The world as a whole is becoming more ecologically conscious. We all now understand the importance of working towards a sustainable future and minimizing the amount of waste that we generate. In order to achieve this, we have been turning to increasingly advanced technological solutions. We now have a much better understanding of what causes climate change, and how we can slow down or reverse its effects.
Some of these technologies are prominent and relatively well known, but many of the most important technologies in the battle for the environment are being developed behind the scenes with little fanfare. The following technologies are the ones that will define our approach to our environmental objectives over the coming years and decades.
Electric Vehicles
Electric cars are now available to consumers and are already having a significant impact on the way that we view the future of personal transportation. Switching from using gas to using electricity would represent a massive saving in terms of the emissions that a car produces. It is easy to forget that, as well as emitting pollutants themselves, most vehicles also contribute to environmental damage from the fuel they require.
The production of electric vehicles involves processes harmful to the environment, but these are offset by the savings once the car is on the road. By contrast, a diesel-powered vehicle will continue to pollute more throughout its lifespan.
Solar Power
The sun is our most abundant source of energy. That gigantic ball of plasma contains 99% of the mass in our solar system and burns off over 6 million tons of material every second. With so much energy being released by nuclear fusion processes in the sun’s core, energy that sustains life on Earth, the ability to harness the sun’s energy could clearly be game changing.
Solar power technology has always suffered from an efficiency problem, but this is something that we are constantly getting better at. Town planners are increasingly designing urban environments to be more sustainable. Incorporating solar power into these designs is becoming more common. There are similar measures like these town planning techniques, which have been used to ensure that solar power generation is as efficient as possible.
Nuclear Fusion
The only thing that would be better than capturing energy directly from the sun would be to replicate the process by which it is able to generate such enormous amounts of energy. This process is called nuclear fusion and there have been massive efforts underway to harness it as a potential energy source for a number of decades.
When most people hear the word nuclear, they think of radiation and pollution. In actual fact, nuclear fusion is a clean form of energy that doesn’t rely on the radioactive fuel that current fission reactors do. If we could perfect an efficient process for generating energy through fusion, it would solve many of our energy problems.
These are some of the key technologies relating to a sustainable future. Each of these technologies represents an evolution in the way that we think about, and approach, energy and its generation.
Article Submitted By Community Writer