Sources of energy :
The history of world civilization can be simply named as the history of utilization of energy. It can be generally said, how much a country is developed, a simple means to understand it is to calculate the use of electrical energy per person in that country. Different forms of energy in the world are shown in figure 4.03.
Non-renewable Energy As the history of civilization on earth is actually the history of energy utilization, we see there is a hunger for energy in every country and every state in the world. Everyone is searching for energy and using it in every possible manner. Fuel Energy (Oil, gas, and coal): At this moment, the biggest sources of energy of the world are oil, gas or coal. Oil, gas or coal, are all fossil fuels that is, being buried under the ground from millions of years are transformed into this form due to a prolonged period of heat and pressure. Coal, oil or gas are to be extracted from beneath the ground.
- The oil that is extracted from the ground (Crude oil) is very dense at the primary stage, they are converted into petrol, diesel, or kerosene by refining in refineries and some other useful substances are found as well. The gas that comes out from beneath the ground is mainly methane CH4, water vapors and other gases can be mixed with it and these are to be separated. The gas of our country Bangladesh is comparatively much clearer 3. And suitable for direct use.
Nuclear Energy: Many countries are utilizing nuclear energy, and fuel is also required there, that fuel is uranium. There is a similarity in the energies, oil, gas, coal or uranium; they are spent when they are used. Men have already estimated the amount of uranium in the world or the amount of oil, gas or coal beneath the ground. It is seen that if people continue to use energy at the rate they are doing now, then the sources of energy like oil, gas, coal or uranium will run for two hundred years at best. After that our known sources of energy will run out. People are not that much concerned about what will happen then because they are almost sure that by them some other sources will be found using science and technology. For example, nuclear fusion, using which the sun or stars produce their energy. The fuel for fusion comes from one isotope of hydrogen and each molecule of water contains two atoms of hydrogen. So, there is no worry for that to run out.
Renewable Energy: Human being is not only relying upon new forms of energy in the future but at this very moment, they are also dependent on the sources of energy, which will not be finished. This energy comes from sunlight, ebb, and flow of the waves of seas, winds in open fields, hot magma from the interior of the earth or currents of water of rivers. It is not difficult to understand that these sources of energy are almost inexhaustible. These are called renewable energy- i.e. the energy which can be renewed, and because of that, there is nothing to be worried about. At present one-fifth of the energy, people are using is this renewable energy. As days are going by, people are getting conscious about the environment. And so the use of this type of energy is increasing more and more. Hydroelectricity: One-fifth of the total energy of the world is renewable energy.
Most of that part is hydroelectricity, to produce electricity by making a dam in a river. Since the water of a river is inexhaustible, therefore the source of energy of such a power plant is inexhaustible. This is the conventional concept. But if a dam is built on a river, it harms the environment to a great extent; due to this, the people of the world have become very conscious. Those who are a little bit farsighted don't build such a power plant more. Biomass: After hydroelectricity, the most renewable energy comes from biomass, by biomass we mean wood fuel, straw, etc. People in many parts of the world have no oil, gas or electricity; they spend their daily life by burning fuelwood and straw. The used energy by these poor people is a major part of the total .0 energy of the world. Even the dried tree, straw, etc. are finished due to burning, biomass is called the source of renewable energy because the trees can be grown again. It is not lost forever from the world like oil, gas or coal.
The important sources of energy are solar energy, wind energy, biofuel and geothermal energy besides the two forms of renewable energy, hydroelectricity, and biomass. Solar energy: Many of you will be astonished on hearing, only in one square kilometer area we get one thousand megawatt energy from the sun as light and heat which is near to the energy of a nuclear power plant. One part of the light and heat that comes from the sun is absorbed by the atmosphere. It is absent at night and uncontrolled due to cloud and rain. Besides this, the energy comes as light and heat energy, it has to pass one step for conversion into electricity. It is still said to be the most reliable source of energy. Utilizing solar heat electricity can be generated. Nowadays a common picture of the earth is the solar panel, installing this on their roofs; people are generating their own electricity sitting in their own residence.
Wind energy: After solar energy, wind energy has occupied an important place very quickly. In our country, we are not familiar with seeing large turbines for wind energy, but in many countries of Europe, this is a very familiar scene. The place at which the windmill is set up, a large tower is erected upwards, so there is no waste of land at all, for this reason, the environmentalists like it very much. From a wind turbine, it is possible to get a few megawatts of electricity! The utility of the energy that is generated by using air; is increasing by 30% every year. This number is not a small number at all.
Biofuel: The people of the world are preparing alcohol for drinking purposes for a long time- it is one kind of fuel. Preparation of alcohol as fuels from food like popcorn and sugarcane is almost an acceptable procedure. The oil that we use for cooking purposes can also be used instead of diesel. There are many kinds of trees in the world from which we can get fuel oil directly. In many countries of the world, the research on biofuel is continuing, moreover many countries like Brazil have started using such types of biofuel on a large scale.
Geothermal energy: Another important source of renewable energy is geothermal energy. The inner part of our earth is very hot, when a volcano eruption takes place then we become aware of it. So, if someone can make a hole a few kilometers deep, then he will get a giant source of heat energy. The process is still not easy so its large scale use has not yet started. In some places, due to its geographical nature, this type of energy is available easily and its use has started there.