ENERGY

ENERGY CARRIER

FOSSIL ENERGY SOURCES

Very often we are not aware of the significance energy has in our everyday life. As we turn on the light in the morning, heat up the water for coffee or tea, shower with warm water or drive to work in our cars, in each particular case we use a different form of energy that we don't produce ourselves, but take out of the environment and use for our lives to be easier and more comfortable.

Of course, all living creatures acquire energy for living from the environment with food, but humans also acquire and use energy in a different way since the first time fire was intentionally set to collected dry wood or other plants (which in modern times is named biomass) to warm the living environment, cook food and scare away predators in the night.

Since then, acquiring energy for purposes other than basic organic functions has experienced growth and development.

As mentioned, the first energy sources man used for energy production were of a natural, organic origin (wood, natural oils produced from plants) and it was only since the beginning of the industrial age that new energy sources like coal, oil and natural gas were discovered and successfully used for energy production, which are also natural in origin, but so far in the past that the name fossil energy sources is used.

Sources of fossil energy (coal, oil, natural gas) have brought many advantages, for example bigger energy concentration, suitable for mass production and use, economic advantages and so on, but, as we have found more and more over the last few decades, they also have many disadvantages such as pollution, global warming and fear of depletion, which also has a negative influence on the economic flows of our economies.

RES DEFINITION

Renewable energy sources (RES) are actually those resources that were already in use before the dawn of the industrial age, and therefore are not a new discovery. The difference from non-renewable sources (oil, gas, coal), which are available to exploit only in limited volumes which diminish with use, is that they renew over a period of time and it is therefore possible to expect that we'll be able to use them for producing energy far in the future.

RES TYPES

The majority of renewable energy comes directly or indirectly from the energy of the sun, which enters our atmosphere with radiation and then transforms into different forms. Typical forms of such energies are wind energy, hydro energy (which stores the most of the suns energy), energy stored in biomass (produced through the organic process of growth), and of course, energy of the sun’s radiation itself, used directly. Other energy sources that are a consequence of sun’s radiation include tidal energy and geothermal energy, which are also deemed as renewable energy sources.

RES IN USE

In 2004 the rate of renewable energies in the production of the entire world’s energy was 13.1% [1]. Among the renewable sources of energy, the energy of biomass, which was the main variety before the discovery and use of fossil energies, accounted for the most (almost 80%), followed by hydro energy as the next biggest. Growth rates of particular energy shares in all energy production between 1974 and 2004, on the other hand, show a different picture. While average annual biomass energy production growth (2.1%) is slightly lower than total annual energy production growth (2.2%), the annual production growth of energy produced using direct radiation from the sun was 28.1% and is followed by wind (48.1%) in second place, which has the highest rate in the group.
^[1]International Energy Agency (2007). Renewables in global energy supply: An IEA facts sheet, OECD, p. 3.

DEPENDENCY ON IMPORTING ENERGY

POLLUTION AND GLOBAL WARMING

EXPLOITATION OF FOSSIL SOURCES

There are numerous reasons why international societies and organizations, governments and other organizations promote and stimulate the development of technologies for energy production from renewable energy sources. The first of these appeared in the 70s during the oil crisis. It became obvious that the large-scale and rapidly growing consumption of fossil energy sources that originate in considerable amount in the Middle East causes economical and political dependency and risk for those countries that don’t have those resources of their own.

Second, in recent years more obvious reasons include changes to our climate and growing rate of pollution in our environment, which is in a great measure attributable to the use of fossil sources for energy production.

The third reason is already obvious in the name “non-renewable sources”. The quantity that is available for energy production diminishes with use, and with growing energy consumption this could happen in the near future and cause an extensive shock and crisis.

Nevertheless, the price for energy produced using some renewable energy sources is still higher than conventional energy produced using fossil sources, and is therefore, for in mentioned problems averagely aware consumer, to expensive or even completely unavailable. Still in some cases, the price of renewable energy stand side by side or even lower than the price of conventional energy. The group of technologies which focuses on the affordability of produced energy for consumers is called soft energy technology.

Soft energy technologies are not simply technologies for the use of renewable sources in energy production, but have to comply with particular demands. They must:

• make use of renewable energy sources,
• be diverse and in the circumstances of the case designed for maximal efficiency,
• be flexible and understandable,
• be compliant with needs of the end consumer in terms of size and
• be compliant with the needs of the end consumer in terms of quality.

SOLAR COLLECTORS

SUN COLLECTORS SL and NSL TINOX convert energy in the form of direct radiation from the sun into heat that is stored in a buffer tank and later used for different heating needs, or directly warms sanitary water in the boiler, which can be used in household or any economic activity. Such a manner of energy production meets the definition of active, direct use of the sun’s radiation and is almost free in operation, or the operating costs are negligible. Furthermore, this technology meets all the demands for classification as soft energy technology and is already well spread and growing, especially in developed countries.

HEAT PUMPS

THE HEAT PUMPS TČ2PL, TČ3PL AND STČ use electricity to take the heat from the air in the environment in which it is placed and transfers it to the buffer tank or warm the sanitary water in a boiler directly. This method of producing energy is indirect use of sun’s energy that is stored in the air of our environment and is then transferred to the heated medium. The technology of the heat pumps also complies with all the demands for soft energy technology and is reasonable in price and interesting for anyone who cares for sustainable and development, has a concern for the environment and wants to save on heating expenses.

PRODUCTS FOR HEATING SUPPORT

PRODUCTS FOR HEATING WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES SUPPORT are other products that we offer within our production program and are designed for direct heating or heating support with conventional or renewable energy sources. These includes BUFFER TANKS,, that are used for heating efficiency optimization and bridging the span between the time that a source is available and the time that energy is needed or BOILERS, which can be connected directly to sun collectors, heat pumps, stoves for biomass or products for energy production with conventional energy sources like oil or gas stoves or electric heaters and are meant for heating sanitary water directly. Both product groups are optimized in the sense of efficiency with suitable isolation for energy loss prevention in heat storage.