Renewables are Naturally Replenished Energy Sources
What is Renewable Energy?
Renewable energy resources include the sun, wind, moving water such as rivers and tides, and earth’s core heat - along with a little human ingenuity these resources are used to produce usable energy in the form of electricity or heat.
What are the Types of Renewable Energy?
Solar
Sunlight, or solar energy, can directly heat and light homes and commercial buildings, be harnessed for generating electricity, hot water heating, solar cooling, and a variety of commercial and industrial uses.
Wind
The heating and cooling of the Earth by the sun also creates the wind which can be converted into energy by spinning the blades of wind turbines, the modern day wind mills. Wind turbines today range from small to enormous in size, allowing electricity production from home use to an industrial scale.
Geothermal
In short, geothermal power is energy extracted from heat stored under the Earth’s surface. Strategically placed geothermal plants can harness the heat generated from the core of the Earth and convert it into electricity for commercial use through heat turbines. Unfortunately, attempting to access this heat in new areas requires drilling and often times drilling for geothermal sources can produce nothing.
Hydropower
Hydropower is power that is derived from the force or energy of moving water. Flowing water creates energy that can be captured and converted into electricity through the use of turbines. The most prevalent form of hydropower is dams, although newer forms harnessing wave and tidal power are becoming more common.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the most abundant element on the Earth but it’s always combined with other elements, such as with oxygen to make water. Once separated from another element, hydrogen gas can be burned to produce heat or converted into electricity – producing only water as a result. Unfortunately, large amounts of energy are required to separate hydrogen from other elements which ultimately make hydrogen power less attractive as a continuing source of energy, unless produced with energy derived from other renewable sources.
Why Don’t We Use More Renewable Energy?
Energy providers almost always utilize the least expensive energy source. For a long time, the cost of fossil fuels has remained relatively low while the technology used to produce renewable energy has generally been more expensive. Also, renewable resources are often located in remote areas where it can be costly to build power lines to link the cities where the electricity is needed. The use of renewable sources is also limited by the fact that they may not always be available — cloudy days reduce solar power; calm days reduce wind power; and droughts reduce the water available for hydropower. In addition, renewable energy plants, such as wind farms, have been considered un-slightly leading local communities to reject their installation near any practical location.
The production and use of renewable fuels, however, has grown more quickly in recent years as a result of higher prices for oil and natural gas, a number of state and federal incentives in the form of tax credits and rebates, and public acceptance of proven technologies. Fortunately, the use of renewable energy is expected to continue to grow over the next 30 years as both the cost to produce renewable energy continues to decline and as the technology to create renewable energy improves. However, we will still continue to rely on non-renewable fuels to meet most of our energy needs due to the tremendous economic and social reliance on traditional fossil fuel energy sources.
