Renewable Energy: An Overview

Focus on different sources of renewable energy

For a long time, natural gas and electricity producers have only focused on using fossil fuels (natural gas, coal, oil) to provide energy.

With a sharp decline in the past few years, long-term pollution and exhaustion, these energies have become a disaster for the earth.

Today, renewable energy offers multiple advantages more than ever before.

But what do we mean by renewable energy? We explain to you:

What does "renewable energy" mean?

Renewable energy is energy that regenerates itself when used. Therefore, they do not depend on exhausted resources, but are infinite, inexhaustible, available in large quantities, and replenishment faster than consumption.

The term "renewable energy" is in contrast to fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas), which are inherently limited and non-renewable.

Renewable energy, also known as "Green Energy" or "Clean Energy", mainly comes from 2 natural sources:

✔Solar Energy: It is the origin of the unequal pressure of the water cycle, tides, wind and plant growth. Its radiation is converted into energy or heat.

✔Geothermal Energy: It emits heat, which can be recovered on the surface.

There are 5 main types of renewable energy:

1. Solar energy:

  ◎ Photovoltaic and thermal energy

2. Wind energy

3. Hydraulic energy:

  ◎ Ocean energy

4. Biomass

5. Geothermal Energy:

  ◎ low energy

  ◎ Hydrothermal

  ◎ Deep geothermal energy

The common feature of these different energy sources is that they do not emit waste, polluting emissions or greenhouse gases.

Let's take a closer look at renewable energy and how it works.

Solar Energy 

Solar energy uses sunlight to generate heat and electricity.

There are two types of solar energy:

1. Photovoltaic Solar Energy: It is used through photovoltaic panels or solar panels. These are the most famous and popular ones. The batteries of these panels receive sunlight and convert this light radiation into electrical energy.

   
   

   2. Solar Thermal Energy or Thermodynamic Energy: Its use benefits from thermal solar panels, which are not built in the form of batteries, but in the form of pipes. These panels absorb the heat of the sun and convert the water in the pipes into heat. Therefore, this energy makes it possible to obtain heating and hot water.

Wind Energy

Wind energy is energy from the wind. Wind turbines use wind to generate energy from the movement of air masses. The wind turns the blades of the wind turbine, which in turn turns the generator, which ultimately produces electricity.

Like solar energy, wind energy is intermittent, which means that energy is only produced when the wind blows.

Hydraulic Energy

Hydropower or hydroelectric power is produced by the force of water, or more accurately, by the force contained in the movement of water. We can distinguish several forms: waterfalls, streams, ocean currents, tides and waves.

In order to be able to convert this displacement of water mass into electricity, it must first pass through a hydroelectric power station. This kinetic energy (that is related to movement) then generates hydraulic energy, which can be used in the form of electricity.

Ocean energy is a form of hydropower. Its occurrence is attributed to the exploitation of ocean currents and water. It is not as popular as solar or wind energy, but has several advantages because it can be used in many ways.

Biomass

Biomass uses organic materials from plants, animals, bacteria and fungi (fungi) to convert them into energy: heat for heating, electricity or fuel for transportation.

Only when its consumption does not exceed its output, it is considered a source of renewable energy. There are several techniques for extracting energy:

Combustion Burns dry organic materials, such as wood, in a biomass boiler to generate heat, electricity or biofuels.

Gasification uses heat to convert solid matter into gas or biofuel.

Pyrolysis is a chemical reaction produced by the decomposition of organisms under the action of heat. This will make it possible to obtain different solid, liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons.

Anaerobic digestion produces gas from household and agricultural waste. Degradation occurs under high temperature and anaerobic conditions. The waste then produces biogas-producing bacteria. This will generate heat and electricity.

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy extracts energy from the heat generated in the core of the earth. This heat comes from the decomposition of atoms contained in the rock. It can be used for heating or electricity. It is one of the only energy that does not depend on atmospheric conditions.

There are 3 types of geothermal energy:

  1. Low-energy geothermal energy: This is used by a heat pump system that recovers heat from the shallow surface of the earth. It is used for fireplaces and floor heating.

  2. Hydrothermal geothermal energy obtains energy from naturally warm waters. Water drawn from medium depths generates heat, while those from deep depths generate electricity.

  3. Deep geothermal energy draws heat from more than 1,500 meters deep and generates industrial electricity.

Pros and cons of renewable energy

Generally speaking, the advantage of renewable energy lies in its inexhaustible aspects, but also because they reduce waste, pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, they use the renewable natural resources on the earth to produce energy in an ecological way.

However, they are sometimes criticized for their low energy efficiency. In fact, compared with fossil fuels, their production costs are considered higher in the short term. Their availability may also be more uncertain; that is, they do not continuously generate energy. For example, solar energy can only rely on the sun to generate electricity, or wind energy can only rely on wind to generate electricity.

However, solutions, such as energy storage batteries, can store energy during periods of high production (sunny or windy) to overcome this problem.

However, their construction requires a lot of natural resources, which still causes pollution.