Renewable Energy Sources: Green Future Of Pakistan

Renewable Resources

“Renewable resources are such type of resources, as you can use again and again. There is a natural cycle to make them reusable, that is why they are called renewable resources.”

Environmental is a treasure of all type of resources essential to maintain life on earth. Environment is a direct or indirect source of food, shelter, clothing, fuel etc. for humans.

Environmental resources are the primary sources for the existence of humans. These resources are either renewable or non- renewable. Air, water, food, land, forest and wild life are renewable resources because they are never depleted. They are recycled in nature.

In nature, there is no such thing as waste: dead materials decay and become food for other living things. This food is consumed, or decays and become food again. This is the nutrient cycle, the process that supplies food to living things. All the resources necessary for life from a part of natural cycles. These cycles have no beginning and no end. The driving force behind all of these cycles is the sun. The earth is a self-sustained unit.

Some of the renewable resources are discussed below:

Air

It is several kilometers thick blanket of atmosphere surrounding the earth. Air is a very important natural resource. It consists of nitrogen (79%), oxygen (20%), carbon dioxide (0.03%) and traces of inert gases called noble gases. Oxygen is consumed in respiration and along with it, CO2 and nitrogen are raw materials in a natural cycle for making food and other substances required by living systems. Air is being polluted rapidly due to industrialization and automobiles. Polluted air contains certain gases, like carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen and Sulphur.

Water

About 70% of the earth surface is covered with water. It is also a component of soil and air. It is also a major constituent of living organisms, comprising 70-90% of their body weight. About 97% of the total water of planet earth is in ocean 2% water is in the form of frozen ice-caps and only 1% as available fresh water in lakes, streams and rivers.

Use of water

Main use of water is:

• Domestic/industrial use 10%
• Irrigation 90%

Land

Land is an important natural resources. Soil can be defined as “the upper layer of earth’s crust.” The basic constituents od soil are soil particles, soil water, soil air and inorganic matter and soil organisms.

Soil plays a very vital role in;

1. Supporting life on land, land plants depend directly on soil to be anchored firmly.
2. Soil provides water, organic and inorganic nutrients to the plants.
3. Only 30% of earth is land. Man is a terrestrial animal and his increasing population makes more use of land, 11% of the total area of the world is under cultivation. Soil is continuously being depleted of its mineral nutrients, due to vigorous crop production. Land may also be abused in many ways like erosion, poor agricultural practice, extensive grazing, leeching etc. Rapid urbanization is also a factor in disturbing the natural land conditions. Fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides are also polluting the soil. To conserve soil, proper awareness is required, farmers and general public may be educated through media.

Wildlife

In general, wild life refers to all non-cultivated plants and non – domesticated animals, Games animals and plants have been major sources of food for humans. All living organisms are interdependent.

Today there are thousands of endangered plants and animals. Wildlife is a renewable resource but it can become non-renewable under extreme conditions of human intervention.

Wildlife plays very important role in food chain. Without these, the food chain can be disturbed to such an extent that it will be very difficult to maintain the balance. The effects of changes in the environment brought about by man are becoming more and more apparent with the passage of time. He must keep the wild life balance, otherwise, it may also jeopardize his own existence.

Fossil Fuels

Coal, oil and gas are the fossil fuels 95% of our daily energy requirements are met with these resources. They are called fossil fuels because they are the remains of the plants and animals of past which became buried due to environmental hazards and were fossilized in deeper layers of earth and sea. Pakistan has reservoirs for gas, oil and coal. Extensive drilling for oil is being carried out in various regions of Pakistan.

Energy

The energy shortage that we all have felt in the last decade has been a result of rapidly decreasing supplies of fossil fuels i.e. coal , oil and natural gas. Like other environmental resources can also be classified as inexhaustable and exhaustable. Inexhaustable resources include solar energy, falling water (hydropower), wind, ocean, oil and natural gas are exhaustable resources of energy.

Hydroelectric Power

Rain is a renewable energy source, which gets its energy indirectly from the sun. Rain that falls on high areas, such as mountains, possesses large amount of gravitational potential energy. A rain water falls, it gains speed and its kinetic energy increases. The kinetic energy of falling water is harnessed to turn turbines fixed at the base of dams. The turning turbines will then drive generator to produce electricity, which is known as hydroelectric power or electricity. It is the cheapest and non pollutant source of energy, which man must exploit more for its benefits and for keeping environment safe.

Tidal Power

Tides are the mainly caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and to a lesser extent by the gravitational of sun on water in seas and oceans. The changing tides drive water towards or away from the land. The difference in height of the water at high and low tides is made use of in a tidel power station to generate electricity. A tidal power station consists of a long barrier called a tidal barrage. The flow of water across the barrage turns its turbines, which in turn drive the generators to produce electricity.

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy is obtained from nuclear fuels by nuclear fission. In nuclear power station, large amount of heat is generated by nuclear fission, which takes place in a nuclear reactor. The heat energy is then used to convert water into steam, which drive steam turbine for generating electricity.

Nuclear power station does not produce waste gases which pollute the air, unlike those using fossil fuels. However, each nuclear power station can last for only about 30 years and strict safety measures have to be taken to avoid radiation pollution.

Geothermal Energy

Volcanoes, hot spring and geysers allow the escape of hot substance from inside of the earth. The natural heat energy trapped underground is called geothermal energy.

Hot water or stream carrying geothermal energy comes upto surface in parts of the world such as New Zealand and Ice Land.

Geothermal energy is free and can last for long time. Sites of geothermal energy are usually located in areas far away from their consumers. This makes the harnessing of geothermal energy at these sites impracticable. Furthermore, harmful substances such as boron and oxides of sulphur are also released together with the hot water or steam.

Solid Waste

Conversion of waste materials like trash, paper, organic manure, plastic materials, cans, agricultural and industrial waste etc. by hydrogenation, pyrolysis (destructive distillation) or bioconversion can provide oil and gas and also their threat as a source of pollution of land and water can be countered.

Ocean Thermal Gradient

In oceans, especially in tropical regions, temperature of surface water is about 25 degree C and that at the depth of a few hundred meters only 5 degree C. This develops an ocean thermal thermal gradient to drive a turbine for electricity generation, but this may also disturb the marine ecosystem.

Energy Conservation

The energy sources on earth is limited. Hence, there is need for us to have balanced and planned efw

• Reduce wastage by recycling.
• Drive less, walk and use public transport more.
• Switch off lights and electrical appliances when they are not in use.
• Minimize the use of air conditioner.

Green Future Of Pakistan

Renewable energy uses energy sources that are not used up. For example, solar power from the sun is renewable as we won’t use up all the sunlight from the sun. Examples of non-renewable energy sources includes fossil fuels like coal and oil. Once we use or burn these resources, they are gone forever.

Much of the world relies on non-renewable energy to heat their homes power their electronic devices, and power their cars. Once these energy sources are used up, they will be gone forever. Developing technologies that can efficiently use renewable energy sources is critical to our future.

Plants gather energy from the sun by photosynthesis. We can harness this energy by burning plants such as trees as well as creating fuel from plants such as ethanol and biodiesel. Even gas from trash and manure can be used to create energy. In view of these renewable energy sources, we can utilize the energy in many ways to see the green future of Pakistan.

Pakistan suffer from a huge electricity deficiency due to heavy reliance on imported fuels and this deficiency has become a significant impediment to socio-economic development in the country. For example a routine problem is that electricity supply can’t maintained during peak hours.

This scenario creates and increase in local fuel prices and limits potential in the establishment of new industrial zones. Moreover a very large part of rural area does not have electrification facilities because they are either too remote and or too expensive to connect to national grid. Pakistan obtains its energy requirement from traditional and commercial sources. Thus the primary energy supplies today are not enough to meet even the present demand. So Pakistan like other developing countries of region is facing a serious challenge of energy deficit.

Pakistan has wide spectrum of high potential renewable energy sources. The development of renewable energy sources can play an important role in meeting this challenge. As Pakistan is an agricultural country and major part of its population lives in rural areas the electricity generated by renewable sources will improve rural life. Thereby reducing urban migration.

Pakistan is endowed with potential renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass. These resources have capacity to be major contributors to future energy production matrix, climate change reduction efforts and sustainable energy.

There are major types of renewable resources such as wind power, solar energy, hydropower, wave and tidal power, geothermal energy, biomass energy which are given below:

• A windmill typically attached to a generator that is power by its rotation. When the wind blows its force turns the windmill. Hence it produce wind energy that is useful for our environment.
• Solar panel can be used to collect solar energy and turn into electricity and more and more they are used in homes. Solar panels can also be used to charge batteries and perform smaller electric tasks as well.
• A primary use of hydropower energy is to produce electricity. The main ingridients of hydroelectric power plants are dams, rivers and turbines. Plants use dam to create reservoirs where the water is stored. This water is released through tubines and spun to activate generators and create electricity.
• Tidal power is the form of hydropower that converts the energy obtained from tides into useful form of power mainly electricity. Although not yet widely used tidal power has potential for future electricity generation.
• Geothermal water is pumped through heat exchanger, which transfer the heat from water into the building heating system. Geothermal energy has been used for thousands of year in some countries for heating and cooking.
• Biomass can also be converted into gas called biogas or into liquid biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils and animal fats and can be used in vehicles and as heating oil.

In these ways, we can utilize these renewable energy resources for the betterment of our environment and for the development of country.

References

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org.com
2. https://www.renewableenergyworld.com
3. www.theguardian.com
4. https://www.irena.org
5. https://www.nationalgeographic.org