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What Are Examples of Green Technology?

With the raise of awareness about the actual environmental problems we are facing, the phrase “green technology” has become popular among actors interested in sust ainable development. Let me start by asking two questions: What is actually green technology, and how is the world getting better due to it? In this article, we bring you a detailed explanation of the green technology concept and some real-life examples.

What is Green Technology?

Green technology (often called green tech) is a concept that is applied to describe advances and processes that are aimed at reducing the effect of man on the environment. It has to do with a host of technologies applicable to energy conservation, emission control, and rational utilization of resources. Even though green technology majors in energy production involving sun, wind and other sources of energy, it covers other sectors including farming, handling of wastes, transport and building construction among others.

Green technology is not solely about minimizing the harm or impact to our planet, it’s about making things better, about reducing cost and increasing effectiveness, about making life better. It is now timely to dwell deeper into some examples that are changing economies today.

1. Renewable Energy Technologies

Solar Power

In this connection one of the most famous examples of greens technology is solar power. Solar energy systems harness the solar energy and convert it into electricity or heat and cuts the use of fossil fuel by a very large margin. Solar cells, PV, and solar thermal plants for instance, have emerged to make it easy to harness clean energy in large quantities.

Think about a sunny day – your rooftop solar panels collect the sun which is then transformed into electricity that is used in the home, cutting down on monthly energy costs as well as cutting down on carbon footprint. In addition, the excess power available is fed back into the system to enhance energy sustainability in the community.

Wind Energy

Another participant of the renewable energy market is wind energy. Turbines for winds harness the natural work of wind to produce electrical energy without any polluting the environment. Utility scale wind farms both onshore and offshore have become more common around the globe and wind turbine technology is advancing simply making these facilities more efficient entities.

For instance, what of the United Kingdom? Scottish offshore wind farms specially the ones installed several kilometers in the sea come with large amounts of clean power which is sufficient for homes, businesses, and public facilities.

Hydropower

Hydropower entails the utilization of the energy of water to treat with generating of electricity. The examples of the renewable energy include; dam, river and the tides movement can be used to produce renewable energy. Hoover Dam in the United Sates is example here, which currently generates billions of kilowatt-hours per year supplying electricity to millions of homes.

Hydropower is generally considered renewable and friendly to the green bottom line, however, some consider the impact on local ecosystems to be a drawback. Indeed it is, considered to be an environmentally friendly technology although some people argue that there should be more proper planning to facilitate the balance of these impacts.

2. Energy-Efficient Technologies

LED Lighting

Another good example of green technology is use of efficient light emitting diode or LED for short. The older style incandescent bulbs use more electricity and, Page 11 of 5, have a limited lifespan. Now there is LEDs, which are 80 percent more efficient and have a lifespan of 25 times longer than the normal bulbs.

Since you plan to monitor and replace your current lighting system with LED, it would be proper to realize that you are cutting down your electricity costs while at the same time you are denying the market more energy hence indirectly contributing to green gas emissions reduction. LED street lighting are increasingly being implemented in cities globally especially in smart city development where they enjoy less power usage and minimal costs when repaired or replaced.

Smart Grids

A smart grid is an inevitable feature of the future of the world’s system of electric power supply. The simplified representations of these grids depend on trends in digital technology in that they enhance the generation, flow, and use of electrical energy. In homes, specific meters that are smart have capabilities to monitor the power consumption on real-time basis and enable the users to make better decisions on the energy they consume. This in return assist in handling of the supply and demand cycles, prevent wastage and stability of electricity supply the grid.

With the help of the smart grid technologies Germany is among the leaders in the implementation of energy saving on individual as well as state level.

3. Sustainable Transportation Solutions

Electric Vehicles

The biggest contributor to environmental pollution is through transportation but technology has continued to innovate green technology in this sector. Nowadays, electric vehicles seem to be advancing as the main solution for green mobility. These vehicles emit no pollutants out the tailpipe and as the electrical grid becomes even cleaner it only adds to the benefits.

Tesla and Nissan have built this market; however nowadays every car manufacturer is engaging in the development of electric cars. They are however appearing in the market today and the public EV charging stations, hence making it easy for the consumer to change from the gasoline powered vehicles.

Hyperloop Technology

Hyperloop technology is still under development, however the concept is postmodern and environmentally friendly. The articulated pods reach very high speeds by traveling through low-pressure tubes, which minimizes traveling time and energy consumption. Contrary to air and rail transport, the mobility provided by hyperloop systems will have minimal adverse effects on the environment because they are most likely to be powered exclusively from renewable sources of energy, and are considerably streamlined.

While this technology is not currently in vogue, hyperloop can drastically transform the transportation industry all over the world.

4. Sustainable Building Technologies

Green Buildings

Sustainable construction is the process of designing and creating/carrying out constructions that cause the least harm to the physical environment. They contain environmentally sound materials, energy systems, and the sustainable layout to retain resources.

For instance, structures that meet leadership in energy and environmental design standard, employs reduced water, energy, and raw materials. Recycling systems, green roofs, solar panels, or the rainwater harvesting systems, and HVAC systems which use efficients energy are on the list of sustainable buildings.

Passive House Design

Passive house design brings the concepts of energy-efficient house design to a whole new level as it essentially decreases the requirement of an active heating and cooling system. These buildings rely on high-level insulation, optimum performance glass and a very effective barrier to ensure that optimum temperatures of either freezing or hot temperatures are effectively managed without excessive use of energy. 

The outcome therefore is an environment-friendly home that can reduce energy consumption up to ninety percent.

5. Green Technology in Agriculture

Vertical Farming

It is well known that traditional agriculture involves heavily covering the territory, abundant water consumption and using poisonous chemical pesticides. Vertical farming is sustainable technology that aims to address these issues by building crops in vertically integrated tiers, ordinarily indoors. These farms made controlled growing conditions that can greatly minimize the use of water.

For instance, Aero Farms uses aeroponic technology to grow foods with 95% water, no soil, and no pesticide requirement. Vertical farming could be a great solution to feed the constantly growing world population with as little negative impact on the environment as possible.

Drip Irrigation

Drip irrigation is another green technology in agriculture that saves on water since it watered the plants at the root area in the precise amount required. Hailed for this method reduces wastage of water and also ensures that the soils are well tend without being over water.

For instance, the driest country in the world Israel has adopted to use drip irrigation to support agriculture production without excessively using water.

Conclusion

Green technology is not of passing novelty but present organism of a world that all are going to be inhabitants of. Climate change solutions such as green tech products in energy, agriculture, transport and many aspects of life are making this world to become a better world to live in. The discussed examples including solar power, electric vehicles, LED lighting, vertical farming and others are an example of how technology can work for the common good.

When people, companies and governments turn to green technologies the planet may be head for a better and more sustainable environment. Whether it’s putting solar panels on your roof to get energy, buying an electric car or supporting green products, know that you have a role to play to ensure that the planet we are leaving to the next generation will be much healthier.