Types Of Renewable Energy Sources – Technologies such as solar and wind power are common throughout the world and both are examples of renewable energy sources. There are several ways to generate electricity from renewable sources. These fossil fuel alternatives will become an important part of our electricity generation mix in the coming years.
Renewable energy sources are energy sources that are continuously replenished through natural processes. These sources are often called alternative or renewable energy because they are alternative fuels that can be used to replace traditional non-renewable fossil fuels. Fossil fuels such as oil and coal produce energy when burned, but their supply is limited because they do not naturally renew in the short term for human use.
Types Of Renewable Energy Sources
Renewable energy sources are beneficial because they have a very limited negative impact on the environment compared to fossil fuels. Previously, they were too expensive for widespread use. However, this is changing – many renewable energy sources are cost-effective, and some can be a smart financial decision for homeowners, businesses and governments. In particular, solar energy is a great option for property owners who want to reduce their environmental footprint and save money at the same time. Find out how much solar energy you can save while helping the environment with the EnergySage solar calculator.
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There are five main technologies that are considered “renewable energy sources”. We’ve put together an infographic below to compare the top five renewable energy options side by side:
One of the most popular forms of renewable energy is solar energy. Solar energy comes from the sun, which provides our entire planet with the energy it needs to survive. Using solar panels, we can harvest energy directly from the sun and convert it into electricity that runs our homes and businesses. Solar energy can also be used to generate hot water or charge battery systems.
Solar energy benefits both the bank account and the environment. The price of solar power is falling, and installing solar power on your home will almost always save you money over the lifetime of the installation. Plus, solar power generation doesn’t pollute or emit fossil fuels, meaning you can dramatically reduce your environmental impact by installing solar power.
Another form of renewable energy that we interact with every day is wind. When you feel the wind, you only feel the movement of air from one place to another due to the uniform heating of the earth’s surface. We capture wind power by using large turbines that generate electricity as they rotate.
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Although wind power is not always a practical option for the individual homeowner, it is becoming increasingly popular in utility applications. Large wind farms covering several square kilometers can be found all over the world. Like solar energy, wind energy does not pollute the environment and is a growing and important renewable energy source that powers grids around the world. In 2017, wind farms generated more than six percent of the electricity used in the United States.
We can generate renewable energy from moving water as well as from moving air. Energy is created when moving water passes through a turbine and spins it to generate electricity. This is often the case with large dams or waterfalls where the height of the water drops significantly. Two important sites where hydroelectric power (also called hydropower) is produced are Hoover Dam on the Colorado River and Niagara Falls on the New York-Canada border.
Most renewable energy sources have yet to make a major impact on the overall US electricity supply, but hydropower is already a major player. The nation’s largest hydroelectric plants produced 7.5 percent of the electricity used in the U.S. in 2017, and that number is growing. In addition to large projects such as the Hoover Dam, hydropower can be generated by underwater turbines and smaller projects such as dams on lower rivers and streams.
Hydropower is also a harmless source of energy, since hydroelectric power plants do not produce emissions. However, hydropower has a greater impact on the environment than some other renewable energy sources because it can alter water levels, currents, and migration routes for fish and other freshwater animals.
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Earth has a great source of energy. Heat trapped during the formation of our planet, combined with the heat of radioactive decay in rocks deep in the Earth’s crust, creates large amounts of geothermal heat energy. Sometimes large amounts of heat are released at once, which we see as volcanic eruptions on Earth.
We can collect and use geothermal energy by heating water steam to run a turbine. In a geothermal spring system, water is pumped underground. When heated, it rises back to the surface as steam and spins a turbine to generate electricity.
Alternatively, geothermal heat can be used directly to heat or cool buildings. In this technology, called a geothermal heat pump, fluid is pumped to heat or cool beneath the earth’s surface, where the temperature remains constant year-round at around 50 degrees.
Although only a small part of our energy mix, geothermal energy is a promising renewable energy source with great energy supply potential. In Iceland, for example, geothermal heat already covers 90 percent of home heating and 25 percent of electricity. However, there are some concerns with geothermal energy, including the cost of building the power plant and its connection to ground instability and earthquakes.
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A final example of renewable energy is biomass. Biomass energy refers to energy obtained from recently living organic matter such as plants or animals. Biomass is a renewable natural resource because plants can be grown relatively quickly and they grow using the sun’s renewable energy. Fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel (both used in cars and trucks) are derived from biomass.
Biomass fuels are also considered “carbon neutral”, meaning they do not emit additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This must be true, because normally every time plants are harvested and burned for energy, new plants are planted and grown, and these new plants absorb the carbon produced by the burning, thus not adding additional carbon to the atmosphere. . However, plant regeneration takes time and the extent to which biofuels are carbon neutral is debatable.
If you want to reduce your environmental footprint and save money in the process, you should consider going solar. As the price of solar power continues to drop, now is the time to start generating electricity from the sun.
EnergySage Solar Marketplace allows you to request quotes from high-quality, pre-screened solar installations near you. By comparing solar energy quotes, you can be sure you are getting the best solar energy deal. If you’re in the early stages of buying solar and want an installation estimate, check out our solar calculator, which can show you the initial costs and long-term savings of a solar system. Governments plan ways to reduce emissions, investors look at companies’ environmental performance, and consumers learn about their carbon footprint. But regardless of stakeholder group, energy production and consumption from fossil fuels is one of the largest sources of emissions.
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Renewable energy technologies use heat energy from the sun, wind, and the earth’s core, and then convert it into useful forms of energy such as heat, electricity, and fuel.
The infographic above uses data from Lazard, Ember and other sources to outline everything you need to know about the five main types of renewable energy:
Editor’s note: We’ve left nuclear power out of this mix because, although it’s often touted as a sustainable energy source, it’s technically non-renewable (ie, uranium is finite).
Although water is often overlooked, it is the largest source of renewable electricity, followed by wind and solar.
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Together, these five major sources will account for about 28 percent of the world’s electricity in 2021, with wind and solar together surpassing the 10 percent share mark for the first time.
Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) measures the life cycle costs of a new electricity scale plant divided by the total amount of electricity produced. The LCOE of solar and wind is about one-fifth that of coal ($167/MWh), which means that new solar and wind plants are cheaper to build and operate than new coal plants in the long run.
With that in mind, here’s a detailed look at five types of renewable energy and how they work.
Wind turbines use large rotor blades mounted at high altitudes, on land and at sea, to capture the kinetic energy generated by the wind.
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As air flows over the wing, the air pressure on the other side of the blade decreases and pulls it down with the described force.
. The difference in air pressure on the two sides causes the blades to spin and the rotor to rotate.
The rotor is connected to a rotating turbine generator to convert the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy.
Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells have semiconductor plates that are positive on one side and negative on the other.
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