“There are things in this world that can’t be bought…” Soyka sings. You won’t get true love, an original “Mona Lisa” or clean air (except from a purifier) for cash. Therefore, we should do everything to take care of the common, priceless good (nature) while we still have a chance.
RES, i.e. renewable energy sources. Three inconspicuous but powerful letters. What will you find under them? Ecology, economy and the future. Why is renewable energy so important? Why is our fate without it as “colorful” as dodo birds (reminder – they are extinct, as shown, for example, in the fairy tale “Ice Age”)? More on that in a moment.
Contents:
Where did the term renewable energy come from? Why is it the future?
A relic of the past – fossil fuels (non-renewable fuels).
Renewable energy – the green energy of tomorrow.
Types of renewable energy.
Photovoltaics – main advantages.
Renewable energy sources – forecasts for the future.
Renewable energy – where did it come from and why is it important?
You will see the abbreviation OZE in articles, book titles, and posts on social media. You will hear about renewable energy from your neighbor and from politicians’ arguments. You open the fridge – renewable energy appears. This is a topic that fires the imagination and is one of the most popular topics in the context:
electricity and heat,
environmental protection,
savings,
professions of the future.
When it comes to environmental change, we live in interesting, but not necessarily good, times. Saying “this is our climate” while shrugging your shoulders will no longer work. Global warming forces a change in energy policy and the need for transformation. Fossil fuels are (rightly) becoming a thing of the past:
expensive to obtain,
a triple devastating environment (during extraction, transport and use),
exhausting,
giving way to energy from renewable sources.
Have you heard “there was a time when no one cared about carbon dioxide emissions and the greenhouse effect”? We would like to remind you that in the past, it was good practice to use lice hammers (and to knock out parasites at the table), and it was also believed that “medicines” based on alcohol and morphine were good for everything and for everyone.
Coming back to the topic… Where does the popularity of renewable energy sources come from? The answer is trivial and sad – because we have devastated the Earth. It took some time, money and we had to get creative, but it worked out in the end. We “harnessed” to destruction:
industry and automotive,
excessive consumption (unimaginable amount of waste),
massive extraction of fossil fuels and other natural resources,
sewage, chemicals poured into water and oil spills,
giant farms of slaughter animals, excessive exploitation of fishing grounds, clearing of forests.
We have momentum because at the same time we polluted (we still do) water, land and air. Fortunately, self-reflection came (or the survival instinct kicked in) and slowly (but successively) we started the repair process.
There are skeptics who are not convinced by ecological arguments. This is where the “gamechanger” comes in – finances. For many, the rising prices of fossil fuels are more harmful than climate change. Why are non-renewable fuels becoming more expensive? There are several factors:
shortages of raw materials,
difficulty in mining,
high transport costs.
political conflicts,
inflation, excise duties, taxes, etc.
This is why focusing on renewable energy and being independent from “earthquakes” (driving up prices) makes sense. And at the same time you will save your wallet and the environment? We would say “win-win”.
What are non-renewable energy sources?
Simply put, they are your everyday life. These are raw materials such as:
coal (hard, brown),
Petroleum,
gas,
natural gas,
uranium,
whose deposits must be discovered, explored, exploited, secured after depletion, etc. As you can see, they have a lot of work to do. This is not the end of their disadvantages, because they are also expensive:
in mining,
distribution,
eliminating side effects (smog, sinkholes, combustion residues, etc.).
Little?! Their resources are exhausted (hence the name – non-renewable). Some of them are recreated, but this is a process that takes thousands or even millions of years (a bit long, right?).
Green energy, or what exactly is renewable energy?
The success of renewable energy is hidden in the word renewable. Moreover, renewable energy sources are democratic (publicly available), unlimited and free. Using them is not associated with a long-term deficit. Why? Because renewable energy sources do not run out or are renewed in a short time (like biomass). They were there in the times of dinosaurs, they are there now, and more importantly, they will be there when we are gone. Renewable energy is (simply) nature:
wind,
sun,
geothermal,
water,
(and requiring some human work) biomass.
Compared to non-renewable raw materials, their acquisition is neutral (non-invasive) for the ecosystem, and their use is much cheaper (thanks to the development of technology).
Types of renewable energy.
It is time to develop and replace the main energy sectors based on renewable “raw materials”.
Wind energy (aerothermal) – “windmills” with wind turbines embedded in the landscape. Zamie