Renewable Energy

What Is Renewable Energy

Renewable energy takes on many forms, and usually describes using natural resources that won’t run out. Renewable energy is obtained using solar power, wind turbines and much more.

With the increasing evidence of global warming, and idea of being carbon neutral becoming more prominent, the increase in interest in renewable energy is growing rapidly. Legislation is ensuring that governments and companies as well as individuals are considering their effects on the environment, and how they can use renewable energy.

There are several main renewable energy technologies in use, most of which are directly or indirectly due to the sun:

  • Wind turbines use the wind to produce electricity, and wind power is currently the fastest growing renewable energy technology. The power output of a modern wind turbine increases as the wind speed increases which allows the wind turbine to take advantage of strong winds to produce more renewable energy. Wind turbines are ideall for areas that are often windy, such as off-shore, or in high altitudes, so that the maximum amount of renewable energy can be produced. As the amount of wind varies throughout the year, wind turbines generally produce renewable energy for around 25% of the time. The remaining 75% of the time they are idle and producing no renewable energy.

  • Water can be used to produce renewable energy, and has been used for many years. Dams, waves, tidal power and other methods are used to produce renewable energy. Waterwheels are traditional methods of using water as a renewable energy source, and can be used in different ways.

  • Solar power is a renewable energy using the sun. Solar power can be used to create renewable energy to heat buildings directly, or stored in cells and used as electricity. Solar panels on buildings or on consumer products can directly utilise renewable energy from the sun to help reduce the demand for electricity and traditional batteries. Thanks to improving technology, renewable energy from solar power is used in some countries to provide power for whole towns. Whilst warm, sunny climates are more likely to utilise solar power for renewable energy, solar technology is improving so that daylight can be used rather than bright sunshine. This means that renewable energy from the sun isn’t restricted to hot or sunny countries.

  • Biofuels from biomass and pyrolysis are also forms of renewable energy, as they use natural organic matter such as plants and wood. The organic material is burnt which produces additional products from renewable energy which can be used for different purposes. Renewable energies such as biodiesel and ethanol are commonly used in vehicles.

  • Renewable geothermal energy is obtained from the earth’s crust. This type of renewable energy is utilised in Iceland, New Zealand, the Philippines and Italy, and is obtained by one of three methods. Dry steam power plants take steam from holes in the ground, and use the steam to drive a turbine that spins a generator to provide renewable energy. Flash plants take hot water out of the ground, and separate the steam from the water, and then run the steam through a turbine which produces renewable energy. Binary plants use heat exchangers to boil an organic fluid which spins the turbine to produce renewable energy. In each method, the steam and waste fluid from the renewable energy are injected back in to the rock to pick up more heat.

Using diverse and complimentary forms of renewable energy ensures that whatever the weather, renewable energy can still be produced. In sunny climates, it makes more sense to create renewable energy from solar panels, whereas in coastal areas, it may be more efficient and effective to use wave or tidal power.

As environmental issues become more significant, and the need for alternative forms of energy become more important, renewable energy will play a bigger part for the production of electricity and fuel.

Why not see how Biomass Engineering and Renewable Energy can assist your company?

Find out more about Bioenergy, Biomass, Gasification, Pyrolysis and Waste Wood.