Solving the Climate Change Crisis by Using Renewable Energy Sources

Introduction

Climate change has caused extreme changes in temperature and weather patterns on planet earth, thus threatening the lives of living organisms. Some causes of this drastic climate change are natural, while most of them originate from human activities that include the combustion of fossil fuels that produce heat-trapping gases. The trapped gases cause global warming, which leads to a rise in sea levels, ecosystem destruction, and severe weather conditions. Global warming has brought world leaders and environmental activists together to forge a way of taming this menace and restoring the globe to what it was initially. This essay delves into how renewable energy sources play a significant role in solving climate change. There have been concerted efforts to encourage renewable sources instead of fossil fuels to solve climate change, which has become a global crisis.

Renewable Energy Sources Solving Climate Change

Solar energy is one of the critical and commonly used sources of power. It is derived from the sun’s rays, clean and free, and it is possible to transform it into different forms using various technologies. Transformed solar energy has important uses such as lighting, heating, and operating electrical appliances. It is environmentally friendly, sustainable, and inexhaustible since it can supply surplus power daily. Solar energy is a crucial substitute for non-renewable sources, including fossil fuels that emit by-products directly linked to climate change (Joseph, 2019). Continuous use of renewable solar energy reduces the amount of CO₂ that builds up in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming and climate change over time.

Wind renewable energy is a form of energy key in electricity production. The harvested wind is used to power turbines fitted to motors to produce electricity, thus making it one of the free and safest non-renewable energy since it does not involve the emission of greenhouse gases. Power generated has various important uses that include lighting, cooking, and operating different types of machinery. This becomes a substitute for fossil fuels that are not environmentally friendly (Joseph, 2019). People are encouraged to consider wind-generated power over other sources, including generators that produce CO_2. The build-up of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere leads to a rise in temperature and, consequently, changes in the climate.

Geothermal energy is another form of environmentally friendly source of power. This is the heat derived from the earth’s crust due to decomposing radioactive materials and molten components. The heat generates high pressure, enough to turn turbines, directed towards the earth’s outer surface and harvested to produce electricity supplied to consumers. Geothermal energy reduces the dependence on fuel-run generators to produce electricity, thus reducing the production and release of toxic emissions that pollute the environment and affect the climate. CO_2, which is part of the emissions, traps heated air in the atmosphere, thus causing global warming (Joseph, 2019). Despite the high cost of harvesting and distributing power, developed countries embrace this clean energy source, thus becoming an important milestone in curbing climate change.

Hydropower is one of the largest sources of electricity around the globe. Flowing water out of dams and over waterfalls is harvested to turn turbines used to produce electricity. Producing and maintaining hydroelectric power is economical, thus lowering the cost of consumption. This enables many families to adopt electricity in their households, thus discouraging them from using the other methods that release toxic substances into the atmosphere (Joseph, 2019). The continuous use of hydroelectric power helps reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that would affect the climate over time.

Biomass energy is the energy acquired from plants and animals. It has various uses, including cooking, heating, and powering machinery, thus making it an alternative energy source to those emitting CO_2. Biomass produces energy directly from heating or other converted renewable states, including liquid and gaseous forms. These different states of biomass serve unique purposes in energy provision. Biomass is one of the cheapest renewable energy sources since it is readily available; it includes plant and animal waste. Furthermore, the acquisition does not involve the destruction of the environment, which would contribute to climate change (Joseph, 2019). The level of CO₂ emission to the atmosphere reduces as people shun away using other forms of energy and resort to using biomass, which reduces the level of global warming while stabilizing the climate.

Conclusion

In conclusion, climate change has become a global crisis whose effects are posing a threat to life. Some of the causes are attributed to nature, while the rest have a direct link to human activities. However, concerted efforts have been established to tame this menace by encouraging different energy sources, including solar, wind renewable, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal. These environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources are substitutes for other forms of energy that produce CO_2, the gas responsible for global warming, thus making them most preferred. This shifting from common sources of energy to renewable sources is helping in the reduction of the accumulation of greenhouse gases on the surface of the earth and thus reducing global warming.

Reference

Joseph, T. E. (2019). Investigating Renewable Energy Potentials in solving Energy crisis in Niger Delta Riverine Communities, Nigeria. International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 7(3), 905-915.