Verde Energy has been providing high-quality service to more than a quarter of a million residential, commercial and organizational customers in the Northeastern United States. The company harnesses energy from renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric and biomass. Verde Energy also purchases renewable energy certificates (RECs) to offset 100 percent of its customers' consumption. Wind turbines do not generate smog, acid rain or any of the numerous toxins and atmospheric particles that contribute to the accumulation of greenhouse gases and climate change.
Solar energy offers public health benefits similar to those achieved through the use of wind energy. The impact of solar energy on the environment is also relatively small, and experts point out that every kilowatt-hour of solar energy produced can significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that escape into the atmosphere. Hydroelectric energy uses the natural force of flowing water to turn turbines connected to a generator. Hydroelectric power plants have been in operation since 1882, when the world's first facility of its kind began producing energy in Appleton, Wisconsin.
According to the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), hydroelectric sources, including some 2,500 dams across the country, are responsible for approximately 7.3 percent of all electrical energy produced in the U. S.Hydroelectric power generation, like wind and solar power, offers the enormous advantage of producing relatively small amounts of toxic emissions.
One of the main advantages of hydroelectric energy is that it can charge energy to the grid immediately, and some hydroelectric plants are capable of going from zero to maximum production exceptionally quickly. Like wind and solar energy, hydroelectric energy can be fully produced in the country, reducing dependence on foreign sources of oil. And, like the wind and sun, flowing water is a resource that is constantly being renewed. It also offers benefits in terms of scale and capacity. The United States Department of Energy states that 97 percent of the country's dams are not equipped to produce energy.
Modernizing these remaining dams could produce energy for more than 5 million homes and offset more than 190 million barrels of oil. Hydroelectric facilities could also establish reservoirs that offer recreational benefits such as swimming, boating and fishing. There is an enormous amount of innovation and investment in the clean energy sector. The areas that are most exciting are reducing system costs, deepening understanding of the combination of energy sources, the role of renewable energy in overall sustainability and, of course, hydrogen. Many existing and developing innovations will have an impact on each other but need appropriate support and commitment from both public and private sectors. The size of turbines will continue to grow and floating wind energy will open up new regions for offshore development (up to 10 times current availability), with the first commercial auction for floating capacity expected this year.
Sustainability will be a key objective as the industry explores how to recycle blades, with a consortium led by Orsted analyzing recycling across the supply chain. Offshore wind energy is recognized as a good transition opportunity for the oil and gas industry: Shell has just announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Emerald Floating Wind Project in the Celtic Sea. Overall, offshore wind energy is ready for another excellent year, almost doubling capacity deployed to 10 GW according to IHS Markit. As networks become more intelligent, demand for AI solutions to manage complexity of operations will increase. This will allow greener operations in implementation of predictive maintenance for solar and wind panels.
It could also play an important role in corporate energy markets by allowing companies to reduce their energy use and even support reduction in emissions by managing dynamic network of energy sources. This could support not only intelligent cost management but also carbon profile of energy sources. This will further incorporate hydrogen into global energy mix with general sense in market that revival in interest in hydrogen seems different this time around. That said, most hydrogen today is based on fossil fuels so despite litany of announcements about green hydrogen we must be careful about greenwashing. Five years ago Born To Engineer shared some compelling statistics on efficiency of renewable energy sources stating that five most efficient green energy sources are wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear and solar based on current cost of fuel production and treatment environmental damage. Experts have stated that wide variety of energy options available among renewable sources makes each one “best” for wide range of uses. Hydropower is largest source renewable electricity in United States although wind expected soon take lead according to data collected from EIA on renewable sources with wind and solar representing two fastest growing sources in U.
S. According to National Renewable Energy Laboratory “more energy from Sun falls on Earth in hour than all inhabitants world consume year” advocating for renewable or using it home can accelerate transition clean future. Non-renewable sources also commonly found specific parts world making them more abundant some countries than others but good news is renewable industry continues advance rapidly terms sustainability efficiency value wide range existing developing sources.
