14-12-2012, 05:35 PM
Renewable Energy Sources
Renewable Energy.ppt (Size: 2.88 MB / Downloads: 48)
What renewables are
These sources are normally used to produce clean (or green) energy. This production does not lead to climate change and does not involve emission of pollutants.
A related term is sustainable energy: this concept refers to generating energy with an awareness of the future, i.e. in a way that would enable future generations to meet their energy needs too. The concept is related not only to renewables, but also to energy efficiency.
Renewable energy is growing in importance and popularity:
because of the desire and necessity to avert irreversible climate damage;
because of increasing oil prices;
because of the unreliability of non-renewable resources (e.g. the depletion of oil wells).
In view of all these and other factors, governments worldwide support renewables with various incentives.
This, in turn, encourages entrepreneurs to make large-scale investments in renewable energy.
Main types of renewable energy
Solar energy
Wind energy
Hydropower (water power)
Biofuels
Geothermal energy
Distributed generation
This is done to achieve economies of scale, or to bring energy generation closer to the resource (e.g. mines) and away from populated areas (for health reasons). However, some of the energy, especially heat, is lost during the transportation.
In order for renewable energy to become massively used, energy systems must be adjusted to reflect the shift from centralized to dispersed generation.