Obtaining a Sustainable Environment by @gabikay

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Hello wonderful steemians, members of steem4nigeria and the Admins of the community. I am pleased to see such a community for Nigeria and most of all, I am over joyed about the community contest for this week. Below is my entry for the contest and I hope that I may be able to interest you my viewer.

Introduction to Energy

Energy is that calculatable property that must be introduced to a physical system or body so as to make the body to perform some work or to introduce heat to that body/system. When heat is introduced into a body, the body gets excited and then has the ability to move.

In literal terms energy is the ability to do work and so energy formular is given as

Force × Distance

_{The SI unit of Energy is Joules}

For energy to be exerted, then 4 things are considered namely; body, force, load and distance. For a body to exert energy, then that body must apply force to move a load(s) through a distance in the direction of the force.

Examples of where work can be exerted include

• A man pushing/pulling a wheel to exert mechanical energy.
• The movement of voltage through some resistance in a coil to exert electrical energy.
• The vibration of a medium by the movement of a sound wave to exert sound energy.

Forms of energy

Since energy cannot be created not destroyed, then they can only continue to exist from one form to another. These forms include:

• Mechanical energy ( Kinetic or Potential)
• Electrical energy
• Heat energy
• Sound enrgy
• Light energy
• Solar energy

Sources of energy include;

• Renewable energy &
• Non-renewable energy

Non-renewable energy

At the start of the 21st century, over 80% of fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal and natural gas formed the base of energy generation in the world. These resources are finite and so tend to get exhausted without replenishment.

Non-renewable energy is that kind of energy that does not get replenished after it is being used up. For example it takes thousands of years for crude oil to form from the remains of plant and animal decomposition.

Fossil fuel which is the major non-renewable energy has a lot of negative score on the environment which include; air pollution, water pollution and depletion of the Ozone layer. Gases such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals, carbon monoxide, emanate when fossil fuels are used up. This in turn causes asthma, heart diseases, and other health issues.

The continuous release of these gases and also flaring of some special gases has brought about the degradation of the Ozone layer ( The ozone layer refers to a layer above the atmosphere that tries to reduce the impact of the sun towards the earth). If the depletion of the Ozone layer continues at this steady pace, then there cannot be an assurance of human life on earth in the future.

However, there has been developed another kind of energy which is called Renewable or Alternative energy.

Renewable energy is that kind of energy that gets replenished with it's increasing use. Some examples of these include geothermal energy (hot springs), wind energy, hydroelectric energy, tidal energy, solar energy, and biomass. They are called alternative energy they can be used to replace the use of fossil fuel without having a negative impact on the environment. Briefly, let us discuss Some of these renewable energies.

• Solar energy
• Wind energy
• hydroelectric energy
• Tidal energy
• Biomass

1. Solar energy: this is one of the most common alternative energy that can be seen in the world today. When solar rays hit a solar panel (solar panel is a collection of solar cells that aims to absorb power from the sun and covert into electrical energy) then we have a safe means of power generation called Solar energy. The development of solar panels has reduced the air and noise pollution that would have emanated from the use of fossil fuel engines.

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2. Wind Energy: Wind is a common thing in nature and so engineers has discovered a way to leverage natures abundant wind to produce power. Wind turbines are position at an angle suitable enough to recieve enough wind. When the wind hits the wind turbines, it makes it rotate and hence creates mechanical energy. A generator could then be connected to the wind turbine to convert the mechanical energy into electrical energy. This is a very safe way to generate power although areas of high magnitude of wind on earth are not much.

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3. Hydroelectric energy: This kind of energy is derived from the movement of water. Since mechanical energy studies both kinetic energy ( energy in a body in motion) and potential energy ( energy in a body at rest), then the movement of water at strategic points like waterfalls in dams can be leveraged to generate power. Turbines are positions at stretegic places in a waterfall so that when the water falls, it strikes the turbine to produce a mechanical energy in it. This turbine then gets a generator attached to it to convert the mechanical energy to electrical energy.

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4. Biomass: There are various forms of biomass but generally, biomass is energy that is derived from biological materials. They could be from either recently living or living organisms like alcohol fuel, waste, or wood. Since human existence is guaranteed for now, then the replenishment of biomass energy is guaranteed as well. As stated earlier, biomass energy has a wide scope but I will be focusing on biowaste for energy generation.

I once visited a farm called Songhai farm in Rivers state, Nigeria. There I learnt that biological waste such as human feaces, animal dung, or waste food can be converted and used to generate power. How does it works?

Observe that the human feaces or animal dung has a horrible smell. Also try to remember that when you neglict to take out some feaces from your body system (large intestine), then you will surely sweat profusely. That sweat is caused by the heat which emanates from the feaces in your system. When you take out the waste from your body system, you will feel at ease and stop sweating but remember that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. So technically what you have done is to take this energy into the atmosphere.

This bio waste can be collected and kept in very confined space. Lastly, gas emanates from the bio waste which can then be channeled through a confined space. Since gases posses maximum pressure in confined space, then the gas tends to move a turbine that is positioned in its way hence transferring a mechanical energy into the turbine.

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The main advantage of renewable energy is that it does not leave a negative impact on the earth unlike the non-renewable energy hence renewable energy ensures the continuation of a hazardous free life on earth. For example

• An electric train does not leave trace of carbon on its way while moving.
• No harm comes from the solar panel into the environment

Also, the various kinds of renewable energy discovered has increased scientific approach towards energy generation. Today, there are many engineers who major in the installation and maintenance of different renewable energy equipments. All these have created employment opportunities for people and reduced the rate of unemployment.

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No matter how good renewable energies are, the fact remain that the cost of acquiring and setting them up is dear. For example

• Buying an solar inverter and battery is a totally different budget from acquiring a solar panel.
• Electric cars are the most expensive as of today.

Another challenge is that the number of technicians who posses technical know how on the installation and maintenance of these renewable energy equipments are not wide spread and so it cost more to acquire their services.

Conclusion

In my own opinion, I believe that the most sought forms of energy are the mechanical energy and electrical energy. Every other form of energy is usually converted into these two forms of energy. Since electric charges can be stored, then mechanical energy is converted is first obtained and then converted using a generator into electrical energy for storage. When work needs to be done, electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy using an electric motor.

Renewable energy refer to those kinds of energy that can get replenished within a short period of time as they are used. The negative effects of the non-renewable energy was the reason for the discovery of an alternative energy that would not leave negative impact on the earth.

Thank you for going through my post today. Please drop a comment if you feel like sharing any knowledge.

Cc: @ngoenyi @Fredquantum