Sustainable energy

Energy sources
There are different types of energy sources, some are sustainable and some are not sustainable. Things like the tides, the sun and geothermic energy are all renewable, meaning it can be reused, while fossil fuels and nuclear power are non-renewable. We can’t deplete a renewable energy source so it’s referred to as sustainable because it can sustain us no matter how long we need it for.

Fossil fuels like oil and natural gas take millions of years to form and are extracted and used in a very short time. So our use is going to deplete it one point. With, for example, windmills we cannot really deplete the resource, because wind is something that is always going to be around.

Efficiency
We know that some things are more efficient at transferring energy than other things. For example, diesel engines have better efficiency than petrol engines, meaning that cars that run on diesel can run further than those who use petrol. This means that Diesel engines convert more of the chemical energy in the diesel to useful energy which moves the car. Obviously, high efficiency is economically good, unfortunately, most forms of sustainable energy sources are not very efficient, meaning that not only are they expensive to manufacture, but they also don’t make much energy.

The UN’s sustainability goals
Our use of fossil fuels releases a very large amount of greenhouse gasses. The UN aims to use mainly sustainable energy moving forwards.