Energy is essential to perform any function. Just as our body needs food to move, any human activity needs an energy flow to be carried out. At present, we have inherited an energy system that comes from the Industrial Revolution, in whose base are fossil fuels and, subsequently, nuclear energy. However, these energies will increasingly scarce and, on the other hand, are a great impact at the environmental level.
Renewable energy were born as an inexhaustible alternative to these energies that may disappear but this does not mean that they have to be clean energies. ¿Renewable energies contaminate the environment? What are renewable energies? How do each one pollute? In the following ecology article, we explain it to you.
What are renewable energies
Renewable energy is understood as those that have a natural origin whose source is hypothetically inexhaustible, either why they regenerate themselves or why their amounts are unlimited, that is, that as their resources are used, their resources are not completed. Some clear examples of these unlimited natural sources are sun or wind.
Sometimes there is also talk of alternative energies, however, it does not refer to the same. Alternative energies are those that can serve as a replacement for traditional energy sources, in this case renewable energies are, but that does not mean that all alternative energies are renewable.
Then we explain What are renewable energy sources:
- Energy Mareomotrizof the tides.
- Energy Geothermalof the heat of the earth.
- Energy hydraulicsof the reservoirs.
- Energy windof the wind.
- Energy solarof the sun.
- Energy biomassof vegetation.
Renewable energies: examples
Mareomotor energy
This energy can be obtained with the same procedure but in two different ways. On the one hand you can collect the energy left by the movement of the great masses of water when the tides rise and fall, but you can also take advantage of the strength of the waves on the maritime surface as a consequence of the wind action.
Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is one that we can obtain from taking advantage of the heat that emerges from the interior of the earth. For this, different sources can be used, such as the hot springs and their vapors or magma. However, today’s resources are not yet available at the technological level to exploit it industrially. Even so, it can be used as a heating for homes or to generate electricity.
Hydraulic energy
As its name indicates, this energy is produced by water, but unlike the Mareomotriz, the hydraulic energy is produced by the water that accumulates in the swamps or the reservoirs. How does this energy occur? Easy, when water falls to a lower level creates an energy that becomes electricity in the hydroelectric plant.
Wind energy
In this type of energy the natural source is wind, which is used through wind mills, technically known as wind turbines. Did you know that you can make homemade wind mills?
Solar energy
Solar energy is one that comes to us from the sun through electromagnetic radiation, it can already be in the form of heat, light or ultraviolet rays that have been created in the star after a nuclear fusion process. Within solar energy we can distinguish between:
- Photothermal solar energy: They convert that energy into heat and take advantage of it to heat buildings, water or any other product.
- Photovoltaic solar energy: They convert solar energy into electricity.
Biomass energy
We talk about biomass to that energy that is obtained through organic materials of animal or plant origin, for example organic waste after combustion or a transformation into oil, alcohol or methanol.
Are renewable energies clean or pollutants?
Before responding if renewable energies are pollutants, it must be made clear that any energy source causes an impact on the environment. Of course, there are some that do more than others, for example, non -renewable, in their irrational and disproportionate use cause damage to nature, ecosystems and the planet in general. In this sense, renewable sources are a good substitute because their impact is less, but they can still become pollutants. Next we will talk about How renewable energies contaminate the environment:
- The Geothermal energy It can become very dangerous in the event that toxic gases and metals are dragged to the surface.
- The wind turbines of the wind energy They create visual pollution in landscapes, normally, natural. At the same time they can become traps for thousands of birds who die in their blades.
- Within the Hydraulic energythe minihydraulics is one that produces a lower impact, however, large water dams create great losses in the biodiversity of the area, generate methane gas if plant matter does not withdraw, they can be the cause of pandemics, they can be located in areas of natural or landscape value, the channels of the rivers make more saline.
- The main problem of Mareomotor energy They are the high costs of its installation, which rarely make it viable. On the other hand, they suppose an important visual impact on coastal landscapes, that is, visual pollution.
- The biomass It produces environmental pollution, since its combustion generates nitrogen dioxide and other polluting agents. In addition, if lands are grown for their development, other types of more productive cultivation are stopped.
- Surely, the solar energy It is the least polluting in every way, however, the time it takes to be amortized is very large.
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