Renewable Energy
What is renewable energy?
Renewable energy is energy derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed. Sunlight and wind, for example, are such sources that are constantly being replenished. Renewable energy sources are plentiful and all around us.
Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – on the other hand, are non-renewable resources that take hundreds of millions of years to form. Fossil fuels, when burned to produce energy, cause harmful greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide.
Generating renewable energy creates far lower emissions than burning fossil fuels. Transitioning from fossil fuels, which currently account for the lion’s share of emissions, to renewable energy is key to addressing the climate crisis.
Renewables are now cheaper in most countries and generate three times more jobs than fossil fuels.
Here are a few common sources of renewable energy:
Solar Energy
Solar energy is the most abundant of all energy resources used even in cloudy weather.
Wind Energy
Wind energy harnesses the kinetic energy of moving air by using large wind turbines.
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy utilizes the accessible thermal energy from the Earth’s interior.
Hydropower
Hydropower harnesses the energy of water moving from higher to lower elevations.
Ocean Energy
Ocean energy derives from technologies that use the kinetic and thermal energy.
Bioenergy
Bioenergy is produced from a variety of organic materials, called biomass.