Renewable energy targets to be the power source of the whole world soon. This is to combat the environmental issue of global warming and climate change. Stanford University’s study calculates that the world could be powered by renewable energy in 20-40 years.
Experiencing natural disasters, stronger and unpredictable hurricanes, and extreme flooding, we now recognize the importance of environment conservation. To reduce carbon footprint, private sectors and governments start to work together to put up power plants from renewable sources
The U.S. Department of Energy discussed with private sectors at the beginning of this year. They talked about transforming the U.S. carbon-emitting power plants to a renewable energy source. As of the moment, 18% of United States renewable energy power grids run through biomass fuels, wind, and hydroelectric.
We have extensive resources of renewable energy to harvest from:
Solar
Solar power comes from the sun’s heat. One of the drawbacks is, you can only generate power when the sun is up.
Wind
Wind energy depends on the availability of the wind. Once the wind fluctuates, the power also fluctuates. Harvesting wind power needs balance as too much power can damage the generating machine.
Ocean
Thermal and mechanical energies can be harvested from the ocean: the underwater heat and the tidal power. Tidal energy comes from the ocean’s power. This is a good source of renewable energy as ocean waves do not stop rolling.
Tidal energy is a good power source for island archipelagos. The challenge for this is, it requires a vast infrastructure that may disturb the ocean’s ecosystem. Small, powerful turbines should be developed as not to disturb the underwater creatures. In this way, we can significantly harness the powerful energy potential of the ocean.
Geothermal
Geothermal energy comes from the trapped underground heat. And volcano is a more powerful source of this.
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectric power comes from waterfalls or water reservoirs (dams). As the water current drops down, it turns the turbines below and produces electricity.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen power is derived by breaking the water molecule and separating it from the oxygen. Splicing the molecules of hydrogen and oxygen is an expensive process. It is time-consuming, and the energy is difficult to store.
Biomass
Biomass energy comes from plants and animal matters, alcohol fuels, garbage, and landfill fuels. We reduce the mountains of waste we throw by turning it as renewable energy of biomass fuel.
Biomass involves burning and producing gases. But, it is far better when compared to burning coals that emit carbon, sulfur, and lead in the atmosphere.
There are some drawbacks we have to face in building this renewable source of energy — first, the start-up high cost and unstable supply of solar and wind power. Second, the maintenance of power grid equipment and voltage regulation. Third, the danger of exploding of hydrogen energy. And lastly, the ample space needed to farm the alternative form of energy.
Despite all these challenges, many countries around the world already rely on green energy as their electricity source.
- Iceland relies 100% on renewable energy sources from a geothermal and hydroelectric power plant.
- Norway – hydropower
- Sweden – solar and wind power
- Costa Rica – hydroelectric, solar, geothermal, and wind sources
- Nicaragua – wind, solar, and geothermal energy
- United Kingdom – wind farms
- Germany – solar, wind, and biomass
- Uruguay – wind and solar power
- Denmark – wind power
- China – solar, wind turbine lithium-ion manufacturer
- Morocco – solar wind and hydroelectric
- Kenya – geothermal power and wind farm
- South Africa – solar, wind, hydroelectric, and biomass
- India – solar and wind
- Brazil – hydropower, wind, and solar
- Australia – hydropower, wind, and solar
South Korea currently works on converting their power source from coal and nuclear power source to 20% renewable energy by 2030. The same with Japan that targets to increase wind and solar energy use from 15% to 22-24% by 2030.
Singapore does not have enough space to put up its renewable energy power plant. They plan to cooperate with neighboring countries in building a renewable power plant.
Renewable energy source depends on the location’s climate and geography. Tropical and island countries must exert more effort to build electric grids from renewable sources as they have more sources of our Earth’s power.
Let us not look at the drawbacks of implementing the use of renewable energy. Because the most important is securing our home for the next generation, which is our planet Earth.
