Human beings conquer darkness. That is to say, after experimenting with electricity —its currents and its metalloid conductors—, the world began to light up artificially and today, it is a vital resource for civilizations.
This fact is certainly not entirely positive –after all, darkness is also nature–; instead of taking advantage of what the planet provides us, we unleashed a strange technological competition that seemed to have the goal of subjugating nature and “exceeding” it. We use its minerals, turn them into fuels and burn them to run turbines that generate energy, instead of taking advantage of the “natural mechanics” of hundreds of phenomena that occur in the world.
Currently:
92% of world carbon dioxide production
comes from burning fossil fuels.
However, more and more efforts are being made daily to close this enormous—and absurd—gap that we have opened between nature and humans. Costa Rica, for example, shows that the future of lighting now depends on how much you can work side by side with nature, instead of against it, to generate clean energy.
This Caribbean country is an example that 100% of the energy used can come from green energy, generated in favor of nature as well. Just this year, the country managed to get 78.26% of electricity from water, 10.29% from the wind, 10.23% of geothermal and 0.84% biomass and sun.
But what are the 4 ways in which you can work with nature to produce energy?
Water
Hydroelectric plants were the first green alternative to energy produced with fossil fuels. This is obtained from the use of the kinetic and potential energies of the water current, for example, from rivers. Costa Rica has used it for a long time as its main source of energy.
Wind
This production requires knowing the variations of the wind and installing huge wind turbines that convert its kinetic energy into energy. This technology dates back to the Middle Ages, when mills were used to grind wheat. But since 1970 it has been used in wind farms where dozens of wind turbines are erected that currently provide up to 40% of the energy in countries like Denmark.
Land
Geothermal energy is obtained by taking advantage of the heat inside the earth that is transmitted through hot rock bodies or reservoirs by conduction and convection that give rise to geothermal systems. It does not require the construction of dams, nor the clearing of forests, but it does require the construction of large plants.
The downside is that this energy, since it cannot be transported in viable ways, can only be used as in Iceland: to cover the hot water needs of the Greater Reykjavik metropolitan area. And not every country has a usable geothermal resource like this country does.
For this reason, in Costa Rica this energy production only covers 10.23% of its needs.
Sun
Through photovoltaic panels, this energy is used, which has proven to be the best option of all clean energies. Its use can be industrial, with energy produced in parks and solar farms, and little by little progress has been made in storing this energy so that it does not have to depend only on clear days for its use.
It can also be used in a «passive» way, in public buildings, homes and even public transport, such as trains in India.
In addition to these four natural and renewable energies, it is worth keeping an eye on what other ways this sector is innovating. An example is fuel cells that use biogas, hydrogen or natural gas and that have become popular in the United States.
All this technology that is based on cooperation with nature allows us to glimpse that a bright and harmonious future with nature is not impossible and that, on the contrary, it is getting closer.