GREEN ENERGY
Green energy is a form of energy that can come from any type of natural resource such as sunlight, wind, rain, geothermal heat etc. This form of energy comes with a property that they are naturally replenishable, or in simple words they are renewable.
There are numerous advantages of green energy. One of the most easily understandable advantage is that green energy sources have negligible impact on the environment, as compared to fossil fuels which produce greenhouse gases as by-products, causing quite a lot of damage to the climate. Another factor which accounts to the advantages of greenhouse gases is the ease with which we can find these resources. For gaining access non-renewable resources, comparatively tedious tasks are to be engaged in, for example mining or drilling deep into the earth, whereas the green energy sources are easily available anywhere around the world. Developments in the field of green energy have helped reduce dependence on fossil fuels for meeting energy requirements, as the cost of solar panels, wind turbines and other devices harnessing green energy reduces to a great extent, hence enabling people to utilize renewable resources by themselves.
TYPES OF GREEN ENERGY
SOLAR POWER
This form of green energy is synthesized by photo voltaic cells, which convert solar energy into electricity. Using of solar energy has become quite inexpensive these days and hence is quite widely used.
WIND POWER
Wind energy can be harnessed with the aid of turbines. Winds can be used to push the blades of turbines, which convert mechanical energy into electrical energy.
HYDRO-POWER
This type of energy is powered by earth’s water cycle. Dams and water turbines are the structures which play the role of synthesizing hydro-power.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
Earth has massive amounts of thermal energy stored underneath the crust which has been there since the inception of the earth, and also appear due to radioactive decay of minerals. Geothermal energy has turned out to be quite capable of generating huge amounts of energy.
LATEST TRENDS IN GREEN ENERGY
1. SMART REFRIGERATORS
As the technology advances, green energy too takes a ride. Smart refrigerators are coming up which remind us to fill up groceries and other items like butter, juices etc. This is all done, as these refrigerators send messages to our phones, using GPS. This definitely saves a lot of our car fuel as it reminds us to fill up the refrigerator when we visit the grocery store, and hence no double trips are needed for small amount of things.
2. NET-ZERO ENERGY BUILDINGS
The project can be well understood by its name. As the name suggests, these are the type of buildings which produce the same amount of energy which they consume on an annual basis and hence amount to almost zero net consumption of energy. The development of a net-zero energy building is quite interesting. First the energy consumption of the building is made as low as possible by employing effective building management systems. Then devices harnessing renewable resources like solar panel, small scale wind-power synthesizing structures, can be put up in order to generate the required power so that the building power consumption reaches to almost zero.
3. SUSTAINABLE BUILDING MATERIALS
Talking about sustainable building materials, eco-friendly concrete is a thing, the development of which is highly advantageous. With the ever increasing modernization, development of buildings is on demand. One of the most crucial materials used for the construction of a building is concrete which produces loads of CO2 gas, hence is quite harmful. One of the best alternatives for this is, self-healing concrete. Bacteria is introduced into the given concrete, which when comes into contact with moisture becomes active and grows limestone. This process will fill the cracks that occur over time, hence no extra concrete is needed.
