1. Energy production
Fossil fuels vs renewable energy
Fossil fuels are the most important source of energy in industrialized countries and
the most important fossil fuels are oil, coal, natural gas and peat. The problem is that
fossil fuels are non-renewable. They are limited in supply and will one day be
depleted.
The use of fossil fuels raises serious environmental concerns.
Burning fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide, the number one greenhouse gas
contributing to global warming. Air pollution is also a direct result of the use of fossil
fuels.
Using renewable energy we can reduce dependence on fossil fuels and their price
peaks. Sun, wind and water are perfect energy sources depending on where you
are. They are non-polluting, renewable and efficient. They are simple: all you need is
sunlight, running water or wind.
There’s more than enough renewable energy sources to supply all of the world’s
energy needs forever but it’s construction is expensive.
The sun provides enough energy that can be stored for use long after the sun sets
and even during cloudy periods but it would be way too expensive to replace the
current energy infrastructure used for fossil fuel energy.
Wind and hydroelectric power, which have been used effectively for generations, are
also rapidly growing energy markets. The principle behind both is that the force of
the wind and water currents are passed through turbines which convert their energy
into electricity.
Biomass energy is one of people's earliest sources of energy. Most people in
developed countries use wood only for secondary heating but one to two billion
people in the developing nations still use wood as their primary source of heat.
2. Energy conservation as a means to combat global warming
How can you conserve energy in your house?
Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere. Finnish
people can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases with simple little actions:
- Turn off all the electrical devices and lights when you don’t need them
- Let natural light in and favor mirrors and light-reflecting surfaces, so you don’t need
that much lamps
- Use outdoor lights only when you really need them
- Lower your home’s heating for one degree, believe it or not, even one degree means
a lot!
- Don’t waste water when taking shower or washing teeth
- Wash only full loads of laundry or dishes
- Avoid plastic bags
- Try to fix broken things before buying a new one
- Ventilate only when need, don’t keep windows ajar all the time
- Sauna should be turned off when don’t need, place sauna shifts so there is no spare
time between
- Walk or cycle all the short distances, favor low-emission cars and public transport
- Reduce animal source foods, eat more home-grown vegetables and root crops
- Pick up berries and mushrooms from forests
- Buy only as much food as you need
- If possible, heat you house by renewable energy sources as wind power, hydropower,
solar power or geothermal
3. Wind Power
The movement of wind is transformed to electricity. Generation of electricity depends
on how windy that day is. The whole works are automatically, but human is still
needed. The wind power plants employs many people. Example for fixing the
machines.
In Finland wind power is pretty new method of production, but it has worked very
well. The winter is better time to produce wind power here. In the end of 2014´s there
were 260 wind power plants in Finland. The whole production is still only 1,3 % of all
energy here.
Mostly people don`t like wind power because of the sound and looks. It is true that
they aren't pretty and they take a lot of space of the nature. But the sound is more
quiet than people may think. Only for 500m distance away, the sound of turbines are
the same as a bird's singing (40 dB.)
It is also bad for the animals that live near. The sound may hurt their ears more than
ours. And the turbines are very dangerous for the birds.
But there is more good things than bad things. Wind power is eco-friendly and it is a
free natural recourse. It also has no emission, which is important in this world. And
for the future, it would be a good alternative to nuclear power.
Hydropower
Hydropower is one of the forms of renewable energy. It harnesses the movement of
the water and transforms it into energy. It’s also one of the oldest ways of producing
energy, people have exploited the kinetic energy in rivers and waterfalls for
centuries. Hydropower is based on water’s cycle in the nature. Water’s kinetic
energy can be exploited with man-made water wheels. People have used watermills
since the ancient times, and nowadays water’s kinetic energy is transformed into
electricity in hydroelectric power plants. They use the kinetic energy of falling or fast
running water. In hydroelectric power plants the water flows through turbines, which
spin a generator, which converts the motion into electricity.
Finland has long history with hydropower. Several decades ago, ninety-percent of
Finland’s electricity was produced with hydropower. The amount has slowly
decreased after that, and nowadays the percentage of hydropower in generation of
electricity is around 10-20 percent. Finland has over 220 hydroelectric power plants.
They use waterfalls, rapids and damming in their energy production. Most of the
running water’s energy has already been harnessed, and for environmental reasons
new hydroelectric power plants won’t probably be built. Better option is to improve
already existing power plants’ capacities.
4. Hydropower itself is emission-free, but the power plants can cause some trouble with
the environment. They cause harm to the river’s ecosystem, for example they
prevent the natural course of migrants. Damming the river can dry it up or cause
flooding. Power plants also take space from, or sometimes even destroy, the local
organism. Many harmful substances dissolve to the water from the soil underneath
the power plants’ reservoirs. Usually these effects are local, and from the global
point of view hydropower is mostly an ecological source of energy.
Comparing family house heating systems
Detached house can be heated in a variety of ways. The most common ways of
heating are geothermal, wood heating, oil heating and electric heating. Heating
methods have lot of differences. The costs are of varying size, some heating
methods are cheaper than others. Some damage to the climate more than the
others.
Geothermal heat is an ecological and cheap. It is committed to the soil from the sun,
a renewable energy source. Heating produced from renewable energy price is rising,
so the heat is a good and cheap alternative in the future. Geothermal energy is not
very much damage. Geothermal installation of the system is very expensive.
Wood is a renewable and affordable energy source. In Finland, wood heating is
common, because it is an environmentally friendly way of heating. Is used for
heating domestic wood. In Finland, many of which have their own forest, so many
get firewood from the forest. If you don't own a forest , wood heating is quite
expensive.
Oil heating and electric heating for a long time were the same price, but the current
oil heating is cheaper. Oil is a fossil fuel. Oil burning process accelerates the
development of climate change. Electric heat as a source of energy used in
electricity generation. Electric heating is easy and worry-free and its only
disadvantage is its price. Electric heating is the most expensive form of heating.
Johanna, Pinja, Roosa, Suvi, Julia
