Renewable Energy Overview

is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). In 2008, about 19% of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.2% from hydroelectricity. New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for another 2.7% and are growing very rapidly. The share of renewables in electricity generation is around 18%, with 15% of global electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 3% from new renewables.

There are five main types of renewable energy, namely solar power, wind power, hydropower, biomass energy and geothermal power.

Solar power is the name given for using the energy of the sun to provide electricity or to heat water. Both types can be used in both domestic and larger scale environments.

Wind power harnesses the power of the wind to provide electricity and the UK has the largest wind resource in Europe much more of which can yet be utilised.

Hydropower means using the power of water to make electricity or run machinery. This currently produces about 35% of the UK’s renewable energy and has been used for hundreds of years in locations such as water mills

Biomass is a collective term for all animal and plant material. Biomass energy is produced by burning or digesting some forms of these materials and the UK already has some of the largest examples of the use of biomass to generate electricity in Europe.

Geothermal power Geothermal energy is the natural heat of the earth which can be used to heat or cool buildings and provide hot water.

Renewable Energy Benefits : 

The benefits of renewable energy systems can be summarized as follows:

1- Social and economic development. Production of renewable energy, particularly biomass, can provide economic development and employment opportunities, especially in rural areas, that  otherwise have limited opportunities for economic growth. Renewable energy can thus help reduce poverty in rural areas and reduce pressure for urban migration.

2- Land restoration. Growing biomass for energy on degraded lands can provide the incentive and financing needed to restore lands rendered nearly useless by previous agricultural or forestry practices. Although lands farmed for energy would not be restored to their original condition, the recovery of these lands for biomass plantations would support rural development, prevent erosion, and provide a better habitat for wildlife than at present. 

3- Reduced air pollution. Renewable energy technologies, such as methanol or hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles, produce virtually none of the emissions associated with urban air pollution and acid deposition, without the need for costly additional controls.

4- Abatement of global warming. Renewable energy use does not produce carbon dioxide or other greenhouse emissions that contribute to global warming. Even the use of biomass fuels does not contribute to global warming, since the carbon dioxide released when biomass is burned equals the amount absorbed from the atmosphere by plants as they are grown for biomass fuel. 

5- Fuel supply diversity. There would be substantial interregional energy trade in a renewable energy-intensive future, involving a diversity of energy carriers and suppliers. Energy importers would be able to choose from among more producers and fuel types than they do today and thus
would be less vulnerable to monopoly price manipulation or unexpected disruptions of supply. Such competition would make wide swings in energy prices less likely, leading eventually to stabilization of the world oil price. The growth in world energy trade would also provide new opportunities for energy suppliers. Especially promising are the prospects for trade in alcohol fuels, such as methanol, derived from biomass and hydrogen. 

6- Reducing the risks of nuclear weapons proliferation. Competitive renewable resources could reduce incentives to build a large world infrastructure in support of nuclear energy, thus avoiding major increases in the production, transportation, and storage of plutonium and other radioactive materials that could be diverted to nuclear weapons production.