Harnessing Energy through Renewable Source: An Overview

Renewable energy development is now going on at full speed. The international energy community is drafting policies, creating different renewable energy systems, and improving its efficiency for massive use. Different regional and international forums are conducted to disseminate information about these new energy sources.

Just how important renewable energy is? Presently, different researches arrive at the same conclusion—Earth’s fossil fuel reserves are depleting in a rapid rate. In other words, we can face energy crisis if there are no other alternative energy sources available.

In addition, combustion of these fuel reserves is found out to be emitting harmful gases which contribute to the abnormal change in Earth’s climate. The global warming and ozone layer thinning is just some of the major effects of these gases in our atmosphere. Environmentalists want to take out fossil fuel combustion in the energy production scene as much as possible.

Different small economy is also drifting away from progress due to increasing fossil fuel prices such as crude oil. Most of these small economies depend on imported crude oil in their electricity production and transport operation. Once oil prices soar high, almost everything is also increasing—monthly electricity costs, transport costs, and even prices of basic commodities.

Many think that renewable energy can be a long-term solution to these aforementioned problems. Unlike fossil fuels which needed to be excavated and imported, renewable energy is abundant in the greater environment. Sunlight, flowing water, strong winds, and hot springs can be converted into energy. It can be acquired domestically, and does not emit harmful gases which could damage our atmosphere.

Want to learn more about the renewable energy sources? Read the preceding sections and learn how these sources can actually generate energy.

Wind Energy

Winds that we normally use in kite-flying and sailing purposes can generate energy. Wind propellers mounted to tall towers (such as those in The Netherlands) are attached to a wind turbine. This is connected to a shaft directly to the generator. Strong winds (an average of 5.5 meters per second or 20 kilometers per hour) make these wind propellers turn and subsequently run wind turbines, which later on will run the generator to produce energy.

Modern wind turbines are capable of producing 5 megawatts of power using the average wind speed mentioned earlier. Thousands of these turbines are presently operating in different parts of the world, with utility companies holding total capacity of 59,322 megawatts.

Water Power

There are different forms of water power. The basic is the hydropower energy, which uses hydroelectric dam facilities (composed of energy turbines and generators). These hydropower facilities can be normally found on extreme flowing river or high water falls.

Other forms include the following:

1. The tidal power which derives energy from ocean tides in horizontal direction. When tides enter the facilities, it raises the water level in the basin. It has a turbine which generates energy from the tides going out of the basin.

2. The wave power which captures energy through ocean waves.

3. The ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) which utilizes the difference of temperature between the ocean’s warmer surface and its cold lower recess.

Solar Energy

There are also different ways of using harnessed energy through solar radiation. These are the following:

1. When sunlight enters the photovoltaic (PV) cells, it initiates a chemical reaction which converts the sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity.

2. Generated electricity can be used as a thermal energy source to heat building either in a direct way or through the use of heat pumps.

3. Thermal energy harnessed from solar radiation can also be used to directly heat food and dishes through solar-powered ovens.

To maximize electricity or heat production, PV panels should be placed in a location which has a maximum exposure over direct sunlight.