Category Wind Energy

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.

More and more frequently, people are looking for a way to power their homes and businesses without having such a strong impact on the environment. For years, services have used and perhaps even abused the earth in an effort to provide electricity for their customers. That electricity was generated with coal, oil and other types of nonrenewable resources but today, people are looking for renewable forms of energy. There are a number of options available and we will consider a few.

Before we talk about the types of renewable energy, it’s important to consider the benefits of using them on a regular basis. In most cases, these types of services can be set up rather conveniently and the return on investment from the installation is going to be relatively quick. One of the benefits of using renewable energy is the fact that it continues to work on an ongoing basis and once it is put in motion, it requires very little maintenance. Regardless of the type of renewable energy service that is being considered, this will be true.

The following 3 types of renewable energy are being used today. In fact, the technology that is associated with these types of energy is growing and as it does so, the use is growing as well. They provide the ability to power our homes and businesses without having a severe impact on the earth.

Solar Power – Although there may be many different forms of renewable energy, one of the most convenient and most powerful is the energy that comes from the sun. When it is able to be harnessed properly, it could easily be converted into usable energy and the possibilities are truly endless. Here is a basic understanding of how it works.

Solar power gathers energy from the sun. The sun is putting out energy on a constant basis and even though only a very small part of that energy reaches the earth, it is thought to be enough to provide for our needs many times over. The power from the sun is collected by something that is known as a photovoltaic cell. That cell has the ability to take the energy from sunlight and convert it into usable electricity.

A single photovoltaic cell is able to produce a very small amount of energy but those cells are often put together in panels and together, they can gather a lot of energy for our use. In fact, there are times when these panels are even put out in farms that may span many acres. The energy that they produce can then be channeled into the grid and ultimately, into our homes and businesses.

Wind Power – The wind is another form of usable energy and in essence, it is also a form of solar power. After all, the sun heats the earth and as the earth is spinning, the uneven heating is what causes the wind and weather patterns.

A wind turbine will typically either have 2 or 3 blades and as the wind blows, the blades will turn. The blades turn a shaft that ultimately, goes into a generator and the generator produces usable electricity. In its most basic sense, the wind turbine uses the wind to create mechanical energy and then the mechanical energy is converted into electricity.

Hydroelectric Power – This type of power uses the movement of water, regardless of whether it is a river or the tides in the ocean. It does so in a similar way to wind power, in that the water movement turns a shaft that causes a generator to create electricity. This type of renewable energy is already in use and it can be seen in dams around the world. Additional resources are being considered for using the tidal forces, and it may just produce enough electricity to power our needs for many years to come.

These 3 types of renewable resources are not only a possibility, they are already a reality as they are already being used. Around the world, renewable electricity is being produced more and more frequently and as it is produced, it is replacing the type of electricity that abused the earth through nonrenewable resources.