Future EU Sustainable World World | Page 25

Green energy

Non-fossil energy is called alternative energy or renewable energy. The majority of it comes from the kinetic energy of wind, the movement of water or from the heat of the sun. Kinetic energy of the water has been used for 2000 years when people built water mills along the rivers. Nowadays, hydropower plants provide 6% of the energy used by people. The energy of tides and waves is also used to produce electricity in an ecological way. Wind power has been used in the past for navigation and windmills, and today we can use it to produce electricity. Solar energy can also produce electricity by using solar panels. The amount of solar energy released on our planet in one year is 10 thousand times higher than the whole Earth needs.

Geothermal energy is the energy extracted from the earth's crust. The deeper we dig in the earth's crust, the higher the temperature released from the center of the earth and it can be collected using water and transformed into electric current.

Green electricity is a concept that refers to renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Renewable electricity is becoming more and more available. By choosing such renewable energy sources, consumers can support the development of clean energies that will reduce the impact on renewable energy sources and the environment associated with generating conventional energy and increasing energy independence. Moreover, these technologies can help the consumers by reducing the bills for different utilities (water, heating).

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