Running low on fuel? Just zip to the gas station and fill up your tank. The only trouble is, you won't be able to do that forever because Earth itself is running low on fuel. Most of the energy we use comes from fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal, which are gradually running out. Not only that, using these fuels produces air pollution and carbon dioxide—the gas most responsible for global warming. If we want to carry on living our lives in much the same way, we need to switch to cleaner, greener fuel supplies—renewable energy, as it's known. Let's take a closer look at what it is and where it comes from.
What is renewable energy world?
Broadly speaking, the world's energy resources (all the energy we have available to use) fall into two types called fossil fuels and renewable energy:
• Fossil fuels are things like oil, gas, coal, and peat, formed over hundreds of millions of years when plants and sea creatures rot away, fossilize, and get buried under the ground, then squeezed and cooked by Earth's inner pressure and heat. Fossil fuels supply about 80-90 percent of the world's energy.
• Renewable energy world means energy made from the wind, ocean waves, solar power, biomass (plants grown especially for energy), and so on. It's called renewable because, in theory, it will never run out. Renewable sources currently supply about 10-20 percent of the world's energy.
Types of Renewable Energy
There are many sources of renewable energy. The various known forms are as listed below:
• Solar energy
• Hydro energy
• Tidal energy
• Wind energy
• Geothermal energy
• Biomass
• Fuel cells
• Nuclear energy
renewable energy world Sources Pros and Cons
Listed below are the pros and cons of renewable energy sources. First up, are the pros.
Pros
• The word 'renewable', says it all. Fossil fuels are perishable sources of energy, whereas renewable energy sources are non-perishable and can be easily replenished.
• Most renewable energy sources do not involve the combustion or burning of fossil fuels or other substances, which otherwise result in the release of toxic chemicals or other harmful atmospheric byproducts. Therefore, renewable energy is a clean source of energy and one that offers numerous environmental benefits.
• Renewable energy sources are plentiful and are available all over the world. Plus, being non-perishable energy sources, one doesn't have to worry about these energy reserves declining or getting exhausted in the future.
• Most of these energy sources have low maintenance costs associated with them. Also, renewable energy sources such as solar energy, can be tapped very easily and conveniently for domestic use by individual home owners.
Cons
• Reliability and consistency is a significant drawback with respect to renewable energy. Atmospheric conditions and geographical locations make a huge impact on the efficacy of these energy sources.
• The initial investment or setup cost is significantly high, in case of renewable energy sources. This, often, acts as a deterrent in people switching over to renewable energy sources.
• Every form of renewable energy has its own set of problems, drawbacks or limitations with respect to environment and ecology.
• People are not yet fully convinced about the sustainability and the value-for-money aspect of renewable energy. Therefore, global acceptance of renewable energy on a mass scale is something that is yet to happen.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
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