Energy
When you think of energy you probably think of oil, which we put in our cars to be able to drive around. Or maybe the electricity that charges your iPhone. but have you ever thought about where this energy comes from? Today, much of this energy is generated by burning fossil fuels, like oil or gas, extracted from deep underground reserves. Retrieving and using these fossil fuels emits a lot of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. I can already hear you thinking “Why don’t people just use cleaner alternatives?”. Let’s have a chat about energy!
The past
For thousands of years, your ancestors lived without electricity. The only forms of energy they would have been familiar with, were the sun and the fires they heated their homes with.
That all changed in the 18th century with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Now I am sure this is all stuff that you’ve heard about in history class, so I’ll keep this brief.
Basically, some smart guy discovered that if you burn things, such as coal, and then use that energy to heat up water, you get steam. That steam creates a lot of pressure, using that pressure you can for example turn the wheels on a steam powered train. From that point on nothing could stop people, more smart people got to thinking about how they could use energy and how they could get it more efficiently.
For example, we discovered that fuels such as petroleum and natural gas emit more heat than coal when burned, and so they generate more energy. This eventually led us to where we are today, heavily dependent on burning petroleum and gas to power everything from the businesses and homes to your cars.
The present
Like we discussed earlier, today the societies are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels for energy production.
In 2017 the EU used 504 million tonnes of oil to produce energy. When we look at renewable sources, we see that in that same year renewable energy produced less than half of the amount of energy produced by fossil fuels. It is not all gloom and doom however, it’s worth mentioning that the use of oil in the EU has dropped by 100 million tonnes since 2005.
In that same timeframe the use of renewable energy has risen by the equivalent of 100 million tonnes of oil. We are today, more than ever before, seeing a push for renewable energy. Motivated by the looming threat of climate change, governments and concerned citizens are transitioning away from fossil fuels. Instead, people are now looking at alternatives that have much less of a negative impact on the earth and its delicate ecosystem.
I am betting you’re just as curious as I am to see what these alternatives might look like in the futures. Let’s have a look!
The futures
What are the energy sources of the futures? How will they impact your lives? Will they allow you to take better care of the beautiful nature people have taken for granted for so long? These questions are difficult to answer. Certainly, you know by now that we cannot predict the future.
But we can speculate, so let’s see where things might go!
We all know those old nuclear reactors with their radioactive waste, just like nuclear bombs, nuclear reactors split atoms to generate energy. When this process is complete, only some uranium is left. This uranium can then no longer be used for many practical purposes, and is harmful to humans and other animals. This is the largest problem we face with nuclear power; people don’t really know what to do with their leftovers. But what if there were no leftovers?
Introduce nuclear fusion plants. Fusion reactors work the other way around. Instead of splitting atoms, they fuse particles from elements such as hydrogen together and generate energy in the process and it does it without producing radioactive waste! This form of energy generation is currently being tested and could well mean the end of fossil fuel.
It almost sounds too good to be true; people modify the buildings that we already have to give us a virtually infinite supply of energy.
But what if I told you that this might not be so crazy at all? The soundscraper is a building that generates energy through the use of sound.
A lot of tiny hairs, placed on the building’s surface, vibrate and generate electricity. At this moment it is just a concept and not actually built yet, but can you imagine these standing alongside all the major roads of the futures? The sound of the streets would cause the hairs to vibrate and generate a near-constant supply of energy.
A sidewalk that generates energy simply by people walking on it. A road that captures the energy of the cars driving on it. It sounds like something that is still quite far away, perhaps a technology for the people of the futures.
But what if I told you it is already being used on a street in London to power the streetlights at night? The sidewalk takes the kinetic energy that is generated by the weight of the person walking in the sidewalk and converts it into electricity. Isn’t it amazing what people come up with when we must think creatively? Who knows, maybe soon all of you will be generating the energy just by walking or driving around.
It looks like there are a lot of new ways to generate electricity, the possibilities seem endless! Who knows… maybe you will be the one to find a new way?
Renewable energy?
Renewable energy is energy that is produced by natural resources. You could argue that fossil fuels for example are also natural resources and they indeed are. However, they are limited and need to be burned up to be used effectively. Once the supply runs out we will have a big problem.
Sunlight, wind, rain, waves, tides, heat, however, are also sources that can be used to produce energy. In the past few years, solar panels and big windmill parks have been built as a source of green power. This is something that will continue growing in the foreseeable future and will be implemented on bigger and smaller scales, according to Trensition data. Humanity is looking into new technologies to produce energy out of these sources more effectively.
Ocean energy?
Ocean energy offers us multiple forms of renewable energy. Right now humanity is still exploring the possibilities that this could bring us, but is not yet implementing it. This could change in the future.
With the water levels rising due to global warming we see an increase in water. What if we somehow started harnessing the power of the ocean to make more energy than we can utilize? The waves on the ocean are constantly moving. Things in motion produce what we call kinetic energy and this kinetic energy can be harnessed to generate electricity to power homes, transport, and industries. Apart from this kinetic energy, there are heat sources that could be harnessed, the salinity can be used to make chemical reactions that produce energy. The water itself can also be used to make a new type of fuel!
Green Hydrogen?
Because of the need for energy and the dwindling supply of fossil fuels humanity is looking into alternatives. Hydrogen is a part of water and is a gas.
Hydrogen fuel - compared to fossil fuels - leaves no carbon dioxide so that should help us a lot in our fight against global warming! The technology needed to make green hydrogen energy is something that is already here. Currently, there is a lot of research still being done and humanity is looking into ways of using it on a larger scale. There are already some cars that can run on hydrogen that is being used so now they are looking into making new strategies to incorporate this new energy on larger scales.
Energy storage?
Another problem that we could face is storage. We have all these ways of producing energy but we also need a way to store it so that we could use it at a later point. Energy storage involves converting the energy in a form that is easy to use. We can’t have a miniature sun in our basement to power our house, we need batteries to store that solar power in a form that we can use.
People are trying to implement different technologies for energy storage nowadays. Batteries are becoming smaller and can store more energy than in the past. Some batteries can even be built into a wall!
There are also a lot of new things being researched. Currently, there is a lot of ongoing research to store energy in the air! This is called compressed air energy storage.
Finally, there are many new materials being made that help us in the making of new ways to store our energy.
