Green energy: What is it and what does it include?

Did youknow that green energy is renewable, but that not all renewable energy sources are considered green energy? This explanation about 100% renewable energy will surprise you

You’ve probably heard, whether in a serious television talk show or a pretentious Twitter thread, that green energy and what types of generation sources it is made up of is a matter of ongoing debate that no one seems to agree on. If you haven’t noticed this by now—and believe me, deep down we envy you—we recommend you get out of your bunker and get some fresh air. But first, take a look at this post, which will surely help you in the outside world. In recent years, and especially following the powerful emergence of new renewable electricity generation sources, thousands of liters of ink have been spilled trying to clarify what 100% green energy is and which sources fall into this category. This is why today, without wanting to sound pretentious, we’d like to do a brief review of the different renewable energy sources that can be considered green. There are some that, despite our consideration of them, are not 100% green. Let’s see. The origin of this debate lies far from those cold power plants we may have in our heads. Try, for a moment, to erase from your mind those recurring images of cooling towers, solar panels, or electric generators producing watts and watts that travel through the electrical grid until they reach our homes. Our minds need to take a more modest trip: to the dictionary. Don’t abandon us yet; this may be more interesting than it seems.

Let’s begin with the definition of what green energy is, which, after all, is what has brought us to this point. We can define this type of energy source as those that do not produce any type of impact on the environment—absence of pollution and/or degradation of the environment due to direct or indirect impact—and whose natural resources for energy production are renewable and inexhaustible for human use. A definition to which we should add the very relevant nuance of the impact caused by the production and location of the infrastructure necessary for electricity generation. A point that we assume is key, and that is that all human action has an impact on the environment, no matter how minimal. Thus, we can speak of 100% green energy when we refer to solar thermal and photovoltaic energy, wind energy in its onshore and offshore variants, geothermal energy, biomass, and marine energies such as tidal energy—still in development and research except for the successful case of offshore wind power that we mentioned in the previous point.

Perhaps, at this point, you are wondering what has happened to some other well-known types of electricity generation that, surely, you are surprised not to find at first glance. This is the particular case of hydropower, which is classified as renewable but not as green due to the environmental impact it has on plants larger than 10 MW (those smaller than this size are considered mini-hydropower), as they significantly slow down river flow. This does not mean that hydropower is not a clean energy resource, but rather that it cannot be considered 100% green energy, given that it does have a significant impact on the environment. That is the crux of the matter.

Is natural gas or nuclear energy a type of green energy?

Two sources that frequently make headlines deserve a separate classification: natural gas and nuclear energy. These two sources of energy production, which are at the epicenter of major political discussions – let us remember that the European Commission has classified investments in these energies as green to facilitate the ecological transition and achieve the European Union’s decarbonization objectives – are of utmost importance to the energy mix of many countries. However, let’s take a closer look at the reasons why gas and nuclear energy cannot be considered green, but can be considered clean according to some expert criteria.

The role of nuclear energy as a clean energy source is controversial due to the waste generated as a result of the use of radioactive material in electricity production. While proponents of this energy source consider it a clean energy source (a position evidently not supported by its detractors), mainly due to the lack of polluting gas emissions into the atmosphere during the energy production process (it is still a steam power plant), it cannot be considered a green energy source due to its impact on the environment. Remember that this is one of the rules for considering an energy source as green.

The role of natural gas, while different, has certain similarities. First, natural gas is a type of hydrocarbon, so it must be extracted from the Earth’s crust, where it is trapped in pockets subjected to the Earth’s pressure for millions of years. Therefore, its extraction has an environmental impact. In addition, and as with other hydrocarbons, its use in energy generation is through combustion; a process that inevitably leads to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Thus, despite being one of the most environmentally friendly hydrocarbons, it cannot be considered a clean energy source as such; Although it is, like nuclear energy, a very important source of electricity generation with a lower environmental impact.

Well, this is the end of our modest journey, dictionary-based, into the world of green energy. We hope you found it useful.