Green Technologies: Smart and efficient Management- 2012, SLIET Longowal

Green Technology: Applications in Renewable Energy for Sustainable Environment

Dr. Pardeep Jain, Rohit Sadana
Abstract Energy is the necessity of mankind and there are various sources of energy on earth. Some of them are renewable and some of them are Non renewable. The sources those are non renewable (includes Petroleum products, natural gas, Uranium etc.) are available in scarcity and also they are degrading our environment. It leads to need of such resources those are Renewable and also environment friendly. Green technologies provide us methods to use such resources like Solar Energy, Wind Power, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Bio Diesel etc. In actual, Green Technologies aims at production of energy by the methods those are environment friendly and sustainable too. Green technology refers to technologies that has low green house gas emission, minimizes the degradation of the environment, conserves natural resources and promotes efficient use of energy by avoiding wastage and promotes the use of renewable resources. The ultimate targets of green technology are Social Welfare, Energy Sufficiency, Sustainable Environment and Flourishing Economy. KeywordsSolar Energy, Wind Power, Green Technologies, Hydropower, Sustainable Environment.

Although there are existing technologies for energy production like e.g. petroleum products, but the risk associated with these existing technologies is alarmingly rising. The "Green" technologies are expected to provide lower risk alternatives in future. Green Technology includes the products, systems or technologies which satisfy the following criteria: has zero or low Green House Gas emission, as it is safe for use and promotes healthy and improved environment for life; minimizes the degradation of the environment; conserves natural resources and promotes efficient use of energy by avoiding wastage; and Promotes the use of renewable resources. Four Targets of Green Technology Concept Social Welfare To improve the standard of living along with quality life. Energy Sufficiency To have Sufficient Energy availability; Sustainable Environment To Protect and Conserve the environment; Flourishing Economy To develop the economy through efficient and effective use of energy. II. APPLICATIONS OF GREEN TECHNOLOGIES IN FIELD OF RENEWABLE SOURCES OF ENERGY FOR SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT: 1) Solar Power Technologies It is one of the foremost sources of energy that charges nothing but gives us the uninterrupted Energy whole day. Every day, the sun radiates an enormous amount of energy known as Solar Energy. It radiates more energy in one second than the world has used since time began. It takes the suns energy just a little over eight minutes to travel to Earth. There are various applications of technology through which this enormous amount of energy being sent from Sun can be trapped and utilized for human welfare. The basic principle behind the Solar Technologies is conversion of Solar Energy into some usable form of energy i.e. Heat Energy or Electric energy etc. These technologies are broadly characterized as either passive or active depending on how they capture, convert, and distribute sunlight. Active Solar Technologies include Photovoltaics and Solar Hot Water. Photovoltaics are those

I. INTRODUCTION

nergy is the necessity of mankind to fulfill all its needs

and demands and for energy, we are dependable on its major sources like Oil (Petrol, Diesel), Gas (LPG, CNG), Coal, Nuclear Energy etc. All these are falls under category of Non Renewable sources of Energy. There are certain other sources of energy known as renewable Sources of energy e.g. Solar Energy / Photovoltaics, Wind energy, Geothermal Energy, Hydro Power, Wind Energy, Tidal Energy, Bio Diesel etc. Renewable energy is energy that can be replenished easily. The term "Technology" refers to apply knowledge for any practical purposes to achieve any objective. The field of "Green technology" emphasizes the continuously evolving group of methods and materials, from techniques for generating energy to non-toxic cleaning products. Green Technology is the development and application of products, equipment and systems used to conserve the natural environment and resources, which minimize and reduces the negative impact of human activities.
Dr. Pardeep Jain is Associate Professor with Deptt. of Management, SLIET, Longowal, Distt Sangrur, Punjab, India (pardeep_jain2000@yahoo.com.) Rohit Sadana is a Research Scholar with Deptt. of Management, SLIET, Longowal, Distt Sangrur Punjab,India (rohisadana@gmail.com)

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Green Technologies: Smart and efficient Management- 2012, SLIET Longowal instruments that convert sunlight directly into electricity. Solar Hot Water systems also circulate a working fluid to collect thermal energy and then transfer this heat to the hot water supply. These equipments generally use pumps or fans to circulate the material. Passive solar techniques include orienting and constructing buildings to take advantage of the sun for heating, cooling, and lighting interior spaces; selecting materials with favorable thermal properties; and designing spaces that naturally circulate air e.g. Solar Roofs. There are various technologies through which solar energy can be utilized includes Solar Electricity (either by Photovoltaics or by Solar Thermal Systems), Solar Thermal Electricity (i.e. Solar Energy is used to heat the liquid that in turn produce electricity as in Coal Thermal Plant), Solar collector (One way to capture sunlight and change it into usable heat energy), Solar Space Heating (For heating the space inside a building), Solar Water Heating (Used to heat water for bathing, dishwashing, and clothes washing etc.). Solar energy has great potential for the future. Solar energy is free, and its supplies are unlimited. It does not pollute or otherwise damage the environment. It cannot be controlled by any one nation or industry. If we can improve the technology to harness the suns enormous power, we may never face energy shortages again. 2) Wind Power Technologies Simply air in motion is known as Wind which is caused by the uneven heating of the Earths surface by radiant energy from the sun. Generally land heat or cool more quickly than water because of its physical properties. An ideal situation for the formation of wind is an area where water and land meet. The atmospheric winds that circle the Earth are created because the land near the equator is heated more by the sun than land near the South and North Poles. Now a days wind energy is being used to make electricity. Wind is called a renewable energy source because the wind will blow as long as the sun shines in the sky. These days, wind is being converted into electricity using turbines called wind turbines. The amount of electricity that a turbine produces depends on its size and the speed of the wind. In general, One wind turbine can produce 1.5 to 4.0 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year. That is enough electricity for 150 to 400 homes per year. All wind turbines have almost similar parts i.e. blades, a tower, and a gearbox. These parts work together for conversion of the winds kinetic energy into mechanical energy that generates electricity for our usage. Wind turbines are more efficient when they are constructed at such places where winds blow consistently, at least 13 miles per hour. Faster the winds are more the electricity is generated. Another technology that can be used for trapping wind energy includes Wind Power Plants. These are clusters of wind turbines used to produce electricity; a wind farm usually has dozens of wind turbines scattered over a large area. To build a wind farm, wind speed and direction need to be studied to determine where to put the turbines. The site where the plant is to be built must have strong, steady winds. The best sites for wind farms are on hilltops, large lakes, the open plains, near the coasts of oceans or through mountain passes. Turbines are usually built in rows facing into the blowing wind. Placing the turbines too much close or too much distant is not beneficial. Wind farms can generate enough electricity to power big area, at a price that is competitive with both coal as well as natural gas. The quantum of the energy produced through wind depends on the quantum of the air moving in that area. Wind energy is the fastest growing form of electricity generation in the world. 3) Hydro Power Technologies Hydro means water and the Hydropower is the energy we make with moving water. As moving water has a lot of energy. We convert that energy to into electricity. The basic force behind the movement of water is Gravity. Gravity pulls the water from high altitude to lower one. The water continues to move in the ecological system by Water Cycle. The water cycle will keep going always so water will be available always on earth. That is why hydropower is called a renewable energy source. As far as technology is concerned, water wheels can be used to trap the energy in moving water. A water wheel has buckets attached around a big wheel. The buckets fill with water at the top of the wheel. The weight of the water turns the wheel and dumps the water at the bottom. This moving water can be used to produce electricity. Hydroelectric plants use modern turbine generators to produce electricity, just as thermal (coal, oil, nuclear) power plants do, except they do not produce heat to spin the turbines. In these plants, a big dam is constructed across the river. This binds the water and creates a big lake behind the dam. This lake is known as a reservoir. When the gates of the dam are opened, the water runs from the reservoir into the dam. Because of gravity, it is pulled down. The water flows down big tubes and turns giant wheels, known as turbines. These spinning turbines make electricity. Hydropower is a clean source of energy. No fuel is burned, no air is polluted. Even it is the cheapest source of electricity, because the water is free to use. And we wont be in shortage of water as it is renewable. The reservoirs can be used for other purposes like fishing, boating, and other sports etc. However, when dams are built, a lot of land is flooded for construction of reservoir. Also Damming Rivers may permanently alter river systems and wildlife habitats. Hydropower operations may change water temperatures, increase silting and even lower the levels of dissolved oxygen leading to BOD. Some of these problems can be well managed

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Green Technologies: Smart and efficient Management- 2012, SLIET Longowal by constructing fish ladders, carefully regulating plant operations and by dredging the silt. Hydropower has certain advantages, too. Hydropowers fuel supply is clean and is renewed yearly by water cycle. Hydro plants do not emit any pollutants into the air because they burn no fuel. Many dams are helpful to control flooding and regulate water supply. 4) Tidal Power Technologies The water in the oceans is always in motion. The tides rise and fall continuously in eternal cycles. A part of this ocean energy can be used, but major part of it is out of our reach. The major problem lies in transporting this energy. As Generation of electricity in the middle of the ocean is not logical as there is no one to use it. It needs to be produced only near shores where people can use it. It is one of the most promising sources of ocean energy for present and the future needs. Tidal power is an also renewable energy source. The ocean have strong waves, even energy can be produced by channelizing these waves by proper technology. As the energy from the sun continuously heat up the surface water of the ocean during day time. In tropical regions, sometimes, even the surface water can be 40 or more degrees warmer than the deeper water. This difference can be utilized in production of electricity. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC, has the potential to produce more energy than tidal, wave, and wind energy combined, but it is a technology for the future. There are no large-scale OTEC power plants in use today. 5) Biodiesel Bio Diesel is the most valuable form of renewable energy that can be used directly in any existing, unmodified diesel engine. It can be easily produced from seeds of Oilseed plants such as Rape seed, Sun Flower, Canola and Jatropha Curcas. It is environmental friendly and also very useful in case of highly polluted big cities. It emits 80% lesser CO2 and 100% lesser SO2, thus it reduces 90% risks of cancer. This is cheaper and also improves the life of engine. Biodiesel can be used singly or in any ratio along with mineral oil diesel fuel preferably 5% to 20%. The process of conversion of vegetable oil extracted from these non food crops into useful biodiesel fuel is called Transesterification. Chemically, it means extracting alcohol ester from a triglyceride molecule by separating glycerin from it. The final product Bio Diesel fuel, when used directly in a Diesel Engine will burn up to 75% cleaner than mineral oil Diesel fuel. Biodiesel is Renewable energy Form that will be not only helpful in energy independence and economic growth but also provides us clean air with lesser global warming. There are a number of non feed crops like Jatropha Curcas, Algae, Caster Bean, Jerusalem Artichoke, Mahua etc. from which the Biodiesel extraction is being done on laboratory level these days.

6) Geothermal Power Technologies The word Geothermal comes from the Greek words geo means earth and therme means heat. Geothermal energy is the heat lying inside the Earth. The inside of the Earth is very hot but sometimes this heat comes near the surface. We can make electricity from it. It heats the water underground. We can use this heated water. We dig wells and pump the hot water and steam out of the ground. The hot water we use will be replaced by rain. The heat inside the Earth will always be there. It is renewable energy. In some places, there are pools of water that are always hot. They are warmed by underground springs. These hot springs have often been used for bathing. Many people believe these springs have healing powers. Power plants can use steam from geothermal wells to make electricity in the same manner as I n case of hydropower or wind power the turbines rotate to produce electricity. the steam is used to spin turbines. The power plants can be built close to the wells. Geothermal energy is cheap. Geothermal energy has been converted to electrical energy for many decades and has been used since ancient times to heat homes. Geothermal energy finds its way to the earths surface through natural channels such as hot springs and man made channels such as wells. 7) Technologies related to Biomass Biomass includes solid biomass (it may be organic, nonfossil material of biological origins), biogas (mainly methane and CO2 produced by anaerobic digestion of biomass and combusted to produce heat/power), sewage treatment and municipal waste (wastes produced by the residential, commercial and public services sectors and used in specific installations to produce heat and/or power). The some successful forms of biomass are sugar cane bagasse in agriculture, pulp and paper residues in forestry and manure in livestock residues. Biomass may be used in a number of ways to produce energy. The most common technologies are: Combustion Gasification Fermentation Anaerobic digestion One of the most successful bio-mass projects in India is a co-generation project in Karnataka where a sugar mill has installed a 22MW electric power plant which uses the waste product bagasse as the fuel source. The first co -generation project in Karnataka to evacuate power through the grid, the forty-four crore forty lakh rupee plant generates captive power at rates, which are lower than what the sugar mill was paying the electricity board in Karnataka.

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Green Technologies: Smart and efficient Management- 2012, SLIET Longowal Status in India In India wind power leads the race of all renewable resources with a cumulative 14989 MW production till 31 st August 2011, followed by Small Hydro Power (3154 MW), Biomass Power (1084 MW), Solar Power (46 MW) AS Ministry of New and Renewable Energy data. Similarly in case of biogas plants cumulative figure was 44.16 Lakhs of biogas plants as on 31 st August 2011 and 4.67 million m2 was the solar water heating collection area. III. CONCLUSIONS Thus, all these green technologies are being utilized in the field of renewable sources of energy with an ultimate goal of Sustainability to meet out the societys present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. These technologies aim at not only reducing waste and pollution by changing patterns of production and consumption but also developing alternatives to technologies too to cater with energy needs of mankind. There is need to explore more new technologies in this field those are cheaper and viable. New innovative technological framework need to be constructed for achievement of sustainability not only for our environment but also for the whole human race.
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