Archives 2025

Renewable energy is starting to become more and more vital issue in today’s world. Aside from the increasing price of fossil fuels as well as the risk of Global Warming, there has been positive advancements on this industry that include enhancements in efficiency and also reducing costs.

Solar power (aka. photovoltaics) is among the most widely used, and fastest-growing, sources of renewable power. Then again, one must always remember that there are more types of renewable energy apart from the solar power – biomass, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal power – and that each one has its own share of advantages and disadvantages.

Biomass:

The most common type of renewable energy is biomass. Biomass simply refers back to the use of organic and natural materials and then transforming them into some other forms of energy which could be utilized. Even though some forms of biomass have already been utilized for hundreds of years – like burning wood – other, more recent methods, are centered on methods which don’t generate carbon dioxide.

Biomass is renewable source of power since we could generate it so long as crops, plants as well as waste are available. It doesn’t produce any greenhouse gases and is can be simply produced via the process of combustion. One more advantage of biomass is that it will help to minimize landfills. Biomass is fairly ineffective compared to fossil fuels. But fossil fuels discharge methane gases which could be damaging to the natural environment.

Wind Power:

Wind power has been utilized for many thousands of years to drive sails, power windmills, or even to produce pressure for water pumps. Using the wind to produce electricity has long been the topic of research ever since the late 1800s. Nevertheless, it was just with great efforts to discover alternative sources of power in the twentieth century that wind power has started to become the point of interest for major research and development.

In comparison to other forms of renewable energy, wind power is regarded as very dependable and steady, as wind is constant from year upon year and doesn’t fade throughout the peak hours of demand. At the start, the building of wind farms was an expensive venture. However because of latest advancements, wind power has started to set best costs in wholesale energy markets around the world and cut into the profits and revenue of the fossil fuel sector.

Hydroelectric Energy:

Solar energy is generated by sun and wind energy is generated by flowing of winds. Both sun and wind make water to evaporate. The water vapor then becomes rain or snow and moves right down to ocean or seas via streams or rivers. The power of the flowing water could then be harnessed and referred to as hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power stations take the kinetic energy of flowing water and provide mechanical energy to turbines. The turning turbines then transform mechanical energy directly into electrical energy via power generators. Dams all over the world have been designed for this sole purpose. Hydropower is the biggest supplier of alternative energy across the world.

Hydropower is renewable, continuous, predictable and manageable resource of energy. They give off no greenhouse gases and they are environmentally friendly. In the negative side, they might contribute to negative effect on marine life, minimize flow of water that might affect agriculture, demand large costs to construct and could cause destruction when they get breakdown.

Geothermal Energy:

Geothermal energy is the energy drawn or harnessed coming from underneath the earth. It’s totally clean and renewable. Geothermal energy has long been in used for many years. Our planet has a molten rock known as magma. Heat is constantly generated from there. The temperature raises around 3 degrees Celsius, for each 100 meters you go down below ground. Underneath, 10,000 meters the temperature is really at high point, that it could be utilized to boil normal water. Water can make its way very deep down the earth and very hot rock boils that water. The boiling water well then generates steam that’s harnessed by geothermal heat pumps. The steam spins the turbines which will activates power generators.

Recent reports suggest that the cost of renewable energy sources such as wind power or a solar installation has fallen below the cost of traditional energy sources such as coal. However, one of the biggest problems with harnessing solar power is storage. The solar cells can only produce electricity during the daytime and that power needs to be stored somewhere in order for it to be used in times of need.

This is where the Tesla Power Wall comes in. You must have heard of Tesla, the electric car company. It is the company that is spearheading the race for electric vehicles and it is the biggest electric vehicle maker in the world today. In 2015, the company announced Tesla Power Wall which is a battery for the home.

In simple terms, it is a rechargeable lithium ion battery similar to the batteries you have in your mobile phones that can be recharged hundreds of times. This rechargeable lithium ion battery can be hooked up to solar panels or the electric grid in order to be charged. In other words, think of the Tesla power wall battery as a huge mobile phone battery that hangs off the wall.

Once the battery is fully charged, it is capable of feeding the energy back into the electric grid in case there is an excess or just store the energy in order for you to use it at a later date. Currently, the battery is available in two variants, 7 kWh and 10 kWh.

For a regular home, the 7 kWh battery should suffice. The company claims that it will charge during off-peak hours and the stored energy can be consumed during peak hours. The bigger battery is aimed at bigger homes as well as businesses. In case you have a bigger requirement, you can always buy multiple batteries and hook them up together in order to meet your needs.

The company claims to have sold thousands of these units to homeowners all around the world. As far as the cost is concerned, you will need to check online in order to figure out the cost of this battery in your location. You will also need to pay for the installation of the battery and that will add to the cost. In order to calculate whether investing in this battery makes financial sense for you, you will need to calculate the cost of energy in your location and then compare it with the savings you will make by investing in this rechargeable lithium ion battery.

One of the biggest advantages of this particular battery is that this is guaranteed by the company for 10 years which means you won’t need to replace the battery for a period of at least 10 years. Therefore, when you are calculating your costs, you need to take into account the fact that you are making an investment for 10 years. Most estimates available online suggest that owners should be able to breakeven in around five years. However, your breakeven point will depend on the cost of energy in your area.

There are also some concerns by prospective buyers whether this battery pack will look good in their home. It is a very well-designed unit that just hangs off the wall and looks great. So, you do not need to worry about the looks of this battery packs.

Overall, the Tesla power wall batteries work like just any other battery. The biggest difference is that these batteries are guaranteed for a period of 10 years which makes them financially viable for most households and hopefully, spark a rise in the number of solar power installations.

If there is one thing that is true across the board for most people around the world, it’s the fact that they need energy in order to go about their day-to-day lives. From turning on the bathroom lights in the morning all the way to cooking food, electricity has become an important part of the mix. The problem is, much of the world’s electricity is produced using nonrenewable resources, such as coal or oil. This can really put a strain on the environment but there are some places, such as Robben Island, that are making a difference.

There are many different types of alternative energy sources and some of them use renewable resources in order to power and generate the energy. A good example of this is solar power, and the use of solar cells is able to collect the power from the light of the sun and generate electricity that can be used in homes and businesses. This is often seen on a smaller scale but at times, it can even be used on a larger scale as well. That is what they did on Robben Island, and it has really made a difference in the way that they use the environment around them.

Many governments have put laws into to place that stipulate a certain amount of power must be generated by renewable resources, such as solar, wind or hydroelectric power. What took place on the island, however, goes far beyond the small percentage that is often seen in these laws. It is thought that the diesel usage on an annual basis is going to drop by almost half an the use of diesel generators is going to drop by an amazing 45%. This project is going to save a considerable amount of money but it will also save the environment in some rather unique ways.

The way that the power is being generated is by means of a solar power microsystem utilizing a photovoltaic farm. On that farm, a number of PV arrays are put in place and all through the day, they collect the light of the sun and continually generate usable electricity from it. Of course, there is also power that is needed during the night and at times, the sun may not be shining during the day but the system is able to overcome this problem in a way that really shows us the possibilities for using solar to power the world’s energy needs.

Along with the PV farm, there is also a battery storage facility that uses lithium-ion batteries and a series of controllers to harness the energy from the sun and to store it in case it is needed for use during the nighttime and for days when it may be cloudy and the available sunlight is reduced. Since it is fully put into place, it is possible for Robben island to operate fully on solar power nine months of the year, which really shows the possibilities for what can take place in other parts of the world.

This is something that is part of what is known as the Green Tourism Incentive Programme (GTIP) and it was developed in order to maintain some of these tourist attractions and to do so using forms of renewable energy. There are also additional sites that are going to be using renewable energy to power their needs as well, including Kruger National Park and the Free State National Botanical Gardens.

In some cases, the use of these PV arrays is put into practice on a farm that is used for a variety of other purposes, such as maintaining the local wildlife or perhaps allowing for grazing of local herds. The farm on Robben Island is not used for other reasons as the majority of it is filled with the PV arrays and for the facility using battery storage.

This solar power microsystem really shows how important it is to continue to develop the ability to harness the natural resources around us and use them for our own needs. By using solar power and other renewable resources, it is possible to provide enough power for the majority of our use and to do so without causing any irreparable harm to the Earth.