FWR Group Sustainability Articles
Safe and clean energy
The need for safe and clean energy is becoming more apparent as our knowledge of greenhouse gas production and its effect on the planet is realised. Energy produced from fossil fuels is the largest contributor of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and this gas is causing the planet to warm up. This in turn is causing our climate to change along with a host of other environmental problems. Energy sourced from renewable sources is now a must to reduce the global warming and provide a sustainable source of energy for mankind.
There are a number safe and clean energy options available that come form renewable sources. Wind, solar, tidal, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy technologies have become increasingly popular in recent times and are now used to generate electricity in many different nations. At present these technologies are still relatively expensive and thus their uptake has been predominantly in developed nations. Another limitation is their unreliability, especially with wind and solar power as they require certain conditions to operate. Geothermal power stations are considered to be one of the most promising options for constant large scale energy generation to replace fossil fuel power stations.
Wind power is generated by wind turbines and is commonly fed directly into the electricity grid. Over 120 gigawatts (GW) of energy are now produced from wind turbines globally with this total growing substantially every year. This represents about 1.5% of the world’s total energy generation. One of the problems with wind power is it requires a constant flow of air to turn the turbine. If there is no wind, there is no energy being produced and for this reason wind power must be complimented with a more reliable and constant source of power.
Hydroelectric power stations use gravity and the flow of water to drive turbines that generate electricity. This type of energy is clean and safe and can provide a reliable source of electricity. Although questions have been raised about the environmental impacts of hydroelectric schemes as they generally require the modification of river systems and the creation of a dam to ensure a constant water source.
To reduce the production of greenhouse gas and the other negative environmental issues associated with non renewable energy generation, the safe and clean energy sources described above must become increasingly utilised.
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This work by Michael Duggan is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.
