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What Options Do We Have?
Technology as we know it has come a long way over the past few decades. However, how we interact with technology in our everyday lives has dramatically changed in the past 10 years. It has invaded every aspect of our daily lives. Anyone would be hard-pressed to find a place where technology has not invaded our lives.
This, of course, has brought huge benefits to our lives. We rely on technology for literally everything from our TVs to our phones, to our computers and even to power our homes. Possibly one of the most important applications of technology is energy production and energy conservation. Green technology has come in strides is improving day by day. Who would have thought that solar energy would become the cheapest form of energy 10 years ago?
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Green Technologies
Green technologies are amongst the few technologies that have continued to rapidly grow over the years. Just a few years ago no one would have pegged solar as the main source of cheap energy and now here we are. They are the key to saving our planet from heating up even more. It is a serious cause for alarm when the past few years have been warmer than ever in recorded history. What choices do we have with green technologies and how can they help with helping the environment?
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Energy Conservation with Solar Panels
.Well, you can practically run your home off the grid with solar panel! But maybe you may think to yourself ‘Well wait a minute, I don’t have enough space on my land!’. Who said anything about land?
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All you need is a roof. You can have your entire roof made of mini solar panels! And get this- the roof tiles will be cheaper and stronger than any old regular roof tiles.
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Tesla, the company best known for their amazing electric cars and the eccentric billionaire, Elon Musk behind them have created something truly wonderful here. In advancing green technology Tesla has found a space-efficient way to integrate sustainable power generation into your own homes.
And who is to say that these tiles only extend to the roof. It would not be far-fetched to assume that these tiles can be extended throughout the house.
This green technology of solar roof tiles then feeds into a battery of your choosing. It is recommended that you use Tesla’s own Powerwall battery supply. Although this is a little bit on the pricier side, it still is capable of providing up to 7 days of the continuous power supply!
Energy costs with Solar are expected to fall down to $0.03 KwH (kilowatt per hour) in the next few years. In comparison, the traditional means of fossil fuel reliant energy production still will remain around $0.17. of course, every innovation will face resistance. In this case the fossil fuel industry that still wants to remain relevant and profitable creating products that are harmful to the environment.
Renewable energy will be the cheapest to produce by 2020.
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The Green Technology of Vertical Farms
Conventional soil-based farming is both slow and extremely inefficient yielding only about 1-2 harvests per year and with a 30% loss in the crops.
What if you were told that you could get 15-20 harvests, with 1% loss of products, using no insecticide, no pesticide with only the sun’s power! This is the amazing advent of Vertical Farming. This solves so many problems at once.
First, it is a giant step towards solving the problem of world hunger. 15-20 harvests a year means that there can be a surplus of food that can be produced in areas known to be ‘’food-deserts’’
This green technology is one that is accomplished in a completely controlled environment. Which means that it does not matter where the farms are placed. Usually, conventional farming meets dead-ends where the climate is concerned.
Vertical farming has no such constraints. Competitors of vertical farming praise it for solving the problem of ‘scale’. This usually refers to space. It’s pretty understandable to see why conventional farming might encounter a problem with space. That’s not even a concern here. You require a minimal amount of land but need a completely controlled environment.
This goes a long way in contributing towards energy conversion and saving the planet as a whole.
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Geothermal Heating
Normal home heating systems are extremely inefficient. The way it works is by pumping hot air inside towards the outside world while also cooling the inside air cool. It’s the opposite in winter. Anyone can see why it can be an inefficient system since you are using an insane amount of energy.
A new solution to this problem is using underground thermal pipes to accomplish both goals. Since temperature is a lot more stable underground, it requires about 30-40 less power (and money) to pump out the heat or cold.
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Electric Cars
This green technology is probably the most famous one amongst the long. Long have we heard of the virtues of electric cars over fuel ones. But they seemed to have lack the ‘oomph’ that most fuel cars bring with them.
But as always green technology has found a way to beat them and then some. Tesla showcased its Roadster II. An electric battery based car that can go 0-60 in 1.9 seconds. This is faster than any other car in history.
Electric cars are also slowly coming down at prices with the cheapest now being at a mere $24,000. This is a far cry from about 10 years ago when electric cars were a luxury for the rich.
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How Green Technologies are Saving the Planet
One of if not the main cause of global warming is the excessive production of greenhouse gasses. The past year has been the hottest ever recorded in all of history.
The main goal of green technologies is to completely eliminate the expulsion of CO2. All green technologies expel the bare minimum amount of CO2 or not at all. Conventional energy production methods are responsible for the global epidemic we face today. Fossil fuel burning has effectively raised temperatures all around the globe.
Green technologies and energy conservation is one step on a long journey to cooling the planet back down and making the earth sustainable for our kids to live in. This is also a great way to make the problem of world hunger a thing of the past with sustainable farming.
Many of the earth’s problems are on the verge of being solved and we only need to support them with our good faith and yes, our funding.
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Sources:
https://weburbanist.com/2016/05/22/off-grid-self-sufficient-regen-villages-with-vertical-farms/
https://www.tesla.com/powerwall
https://www.wind-energy-the-facts.org/the-cost-of-energy-generated-by-wind-power.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-power-cost-decrease-2018-5?r=US&IR=T
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