What Is Green Technology?

With all the buzz surrounding the state of the environment, you may be wondering exactly what is green technology? Also referred to as environmental technology or clean technology, the goal of this movement is to conserve the earth’s resources, reduce negative impacts such as pollution and foster sustainable development.

Green technology, also known as sustainable technology, is one that has a “green” purpose. Green is a reference to nature, of course, but green technology, in general, is one that takes into account the long and short-term impact an invention has on the environment. Green products are environmentally friendly inventions that often involve energy efficiency, recycling, safety and health concerns, renewable resources, and more.

What Is Green Technology: Strategies

Green technology is a relatively new field that has grown quickly as people have become aware of their detrimental effects on the environment, including global warming and the greenhouse effect. It is a wide-encompassing field and sometimes a politically controversial one. Green technology is one of the fastest growing employment sectors and is surely much more than a passing trend.The types of green technology range from very simple tasks that can be performed in your home to highly specialized systems.

Examples of Green Technology

One of the best-known examples of green technology is the solar cell. A solar cell directly converts the energy in light into electrical energy through the process of photovoltaics. Generating electricity from solar energy means less consumption of fossil fuels, reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Solar panels are expensive and not attractive, but new inventions on the horizon include community solar groups, where renters share solar panel products, and a new spray-on photovoltaic film using perovskites is said to have the potential to convert regular window glass to solar collectors.

Another simple invention that can be considered green is the reusable water bottle. Drinking lots of water is a healthy practice. Reducing plastic waste is great for the environment. Hence, reusable water bottles that you can refill yourself are health-promoting, eco-friendly, and green.

Green Energy

The highest priority in many scientific endeavors is the development of green energy, a burgeoning field that combines the considerations of economy, energy, and the environment to provide sustainable “green” energy sources. Since the invention of the steam engine kicked off the Industrial Revolution, the planet has suffered rapid changes in the climate. Measurable climate change effects today include increasingly severe droughts, high water loss in groundwater reserves, seawater acidification, seawater level rises, the rapid spread of diseases and macroparasites affecting livestock and the extinction of species.

However, new technologies of green energy must be used alongside the use of the old to prepare for the transition: non-renewable resources currently make up 80 percent of the world’s energy requirements, and that is overall not sustainable.
Principles of Sustainability

There are three principles which define sustainability in any type of material, as described by the American ecologist and economist Herman Daly:

nonrenewable resources should not be depleted at rates higher than the development rate of renewable substitutes
renewable resources should not be exploited at a rate higher than their regeneration levels
the absorption and regeneration capacity of the natural environment should not be exceeded

Nonrenewable energy resources include nuclear, hydrogen, coal, natural gas, and oil: all of these currently fail the definition of sustainability in one way or another, but most painfully in the ability of the environment to absorb and regenerate the expenses related to their extraction or production.

Renewable energy sources include water, biomass, wind, solar, and geothermal; but they are currently not exploited at adequate levels to replace the nonrenewable sources. That is seen by many in the energy industry as both a challenge and an opportunity.