What Is Clean Energy?
Clean energy generates electricity without the harmful environmental impacts of fossil fuel-based power. It reduces pollutants that contribute to climate change and improves air quality, reducing heart attacks, asthma exacerbations, and hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
Renewable energy can also support a resilient electric grid that is resistant to extreme weather events and cyber threats. This helps meet broader sustainable development goals, including access to affordable and reliable energy.
Wind
People have been harnessing the power of wind for centuries. It’s an abundant, renewable resource that can help us create clean energy, while also reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.
Using wind to produce electricity has fewer impacts on the environment than other forms of energy, with no air pollution or water use (except for cooling). It is also not dependent on fossil fuels that are finite resources.
The technology behind wind energy is not only cleaner, but also less expensive than many fossil fuels. The cost of producing a kilowatt-hour of electricity from wind has fallen over time. This is largely due to improved turbine design and availability, as well as federal and state tax incentives.
Wind farms can be constructed on land, in mountain ranges or offshore in lakes or the ocean. They consist of groups of turbines, each with a blade that turns as the wind passes by, collecting mechanical energy. The turbines are connected by shafts to a generator that converts the rotational energy into electric power. The electricity is then sent to the electric grid for distribution to homes, businesses and other facilities.
Some people are concerned about the physical appearance of wind turbines, but research shows that they do not pose a health risk and cause no harm to wildlife. They are almost always located far enough away from people to not interfere with their daily lives.
Solar
The sun’s rays produce radiant energy, or solar power, which is used to generate electricity and heat. It is a renewable resource and produces no air pollutants. This means that it doesn’t create clean energy toxins that can acidify land and water ecosystems, corrode buildings or cause diseases like heart disease and respiratory illnesses. It also doesn’t consume a lot of water, making it one of the most water-efficient forms of energy.
The most common way to harness the sun’s energy is through photovoltaic (PV) panels, which convert sunlight into electrical energy. These are the panels you see on roofs and in fields upstate. When you produce your own solar energy, you can save money and reduce your reliance on ConEd. And you can sell excess energy back to the electric grid, which can further lower your utility bills.
While PV is the most widely deployed form of solar energy, other types of active solar technology exist. For example, concentrated solar power (CSP) uses mirrors and lenses to focus sunlight into a smaller area to heat or fuel a process. Like PV, CSP is a renewable energy source that can be used to generate electricity and heat, and it’s often used in conjunction with other types of renewable energy. In the United Kingdom, for example, CSP is being used at a large power plant near Bristol to replace fossil fuel-powered generation.
Geothermal
Geothermal energy takes advantage of the Earth’s natural heat to create electricity. It has the potential to provide baseload power—the energy needed to power buildings and other equipment when sun and wind aren’t available.
In the simplest design, a geothermal plant pulls steam from underground to run a turbine and generate electricity. Other plants, called binary and flash systems, use hot water High voltage 15Kw LiFePO4 battery passed through a secondary fluid that has a lower boiling point to create more steam that can turn a turbine.
The hot steam from geothermal energy can also be used to heat buildings. In Iceland, nearly 90% of buildings are heated by geothermal energy, taking advantage of the scalding temperatures of volcanic mud pools and hot springs. NREL’s research in this area is focusing on improving technologies to exploit these resources.
Geothermal energy is a reliable, renewable source of clean energy with a smaller carbon footprint than fossil fuels. But the drilling and injection of fluids for geothermal energy can cause small earthquakes and the release of trace amounts of harmful chemicals like hydrogen sulfide, which has a rotten egg smell at high concentrations. Proper monitoring and management practices can minimize these risks. In addition, the salty, hot water that is brought up to a geothermal power plant may contain rare minerals—like lithium—that are essential for rechargeable batteries in electric vehicles, pacemakers and cell phones. NREL’s research is focused on new ways to extract this mineral directly from geothermal brines.
Nuclear
When people talk about clean energy, they often think of solar panels or wind turbines, but nuclear energy is sometimes left out of the conversation. Yet, it has an important role to play in the clean energy transition.
It is the second largest source of low carbon electricity, behind hydro power, and produces about a third of the world’s carbon-free energy. It produces electricity by using fuel made from uranium to produce heat, which is then used to spin a turbine and generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases. Unlike coal, oil and gas, which release substantial amounts of CO2, nuclear power avoids emissions that cause global warming, making it one of the most important sources of climate change mitigation.
Despite the challenges it faces, nuclear has the potential to play a significant role in the clean energy future. It can provide stable and reliable electricity, round-the-clock, day or night, delivering energy access to millions of people around the world, including in remote and off-grid communities. It is also the only form of clean energy that can deliver electricity at scale in response to rising demand.
It can also be used to make process heat for industries, such as drying, manufacturing, refining, and warming. This can help reduce their environmental footprint and enable them to switch from fossil fuels. It can even be used to produce hydrogen, which is a clean burning alternative fuel for vehicles.
