Green Technologies

Green Technologies

Green technology, also known as environmental or clean technology, minimizes impacts on the environment and natural resources. It's based on concepts such as conserving water and energy, reducing waste and pollution, harnessing renewable energy sources, finding ways to reuse materials, and developing less polluting technologies. Green technology is everywhere these days; in the news, politics, fashion, and of course technology. Green Technology is becoming so widespread throughout the world. People are becoming more energy efficient in their homes by buying water-efficient showerheads that are low-flow models, adjusting their refrigerator and freezer temperatures, buying compact fluorescent light bulbs, buying energy efficient appliances, and by recycling rechargeable devices like cell phones or digital cameras.

As awareness grows about environmental issues such as pollution, human impact on climate change, and depletion of natural resources, so is interest growing in environmentally friendly products and services. For example, the popularity of green cleaning products has increased in recent years. Nontoxic, biodegradable cleaning products are safer for use in the home meaning they are less likely to cause health problems. They also keep harmful chemicals out of the environment. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are another popular eco-friendly product; compared to traditional, incandescent light bulbs, CFLs use way less electricity.

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Here are a four of the many types of green technology used today; green energy, vehicles, building and appliances. Green energy as of today is produced by these forms of energy; solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Solar power or solar energy is a technology that converts the power of the sun into usable energy. It is a resource that cannot be used up by us using it. Much of the world's required energy can be supplied directly by solar power.

There are several types of solar power technology. The first type is solar photovoltaic power. Solar photovoltaic power is used to convert the sun's rays into electricity through the use of solar panels. Solar energy is generated depending on the amount of Sun the area receives. This method is used most often. The second kind of solar power is solar thermal energy. Solar thermal energy uses the Sun's rays to heat our homes and water. It uses solar thermal collectors to collect heat energy and spread it through the water in our heating and plumbing systems. The last kind of solar energy is Passive solar energy. Passive solar energy is simply the heating of a home or building through architectural design, window placement and sunroom design without any need for a collector of any kind warms the area (2009 solar power information).

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy. It produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation and uses little land. The construction of wind farms is not as welcomed due to appearances as other sources. Wind energy is though the fastest growing energy source in the world. Since wind depends on the sun, it is a form of solar energy. As long as the sun shines, there can be wind power, making it unlimited. A flaw on wind power is the location of wind plants. Most good

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wind sites are in rural areas, a long way from cities where electricity is needed most. Another problem includes the noise that turbines create.

Hydro power or hydroelectric power uses the gravitational force of falling or flowing water to produce electrical power. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy. To make hydropower, you have to direct moving water into pipes known as penstock. The fast flowing water in big rivers determines the energy produced. After the moving water is directed into the penstock, it pushes against the blades in the turbine to spin a generator that produces electricity. The other way to get hydropower is a storage system where water is collected by dams and will direct water into the penstock to turn the generator when the demand for electricity is high. Hydropower is an ideal source because it is renewable and almost free, having no waste products, and does not pollute the water or air. A downside to hydropower is how it changes the environment and alters the natural habitats.

Green vehicles: There are 4 types of green vehicles electric, hybrid, natural gas and biodiesel. First the electric vehicle they stretch the boundaries on how inexpensive transportation can be. Electric cars are cheaper to fuel, but they are also cheaper to maintain. Electric motors have a longer serviceable life than internal combustion, and the cars motor never dies because of the so little moving parts inside. But eventually after a decade, the lithium ion batteries start to drain out and lose charge. Currently, when you purchase a zero emission car in the United States, which electric cars are, you can receive up to a $7,500 rebate from the government. Two current models available in the U.S. are the Nissan with the Leaf and Chevy with the Volt.

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Hybrid vehicles were introduced by Baker of Cleveland and Woods of Chicago. Full hybrid cars are vehicles that are made to run on just the engines, on the batteries, or a combination of both. The good thing about these electric cars is that it enables the car to require zero energy during idle and less gas motor at low speeds. Also, a hybrid car doesn't need to be plugged into an outlet like electric cars which gives them an advantage because the gas motor charges the batteries while it's running so that the gas motor will start automatically when the battery gets low.

Natural gas vehicles: As of recent the U.S. has a fleet of over 114,270 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, most of which are buses.