Clean energy – is it possible and can it work?
Looking at the world of energy creation it is fascinating to note how much energy the world wastes producing and transporting other energy. According to research, it is possible for the world to reduce its overall energy demand by as much as 30 percent, if it can move away from combustion systems to more optimal electric processes for producing hydrogen fuel cells and energy.
Scientists who have discovered cleaner and sustainable energy has claimed that the global energy could be generated from 40 percent solar, 50 percent wind, 4 percent geothermal, 2 percent wave and tidal power and 4 percent hydroelectric power. Their research revolves around the use of hydrogen fuel cells and electricity that hydrogen can be produced by electricity which could be generated from the wind and the sun. It sounds like clean energy, but can it be used for vehicles, trains, airplanes, home heating and cooling and commercial processes?
It seems that it could, as they suggest that land and sea traffic could run on electricity and hydrogen fuel cells; airplanes on liquid hydrogen; heating and cooling systems on electricity and commercial processes on a combination of electricity and hydrogen. Research further shows that barriers to this type of plan are mainly social and political and not economic and technological.
A change to clean energy will also solve our problems of climate change, air and water pollution and energy insecurity. It will require a large-scale conversion to adopt this vision and will similarly need a large financial outlay, but will in the end provide reliable energy at low cost. This clean energy system is envisaged to remain clean even with population increase and increased economic activities. The technology has no emissions of greenhouse gases and zero air pollutants over the entire life cycle of the system.
A further consideration when researching for a clean energy system included that the technology has low impact on wildlife, water pollution and land, and keep waste-disposal to a minimum. Also, the resources being used are indefinitely renewable or recyclable. The use of water, wind and sun, satisfies all the above. Adapting vehicles to use clean energy should largely eliminate transport pollution.
Comparing fossil fuels and nuclear power with energy generated by water, wind and sun shows they are all moderately or significantly worse than the clean energy option with respect to environmental impacts as well as land use.
The types of clean energy generating apparatus include, wind turbines, which transforms the energy of the wind into, electricity; tidal turbines, which act similar to wind turbines, but are placed on the sea floor, and converts the energy of the waves into, electricity; solar panels, which convert sunlight into energy and CSP or concentrated solar power systems, which use mirrors or reflective lenses to focus the sunlight onto a fluid which it then heats to a high temperature. This heated fluid goes to a heat engine where some heat is converted into energy, and some heat is saved to be converted into energy at night.