energy is generated under its surface in the form of heat. Although it is not a technically renewable source, it is sustainable more or less indefinitely, and produces only a small amount of waste compared to fossil fuels. Many countries use this type of energy for part of their requirements, but most thermal energy plants are located near the bounds of tectonic plates where energy is easier to extract. Geothermal potentialThe energy to supply a significant part of the world is limited by the cost of the technology it requires.

nuclear energy

Some types of nuclear energy are categorized as green because they produce a very small amount of waste. The green nuclear reactor can burn its own nuclear waste to produce energy and rely on a process called nuclear transmutation. In this process, the waste is transformed into progressively lower energy forms by other similar reactions. This means that almost all available energy can be extracted from Thoria or Uranus, which is the sources of fuel most commonly used in nuclear energy. Scientists believe that this form of energy production is so efficiency, it can provide 100% of the country's needs up to five billion years.

However, many people are worried about nuclear energies, because of accidents such as those in the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine and the Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan. The disaster of this size can not only kill workers and others near the power plant, butIt may potentially lead to an increase in cancer in the population exposed to radioactivity relaxed during the incident. However, there was a very small number of incidents of this size, and even the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, which was one of the largest in history, is not expected to significantly increase the cancer -related deaths.

cleaner fossil fuels

In addition to the development of new energy sources, the other goal of the green energy movement is to improve existing fossil fuel technology to make it more environmentally friendly. An example is the so -called clean coal technology, which tries to reduce gas from coal combustion. One of the means that can be achieved is to convert coal into gas and then generate energy by burning gas. While this type of energy production is cleaner than traditional fossil fuel combustion methods, critics believe that environmental costs are still too high. Another problem is that although this technology is less harmful, coal is still the final source.