Renewable Energy
Part of the solution is combating climate change is renewable energy. Renewable energy is made naturally using the earth’s natural resources and the energy made producers little or no greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
Renewable energy will have to part of future in combating climate change. There are different types of renewable energy such as: wind, solar and wave. At the moment most of our electricity that we use is made from coal fired power stations.
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that” Thomas Edison 1931
In a harbour close to where I live there is a wave generator. Directly opposite the wave generator is a coal loader. There are huge stock piles of coal being loaded onto ships and trucks and I ask the question if we can have a clean way of producing electricity that reduces the use of fossil fuels (which will eventually run out of) and making electricity that pumps out so much CO2 that it is contributing to climate change, why do we not have more wave generators along our coast, more wind farms and more solar panels? We need these renewable energies to be part of the equation in combating climate change.
Wave energy conversion has more benefits than wind and solar and Australia is not short on ocean swells. A wave generator uses the oceans currents that pass below the generator to produce energy. A wave generator sits above the water with an underwater opening that allows the ocean swell to rise up into it and fall away. The energy that is produced is converted into air pressure which then turns a wind turbine. As the swell passes through the generator, air is pushed up inside and this turns the turbine and as the swell drops away the air creates a vacuum and this turns the turbine again. The swell creates the energy as it enters and as it exits the generator. The benefit of wave energy is that you can predict generation up to a week in advance where wind energy you can only predict generation a few hours in advance. Wind and solar energy vary throughout any day but waves are consistent throughout the day. A huge benefit! As swells change the generators technology ensures that there is little impact on the power grid. As we look to ways of reducing green house gas emission, this technology will hopefully be part of the solution in our futures energy production. Harnessing the oceans swell is using a resource that will not run out, the generators produces very little or no greenhouse gases and once the generators are built and in place there is very little cost.
Australia is leading the world in this unique technology and the best features of our generators are that all moving parts are above the water line which is great for maintenance and marine life and the generators do not use any oil so oil spills are not a concern either for marine life.
The decisions where to locate the generators are taken very serious and not only are the costs a big consideration but the environmental impacts, the cultural, the social, the aesthetic and recreation effects on local communities. Our generators can be used as one standalone unit or installed in a group. These generators can be installed in many different environmental conditions. Some people may not like the look of the generators in our oceans but I don’t mind looking at them as it reminds me of the fact that this technology is going to play a big part in our planets sustainable future and that is a very import goal. Australia is very lucky, we are surrounded by oceans, we have lots of sunshine and many areas are very windy so moving forward and harnessing our free renewable energies just makes a lot of sense. We can keep our mineral resources for any emergencies we may have in the future. Proactive planning ensures goals are achieved and is better than reactive action when we run out of mineral resources.
A company making a big difference in renewable energy is Oceanlinx. Oceanlinx make wave generators and made the one in the harbour near where I live. For more information about wave generators got to www.oceanlinx.com.au
Thankyou to Stuart, Natalie and Tom for your support in educating kids about climate change and the enviornment. I hope together we can make wave generators a bigger part of energy making in the future.
