Renewable energy
It is fundamental for environmental protection that men learn how to use energy sparingly
preferring energy produced through renewable sources not polluting and limitless available in
nature and that can be regenerated over time.
On the other side, energy production trough fossil fuels, such as coal or oil, natural
resources bound to run out over time, cause the emission in the atmosphere of massive
quantities of gas increasing the greenhouse effect.
Renewable energy sources are all those resources not running out in times comparable with the
human activities and generating clean energy.
Natural resources such as the sun, wind, water or underground are used to produce energy.
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The use of those resources will not affect their future availability. They are very precious
resources to generate energy reducing the environmental impact to the minimum. Nature is
protected having in mind the respect for future generations and, moreover, energy production
and distribution costs are limited.
According to the Italian related regulations, those considered as renewable sources are:
sun, wind, water, geothermal resources, tides, wave motion and the conversion into electric
energy of vegetable products or organic and inorganic waste.
SOLAR ENERGY
Solar energy has many advantages because it is inexhaustible, it is of immediate acquisition,
it’s clean because we get it through the sun rays and it is cost-effective as the raw material has
no cost. The quantity of solar energy reaching the earth is enormous, about ten thousand times
higher than all the energy used by the whole human race in total. The solar energy can be used
to generate electricity (photovoltaic) or to generate heat(thermal solar).
WIND ENERGY
Wind energy is the product of conversion of the wind’s kinetic energy into other forms of energy
(electrical or mechanical). It is mainly converted into electric energy through Wind Farms. First
among the renewable energy sources considering the ratio cost/production, it is an abundant
source, widely spread, clean and it doesn’t produce gas related to the greenhouse effect.
HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY
Hydroelectric energy is a source of clean and renewable energy derived from the water power.
A lake’s, river’s or artificial basin’s water stream, properly conveyed through the apposite mains,
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can convert its power into pressure and kinetic energy. This energy, later on, supplies power to
a generator that converts it into electricity.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
Geothermal energy is the energy generated through geological heat sources and can be
considered as a form of renewable energy, if evaluated on the short term. It is based on the
production of natural heat by the Earth (geothermal energy), fed by the thermal energy released
during processes of nuclear decay or radioactive elements such as the uranium, thorium, and
potassium naturally present inside the Earth. Geothermal energy currently provides less than
1% of world energy production.
SEA ENERGY
Sea energy indicates the energy kept in various forms in the seas and oceans. It can be
extracted using different technologies and, today, many systems have been experimented and
some of them are already at the premarketing stage. Through particular techniques, several
potentialities offered by the sea are exploited, such as wave motion, the motion of the air
blowing above the waves, tides or the difference in temperature between the sea bottom and
the surface. The use of this source, however, is still complicated and rather costly.
BIOMASS ENERGY
From the organic waste, of animal and vegetable origin, it is possible to obtain a clean energy
source of immediate use. According to the Community legislation promoting the use of
renewable energy sources, with the term biomass it should be intended the “biodegradable
fraction of the products, waste and residues of organic origin coming from agriculture, forestry
and related industries, including fishery and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable part of
industrial and urban waste”
.
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Nowadays, renewable sources provide only 7% of the global energy demand. Sources such as
oil, coal or nuclear are still the most used ones, very dangerous and damaging to the climatic
balance. It is then requested to implement the good practices aiming at energy saving and
prefer the energy produced by alternative sources.
Italy, currently, produced from renewable sources about 14,5% out of the total electrical energy
demanded, with 10,7% coming from hydroelectric sources and the rest given by the sum of the
geothermal, solar, wind and biomass or waste combustion.
Although far from the Community goals envisaging the 22% of energy produced through
renewable sources by 2010, Italy is the fourth producer of clean energy in the European Union.
Over the last years, though, the Italian production has had a low increase or stayed stable,
despite a strong increase in the wind energy sector.
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In Apulia, at the end of 2008, the overall percentage of energy produced by alternative sources is the highest in the whole Centre and Southern Italy, 3,7%. Specifically, the first natural
resource used on our territory is the wind (Apulia is the main national producer of wind energy),
followed by biomasses and solar energy.
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