The Sources For Renewable Energy: Uncover The Best Energy Alternatives And Its Impacts
To keep our environment healthy, clean, and free from environmental pollution, it’s paramount to dive into renewable energy as the solution. These renewable energy sources are getting more relevant compared to the traditional means of energy generation known as fossil fuels. Adding to the global impact of renewable energy as it replaces fossil fuels, thereby resulting in a clearer environment and reducing the greenhouse effects caused by fossil fuels.
Natural Sources For Renewable Energy
The following are the basic natural sources for renewable energy:
- Sunlight: Sunlight helps in the generation of energy through harnessing the sunlight from nature. This source of energy is regarded as “Solar Energy.” Ut works through the use of solar modules (solar panels) in the generation of power.
- Wind: Wind is another means through which energy is generated. It works by the adoption of wind turbines. This source of energy generation is regarded as “Wind Energy.”
- From Water: This source of energy generation is known as “Hydropower,” which implies power that is generated from water (hydro). Examples of these sources are streams, rivers, lakes, etc.
- From Organic Materials: This source of energy is known as “Biomass Energy”, which implies the adoption of organic materials such as sewage, waste materials, residues, and wood in order to generate electricity
- Heats from The Earth Core: This source of energy is known as “Geothermal Energy.” This source of energy generation produces both electricity and is also used for heating.
- Ocean’s Tides: This source of energy generation is regarded as “Tidal Energy.” It is gotten from the Ocean’s tides for the generation of power.
What Are Renewable Sources?
Keeping our environment clean, free from pollution, and health is one of our priorities. Therefore, it is important to live in a sustainable environment. There are 6 fundamental sources of renewable, which include the following:
- Solar Energy: Solar energy produces abundant energy compared to other sources of renewable energy. This has made it the most efficient type of renewable energy. It works by harnessing the sunlight from nature through the solar panels, which now convert sin energy emitted into electricity. Solar energy is found applicable in so many sectors, from domestic for processing of consumer goods to industry for production of preliminary goods and services, to healthcare for powering of equipment used for patients treatment and businesses for buying and selling of goods and services. Read more about Solar Energy Here.
Basics Of Solar Energy
Through the harnessing of sunlight freely from nature, the amount of wattage of energy generated is about 173,000 tetrawatts of energy. This amount of energy generated is very huge, and this assured individuals and industries having access to a constant power supply.
Through the use of solar panels, we harness the sunlight. These solar panels are incorporated with photovoltaic cells and semiconductor materials to it. The work of this semiconductor material like silicon is to absorb photons through the sunlight, and in that process, electricity is produced.
Advantages of Solar Energy
1. Environmental Sustainability
2. Abundant and Inexhaustible
3. Free energy from nature
4. Solar Energy is versatile
5. Reliable and constant power supply
- Wind Energy: This is one of the renewable energy sources that is generated from the wind. It involves the use of wind turbines installed in a confined position where it can receive the required amounts of wind. This works by converting these winds received through wind turbines into electricity.
The Basics Of Wind Energy
Installation of wind turbines in a suitable position where it can receive the required amount of wind power through the movement of air. Turbines are designed with long blades used to capture these air movements, after which the wind generated is converted into electric current.
Advantages of Wind Energy
1. Wind power is abundant/ inexhaustible
2. It is clean and pollution free
3. Cost-effective
4. Hydropower: This is a renewable energy source generated from the flowing water, examples of dams, lakes, rivers, etc.
- Biomass: This is a source of energy generation through which we use organic materials gotten from residues, waste materials, wood, etc, which are converted into electricity, biofuels and etc. Biomass is obtained through burning directly, by doing so it’s converted into biogas by a method known as “anaerobic digestion.” Read more about Biomass Here.
- Geothermal Energy: This is a source of renewable energy through which heat stored across the Earth’s surface is harnessed in order to generate electricity and also used for both heating and cooling purposes.
The Basics of Geothermal Energy
It works by adoption of geothermal reservoirs in order to operate turbines, and geothermal heat pumps help to send this heat across the ground and buildings for both heating and cooling processes.
- Tidal and Wave Energy: This is energy generation through the Ocean’s tides.
- Hydrogen: This source of energy is generated from water electrolysis using electricity from either solar or wind energy.
Is Nuclear Energy Renewable?
Nuclear energy is a source of energy generation that is produced from nuclear reactions. During this energy generation, through the nuclear reaction, heat is produced, which is now converted into electricity for both domestic and industrial use. This process involves nuclear fission.
While, Renewable energy is directly obtained from nature. It involves a process that is typically renewed. Examples of these sources of energy generation are solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass energy. The mentioned sources of renewable energy are environmentally friendly and do not in any way harm our environment.
The means of energy generation of nuclear energy is independent of fossil fuels such as oil, coal, etc. This does not title nuclear energy to renewable energy in any way.
Therefore, nuclear energy does not qualify to be renewable.
Importance of Renewable Energy
- Energy Security: Due to the abundant energy that is being generated, it makes renewable energy sources the most reliable source of energy, thereby changing the narrative of the traditional means of energy generation called fossil fuels.
- Economic Growth: The diversity of renewable energy has paved ways for unemployed people to have the opportunities to be self-employed either through learning the skill or selling of renewable energy materials.
- Environmental Benefits: Renewable energy products help to reduce pollution from our environment.
- Energy Access: It is an alternative to energy, saving the world from epileptic power supply from the energy distribution companies. This also helps for energy alternatives to so many rural areas that do not have access to electricity.
- Technological Innovation: Constant power supply increases productivity in industry and also enhances innovation.
- Cost-effectiveness: The affordability of renewable energy has .adequate it possible for everyone to get it installed.
- Community Benefits: The project awarded in the area of renewable energy could be a medium through which the community generated revenue.
- Public Health: Renewable energy provides a conducive environment. The application of renewable energy sources of energy generation has help to eliminate both air and water pollution, contributing to a healthy lifestyle.
Conclusion:
To solve all the related issues of global warming, it is crucial that we embrace renewable resources of energy as the means of energy generation to enjoy the advantages of which it offers to our lives. Fossil fuels cause greenhouse effects, which are not healthy to human health, whereas renewable energy is environmentally friendly.
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