04/12/2021
The 7 Types Of Renewable Energy
By Supor Renewable Energy Group LLC
Solar Energy
Solar energy is generated by absorbing sunlight's radiant energy and converting it to electricity, heat, or hot water. The essentially unlimited nature of sunlight makes it an assured and consistent source of energy. Solar cells are used in photovoltaic (PV) systems to transform direct sunlight into electricity. If such an ever-present, reliable power source can be harnessed accordingly, it would eliminate any need for fossil fuels altogether. Solar technology has the ability to reduce energy prices in the long run while still lowering your energy bills in the short term, not to mention reduce the world’s current overexertion on our atmosphere and mitigate fossil fuels’ detrimental effects on human health. Solar energy’s efficacy is always driving its popularity. In the short term, the use of solar energy can greatly reduce energy bills, eliminating them altogether in the future as solar tech develops fully. It’s no wonder that many governmental bodies (local, state, and federal) provide tax credits and rebates for those individuals who decide to convert to solar energy use.
Wind
Harnessing the power of wind is another increasingly applied method of building on renewable energy. Much like solar power, wind is ever-present. While wind farms use turbines to harness the energy of the wind and turn it into electricity, there are actually multiple methods by which the power of wind is converted to energy, coming in a variety of shapes and sizes. Single-wind turbines are used to complement pre-existing energy organizations, while commercial-grade wind-powered generation systems, in the form of utility-scale wind farms, may power a number of organizations simultaneously. Wind energy does not pollute the environment in the same way as other sources of energy do, making it a form of “clean energy”. The term implies that it is a form of energy that does not produce powerful pollutants or downstream environmental effects such as acid rain, smog, or any other environmental determent that negatively impacts human health. Because of the expansion of wind farms, there is a growing need for people who will maintain and service them. This opens up a whole new spectrum of job opportunities, making wind technology a worthwhile investment.
Hydroelectric
Another component of producing and harvesting energy is by leveraging the uncanny power of water. While most people think of damns when the term ‘hydroelectric energy’ is invoked. But rather than the use of dams, run-of-river hydropower funnels water through channels. Hydroelectric power is harnessing only natural powers, resulting in no negative drawbacks on the environment, yet it is extremely versatile, being able to be used for powering large-scale projects (such as the power generated via the Hoover Dam) or smaller scale endeavors that generate power with underwater turbines.
Geothermal
With the Earth’s formation 4.5 billion years ago, the outer core may have cooled, but on the inside of the planet, vast amounts of untapped energy await. Sometimes the heat from inside the Earth’s core escapes violently and abruptly through volcanoes and geysers, with the heat boiling the water under the earth’s surface. The boiled water turns to steam, which is then redirected into powering of turbines. While it has inspired a whole genre of fantasy in steampunk, this is not a widely used form of energy, but it carries a massive amount of potential. Because the magma in the core is not going anywhere, the heat produced underground is at no risk of being depleted, being naturally replenishable, leaving this as a constant, yet vastly untapped energy source.
Ocean
A lot of the world’s energy lies in the biggest bodies that occupy the planet: oceans. In fact, ocean energy comes in two forms: mechanical and thermal. While the rotation of the Earth and the moon’s gravitational pulls spur movement of tides, which in turn are utilized to produce energy, results in mechanical energy, surface temperatures of the water dictate the verbal variety. Due to the predictable nature of ebbs and flows of waves, the amount of energy produced can be quite easily estimated. This makes this a more reliable source of energy than solar or wind, yet equally as abundant. Since most of the heaviest populations tend to exist near oceans, ocean energies offer great convenience of generating renewable energy to power large population centers. The truth is, the utilization of ocean energy has been minuscule in terms of its entire, astronomical potential. Every year, ocean energy is estimated to produce as much as 2640 TWh. For context, that is enough to power almost 94,000 average US homes every year. If that number seems giant, it is. In fact, the current number of US homes in existence is only about half of that gargantuan figure.
Hydrogen
Not typically an independent actor in nature, hydrogen requires the presence of other chemicals to bond with in order to create something. For instance, when combined with oxygen it creates water. But when isolated from any other elements, hydrogen can be used for both fuel and energy. Hydrogen is a clean-burning chemical, resulting in fewer emissions and a safer climate. It can also be used to power electric motors with fuel cells, which are identical to batteries.
Biomass
If you’ve ever powered a fireplace with wood, you have engaged in bioenergy production. Bioenergy is a biomass-based green energy source. Organic matter derived from recently live plants and animals is referred to as biomass. Using biomass to produce electricity can be achieved in a number of ways. This can be accomplished by burning biomass or capturing methane gas, which is created naturally by the decomposition of organic materials in ponds or landfills. One may argue that the burning produces massive amounts of carbon dioxide, but that is the gas that newer plants use to ‘breathe; consumed at roughly the same volume as that which is generated. While the fireplace example is the utilization of biomass for personal use, this can also be applied to commercial purposes.
