Energy can be divided into renewable and non-renewable energy. Non-renewable energy comes from the earth’s stock and is either fossil fuels or nuclear. Renewable energy sources can be divided into flow resources and fund resources.
Non-renewable energy
Non-renewable energy comes from the earth’s stock and is either fossil fuels or nuclear.
The fossil fuels include oil, coal and natural gas. When fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide emissions are formed which contribute to the greenhouse effect. Combustion of carbon emits the most carbon dioxide, natural gas at least.
The fossil fuels were formed millions of years ago by dead plant and animal parts. The process is ongoing, but it is so slow that the fuels are still considered non-renewable.
Uranium, the fuel for nuclear power, is also a storage resource from the earth’s interior, but is not fossil energy. Here, the problem is instead radioactivity: in the mining of the uranium mines, from the nuclear power plants in the event of a nuclear accident or from the burnt-out waste.
Renewable energy sources
Renewable energy sources can be divided into flow resources and fund resources. Flow resources come to earth no matter what we do, such as wind, sun and water, and it is just to take advantage.
Fund resources, on the other hand, are bioenergy from fields and forests, which are powered by the sun and can be inexhaustible if they are not overused. But if you save on capital, the interest rate decreases.
When burning biofuels (wood, energy forest or biogas) carbon dioxide is emitted, but it is carbon dioxide that has been stored for a short time in the plants and which is absorbed by other plants.
Peat is a problematic middle ground. Some define it as a renewable fuel, others as non-renewable. Peat is not fossil, but a peat bog has taken tens of thousands of years to form, so the carbon dioxide released by combustion contributes to the greenhouse effect.
Electricity is not the same as energy
A distinction is made between primary energy sources and energy carriers.
Both electricity and hydrogen are energy carriers that can be produced by many different primary energy sources: solar radiation, wind, fossil fuels and biomass. Whether the electricity/hydrogen gas is environmentally friendly or not and, for example, affects the greenhouse effect depends on what it is produced by.
Methane can come from either biogas or natural gas. Methane is the energy carrier, while organic matter is the primary energy source for biogas, and fossil gas is the energy source for what is commonly called natural gas.
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