INTRODUCTION
Following a consumption boom in the second part of the previous century energy consumption has rapidly increased. Humanity consumed energy carriers, as if they had abandoned and endless natural resources. An era of technology and digitized information has emerged, creating more facilities and investing more efforts into research of technological development. However, in the 70th the world faced an energy crisis and eventually a limitless energy consumption came to an end. Government authorities realized how dependent countries were on carriers, which put them into dependency on foreign politics. This alert accelerated a development of renewable energy sources, since they provided an alternative way to supply energy depending on the local resources. For scientists it began a new stage in researches, since there appeared many technological gaps in implementation. There is an abandoned solar source, but it requires proper storage equipment, therefore, solutions have been discovered.
Another push forward was made by scientific claims of an environmental hazard, caused by anthropogenic activities. Scientists began to rise a public concern over the probability of climate change and its consequences for the future generations. It was stated that climate change is accelerated by hazardous anthropogenic activity, mainly done by fossil fuel combustion and an increased number of public and private vehicles.
Thus, modern metrics for technology became energy efficiency and environmental impact of any existing equipment or facility. An effective way of energy use in technology means that less amount of fossil fuel is combusted, which consequently generates less amount of greenhouse gases into environment. A presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere corresponds to the potential of global warming worldwide. The consequences are huge, which relates to ice melting and a rise of water level in the planet.
Moreover, an increased price on energy carrier speeded up the process of searching new ways of energy saving. Based on the potential environmental danger and a scarcity of natural resources, power saving technology developed its path to grow. Generally, power saving technology is characterized by eco-friendly technological design, construction and material use in order to maintain a sufficient energy efficiency level and preventing environmental impact. Power energy technology is aimed to save limited natural resources, prevent deterioration of environment and promote deployment of alternative energy sources.
POWER SAVING TECHNOLOGY
According to (wiseGEEK), ''energy saving technology, also known as green technology, is technology which augments or replaces existing systems for a net energy savings''. An advancement of green technology has decreased an environmental impact of human activity and it currently shapes a future eco-friendly approach to natural resources consumption. It is also important to further develop this technology in terms of restricting the use of several hazardous materials, used in manufacture, such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and halide-containing compounds polybrominated biphenyl and polybrominated biphenyl. An elimination of those compounds leads to environmentally favourable recycling and incineration of electronic equipment (Direct, 2016).
Green technology also prevents from depleting natural resources, which are currently used in various sectors, such as heating, gas or electricity supply, transportation, water and wastewater systems. Since fossil fuel combustion poses a danger to the environment by the pollution, it is important to implement a great share of eco-friendly technology in both the city municipal sectors and households.
There are different types of power saving technology, which serve different purposes, including power saving appliances, green buildings, hybrid vehicles and so on. Figure 1 illustrates an example of green building with its key green elements.
Figure 1 – The main elements of a green building (Benfield, 2010)
The term ''green building'' is thoroughly developed by (EPA), which is ''one whose construction and lifetime of operation assure the healthiest possible environment while representing the most efficient and least disruptive use of land, water, energy and resources''. One of the main improvements in green building is water management system. It is vital to emulate the hydrological system of the site before performing any construction works. Water management is aimed at minimizing the costs for purchasing new equipment and utilizing rain water, storm water and gray water for its further recycling. Existing natural flows should be taken into account in the designing phase.
Another feature is an optimization of energy consumption by means of utilizing renewable energy resources, optimizing building siting, material usage and use of energy conservation measures. It is important to optimize passive solar orientation, which enables to supply additional sunlight during winter time and prevent from an excessive solar radiation during summer time. High performance low-e glazing and selective coatings usually offer optimal light transmittance, so as provide minimal heat transition and a proper insulation. The lighting system is also crucial, as it is energy intensive, if out-of-date bulbs are utilized. T-8 and T-5 bulbs and control lighting system improve general energy performance in the building and has a long operational term.
Utilizing heat pump in combination with wind turbine and PV panel offers an opportunity to become autonomous in terms of electricity and heating supply, as well as this system can be integrated into the grid and sell an access electricity into utility. This combination prevents from blackouts because of the absence of wind or sunlight, since geothermal energy is constant. Moreover, green building is also characterized by consumption of recycled, bio-based and environmentally friendly materials.
Implementing green technology has got both advantages and disadvantages. Its developments shapes eco-friendly society with carbon-zero economies, which is beneficial for environment and the future of our planet. It is also more adequate way to consume natural resources, which are gradually being depleted. From another side, the price of green technology is still high in comparison to fossil fuel burning. But its cost is descending, because more affordable materials are discovered to be used in such technologies. Another obstacle is governmental and local policies, which create barriers in implementation of green technology. The last reason is hard to deal with, for oil and gas companies are still huge market players. But gradually the understanding of the current situation regarding the depleted natural resources is coming.
The United Arab Emirates is experiencing emerge of many companies, which promote green technology development. For instance, Microtron Technologies produces bikes, which are charged by solar energy in a short amount of time. Figure 2 illustrates characteristics of a solar bike.
Figure 2 – Characteristics of solar powered bike (MICROTRON, 2016)
Another great example is SHAMS Power Company, which has installed the largest CSP plants in the world and the first large-scale project in the Middle East (SHAMS, 2016). They have implemented the largest solar project in the world, called Shams 1.
Figure 3 – Investment in clean energy (Kahya, 2015)
Figure 3 contains information about statistical data on investment into clean energy, which is a basis for green technology. It shows a steady increase despite of the economic slow-down.
CONCLUSIONS
The developments of power saving technology offers an opportunity to decrease anthropogenic impact on environment. It saves the planet from depleting the scarce natural resources, too. Although there are still some barriers in implementing these eco-friendly technology due to undeveloped policies, the major contribution to its development has been made in the recent time in terms of investment and research activity. The United Arab Emirates demonstrate its focus on power saving technology, implementing the large-scale solar energy plant.
References
Benfield, K. (2010). Instead of building new green places, let’s green the ones we have. from http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/instead_of_building_new_green.html
Direct, E. (2016). THE IMPORTANCE OF POWER SAVING TECHNOLOGY & POWER PROTECTION. 8.
EPA. WHAT IS A GREEN BUILDING? Fundamental Principles of Green Building and Sustainable Site Design 7.
Kahya, D. (2015). 5 graphs showing what you need to know about renewables investments Retrieved 03.03.2016, from http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2015/01/09/china-record-clean-energy-investment-3-things-need-know-renewable-investment/
MICROTRON. (2016). Solar Powered Bike. Retrieved 03.03.2016, from http://www.microtrontec.com/
SHAMS. (2016). SHAMS power company Retrieved 03.03.2016, from http://shamspower.ae/en/
wiseGEEK. What Are the Different Types of Energy Saving Technology? Retrieved 03.03.2016, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-energy-saving-technology.htm
