In order to be deemed green energy, a resource cannot produce pollution, such as is found with fossil fuels. This means that not all sources used by the renewable energy industry are green. For example, power generation that burns organic material from sustainable forests may be renewable, but it is not necessarily green, due to the CO2 produced by the burning process itself. Green energy sources are usually naturally replenished, as opposed to fossil fuel sources like natural gas or coal, which can take millions of years to develop. Green sources also often avoid mining or drilling operations that can be damaging to eco-systems.
Green energy has the capacity to replace fossil fuels in the future, however it may require varied production from different means to achieve this. Geothermal, for example, is particularly effective in places where this resource is easy to tap into, while wind energy or solar power may be better suited to other geographic locations.
However, by bringing together multiple green energy sources to meet our needs, and with the advancements that are being made with regards to production and development of these resources, there is every reason to believe that fossil fuels could be phased out. We are still some years away from this happening, but the fact remains that this is necessary to reduce climate change, improve the environment and move to a more sustainable future.
Why It Is Important?
Green energy is important for the environment as it replaces the negative effects of fossil fuels with more environmentally-friendly alternatives. Derived from natural resources, green energy is also often renewable and clean, meaning that they emit no or few greenhouse gases and are often readily available.
Due to the local nature of energy production through sources like solar and wind power, the energy infrastructure is more flexible and less dependent on centralised sources that can lead to disruption as well as being less resilient to weather related climate change.
Green energy also represents a low cost solution for the energy needs of many parts of the world. This will only improve as costs continue to fall, further increasing the accessibility of green energy, especially in the developing world.
Types
The main sources are wind energy, solar power and hydroelectric power. Solar and wind power are able to be produced on a small scale at people’s homes or alternatively, they can be generated on a larger, industrial scale.
The six most common forms are as follows:
1. Solar Power This common type of renewable energy is usually produced using photovoltaic cells that capture sunlight and turn it into electricity.
2. Wind Power Particularly suited to offshore and higher altitude sites, wind energy uses the power of the flow of air around the world to push turbines that then generate electricity.
3.Hydropower Also known as hydroelectric power, this type of green energy uses the flow of water in rivers, streams, dams or elsewhere to produce electricity.
4. Geothermal Energy This type of green power uses thermal energy that has been stored just under the earth’s crust.
5. Biomass This renewable resource also needs to be carefully managed in order to be truly labelled as a ‘green energy’ source. Biomass power plants use wood waste, sawdust and combustible organic agricultural waste to create energy.
6. Biofuels Rather than burning biomass as mentioned above, these organic materials can be transformed into fuel such as ethanol and biodiesel.
