Some of these terms are obvious and some less so. #q#Green, Clean and Renewable are wrongly used interchangeably #q#, they all mean different things. They are open to interpretation and personal opinion. The following is how I define these energy labels.

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First a summary, renewable or clean is often but not always green. Clean is not always renewable. Non renewable is always polluting.

Examples:-

• Nuclear is clean but not green.

• Biomass is renewable but not green.

• Nuclear is clean but not renewable.

• Large scale hydro electric schemes are clean and renewable but not green.

• Geoexchange is clean, renewable and green.

• Coal and oil are not clean, renewable or green.

Green Energy Definition

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Any generation process that doesn't have a significant adverse effect on the environment. Key word there is significant. #q#Every energy generation method has some effect on the environment. #q# You have to dig a big hole and fill it with concrete for a wind turbine. Things like small scale hydro electric, solar and wind are often considered green energy sources. They do not emit greenhouse gases after manufacture and installation. They have a low effect on the local environment and the atmosphere. There are downsides, many would argue that wind turbines kill too many birds and even small scale hydro electric dams displace wildlife and change the environment. They all require fossil fuels and the mining of materials to produce the parts that make these systems work.

Clean Energy Definition

This is simply the generation of electricity that has #q#no harmful emissions #q# after manufacture and installation of components.

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This differs from green energy. For example, large scale hydro electric dams would be considered clean but perhaps not green because of the change of the environment behind the dam from dry land to under water. This change will entirely change the animals and plants living on that land, killing many and displacing others permanently.

Nuclear energy is also considered clean as it does not emit gases that cause greenhouse effects on the atmosphere.

Renewable Energy Definition

Where there is a force that we can harness to generate electricity that is on a human scale, not finite. So, the wind will blow, rain will fall, the tide will flow and the sun will always shine. No matter how much we harness, we will not use it all, it renews.

Tidal, hydro electric dams, wind, solar, geoexchange and geothermal are all renewable.

Nuclear energy is realistically speaking renewable. On the Earth their is a finite source of nuclear fuel. However, by the time we use it all, far in to the future, technology could realistically have improved so much that we are able to make our own nuclear fuel from other elements or get it from extra terrestrial sources. For now though, many consider nuclear non renewable.

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#q#Biomass and biogas are considered renewable, but not green. #q# Burning wood, other plant materials and biogas emit greenhouse gasses. They are considered renewable because the plant material can be regrown. For example, purpose built forests can be planted. Later when fully grown, the wood is burned to make power and new trees are planted in an ever lasting cycle. The regrown forest will take as much carbon out of the atmosphere as it released upon burning. Ultimately, the biomass process takes it's energy indirectly from the sun that the plants use to grow.

Non Renewable

All fossil fuels are non renewable because there is a finite amount of them on the planet. It is theoretically possible to consume them all. They will be renewed, but it takes millions of years and we could use all current supplies in a few hundred years.

As mentioned above, nuclear is normally currently categorized non renewable because there is a limited source of the uranium isotope used in nuclear reactors.

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Helena Montgomery
Chewells Contributor

Helena is our longest serving contributor. She lives in an area heavily dependant upon the oil industry. She... »

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Replies

• Helena Montgomery (Feb 8, 2024)
  Reply to George: Thanks for your question George. Rain water fills up hydro electric dams that then generates electricity.
• George (Feb 8, 2024)
  How does the rain falling create electricity?
• Urian Udell (Feb 8, 2024)
  Carbon capture is our only long term hope.
• Yokko (Feb 8, 2024)
  A balanced approach is required.
• Brad (Feb 8, 2024)
  There is no perfect system, we got to decide what we want to save and what we are prepared to loose.
• Fish (Feb 2, 2024)
  They all need fossil fuels to make and maintain.

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