Jacek, 7a

 

Climate’s changing, so what YOU can do?

Everything is changing; our life, job, hobbies…and climate. And unfortunatly climate is getting worse and worse.

You can do lot of good things for our lovely Earth:

- segregate rubbish

- use less water during shower

- use fewer cars and replace them with bicycles

-if you can, you can use renewable energy

But what is renawable energy?

We can recognise 5 types of it:

-solar energy

-biomass energy

-wind energy

-water energy

- gheotermal energy

 

 

1.  Solar energy- From its name we know that it is from the Sun. It can be used in two ways - to generate heat or electricity. Did you know that covering 0.3% of the planet with photovoltaic panels would be enough to meet the energy needs of people all over the world? That's an area roughly the size of Sweden, so very small, right?

2.  Biomass energy- Any biodegradable substance of animal or plant origin can also be used to generate energy. The key is the process of photosynthesis and the conversion of solar energy through combustion into energy that can be used efficiently. There are different types of biomass: solid (e.g. wood, plants), liquid (biofuels, e.g. from rape) and gaseous (biogas). Poland is a country rich in biomass, as a large part of the country is covered by forests. Poland has the potential to derive up to 30% of its domestic energy from biomass.

3.  Wind energy- It is based on the operation of wind turbines that convert kinetic wind energy into electricity. All this is thanks to wind, which is becoming an increasingly popular renewable energy source, being one of the two most used, after solar energy. In 2015, the countries producing the most energy from wind turbines were the US, China, Germany and Spain. The countries where wind power provided the largest percentage of electricity were Denmark (49.7%), Ireland (22.9%), Portugal (22.3%) and Spain (17.7%).

 

4.  Water energy- Water is another force and a huge energy potential. Hydropower is based on harnessing the power of flowing water. This also includes current and tidal energy, which is based on harnessing the regular changes in water levels in the seas and oceans. These methods are used in special tidal power stations, but so far they are not very popular, largely due to the high costs of producing such energy. Venezuela, Brazil and Canada obtain more than 50% of their electricity from hydropower, and Norway as much as 98%. In Poland, hydropower accounted for 1.5% of electricity production in 2017.

 

5.  Gheothermal energy- The last renewable source is geothermal energy, which is energy from inside the Earth, using the heat of water and rocks below the surface. It is most often associated, and rightly, with Icelandic geysers. Geothermal energy is one of the most difficult renewable energy sources to obtain due to the fact that the deposits are deep underground (up to several kilometres deep). Geothermal energy is primarily used as a source of heat, but it is also possible to generate electricity. The country with the most popular use of geothermal energy is Iceland. More than half of the energy there comes from geothermal sources, and almost 90% of the rooms are heated by 30 geothermal central heating systems.

 

 

What fact connects them all?

All renewable sources have in common that during energy generation and production no harmful substances are emitted into the atmosphere, so their use does not affect climate change and the greenhouse effect. They all belong to the "green energy", which means that they are natural, usually easily accessible (this depends on the type of source) and cheap, if appropriate methods of obtaining them are developed.

 

How much does it cost?

Generating electricity or heat from renewable sources has many advantages. But what are the economic aspects? Are they positive? The answer to this question may come as a surprise to some, since data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) indicate that the production price of some photovoltaic and wind power plants today falls below that of coal-fired installations. This makes the turning point in the energy transition seem ever closer.

 

More expenise than renawable energy?