The world relies on a variety of energy sources. Fossil fuels — including natural gas, oil, and coal accounted for more than 81 percent of all energy consumed in the year 2018. Renewable energy sources like wind power, solar energy, biomass, and hydroelectricity are responsible for 14 percent. Nuclear energy is responsible for another 5percent. Different countries employ various energy sources, in order to balance the environmental aspects with economics.
Energy is found in nature in a number of forms: sunlight and wind, waves, oceans and more. When harnessed and transformed into more practical forms of energy, like heat or electricity, they are known as primary sources. These energies become non-renewable sources of energy when they are exhausted.
A lot of fossil fuels and a few of the other sources of energy that aren’t renewable can be harmful to the environment. For example, mining for oil can strip the planet’s pristine forests. Fracking (hydraulic fracturing) could cause water pollution and earthquakes. Carbon dioxide is released when coal is burned which causes global warming.
Fortunately there are many promising energy sources are sustainable and renewable. Solar, wind, and hydropower can, for example, generate electricity without digging up new sources.
Other renewable energy sources are gaining momentum, such as the wave and tidal power. However, to be utilized in a large-scale manner these technologies need effective distribution networks. This requires the use non-renewable energies to build these networks. This means that these sources aren’t capable of meeting the majority of our energy requirements. It’s still important to remember that the cost of renewable energy equipment has decreased dramatically in recent times and that efficiency is increasing.