07/14/2015 Called 'alternative sources' up to just a few years ago they are now central to the transformation of the entire energy system along with low-carbon development. Renewables are improving our habits in our daily use of energy sources and have already changed the way in which we speak, becoming almost synonymous with sustainability and virtuous growth

Up to only a few years ago they were generically called 'alternative sources' to set them apart from traditional sources, but no more than that: it's like when you can't help acknowledging the existence of something, but you consider it still too marginal to be worth your time and attention, so you briefly mention it at the end of the list, "then there's also …".

Renewables have made great strides over the last decade, going from tail light to a tumultuous presence in the group of energy sources. Forecasts keep predicting their continual growth for the coming years, having them lead the way in the sector's transition towards a new low-carbonera and assigning them the mission of revolutionising sustainable development. From newcomers, renewables have become important and even trendy. And, despite some exaggeration and a lot of simplification, they are truly playing a decisive role in transforming the world of energy, and not only that.

With the advent of renewables the very vocabulary of energy has changed, compelling the entire sector to update its lexicon and increasingly use expressions such as 'distributed generation', 'green certificates' or 'net metering'. But common parlance has also suddenly begun adopting terms introduced by renewable sources. The adjective 'green' wins hands down in being associated with the most various fields and contexts. While we once only associated green with 'fingers' and 'light', that had nothing to do with renewables, today we read and write about green economy, green jobs, green technology and so on. We still don't discuss the greater or lesser effectiveness of monocrystalline, polycrystalline or thin-film panels with our friends, but we have come to acknowledge the existence of solar PV fields as much as those for corn and football, and we realise that farms can also be wind ones. In short, our vocabulary reflects the advent of renewables in a myriad of ways, because they have now become a daily presence: from large wind blade installations to small solar plants on the roofs of city homes.

Care for the environment and consumption has produced a widespread focus on renewables in everyday life, which was unthinkable up to a few years ago, along with the hope that this new culture will keep growing. Also because this new 'green' vocabulary allows us to enter a wide, integrated and constantly developing world such as that of energy, in which innovations don't only have to do with solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, but also include smart grids, big data and storage, terms that describe technologies and projects that are far more real and tangible than we think.

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