Clean energy is energy that is obtained from renewable zero emission sources that do not pollute the atmosphere when used and from energy saved through energy efficiency activities.
There is some overlap between clean energy and green or renewable energy sources, but they are not exactly the same, and to be clear we need to understand what it actually means.
What Is Clean Energy?
Clean energy is energy obtained from sources that do not release air pollutants, while green energy is energy obtained from natural sources. There is a subtle distinction between these two energy types, even though they are often discussed as if they are the same.
Renewables energy represent energy generated from sources that are continuously replenished. Hence, these renewables energy resources will not run out, unlike fossil fuels and gas, and include wind energy and solar energy.
However, while most green energy sources are renewable, not all renewable energy sources are considered to be green.
For example, hydropower is a renewable source, but some would say hydropower is not green, because the deforestation and industrialisation associated with the construction of hydro dams can impact the environment.
The ideal clean energy mix occurs when green energy overlaps with renewable energy, for example solar energy and wind energy.
Here’s one way to remember the differences among these energy types:
- Clean energy = clean air
- Green energy = natural sources
- Renewable energy = recyclable sources
How Clean Energy Works?
Clean energy can be defined as energy that has little or no harmful effects on the environment. In other words, clean energy is energy whose production does not involve emissions of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide).
Clean energy sources are also often renewable, which includes wind and some hydro and solar energy resources.
Why Clean Energy Is Important?
The most significant aspect of clean energy is the environmental benefits that are a part of the types of energies the world will inevitably be using to meet the energy demands in the future.
While clean energy and renewable energy sources account for energy supplies that are natural resources (again, which are not being exhausted), clean energy also lowers the risks of experiencing environmental disasters like fuel spills or troublesome natural gas leaks.
Additionally, having a diversified fuel supply can provide the foundation for stable energy supplies to be structured around reducing energy security fears; so sustainability will allow us to remain sure in our expectations for stable energy supplies.
Benefits of Clean Energy
To summarize, clean energy provides numerous environmental and economic benefits, and reduces air pollution. In addition, a varied clean energy supply diminishes dependence on imported fuels (and its associated financial and environmental costs). –
Renewable clean energy provides even more savings because the renewable energy itself does not involve extracting and transporting fuels such as oil and coal, because renewable fuels regenerate themselves.
Another benefit is the creation of jobs to build, manufacture, and install the clean energy resources of the future!
What Can Clean Energy be Used For?
Clean energy can be in a variety of different applications from generating electricity, heating water and more depending on the source of the energy.
Solar energy can be used to heat and light buildings, generate electricity, heat hot water directly, cool and more.
There are solar panels that allow energy from the sun to be collected and turned into into electricity. Today, solar panels are used in small electric tasks, such as charging batteries, but many people are already using solar energy for small (and portable) garden lanterns, for example!
However, the same clean energy technology can be used in larger solar panels in which the person receiving the energy output would be the home or building instead of the lantern. In fact, some people have installed several solar panels which could be referred to as a community solar panel array for an entire whole town using clean energy!
Water is another clean resource that has some unanticipated applications. Not surprisingly, most people think of hydroelectric power plants which take the flow of water from rivers, streams, or lakes to create electricity. Now, think of water flowing through municipal pipes in towns or cities.
With all of the water running through pipes in homes every day there is now thought of using that energy to help meet domestic and other power requirements. Experts expect as generators develop to be smaller and cheaper to construct, water flowing through municipal pipes will become a daily reality.!
Wind power occurs with a windmill and a generator, which turns the movement of the rotating windmill blades into energy. This type of energy was historically used to grind grain, pump water, and other mechanical tasks, and is now used much more to create electricity.
Power generating windmills are now everywhere, and there are both at-sea (offshore) and on-land (onshore) windfarms and generators that are growing in popularity and capacity. Wind as a power source can also be used to generate electricity in a tiny capacity, even so that mobile phones can be recharged off of wind energy.
The renewable sources mentioned above can be added by others, especially geothermal, biomass, and tidal power, which also have different benefits and use.
The Future of Clean Energy
The clean energy future is looking very bright! Recently, more renewable energy capacity has been installed than the total of all new fossil fuel and nuclear energy capacity combined across the world.
More than one-third of globally installed power capacity is now from renewable sources. To give you an idea about growth in clean energy, the first time ever in the UK powered purely on renewable energy was on Wednesday, 10 June 2020 – it happened for two months!
The world population is continuing to grow, and the demand for energy is increasing. Renewable energy sources are the solution to sustainable-looking energy resources while protecting the planet from climate change.
This increase in clean energy is not only being taken up by countries, but states and county governments are also creating policies to increase the take-up of renewable forms of energy.
In the USA, 29 states have renewable energy portfolios to require some percentage of the energy consumed come from renewable sources, and over 100 cities worldwide are consuming at least 70% renewable energy.
As more cities strive for 100% renewable energy, as well as corporations purchasing record amounts of renewable energy to assist this transformation, it only seems to make sense that the future would be renewables because of fossil fuels being a finite resource, and there should be an increasing number of renewables that are driving costs down even further.
How can Clean Energy Reduce Global Warming?
Human beings have been using fossil fuels for over 150 years, and the more we used these fossil fuels, the more greenhouse gases are emitted from burning them. These greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere and raise the temperature of the Earth.
Global warming, a symptom of climate change, has contributed to rising extreme weather events, shifts in wildlife habitats and populations, rising sea levels, and additional impacts on humanity.
Since they do not emit greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, renewable energy sources do not add to global warming. Therefore, they will not exacerbate climate change, and can be combined with reforestation, which mitigates the damage caused to the climate, to help reduce global warming.
Can Clean Energy Replace Fossil Fuels?
As I said above, humans have the food fossil fuels for decades, so it was only fairly recently that the world had started converting to clean energy.
This means that until fairly recently renewable energy sources were viewed as unreliable, falling short of the global power demand holistically, and therefore always topped up by one Carbon energy source.
The thought is that if we are able to wisely store and use renewable energy for the timeframes where demand could meet our demand we are able to bridge the energy gap.
There is considerable amount of work presently, to improve the infrastructure and storage capacity to utilize clean energy resources, and the consensus from experts is that clean renewable energy sources could overtake fossil fuels by 2050.
How Will Clean Energy Help Our Economy?
There are fiscal implications with clean energy development, not least of which is the employment demand that will grow from developing infrastructure, manufacture clean energy solutions, and installation and maintenance of these projects.
Renewable and clean energy represent growth sectors as the world phase out fossil fuels, that will represent employment for more works in many sectors starting with eMobility, power generation and storage.
The experience gained by it’s creators with this new technology, developing next generations power solutions may be their greatest asset, and routinely employ and contract those and have been slow to support clean energy with any sincerity their fiscal impact are going to be far more significant, but may be left to those incumbents who have embraced this clean energy challenge.
Of course the fiscal reasons surface only a small part of the story of clean energy, as the most authentic reason came is to provide a better future for Planet earth and those who share it with us!
However, and, with a decline in fossil fuel consumption will also decline the financial implications, which indicates that clean energy is not only beneficial for the environment, but it is a sign of progression for industry size.
How Can We Get Clean Energy?
There are many sources of clean energy, that can be combined to form solutions to all of our energy requirements.
Sunshine is the most abundant resource and such a freely available resource on the planet as a matter of fact the amount of solar energy that arrives at the Earth in just one hour is enough to satisfy the Earths energy requirements for a whole year.
Of course solar power comes with some limitations; dependant on time of day, seasonal months and geographical location. None the less solar energy is being developed at both a stand dictated energy level and in a domestic capacity already.
Wind power is another many and growing source of clean energy, as wind farms have proven and continue to provide a good percentage of supply into the UK and other countries. As of today though, with the understanding of domestic ‘off grid’ wind power, not all properties are suitable for a wind turbine.
Hydro or water power is the most commercially matured clean energy source. This energy source is considered to be more stable than either wind or solar energy and, as an added bonus, it allows for simple storage of energy produced, so it can be used to meet demand.
With municipal hydro power also being explored, the future may see us all generating electricity from the flow of water in our home pipes. Tidal power is a large scale version of hydro power, and although it doesn’t deliver a continuous flow of energy, the reliability of tidal and hydro power is clear.
Industries around the globe has had a lot of involvement in generating geothermal power that harnesses the natural heat below the surface of the Earth.
This energy source is best suited for generating electricity or heating our domestic premises, but the efficiency will vary from region to region, for instance, Iceland has a lot of geothermal resource with high temperatures available, whereas hydro-geothermal heat is not as easily accessed in the UK.
The term biomass refers to solid fuel made from plant materials and generates electricity with it.
While biomass still involves the burning of organic material, this is no longer wood, and the technology is much cleaner and more energy efficient than in earlier days.
Utilising agricultural, social or industrial waste as a source of solid, liquid or gas fuel is not only beneficial economically, but often provides an environmental solution too.
Is Clean Energy Really Clean?
All clean energy sources are inherently “clean,” not all renewable energy sources are clean. To illustrate this point, if wood from a sustainably managed forest was burnt, the energy produced would indeed be renewable, but it isn’t clean because it displaces carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
To be fully clean, you have to end up with zero carbon cost in the production and store, and this is the layer of the onion for sources like solar power and wind energy to be regarded as clean and renewable.
Conclusion
Clean energy would appear to be the power supply for humanity everywhere on the planet in the future, especially as we all rely less on fossil fuels. As the journey towards clean, green and renewable energy source advances and matures, they will fall in cost, and work will be created to develop and install these new power solutions.
More contributors are coming to the realisation that the environmental, social, and economic benefits of clean energy outweigh the costs of staying dependent on fossil fuels as more cities, states and nations subscribe to the green energy agenda.