Importance of Renewable Energy

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

At present, all the activities to which we are accustomed and on which the satisfaction of each of our most basic needs depends, are possible thanks to a large investment of energy, a resource mostly from the transformation of organic matter such as oil and gas, classified as fossil fuels by their origin and whose obtaining and processing represent one of the greatest sources of environmental disturbance and contamination for all media, arriving late to the point where We must orient ourselves towards the generation of new energy sources on a global scale that represent a lower impact and allow the maintenance of the quality of life for the entire population. humanity.

Among other possibilities that the adoption of renewable energy allows are: 1) the implementation on a small scale of the mechanisms for obtaining it, turning it into a decentralizable source and autonomous; 2) the distributed generation capacity, due to the possibility of being obtained in the same area where it will be consumed, reducing energy losses due to transmission and distribution, which would imply an increase in its efficiency; 3) the opportunity to generate along with it new sources of employment, increasing the economic potential of the regions; 4) the promotion of technological development towards the progressive improvement of energy efficiency and the reduction of the investments necessary to obtain it; 5) the reduction of energy dependence through the importation of fossil fuels and the risks associated with price fluctuations and geopolitical discrepancies; and 6) enabling citizen participation through local projects managed by the communities themselves.

energy sustainability

In addition to this, the variable of guaranteeing the sustainability of energy sources itself must be met, in order to avoid their depletion and reduce the impact against natural resources, in addition to also being able to demonstrate a significant reduction in carbon emissions, a point that particularly has not been as viable as estimated.

The primary investment of resources for the creation of renewable energy generating infrastructures still depends entirely on the use of energy produced with fossil fuels, from the smallest screw, to the steel sheets or tubes, and even the concrete or wood used, absolutely everything is obtained and processed by industries with high levels of carbon emissions, which from the perspective of the most radical supporters in the adoption of renewable energies, is becomes one of the main inconsistencies that limit the large-scale implementation of the potential solution to the energy and environmental problems that we have created.

Difficulties to solve

Along with this excuse, many other questions have been raised, such as: the implications of storing energy produced by renewable means; the visual and environmental impact that the generating infrastructures cause, because they need to be located in geographical environments that allow the harnessing potential energy from nature, as if oil wells and gigantic refineries had not already impacted enough; the stability of the generation and distribution of energy, depending on the uncontrollable variation of the natural phenomena from which it is obtained; education on a global scale that ensures the correct training of people regarding the adoption of a new energy model; the economic impact of changing many structures and artifacts, such as automobiles and various means of transportation, as well as the increase in pollution produced by your waste; the impact on species, biodiversity and human populations that could be caused by the establishment of new structures and networks; and the establishment of solid policies and regulatory frameworks that satisfy the interests of all nations equally, capable of defeating the At the same time, resistance to change as a result of the particular interests of the industries involved in the energy production chain fossil; thus adding a large number of edges that slow down the global transformation towards a new era of energy sustainability with which to face the problems that induce change climate.

renewable energy sources

The most viable potential sources of obtaining renewable energy up to now are: 1) solar, through panels that allow the capture of solar radiation and its conversion to energy electric; 2) wind; by taking advantage of the kinetic energy of the winds; 3) hydroelectric, due to the kinetic energy of the flow of water in rivers and reservoirs that move the generating turbines; 4) geothermal, with the use of the internal heat of the Earth emanated through the terrestrial fissures; biomass, serving the organic matter product of agricultural and forest residues for the generation of heat and electricity; and the oceanic, under the thermodynamic principles that allow the use of ocean currents and the difference in their temperatures.