12 green energy facts they may not tell you

Note: Solar, wind, tidal and geothermal energy are some of the examples of green energy, also called renewable energy.

1. About two-thirds of the world’s electricity comes from coal. If you have an electric vehicle, there’s a two-thirds chance that it is in fact powered by coal.

2. Used EV batteries are hazardous waste. It is difficult to dispose of them. In many areas they are just dumped in one place, leading to environmental problems.

3. Solar panels require coal as a source of energy for creation and assembly of panels. Solar panels are made of silicon, the production of which also requires coal.

4. The gearboxes of wind turbines may require approximately 40-230 liters of oil to function. Changing and replacing these oils is also expensive and cumbersome.

5. Usually when coal (a fossil fuel) plants are shut down, they are replaced with natural gas (another fossil fuel).

6. So impractical is the idea of converting the entire global energy ecosystem into green one is that the European Union has declared both nuclear and natural gas as green energy. 

7. Nuclear energy is not really “nuclear”. The energy comes from steam turbines. The steam created to power the turbines may come from coal, natural gas or uranium.

8. In fact, turbines are still our greatest source of energy. Dams. Coal plants. Natural gas plants. Wind. Tidal. It’s turbines all the way. We have hardly gone ahead of our dependence on turbines.

9. Thorium is a superior form of nuclear energy. It is safer and more abundant. But uranium can be weaponized, and thorium cannot be. That’s why most countries lost interest in the latter.

10. People talk of hydrogen as a fuel. But even hydrogen is produced thanks to the high usage of fossil fuels. Every green product has a high fossil fuel energy footprint.

11. We are a fossil fuel civilization. Fossil fuels power the manufacture and transport of almost any product you can think of, including the entire green energy industry.

12. There is natural supply and demand in the free market. That hasn’t been the case here. There was no demand from the consumer. Through subsidies and programs; governments, academicians, activists and celebrities have pushed this on the global population.

In summary…

Whether you manufacture a petrol car or a diesel car or an electric vehicle or a toy car, you are depleting resources and creating pollution. And you are doing it thanks to the fossil fuel ecosystem. There is nothing like a green product (or energy) in the world. It is an imaginary concept.