According to the Renewables Global Status Report, 18 percent of the worldwide energy consumption in 2006 was produced by renewable energy. In the years to come renewable energy will become more and more important because of the world's accelerating energy demands and the need to attenuate our reliance upon dwindling fossil fuels.
Definition
Renewable energy is defined as any form of natural energy that is constantly being replenished. For that reason it has also been called sustainable energy. Sometimes clean or green energy is another way of describing renewable energy because generation of this type of energy does not produce any emissions. Though, biomass does produce sulphur oxide during energy generation because it needs to be burned.
Types
The most common forms of renewable energy include wind, solar, biomass from organic matter, geothermal from underground heat sources and hydro power from moving water. Hydro energy can come from many different sources such as tidal power or ocean thermal power. Biomass, on the other hand, typically refers to plant matter. The resulting biofuels derived from biomass include ethanol or alcohol.
Significance
Most forms of renewable energy are cyclical or easily replaceable because they are subject to the physical forces of the universe. Even the organic matter of biomass and biofuels are eventually restored due to the cyclical nature of life. Though fossil fuels can be synthesized again from organic matter over long periods of time by natural processes, they are forms of energy that come from a limited supply and can only be used once.
Energy
Energy can simply be defined as activity. The oxidation of traditional fossil fuel creates a substantial amount of thermal energy which can eventually be converted into electrical energy. However, only a few of the renewable sources like biomass are burned. Solar energy generation uses electromagnetic radiation to directly convert to electricity while wind energy is created by the mechanical energy of a rotating turbine from the uneven heating of the atmosphere. Both hydro and geothermal processes utilize the movement of these respective forces to create mechanical energy.
Innovations
Constant technological advancements are being made to more efficiently capture the energy found in solar, geothermal and other energy sources. For solar power in particular nanotechnology is helping to make solar cells smaller. Cellulosic ethanol is emerging as an important biofuel. And then there's hydrogen power, which has traditionally been used in rocket technology but not in the mainstream. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, hydrogen is an abundant element that can be used for fuel. However, it is a problematic energy since it's always bonded with other elements. Hydrogen must be separated first before it can be utilized as a gas.
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