Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal

heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished).

Wind Hydroelectric Geothermal Biomass Solar

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, wind pumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships.

A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or pumping water, the device is called a windmill or wind pump.Today's wind turbines are manufactured in a range of vertical and horizontal axis types.

Horizontal axis:Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) have the main rotor shaft and electrical generator at the top of a tower, and must be pointed into the wind. Most have a gearbox, which turns the slow rotation of the blades into a quicker rotation that is more suitable to drive an electrical generator.

Vertical-axis wind turbines (or VAWTs) have the main rotor shaft arranged vertically. Key advantages of this arrangement are that the turbine does not need to be pointed into the wind to be effective.The key disadvantages include the low rotational speed with the higher torque and hence higher cost of the drive train.

Hydropower, hydraulic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of moving water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes.

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy approximately 20% of the world's electricity, and accounted for about 88% of electricity from renewable sources.

Conventional (dams)

Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water turbine and generator. The power extracted from the water depends on the volume and on the difference in height between the source and the water's outflow. This height difference is called the head. The amount of potential energy in water is proportional to the head.

This method produces electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water between reservoirs at different elevations. At times of low electrical demand, excess generation capacity is used to pump water into the higher reservoir. When there is higher demand, water is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine. Pumpedstorage schemes currently provide the most commercially important means of large-scale grid energy storage and improve the daily capacity factor of the generation system.

Run-of-the-river hydroelectric stations are those with small or no reservoir capacity, so that the water coming from upstream must be used for generation at that moment, or must be allowed to bypass the dam.

A tidal power plant makes use of the daily rise and fall of ocean water due to tides; such sources are highly predictable, and if conditions permit construction of reservoirs.

Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been used by humans since ancient times . Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available renewable energy on earth. Solar powered electrical generation relies on heat engines and photovoltaics. Solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, solar hot water, solar cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.To harvest the solar energy, the most common way is to use solar panels.

The surface receives about 47% of the total solar energy that reaches the Earth. Only this amount is usable.

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect .

Indirect Conversion

Concentrating Type Collectors

Non Concentrating Type Collectors

Cylindrical, Paraboloidal and fresnal lens etc

Flat plat and evacuated tube collectors

Flate Plate Collectors

Of the 21,000,000 square feet (2,000,000 m2) of solar thermal collectors produced in the United States in 2006, 16,000,000 square feet (1,500,000 m2) were of the lowtemperature variety. Low-temperature collectors are generally installed to heat swimming pools, although they can also be used for space heating. Collectors can use air or water as the medium to transfer the heat to their destination.

These collectors could be used to produce approximately 50% and more of the hot water needed for residential and commercial use in the United States.In the United States, a typical system costs $4000$6000. Northern system require more collector area and more complex plumbing to protect the collector from freezing.

Where temperatures below about 95 C are sufficient, as for space heating, flat-plate collectors of the nonconcentrating type are generally used. Because of the relatively high heat losses through the glazing, flat plate collectors will not reach temperatures much above 200 C even when the heat transfer fluid is stagnant. Such temperatures are too low for efficient conversion to electricity. The efficiency of heat engines increases with the temperature of the heat source. To achieve this in solar thermal energy plants, solar radiation is concentrated by mirrors or lenses to obtain higher temperatures a technique called Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam.

Cylindrical parabolic concentrator

Linear fresnel lens

Paraboloidal dish collector

Central tower receiver

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms.As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel. In the first sense, biomass is plant matter used to generate electricity with steam turbines & gasifiers or produce heat, usually by direct combustion. Examples include forest residues (such as dead trees, branches and tree stumps). In the second sense, biomass includes plant or animal matter that can be converted into fibers or other industrial chemicals, including biofuels

A range of chemical processes may be used to convert biomass into other forms, such as to produce a fuel that is more conveniently used, transported or stored, or to exploit some property of the process itself.

Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases.Although fossil fuels have their origin in ancient carbon fixation, they are not considered biofuels by the generally accepted definition because they contain carbon that has been "out" of the carbon cycle for a very long time.

Straight unmodified edible vegetable oil is generally not used as fuel, but lower quality oil can and has been used for this purpose. Used vegetable oil is increasingly being processed into biodiesel, or (more rarely) cleaned of water and particulates and used as a fuel.

Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is energy that determines the temperature of matter. Earth's geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet, from radioactive decay of minerals and from volcanic activity. The geothermal gradient, which is the difference in temperature between the core of the planet and its surface, drives a continuous conduction of thermal energy in the form of heat from the core to the surface.

Geothermal electricity is electricity generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power plants, flash steam power plants and binary cycle power plants. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 24 countries while geothermal heating is in use in 70 countries. Estimates of the electricity generating potential of geothermal energy vary from 35 to 2000 GW. Current worldwide installed capacity is 10,715 megawatts (MW), with the largest capacity in the United States (3,086 MW),Philippines, and Indonesia.

Dry steam power plants

Dry steam plants are the simplest and oldest design. They directly use geothermal steam of 150C or more to turn turbines. Flash steam power plants Flash steam plants pull deep, high-pressure hot water into lower-pressure tanks and use the resulting flashed steam to drive turbines. They require fluid temperatures of at least 180C, usually more. This is the most common type of plant in operation today.

One major advantage with the use of renewable energy is that as it is renewable it is therefore sustainable and so will never run out. Renewable energy facilities generally require less maintenance than traditional generators. Their fuel being derived from natural and available resources reduces the costs of operation. Even more importantly, renewable energy produces little or no waste products such as carbon dioxide or other chemical pollutants, so has minimal impact on the environment. Renewable energy projects can also bring economic benefits to many regional areas, as most projects are located away from large urban centres and suburbs of the capital cities. These economic benefits may be from the increased use of local services as well as tourism.

One disadvantage with renewable energy is that it is difficult to generate the quantities of electricity that are as large as those produced by traditional fossil fuel generators. This may mean that we need to reduce the amount of energy we use or simply build more energy facilities. It also indicates that the best solution to our energy problems may be to have a balance of many different power sources.

Another disadvantage of renewable energy sources is the reliability of supply. Renewable energy often relies on the weather for its source of power. Hydro generators need rain to fill dams to supply flowing water. Wind turbines need wind to turn the blades, and solar collectors need clear skies and sunshine to collect heat and make electricity. When these resources are unavailable so is the capacity to make energy from them. This can be unpredictable and inconsistent. The current cost of renewable energy technology is also far in excess of traditional fossil fuel generation. This is because it is a new technology and as such has extremely large capital cost

A non-renewable resource is a natural resource which cannot be produced, grown, generated, or used on a scale which can sustain its consumption rate, once depleted there is no more available for future needs. Also considered nonrenewable are resources that are consumed much faster than nature can create them. Fossil fuels (such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas), types of nuclear power (uranium) and certain aquifers are examples.

The natural resources like oil, coal and gas are formed into the earths crust in a period of decades. These energy sources can not be used again and grown in few days. Nuclear energy is the only form of non-renewable energy form which can be reused. 95% of nuclear can be used again to support electricity power plant. Non-renewable energy sources like coal and oil are getting scarce because the supply cannot meet the demand currently. Natural resources like oil and gas are major fuel component of almost all the industries of the world. The problem with most of the energy sources is that the supply is limited to the few hands. These forces can control the prices of these resources.

Nuclear Energy is discovered accidently that some of the elements emit radioactive rays due to their natural characteristic. Nuclear energy is an amazing source of energy which is originated from mass when atom is breaking down into its particles or combining the particles. The process continues till the decay level reaches. In another words an atom is capable of producing energy in three different ways; fission, fusion and decay. All the three methods resultantly produce enormous amount of energy when compared to other sources of energy like coal or oil.

Just as many conventional thermal power stations generate electricity by using the thermal energy released from burning fossil fuels, nuclear power plants convert the energy released from the nucleus of an atom via nuclear fission that takes place in a nuclear reactor. The heat is from the reactor core by a cooling system removes heat and used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.

Natural gas is present in the earth along with other natural resources like coal and oil. Methane is the most common form of natural gas. This natural resource has unlimited user and industrial applications.

Earlier natural gas was a major by product in the production of oil. This natural gas was of no use so it was burned near the wells. However the fear of pollution has reduced this activity. This natural gas was then either supplied to domestic users or was piped back to its origin. This natural gas is used as a major burning fuel in many parts of the world. Natural gas has many forms like town gas, biogas and hydrates. The major source of town gas is the burning of coal. This burning of coal produces harmful carbon monoxide. This carbon monoxide and methane is combined to produce town gas. This gas is known as town gas, because the gas from the burning of the coal is collected and transferred to the town by using pipes. Biogas is another form of natural resources.

Oil is a natural substance but the basic definition says that it is a liquid substance at room temperature which is hydrophobic but it can be dissolved in many organic solvents. This natural resource is present in many parts of the world and has plenty of applications. This is an efficient energy and fuel source no alternative fuel is still able to match its properties. Oil has very high carbon and hydrogen content. Oil is a non-renewable source of energy.

Oil is extracted form the earth and it is taken to oil refineries via oil tankers. This oil is processed to diesel, ethane, gasoline, jet fuel, fuel oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas and petrol. Essential lubricants are also produced from oil like motor oil and grease. Liquid fuels include aviation gasoline, diesel fuels, turbine fuels and antiknock additives. Petrol is used in industrial machinery in tractors for cultivation, in ambulances for carrying people and in off grid electricity generators. Petrol increases the efficiency of the engine. Thus it is practical to achieve the speed of 200 miles in motor cars. Petrol is the most efficient fuel for cars and related products. Liquid oil is a major fuel component of aero planes.

Coal Energy is one of the types of fossil fuels and nonrenewable energy. Fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas are present in the earths crust in fixed quantities. Coal is present in the earth in many forms. Some forms of the coal are of better qualities than the other. Coal is an essential combustion material which is usually black or brown in color.

The coal is composed of carbon, sulfur, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. The important types of coal are Paet, Lignite, sub-bituminous coal, bituminous coal, Anthracite and graphite. The pressure over the dead biotics and plants present in the earth layer for centuries have converted it into Paet.This fuel is used in dehydrated form to absorb the spilling of fuel from land or from water. Lignite is a poor quality coal and is burnt to provide thermal energy for heating steam turbines in order to produce electricity. This coal was used in train engines for centuries till the invention of modern engines Lignite is brown in color. Sub-bituminous and bituminous are black in color and are also used to run steam turbines for producing electricity. Anthracite is the shiny black coal of really good quality. This type of coal is used in homes for space heating procedures. Graphite is the best type of coal in terms of quality. However this type of coal is difficult to burn hence it is used in pencils and as a lubricant in powdered form.

You can use renewable energy resources for ever, they never run out! Just like solar energy because the earth will keep on having sunlight from the sun. Non renewable energy resources like coal, oil and gas (fossil fuels) if used too much they will run out which is exactly what is happening today.