Heat warming is of interest to scientists around the world. The underlying causes of this phenomenon have multiplied, perhaps primarily the use of non-renewable sources of energy. Thus, renewable energies have begun to be a serious and effective solution to this problem. How can renewable energies reduce climate change? Why is the transition to renewable energy so important?
We discuss the role of renewable energies in addressing the most significant problems of climate change (global warming) by identifying the results of the energy transformation that many countries around the world are already taking steps towards.
Global Warming
Global warming is the increasing rise in Earth’s temperature, as a result of the increasing proportion of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. About two-thirds — the bulk of carbon emissions — produce fossil fuel burning, and the energy shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources highlights an effective solution to reducing climate change.
The problem of global temperature rise emerged between 1880-1981 at 0.07 ° C every 10 years, and the rate of annual temperature increase worldwide since 1981 began at 0.18 ° C every 10 years. This rise led to a rise in Earth’s temperature, as confirmed in a paper published in 2018 in the journal Environmental Research Letters which noted the damage of global warming to populations around the world. Climate scientists recommend that heat warming should be reduced to 1.5 ° C by 2040.
Why is global warming happening?
The causes of global warming are numerous between human and natural causes, summarized in the top 4 causes:
1- Human activity — specifically related to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, petrol, gasoline and natural gas, which has an effect on global warming through the collection of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants in the atmosphere that absorb sunlight and solar radiation from the Earth’s surface; Pollutants are kept for a long time in the atmosphere, trapping heat causing the planet to overheat. These heat-trapping pollutants – specifically carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor and synthetic fluorinated gases – are known as greenhouse gases, and their effect is called the greenhouse effect.
2- Oil spills and drilling accidents: oil exploration technology has evolved, but spills and accidents remain frequent. Drilling contractors extract crude oil from the ground and are found only in underground reservoirs (usually in water bodies). Used in exploration operations are explosives that affect animals both on land and water, and can kill marine life. Drilling experts are the most harmful stage – continuous drilling leads to more accidents, such as water poisoning due to hydrocarbons (which cause water toxicity) and drilling liquids (which contain minerals).. Even small leaks lead to the collection of these substances on the seabed, damaging organisms, and causing distortion to their structures.
3- Greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution: greenhouse emissions i.ncrease as fossil fuel products increase. Although greenhouse gases are good when they are in the right quantity, their increase in the atmosphere as a result of refining and consumption of fossil fuels results in greenhouse gases that trap too much heat warming the Earth’s surface. When non-renewable sources of electricity and transport are used, we contribute additional greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Concentrations of major greenhouse gases have increased since the industrial revolution due to human activities, and concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have now become ever greater in the Earth’s atmosphere.
4- Variations in solar activity: Changes in solar energy production can affect the intensity of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface. While these changes can affect the Earth’s climate, solar differences have played a small role in the climate changes observed in recent decades. Satellites measure the amount of energy the Earth has received from the Sun since 1978. These measurements show no net increase in Sun production, even as global surface temperatures rise.
Renewable energy and its most famous types
Renewable energy: Automatically renewable clean energy derived from natural resources that do not run out of time, including solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, geothermal and waste conversion.
- Solar energy is generated from sunlight in gaseous emission-free ways.
- Wind energy depends on wind energy using wind turbines.
- Hydropower depends on the water cycle and the power of water flow to convert power.
- Geothermal benefits from heat within the earth’s crust.
- Bioenergy of organic plant and animal materials. We convert biomass into liquid biofuels or binary gas for use.
All these sources do not have the impact of non-renewable sources on the environment; Gas emissions (such as carbon dioxide and methane) are low or non-existent for solar and wind energy in most cases once installed, and power generation from these sources does not require the release of any pollutants.
The importance of renewable energy in addressing climate change
Carbon dioxide pollution is the underlying cause of global warming, with the largest proportion producing electricity in power plants; as a result of burning fossil fuels. Therefore, thinking about new ways of producing and using electricity, is the perfect solution that can be built on renewable energies that contribute significantly to reducing carbon pollution.
For the reduction of global warming to be feasible, it is better that the pace of the shift to renewable sources is faster than energy uses, extending to heating, buildings and transport, and not only to power generation.
Renewables are expected to provide four-fifths of the world’s electricity by 2050, meaning that carbon emissions are significantly reduced, reflecting positively on climate changes and on global warming in particular.
How does renewable energy reduce greenhouse gases?
Renewable energy can slow climate change caused by increased CO2 emissions (also known as greenhouse gases). Understanding the role and source of carbon emissions is key to understanding the problem of climate change and global warming in particular and giving an accurate understanding of how renewable energy can be used to reduce climate change.
Carbon emissions means all greenhouse gas emissions from human activity that cause global warming; As a result of the burning of coal, oil and natural gas in fossil fuels needed for activities such as transportation, heating and industry.
Since greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming, replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy is a good option for the environment as it reduces these emissions by a greater degree, and this shift also supports lower renewable energy prices such as solar panels, falling from 75 to 80% between 2009 and 2015.
In this paragraph, we discuss the most important forms of renewable energies’ impact on reducing global warming and the problem of climate change in general.
1- Purer and healthier air
Burning fossil fuels causes an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, with energy production becoming renewable sources. There is a decrease in gas emissions and thus less pollution in the atmosphere. Fuel combustion gases cause poor air quality that adversely affects organisms’ health. Many non-renewable sources also require logging, for example. That means increasing the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and with renewable energy, there is no need for logging to access fossil resources, which means maintaining air quality.
2- Improving public health
The proportion of diseases increases and public health deteriorates in societies where solid fuels are found (such as coal or crude oil) due to the effects of fossil fuels that disappear with non-renewable energy. For example, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted while burning a tree to biomass, is the same amount that the tree has captured in its life. This biomass can make carbon neutral (zero effect).
