Renewable resources represent the future in terms of energy generation on our planet, and this is a good reason to learn more about all these clean and endless resources of green power. Let’s what are some examples of renewable resources.
The Sun, the Moon and the Earth are all working together to provide us with sources of clean power that compared to our time here on the planet (as a civilization), can be considered renewable or endless resources of energy.
Renewable Resources – Definition
Renewable resources are considered today the clean and endless sources of power available on the planet that could successfully replace the dirty fossil fuels for a greener and healthier environment.
There are several types of renewable resources available for us to harvest and turn into clean energy.
These clean and renewable resources of power are mostly provided by the Sun, the combined gravitational forces of the Sun, Moon and our planet, the inner core of the planet, water and biomass such as: plants, trees, trash and human or animal organic waste, and also by hydrogen.
In order to replace the fossil fuels that are releasing a huge amount of air pollution on the planet every day, we need to use all the renewable resources available, and we also need to develop new sources of clean power (nuclear fusion), which could end the era of polluting fuels faster than we think.
Types of Renewable Resources
I already mentioned that on planet Earth, the renewable resources are mostly provided by the Sun, by the inner core of our planet, by gravity, by water, trees, plants, trash and human and animal waste, and also by hydrogen.
1. Sunlight
Solar energy is considered a renewable resource because is produced by the sunlight.
The age of the Sun is around 4.6 billion years, which means that will be here to send us light and heat for at least another 5 billions years.
Compared to the time of mankind here on the planet, we can say that the Sun is an endless source of free and clean power.
We are using the sunlight today to heat water (solar water heaters), to produce clean electricity (solar cells or large mirrors that are concentrating the sunlight towards the top of a tower where an agent is melted to produce steam, which is then used to generate clean electricity by rotating a turbine).
The sunlight is also used to passively heat homes during the winter, which will reduce the energy bills.
2. Wind
The wind is also produced by the Sun, which means that is a renewable resource.
The Sun heats the different layers of air in the atmosphere in an uneven way, which makes the warmer air layer to rise, and the colder layer of air to move down.
This movement of the air layers in our atmosphere is the wind, and is a renewable resource because is produced by our star.
To generate free and clean electricity, we are using the kinetic power of the wind to rotate horizontal axis or vertical axis wind turbines that are producing green energy with the help of generators.
If solar energy can be produced only during the day and preferable in a sunny day, wind power can be generated day and night if the speed of the wind is high enough to spin the turbine.
The latest developments in the wind energy sector aim to create very tall wind turbines (at higher altitudes the winds are stronger), which are installed offshore where they don’t bother nobody with the noise made by the spinning blades of the turbine.
Another step is to create wind turbines (vertical axis wind turbines) that start spinning at very low wind speeds, and these wind turbines will produce very low to zero noise, while will generate energy almost all the time.
3. Water
Water is another renewable resource (it never ends because it stays here and goes nowhere).
Hydroeletric Power
We are using the kinetic power of the falling or fast moving water to rotate underwater turbines that will produce clean electricity using large generators.
Today, hydroelectric power is the most developed renewable energy source among all the renewables in the energy mix of the planet.
Wave Energy
The waves in our oceans are produced by the wind blowing across the surface of the water, which means that wave energy is another renewable resource.
To generate wave energy (which is free, clean and renewable), mankind uses today special buoys that can capture the kinetic power of the waves to turn it into clean electricity.
4. Tides
The tides on planet Earth are produced by the combined gravitational forces of the Sun, Moon and our planet and because we have two high tides and two low tides in a 24-hour and 50 minutes period, we can say that tidal power is a predictable energy source.
For the moment, we are harvesting tidal power only in a few coastal places of the planet where the tides exceed 5.5 meters in height.
However, the development of the technology used to generate tidal energy will allow us to install tidal power stations in many other areas of the planet where the tides have lower height.
5. Geothermal
Geothermal power is produced by the heat generated by the inner core of our planet.
The inner core of planet Earth is called “the inner Sun” because is even hotter than the surface of the Sun (6,000 K instead of 5,000 K).
This natural heat coming from the underground, is considered a renewable resource because is here since since the creation of our planet and will be here as long as the planet will exist.
Geothermal energy is produced by collecting the hot steam and water coming from the underground geothermal reservoirs and is used both to produce clean electricity (the hot steam) and for residential heating and cooling.
Many countries on the planet have geothermal resources, but the country that relies the most on geothermal power is Island.
6. Biomass
Biomass represents today a continuous source of low-carbon energy because until mankind lives on the planet, we will always have wood and plant waste, energy crops, and will produce trash, human and animal organic waste.
All these renewable resources are used today to produce clean energy (wood and plant waste, energy crops and also trash is used to produce heat and steam that will spin a turbine to generate electricity with the help of a generator), and human and animal organic waste is used to produce biogas, which is another form of low-carbon energy.
Biomass along with the other renewables will be used to replace the dirty fossil fuels for a cleaner future.
7. Hydrogen
Hydrogen is considered today a renewable resource because is a very abundant element in the known universe and also on our planet (is present in the seawater).
However, even being so present around us, hydrogen cannot be found freely in nature, it is located in many organic compounds, especially in the hydrocarbons consisted by our fuels (gasoline, natural gas, propane etc.).
By applying heat, we can extract the hydrogen from the hydrocarbons using a technological process called steam reforming.
Hydrogen is the simplest element known today because it consists only of one proton and one electron.
Hydrogen is produced today from methane, but can also be produced from water by using an electric current.
This process is called electrolysis, and separates water into its components hydrogen and oxygen.
Hydrogen can also be produced by bacteria and algae that are using the sunlight to generate hydrogen in certain conditions.
By burning hydrogen in an environment that contains only oxygen, we are producing clean energy and as by-product only water, which harmless for the environment.
If we burn hydrogen in air, we will produce besides energy and water, a small amount of nitrogen oxides and maybe some other harmful gases.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells
A hydrogen fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to generate clean electricity, but also heat and water (as by-products).
Fuel cells are also considered batteries because they are converting a chemical reaction into clean electricity.
Hydrogen fuel cells are also used today to power clean vehicles that along with the electric cars (using lithium-ion batteries), will slowly replace the dirty vehicles with internal combustion engines that are massively polluting the atmosphere and the soil today.
Hydrogen and fuel cells will be used in a not very far future (hydrogen maybe even in the nuclear fusion reaction) along with the other renewables as a replacement of the polluting fossil fuels.
Conclusion
The future generations need to live in a healthier environment, which can be produced only by ending the era of fossil fuels (in terms of polluting vehicles, heat and energy generation), and by promoting renewable energy and worldwide protection of the nature and its amazing natural resources.
