General information about renewable energy

As more harrowing political and economic aspects of fossil fuels with renewable energy gaining in popularity. Here is an overview of the use of renewable energy.

General information about renewable energy

Renewable energy more difficult than you might imagine as common phrases for a broad range of springs energy, any definition should be broad. With this in mind, let us define renewable energy as any source energy that naturally arises very much.

Ironically, almost all renewable energy rely on NPP.Fortunately, nuclear power is in the form of the Sun in the center of our solar system: one giant nuclear reaction, the Sun produces solar radiation and sunlight to convert energy through the natural resources of our planet. The sunlight is the basis for solar, wind, energy biomass and so on. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, are a form of energy biomass but ancient one resource limits and severe side effects in the form of polluting substances.

Solar energy is the most basic and straightforward form of renewable energy. Depending on the type of platform you use sunlight is converted directly into electricity and heat. Solar energy considered renewable energy because it will be long Sun, which must be more than 4 billion years. Once the Sun is burning, we'll have many more problems than energy!

Wind energy is another form of solar energy. Wind is created when the Sun heats up the various areas of the Earth's surface at different prices. Essentially you are aware of this if you think about the temperature when the black car park and grass in the Park.Heat rises, so does the hot air of air above the hot surface. will grow cold air from the surrounding area will rush to fill the gap. This movement caused by temperature creates the wind in its basic form.

To use energy, man has windmills and turbines that convert energy into electricity. Modern wind turbines are between 25 and 35 per cent efficient at converting wind into electricity energy. Wind energy is now fastest growing platform energy worldwide.

When the water is moving, it tends to carry a lot of inertia and energy. Unfortunately the tsunami in Asia is a perfect example. On a less catastrophic front man learned to harness the power of moving water to generate electricity. The first and most often used by Hydro. Focuses on large-scale projects hydroelectric power is commonly used in the form of dams. The dam is placed in the River, creating a reservoir. Using gravity water before being released on the pipes to the dam.Moving water speed turbines to produce large quantities of electricity.

Tide is a long time on paper, but have not yet seen in large-scale projects.This is beginning to change.The basic idea is very similar to hydropower. depending on your trumpets with large turbines placed in strong tidal areas.As the tide of vast quantities of water and move in pipes spinning turbines and production energy.Although tides relatively slowly move contains a large quantity of energy.Once thought a strange idea energy, tidal energy is strong as energy platform in Europe.

Geothermal energy is a form of energy using inherent in warm place a power in the first form of heat. Approximately six to seven feet below the surface of the Earth, the Earth's temperature is regulated.By exchanging fluid between above and below the land temperature adjustment can be achieved primarily in residential settings.

Energy biomass is a renewable energy, but not necessarily one NET. biomass is simply organic materials such as manure, maize etc. Idea energy biomass is the conversion of biomass chemical energy in available power is often the case in a fire, which is problematic because it does cause pollution. It also has grown, harvested and converted to power all renewable energy biomass is no less attractive.

We have many options when it comes to kicking the habit of fossil fuels. Although there is a chance one of these options will become more dominant, it's likely that a combination of all the above-mentioned renewable energy platform is the answer.

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Plan for 2030

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Despite all of the recent negative publicity surrounding fossil fuels, crude oil and natural gas has been beneficial for the growth of our modern world. It has helped the population have life after dark, transportation of goods all over the world, and allowed technology to advance. However, the use of fossil fuels has also resulted in many negative consequences: it has created severe pollution, political conflict, economic control and total dependence of countries that lack this natural resource.

The supply of fossil fuels is limited, and it is only located in certain areas of the world. The demand for fossil fuels creates conflicts which threaten peace. Countries that have adequate fossil fuel supplies could potentially threaten the security and economy of countries that are dependent upon these countries. In addition, there have been many estimates made about the amount of fossil fuels left in the world. These estimates are dependent upon the population growth, and how much the actual fossil fuel consumption increases in the near future. These estimates state that there is enough for approximately another 35 years of oil, 37 years of natural gas, and 107 years of coal [1]. In addition to the negative environmental consequences of using these fuels, there is a finite supply of fossil fuels that will force the use of another form of energy. This limited supply and large demand will cause inevitable price increases. Therefore, the end of low-cost oil is rapidly approaching.

The use of fossil fuels to fulfill the world's energy needs is causing harmful side-effects for people, plants and animals. Waste products from these fuels heat the earth's atmosphere and pollute the earth's air, water, and ground. This results in decreased living conditions for all species of the earth. In addition to being hazardous to our ecosystem, and the health of many species, the pollution is also changing the atmosphere of the world. This trend is called global warming, and will continue to become worse due to the increase in the combustion of fossil fuels for electricity due to the growing world population. In the process of burning the gasoline, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons are released into the atmosphere. The catalytic converters reduce a large portion of the pollution, but they are not perfect. Many cities currently have dangerous levels of ozone in the air. The world needs a power source that has low pollutant emissions, is energy-efficient, and has an unlimited supply of fuel for a rising world population.

Many alternative energy technologies have been researched and developed. These include solar, wind, bioenergy, geothermal energy as well as many others. Solar cells use the sun to generate electricity, wind power is obtained from the kinetic energy of the wind, bioenergy is extracted from plants and geothermal energy is energy from the earth. Each of these alternative energy sources has its advantages and disadvantages and all are in varying stages of development.

For most countries around the world, if the supply of fossil fuels were cut off -- the entire economy would come to a halt. There would not be a way for people to drive to work, or use electricity in their homes or workplaces. The global population consumes petroleum products at a rate 100,000 times greater than the rate that they are formed. The United States currently imports 70% of the oil, and it is still increasing. About 80% of the total energy in the world is provided by fossil energy sources [2]. The International Energy Agency [3] estimates that the primary world demand for energy is expected to grow by about 45% by 2030. The cost of meeting this energy demand is estimated to be $20 trillion U. S. dollars [2, 3]. Therefore, since so much money needs to be spent on the investment in energy infrastructure in the upcoming years, this enables an opportunity for replacing the fossil fuel infrastructure with a renewable energy infrastructure. U.S. coal and fossil fuel plants are already fairly old because at least half of the plants were built before 1970. If the oldest plants are retired first, it may be an easy progression to transfer the energy production to alternative energy without retiring the plant's prematurely.

Although the demand for oil is increasing, the world's oil production peaked in 2005 [1]. In 2006, countries that had a significant percentage of their power from renewable energy was Canada (16%), followed by France (6%), Italy (6.5%), Germany (5.6%), United States (4.8%), and the United Kingdom (1.7%) [8]. The global community has reached a point where future energy demands need to be balanced with future economic and environmental needs. We currently have a real opportunity to transform the way that our economy utilizes energy, prevent further pollution, and we can help to insure a safer and more secure future.

About Global Warming

For all you global warming naysayers - please keep reading!

Everyone is aware that the definition of global warming is a significant increase in the Earth's temperature over a short period of time due to the result of human activities. An increase in temperature of 0.4° Celsius is significant over a century, and an increase of 1° Celsius is considered global warming. Although 1° or 2° Celsius may not seem like a lot, small temperature changes can have significant effects. When you hear the term "ice age," you probably think of the world covered in snow and ice. Ice ages occur every 50,000 to 100,000 years, and the average global temperature was only 5 °C cooler than they currently are [4, 5, 6].

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a group of over 2,500 scientists from countries across the world that met in 2007 to advance climate research. One of the conclusions of this meeting was that the last 15 years have been the warmest since 1850. Some of their observations were that glaciers and snow have decreased in the northern and southern hemispheres, and average arctic temperatures have increased by twice the global average during the last 100 years. Rain has increased in the Americas, northern Europe and parts of Asia, and South Africa and the Mediterranean have been experiencing drying trends. Overall, hot days globally have become more frequent, and cold days have become less frequent and severe [4 - 7].

Natural changes in climate such as heating due to volcanic activity, radiation from the sun, and changes in the chemistry of the atmosphere sometimes take thousands of years to change only 1 °C. The current carbon dioxide concentration (CO2) determined from the ice cores (180 to 300 ppm) is far greater than the natural range found over the last 650,000 years. If the CO2 concentration rises to 400 - 440 ppm and stays there, the eventual rise in temperature would be around 2.4 - 2.8 °C [4 - 7].

In order to stabilize the CO2 level, it needs to peak, and then decline. The more quickly that this occurs, the lower the peak stabilization level. According to the IPCC, in order to stabilize the CO2-equivalent concentrations around 445 to 490 ppm, CO2 emissions would need to peak by 2015 (at the latest), and then fall to between 50 - 85% below the year 2000 levels by 2050. A later peak and higher concentrations would lead to larger increases in temperature.

A Future Vision

There is many ways to create a "bright future" with renewable energy. There is no single answer for our future energy system. The future energy economy will consist of many renewable energy technologies used in combination -- wind, solar, geothermal and fuel cell energy. The technology to accomplish this is either available, or already being developed. Some of the tasks that we need to accomplish include:

Build an industry based upon alternative energy technologies

Reduce energy costs

Reduce climate change

Increase energy security

Help to create conditions for long-term prosperity

In order to accomplish these tasks, we will have to:

Use a combination of wind power (both on and off-shore)

Use both concentrating and standard PV power systems

Use geothermal systems

Use fuel cell systems that generate hydrogen using electrolysis

Use biomass and municipal waste

In order to successfully have a society based upon renewable energy, there has to be a way to store energy because renewable energy (solar and wind power) is intermittent. Solar and wind energy are both excellent methods of obtaining energy from natural resources, however, the levels of sunshine, and the intensity of wind varies. When these sources are not available - electricity cannot be generated. When a large amounts of energy is being produced, hydrogen can be created from water. The hydrogen can then be stored for later use.

As far as fuels are concerned, hydrogen is one of the most powerful fuels. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe; however, it does not exist in its pure form on earth. Therefore, it has to be extracted from common fuel types or water. The process that is used most frequently for extracting hydrogen is the steam reforming of natural gas. It can also be extracted from coal, nuclear power, biofuels or even waste products. Hydrogen can also be produced using water through the process of electrolysis. Electrolysis splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. Renewable forms of energy such as photovoltaic cells, wind, hydro and geothermal are increasingly being used to produce electricity, and excess electricity can be used for the electrolysis process. The hydrogen can be used, or stored to generate electricity at a later time.

Electricity for Residential and Business Use

Electricity for residential and business use can be produced using a combination of wind, solar, and hydrogen fuel cells. There will also have to be intermediate solutions and cooperation between corporations, utility companies, and individuals in order to successfully transition to a renewable, hydrogen, and energy-efficient economy. Corporations will have to manufacture energy-efficient electronics and appliances, which minimize energy consumption, and automatically turn themselves off when not in use. Utilities and governments need to give incentives for people to use less energy, and individuals need to be more aware of the amount of energy that they are using. There is significant proof that the growth in the electricity demand can be decreased through the use of creating appliances and devices that are more energy-efficient, implementing building codes, financial incentives and helping individuals to voluntarily decrease energy use.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently conducted a study that investigated wind power, and found that implementing 600 GW by 2030 was feasible. If this actually occurred, this would be an estimated 50% of the United States predicted power use in 2030. One advantage of wind power is that it does not take a lot of space -- the towers can be placed on farmland, (and just about anywhere else), without really getting in the way.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are a technology that can be used immediately, and sales have been growing very strongly during the last decade. However, it still has a small market share due to the high costs of the solar panels. Concentrating solar power may be accepted faster than conventional solar technology because the costs are beginning to be competitive with traditional energy technologies. Concentrating solar power systems allow power plants to produce electricity from the sun on a larger scale, which in turn allows consumers to take advantage of solar power without making the investment in personal solar technology systems. Geothermal energy can also provide a significant amount of energy if it can be proven within the next few years.

Fuel cells have already been used for decades for business and residential use. Stationary fuel cells can produce enough electricity and heat to power an entire house or business, which can result in significant savings - and they also can make enough power to sell some of it back to the grid. Fuel cells can also help provide electricity by working with large power plants to become more decentralized and increase efficiency. Most electricity produced by large fossil-fuel burning power plants are distributed through high voltage transmission wires over long distances. These power plants seem to be highly efficient because of their large size; however, a 7 to 8 percent electric energy loss in Europe, and a 10 percent energy loss in the United States occurs during long distance transmission. One of the main issues with these transmission lines is that they do not function properly all the time. It would be safer for the population if electricity generation did not occur in several large plants, but is generated where the energy is needed. Fuel cells can be used wherever energy is required without the use of large transmission lines.

Fuel cells can power residences and businesses where no electricity is available. Sometimes it can be extremely expensive for a house that is not on the grid to have the grid connected to it. Fuel cells are also more reliable than other commercial generators used to power houses and businesses. This can benefit many companies, given how much money they can lose if the power goes down for even a short time.

In the future energy economy, individual households will be able to produce their own energy. This will help to redistribute power from global oil companies and governments to the people. Individual households can share their energy with the grid to help distribute energy to areas that may have less due to weather conditions.

Personal Vehicles

The Energy Information Administration [2] states that vehicles use 70% of the liquid fuels consumed by the U.S. The average fuel efficiency of current vehicles is about 22 miles per gallon. However, it should not be unrealistic for the average fuel efficiency to increase to about 45 miles per gallon by 2030. Hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles would all provide either lower or no oil consumption, and each can be useful in transforming to a hydrogen and renewable energy- based economy. All of the major automakers have already invested heavily in hydrogen fuel cell technology vehicles.

Many factors are contributing to the fuel cell push in the automotive market. The availability of fossil fuels is limited, and due to this, an inevitable price increase will occur. In addition, legislation is becoming stricter about controlling environmental emissions. One of the new pieces of legislation that will help introduce the fuel cell automobile market in the U.S. is the Californian zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires that a certain number of vehicles be sold annually in California. Fuel cell vehicles also have the ability to be more fuel-efficient than vehicles powered by other fuels. This power technology allows a new range of power use in small two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, boats, scooters, unmanned vehicles, and other utility vehicles.

In the future, automobiles will be plugged into an outlet in homes and offices to help generate electricity for both the vehicles and the houses. Houses only require an average of 10 kW to power everything. And since automobiles can generate 40 kW of power, a car can become a power plant for the house or office. Cars can also be plugged into a pole when individuals go to work to power the building. This transition to a hydrogen economy provides an important challenge, and great opportunity of the 21st century.

Portable Energy

Portable electronics such as laptops, cameras and cellular phones can last 10 - 20 times longer by using hydrogen. In coming years, portable devices-such as laptops, cell phones, video recorders, and others- will need greater amounts of power for longer periods of time. Fuel cells are very scalable and have easy recharging capabilities compared to batteries. Cell phone technology is advancing rapidly, but the limiting factor for the new technology is the power. More power is required to provide consumers with all of the functions in devices they require and want. The military also has a need for long-term portable power for new soldier's equipment. In addition, fuel cells operate silently, and have low heat signatures, which are clear advantages for the military.

The Creation of Jobs with the New Renewable Energy Industry

The building of the alternative energy industry would easily create millions jobs during the next 10 years. These jobs would include construction and operation of new power plants, manufacturing of renewable energy technology (such as solar and wind power), R&D for new renewable energy technologies, and jobs that are created due to the money spent on these technologies.

In order to transform our oil economy, we need to make an investment in changing it. We need to make sure that we are planning how to power our world during the next 20 years and beyond.

[1] Shahriar, S. and Topal, E. (2009). When will fossil fuel reserves be diminished? Energy Policy, 37: 181-189.

[2] Energy Information Administration. (2008). International Energy Outlook 2008, Washington DC, November 2008 (No. DOE/EIA-0484(2008)). Retrieved January 25, 2009 from http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/index.html

[3] International Energy Agency, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2008). World Energy Outlook 2008. Retrieved from [http://www.sourceoecd.com/]

[4] Hegerl, G.C., F. W. Zwiers, P. Braconnot, N.P. Gillett, Y. Luo, J.A. Marengo Orsini, N. Nicholls, J.E. Penner and P.A. Stott, 2007: Understanding and Attributing Climate Change. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

[5] Bates, B.C., Z.W. Kundzewicz, S. Wu and J.P. Palutikof, Eds., 2008: Climate Change and Water. Technical Paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Secretariat, Geneva, 210 pp. Retrieved February 8, 2009 from http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/technical-papers/climate-change-water-en.pdf

[6] Le Treut, H., R. Somerville, U. Cubasch, Y. Ding, C. Mauritzen, A. Mokssit, T. Peterson and M. Prather, 2007: Historical Overview of Climate Change. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

[7] IPCC, 2007: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning,

[8] Sadorsky, P. (2009). Renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and oil prices in G7 countries, Energy Economics, doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2008.12.010.

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You can use the renewable industry for their energy needs?

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The US is gradually realizing that fossil fuel is no longer a viable energy option, not just due to its impact on the environment, but the economy as well. According to the Environmental Law Institute, subsidies for fossil fuel, from 2002 to 2008, totaled a whooping $72 billion. With the US economy deeply dependent on fossil fuel, moving towards cleaner, cost effective and sustainable renewable energy sources can be challenging.

Industry needs reliable and affordable energy to stay productive and competitive. At the same time, it needs to balance between its growing demand for energy and the urgent need to protect the environment.

Industry accounts for more than a third of total energy consumption in the US, and 70% -80% of this sector's energy demand is for heat production. Given the current concerns of global warming,environmental pollution, energy security and industrial competitiveness, there is increasing pressure on industry to use modern, clean and efficient sources of energy. Till 2007, just 8.5% of the total energy demand in the US was fulfilled from renewable energy sources. However solar, wind and biomass-based technologies have shown considerable potential and are waiting to be tapped not just for domestic use but industrial energy purposes as well.

Introduction

Energy is the largest industry in the world. It fuels both the manufacturing and service sector and is estimated to be about $ 7 trillion TWh in size.The fallout of excessive dependence on fossil fuel for energy is having an impact on the environment and people alike. With growing acknowledgment of the negative effects of the use of fossil fuel, research and development in the renewable energy sector is getting some serious attention.

According to market studies, investment in renewable energy is growing at 45% a year - essentially doubling every two years. It is expected that energy generated from alternate sources will become cost competitive compared to energy generated from fossil fuel, especially with the costs of pollution from fossil fuels factored in. This is increasingly becoming the case with the tax on CO2 production.Despite the thrust towards alternative energy, U.S used renewable energy sources such as water, geothermal, wind, sun, and biomass to meet just 8.5% of its total energy needs in 2007.

Alternative Energy Resources

While there are numerous alternate energy resources, not all of them can be harvested on a large scale while others, have reliability issues.

Solar energy

Direct conversion of sunlight to electricity using solar cells is a promising technology, and already has been used widely. Solar energy is especially helpful for remote places that keep falling off the energy grid and face constant blackouts.

Wind energy

Wind has the potential to be a significant electric power source. Its viability, however, depends on the location of wind mills. The development of wind power in the US is currently the highest in the world.Wind is also a clean, low maintenance, cost effective way to generate energy, but like solar energy, storage problems of large amounts of wind generated electricity remain of much concern.

Geothermal energy

Geothermal sources allow for continual energy generation, which contrasts with alternative energy sources like wind or solar. Geothermal energy boasts of the best base load percentage, namely power availability 95% of the time. The footprint of a geothermal power plant is minimal and the resource is long lasting; the original geothermal power plant which is over a century old continues to produce electricity to date. Geothermal power produces energy with little or no emission. It is also a proven technology, with low operating costs; no fuel requirements once the plant is built, and insulates producers from commodity shocks, unlike fossil fuel.

Three aspects of the alternate energy system

While alternate energy seems to be increasingly feasible, its distribution and consumption cannot become a reality without certain infrastructure. The first infrastructural requirement is energy storage systems - this is especially important as renewable energy like solar and wind are not constantly produced. The second requirement is the Smart Grid that can be used to distribute not just energy produced from alternate energy sources but from fossil fuel as well. The smart grid has to be extremely responsive to fluctuations in energy supply, leakages during transmission and breakdowns. The third infrastructure requirement is the smart meter which allows people to monitor their energy consumption and regulate its use, especially during certain times of the day when the price of energy may change. The fourth infrastructure requirement is energy efficient transformers that reduce energy wastage during distribution.

Energy storage systems

The concept of storing electricity generated in a utility grid has been tried since the 1960s, these large scale storage projects were, however, more common at nuclear power plants. From 2005 onwards, the American Electric Power (AEP) took the lead in adding large amounts of battery energy storage in substations. The distributed energy storage approach was used to test peak load management and improve system reliability by deploying systems in sizes of 2 MW. Battery systems provide a new alternative for utility power management in a distribution substation, and during an outage,customers can have power restored as the substation runs on battery energy.

Smart Grid

Simply put, the smart grid is dynamic and has constant two-way communication. It represents a significant move away from aging, utility-owned electricity distribution infrastructure to networked infrastructure that directly connects utilities with customers. The smart grid puts renewable energy online, and makes the distribution system efficient, reliable and flexible.

Smart Grid introduces a complete change in perspective and moves away from technicalities like production and distribution of energy to dawn a human face, that of the consumer. The consumer becomes part of the smart grid and is able to use energy more efficiently. Smart Grid also enables consumers to reduce demand, enables utilities to use efficient generators, and allows for more renewable power sources to be used. Smart Grid is a key enabler of solutions to reduce global warming.

Smart meters

The heart of the Smart Grid are "smart meters" that establish 2-way communication between utilities and the customer. The meters give consumers a great variety of information about their energy consumption - and therefore, some control over their energy savings. Because a utility has different costs to generate power at different times, everybody can save if electric usage is cut during highest-cost times. Utilities can transmit different rates/kWh at different times of the day or week, and customer can use this information to take advantage of the cheapest rates.

Smart meter also track usage at different times and tally up a bill without meter readers. Smart meters can tell a utility when power has been lost at a location, so the utility can know immediately when and where a power outage occurs.

Energy Efficient Transformers

Old and inefficient energy transformers waste hundreds of TWh of energy each year; the reasons for the losses are many, including inefficient cores.

Compliant transformers are able to maintain National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Class 1 efficiency levels at 35% load. This is accomplished by using higher-grade grain-oriented steel in the core rather than standard non grain-oriented steel. Grain-oriented steel offers thinner gauge and purer metallic material quality, reducing heat caused from eddy currents by limiting the direction in which current flows. Narrowing of the magnetic field into a thinner profile also reduces the canceling effect of opposing currents. Increasing energy efficiency of a transformer allows an organization to operate at the same level of efficiency with less energy.

Compliant transformers cost more than their lower-efficiency predecessors due to the higher price of grain-oriented steel, additional labor and higher raw material costs. While compliant transformers add to construction and maintenance costs, end users save over the life of the transformer.

Can industry rely on renewable sources for its energy needs? The popularity of renewable energy is increasing rapidly and prices are dropping such that renewable energy will soon be cost competitive compared with fossil fuel. Most industries rely heavily on steady supplies of energy, and with costs of fossil fuel constantly increasing and fluctuating, renewable energy seems to be the answer. Numerous companies like Pacific Crest Transformers are in the process of making renewable energy reliable enough for industry.

Much like rectifier transformers, Wind Turbine Step-Up Transformers are designed for harmonics, additional loading, and have electrostatic shields to prevent transfer of harmonic frequencies between the primary and secondary windings.

Renewable energy still has a long way to go in terms of reliability and cost effectiveness before industry can fully rely on its supply, but till then industry needs to take smaller steps that will help make the big switch. The US leads the world in generating wind energy, and it's time that industry backed this effort by using wind energy to part meet its requirements.

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What is renewable energy?

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Unlike fossil fuels which are also natural but are only available in limited supply. Renewable energy sources can be used over and over again without depleting them. There are five main sources of renewable energy that humans can use:

1. Bio energy -

Bio energy is created from plants or grains that can be replanted and replenished. Ethanol is an example of using bio energy. Ethanol is a fuel that is a hybrid of petroleum and an alcohol-based fuel that is made primarily from corn in most of the United States, although some other countries, like Brazil, make ethanol using sugar cane instead of corn. Ethanol is widely used in other countries and is becoming more popular in the United States.

Many companies and scientific labs are experimenting with different bio fuels to find a bio fuel that works with already existing vehicles to help reduce dependence on petroleum. Hybrid vehicles that run on a combination of petroleum based fuel and bio fuels are becoming more and more popular. Some vehicles that run on diesel fuel are being converted to run on bio-diesel which is a fuel made from used vegetable oil that is discarded by restaurants and food plants.

2. Hydro power -

Hydro power is using the power of flowing water to create electricity. Hydro power is one of the oldest continually used forms of creating energy and was extremely popular before it become common to use fossil fuels. For hundreds of years rushing water was used to create energy that would operate a grain mill and grind corn and wheat, power steam engines, and provide energy for other common tasks. The first known use of hydro power to provide electricity was in 1880, and hydro power has been used to generate electricity every since.

Hydro power is still used today. About 7% of the electricity used in the United States each year comes from hydro electric plants. Because it's necessary for a large hydro electric plant to be located directly on a large body of water in order to have enough water to generate the kind of power that is needed to make electricity hydro electric power plants are not widespread. More than half of the many hydro power plants in the United States are located in only three states: Oregon, California, and Washington.

Hydro power is often considered to be the ideal form of renewable energy because it's practically free, it creates no pollutants that harm the environment, and it has almost no waste products of any kind.

The drawback is that hydro power can only be located in a small number of areas with the right natural features. Plus, the large dams needed to harness hydro power can dramatically alter the landscape and affect wildlife.

3. Geothermal power -

Geothermal power comes from using the natural heat from deep inside the earth. The core of the Earth generates a lot of heat and water that is heated deep within the Earth and released to the surface through hot springs and geysers. Even volcanoes can be used to heat buildings and homes as well to provide electricity.

The most common use of geothermal power is direct heating. Direct geothermal heating consists of piping hot water from below the surface of the Earth directly into buildings or homes to heat the buildings. Iceland gets up to 95% of their heat from geothermal direct heating. The island nation sits on the world's most easily accessible source of heat energy from volcanic magma close to the Earth's surface.

The United States is the biggest user of geothermal energy for electricity in the world but still less than 1% of all the electricity produced in the United States is generated from geothermal energy. There are about 50 geothermal electricity plants in the United States, mostly in California and Nevada. Since the easiest place to access the water heated within the earth is along fault lines and on the edges of tectonic plates it's not surprising that those two states have the most geothermal energy plants. Geothermal energy produces no pollution or greenhouse gases but can be expensive to utilize and can only be used in a small number of areas that have the proper geology.

4. Wind -

Wind energy was probably the first type of natural, renewable energy that was used by people to provide power. Wind energy has no pollutants or contaminates and is great for the environment, but sometimes it can be hard to harness enough wind to generate significant energy.

Wind energy is mainly used locally, supplying electricity on and around wind farms. The United States is third on the list of countries that have the most capacity to produce wind energy yet wind energy is not yet widely used in the United States. In the past this was mostly because building the machines, called wind turbines, which are used to harness wind energy, was expensive and consumed a lot of natural resources. Since 2005 there have been some great technological advances that have made it much more cost-effective to build turbines so the use of wind energy is beginning to grow in the United States.

One of the biggest problems of producing enough wind energy to meet the huge electricity demands of the people in the United States is the weather. Since wind can't be grown like the crops that are used for bio energy, and wind is not as constant as the water used to create hydro or geothermal energy there is a limit to how much energy wind can produce. The variability of the wind is also a crucial factor. I there isn't much wind on a particular day there might be very little or no electricity generated that day. Another drawback to wind energy is that a large number of very large wind turbines (they can run up to 25 stories tall) are needed to create a significant amount of energy.

Wind energy is a good source of renewable energy under certain conditions but in the long run wind energy is not going to be the best source of renewable energy for countries to use.

5. Solar energy -

Solar energy is collecting and then using the energy generated by the sun for things like electricity and heating. Solar energy is being used more and more by businesses and homeowners as a way to fight rising electricity bills and also to live in a more environmentally friendly way.

One of the first recorded uses of solar energy was in the 1830's when a British explorer in Africa built a box to collect the energy from the sun's rays and used it to cook his food. Today solar energy is used mainly to create heat and to create electricity.

There are two ways to generate electricity from solar energy. The first is using the Photovoltaic method. This method uses a collection of cells made of certain materials to grab the sun's energy and directly convert it to electricity. Since the sun's rays are diffuse it takes a large number of these photovoltaic cells working together to provide any real power.

The second way is using solar power plants. These huge plants use sunlight indirectly to create electricity. In simple terms the sunlight heats water which produces steam and the steam powers a generator that creates electricity. There are 15 large solar power plants in the United States. 10 are in California, and 5 are in Arizona.

Solar energy is totally renewable and has no measurable impact on the environment which is why it's the renewable energy system of choice for many environmentally conscious people. However there are a few drawbacks to using solar energy. One disadvantage of using solar energy is that because the energy created by the sun is so diffuse it takes a lot of sunlight to generate power. This means that solar plants have to have a large surface area.

Another disadvantage of solar energy is that the amount of the sun's energy that reaches the solar cells depends on things like the amount of cloud cover, the temperature, the time of day and other factors that can't be controlled. Scientists are trying to develop ways of using solar energy to generate large amounts of power, similar to central power plants burning fossil fuels today. Most experts agree that the best way to use solar energy for electricity and heating is for individual homeowners and building owners to use solar panels to generate heat and electricity for their own buildings.

READ MORE - What is renewable energy?

Renewable fuels to alternative energy

The Germans really taken off when it comes to renewable fuel and became one of the major players in the game of alternative energy sources. Under the auspices of the energy of the country, the laws of the German people channel set a world record in 2006 by investing more than $ 10 billion (US) in research, development and implementation of wind turbines, biogas plants and solar cells collection. Authorization "channel" Germany German homeowners to connect to the electricity grid through some source of renewable energy sources and then sell it back to power company any excess energy produced at retail prices. This economic incentive catapulted the German position number one among all countries with a number of operational solar, biogas plants and wind turbines. Terawatt-hours 50-generating these renewable energy accounts for 10% of all German energy per year. Only in 2006, Germany set 100.000 systems for collecting solar energy.

Over in the USA, BP Corporation established the Institute of Biosciences energy (EIB) to vast new research and development of clean burning renewable bio-fuels, most prominently for ground transportation. BP's investment reaches us $ 50 million (U.S.) per year over the next decade. The EIB will be physically located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University is in partnership with BP, and he will be responsible for researching and developing new crops for biofuels, biomass farming systems and machines for the production of renewable fuels in liquid form for vehicular use.The University will in particular focus in the field of genetic engineering to create more advanced biofuels crops. EBI is one of the main technological innovation centre to convert heavy hydrocarbon contamination-free and high-performance fuel.

As in the USA, the battle rages on Congress and geothermal energy Association (GEA). GEA Director Carl Gawell recently posted by Congress and the Department of energy, the only way to ensure that the Ministry of energy and THE SBA does not simply revert to irrational to insist on a geothermal research program is to plan the Congress hearing specifically for geothermal energy, its capacity and role of the Federal Research Division. Furthermore Gawell further to say that recent studies of the National Research Council of the Western Governors Association clean energy task force and the Massachusetts Institute of technology support to expand geothermal research funding to develop the technology needed to use this resource to the vast, untapped domestic renewable energy.Struck by a minuscule amount an awareness that the public has enormous benefits, research and development of alternative renewable sources will provide an opportunity for US, both economically and practically supporters of geothermal energy sources, such as the writer.Geothermal energy is already less expensive to produce in terms of kilowatt hours than coal, which keeps US mining geothermal energy is available in a few miles below our feet and easily accessible through drilling company, format, which is the third largest producer of geothermal energy in the u.s. and has factories in several different people, it is already a business billion a year — geothermal energy is obviously cost.

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