Renewable Energy: The Future of Energy

In recent years, climate change has been a huge concern globally with many countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom and many other countries committing to reducing their carbon emission. For example, the UK has pledged to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by 2050, all of the UK’s electricity to come from clean sources by 2035, and in 2030 the ban on new internal combustion engines comes into force.

What is Renewable Energy?

Renewable energy is energy that comes from earth’s natural resources that are not finite or exhaustible such as sunlight and wind. Renewable energy is an alternative to fossil fuels made from decomposed plants and animals. There is a limited amount of fossil fuels available and they emit carbon dioxide when burned.

Types of Renewable Energy

There are seven types of renewable energy sources countries can adopt to generate energy and reduce carbon emissions.

Solar Energy

Solar energy comes from capturing radiant energy from the sun and converting it into heat, electricity or hot water. The main benefit of solar energy is that sunlight is endless. With technologies such as Photovoltaic systems, we can harvest sunlight. If all households have solar panels installed they have the opportunity to reduce their energy bills for the long term.

Although solar energy has many benefits, it does have a few limitations like cost. There is a huge upfront cost to installing a solar panel system. Homeowners will need a lot of sunlight and space to reap the rewards of solar energy.

Wind Energy

Wind farms capture the energy of the wind flow by using turbines to convert it into electricity. Turbines can be installed on land and sea wherever there is a lot of wind. Wind energy does not produce carbon dioxide or harmful chemicals that could damage the environment, animals and humans. Wind energy has the potential to open up new avenues for jobs and job training as turbines on farms need to be serviced and maintained.

Wind farms can dominate skylines and generate a lot of noise. Wind turbines can threaten local wildlife like birds as they can be killed if struck by the arms of the turbine while flying. Wind farms tend to be built in rural and remote areas as they have a lot of open lands where wind can be captured. Transporting electricity from wind turbines generated in rural areas to urban areas can be costly.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the most abundant element on earth and when combined with elements such as oxygen it makes water. Hydrogen separated from another element can be used for both fuel and electricity. Hydrogen is a cleaning burning fuel which leads to less pollution and a cleaner environment. Hydrogen can be used for fuels which are similar to batteries to power an electric motor in a vehicle.

One major limitation of hydrogen is it requires a huge amount of energy to extract hydrogen which makes it inefficient when it comes to preventing pollution.

Hydroelectric

Water flows through a dam turbine to produce electricity. Hydroelectric can be utilised on large or small-scale dams to generate electricity. Hydroelectric power does not generate pollution.

Building dams can be costly and generate carbon pollution initially via the large use of concrete. Although hydroelectricity does not pollute the air, it disrupts waterways and negatively affects the animals that live in them, changing water levels, currents, and migration paths for many fish and other freshwater ecosystems.

Geothermal

Geothermal heat is heat trapped beneath the earth’s crust from the formation of the Earth and radioactive decay. Volcanic eruptions and geysers can cause large amounts of heat to escape. This heat can be captured and used to generate geothermal energy. Geothermal energy stations can be built underground and leave a little footprint on the land. Geothermal energy is naturally replenished and therefore does not run a risk of depleting.  

Building the infrastructure to manage geothermal energy will be costly and they will be vulnerable to earthquakes in regions that have a history of earthquake occurrences.  

Ocean

Harnessing the power of the ocean can be one of the most sustainable renewable energy sources available. There are two types of ocean energy:

• Thermal – Relies on warm water surface temperatures to generate energy

• Mechanical – Uses the flows of tides to generate energy which is created by the earth’s rotation and gravity from the moon

Wave energy is easy to predict and easy to estimate the amount of energy that will be created. Most populated cities tend to be near oceans and harbours, making it easier to harness energy for the local population.

Land-locked countries will not be able to harness ocean energy. Building the equipment and generators to capture the energy can disturb many delicate ecosystems. A major factor is that ocean energy requires normal consistency waves. Rough weather can change the consistency of waves lowering energy output.

Biomass

Biomass is organic matter that comes from recently living plants and organisms. For example, using wood in your fireplace is an example of using biomass. There are various methods to generate energy from biomass such as burning biomass or harnessing methane gas produced from the natural decomposition of organic material in ponds or even landfills. Although using biomass for energy production creates carbon dioxide, the regeneration of plants consumes the same amount of carbon dioxide.

New plants need carbon dioxide and time to grow. Further biomass research and development into the technology are needed to make the technology more efficient.

Summary

There are many renewable solutions that countries can deploy to reduce their carbon emissions however, different countries will benefit from some methods over others. I predict in the next few years, governments and homeowners will deploy renewable methods to hit their climate change pledges. As climate change is becoming an urgent issue globally, heavy investment is needed in all areas of renewable energy to make them cheaper and more efficient. With many cities relying on fossil fuels, countries will need to increase the uptake of renewable energy sources to ease the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy without disrupting daily life. Find out what a sustainable city would look like in the future by looking at the What Sustainable Cities May Look Like in the Future post.

If you want to reduce your own carbon emission you can find ways by taking a look at Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint post