Alternative Energy
Alternative energy refers to sources of power that are renewable and environmentally friendly, such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy. These energy sources are considered alternatives to traditional fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. They are important in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
6 Key excerpts on "Alternative Energy"
eBook - ePubRenewable Energy and Green Technology
Principles and Practices
- Narendra Kumar, Hukum Singh, Amit Kumar, Narendra Kumar, Hukum Singh, Amit Kumar(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...The idea of decentralized renewable energy systems has been recognized as a solution to both the household and the agro-industrial sector’s energy demands. Renewable energy is energy derived from natural resources that replenish themselves without depleting the resources of the earth in less than a human lifetime. These tools are available almost anywhere in one way or another, such as sunshine,wind, rain, tides, waves, biomass, and thermal energy deposited in the earth’s crust. They are inexhaustible, and no environmental damage is caused by them.On the other hand, fossil fuels, such as gasoline, coal, and natural gas, are only usable in finite amounts. They will run out sooner or later when we keep removing them. Natural resource depletion and increased demand for conventional resources have driven planners and policymakers to hunt for alternative sources. Even though commercial energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas are currently being used to a large degree, renewable energy sources are increasingly gaining importance. Renewable energy plays a fundamental role in sustainable development. These sources will provide the energy we need, polluting much less than fossil fuels for infinite periods. To increase diversity in energy supply markets, the benefits of renewables are well known; to secure long-term sustainable energy supplies; to minimize local and global atmospheric emissions; and to generate new jobs that provide opportunities for local development. Renewable energy has been rising higher than all other sources of energy since 2011. Another record-breaking year in 2019 was clean energy, as installed power capacity increased by more than 200 gigawatts (GW), the biggest growth ever (IEA, 2020a, d). Global increase in road transport,manufacturing activity, and power generation dependent onfossil fuel (as well as the free burning of waste in many cities) leads to high air pollution levels...
eBook - ePub- Brian Dawson, Matt Spannagle(Authors)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...solar and wind are not available 24 hours per day) and may be subject to variations in annual and seasonal availability (although hydro, geothermal, and some biomass technologies can supply power on a constant basis); due to their intermittent and variable nature, their value to the electricity system is usually lower than fossil fuel and nuclear (usually only the avoided cost of fuel); there are environmental and social issues that may constrain the growth of some renewable technologies, including the siting of renewable energy facilities, the impacts of large-scale conversion of forest and agriculture to biofuel production, and the impacts of large-scale hydropower development; and currently only a few renewable energy technologies (mainly wind turbines and solar water heaters) are approaching the mass production stage, and this limits the potential contribution to renewable global energy supplies in the short term. Technology status A wide range of renewable energy technologies are currently being deployed or under development. The principal renewable technology options include small- and large-scale hydropower, wind power, solar power, geothermal, ocean energy (waves/tidal power), biomass, and biofuels. The present technological and economic status of wind, solar, and biofuels and the contribution they could make to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions in the future are discussed in other sections (see wind power, solar power, and biofuels). This section reviews the potential contribution of three other renewable sources that have already been deployed on a commercial basis—hydropower, biomass, and geothermal energy—and several other renewable technologies that could contribute to global energy supplies in the future...
eBook - ePub- Zhenya Liu(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
...In contrast, renewable energy sources are inexhaustible with great development potential. The development and utilization of energy resources is limited by regional resource endowments and affected by the economics of technology. The supply of fossil energy is subject to rigid resource restrictions, with limited room for development and utilization in the future. Fossil energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas supported the progress of human civilization and socioeconomic development for 200 years in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In spite of a steady year-on-year rise in proven reserves of global fossil energy thanks to fast-developing exploration technology, the reserves of global fossil energy remain limited. Unless mankind can stop relying on fossil fuels, this source of energy will eventually and inevitably be exhausted as a matter of reality and natural restriction. The abundant renewable energy resources around the world will become the dominant energy source in the future. Given their abundance and thanks to the growing maturity of development and application technologies, hydropower, wind, and solar energy resources worldwide can meet energy development requirements. The global demand for energy in 2050 can be satisfied simply by developing just a fraction, at 0.05 percent (5/10,000), of the developable capacity of global wind and solar energy. Moreover, the Earth also possesses other abundant energy resources, like ocean, biomass, and geothermal energy. If these renewable energy resources can be developed on a large scale, the energy problems facing mankind will be fundamentally eradicated. The imbalanced distribution of energy resources calls for efforts to coordinate energy allocation on a global basis. Regionally, remaining recoverable coal reserves are distributed mainly in Europe and Eurasia, Asia Pacific, and North America...
eBook - ePubEnergy, Environment, Natural Resources and Business Competitiveness
The Fragility of Interdependence
- Dimitris N. Chorafas(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Gower(Publisher)
...Chapter 5 Alternative Energy Supplies DOI: 10.4324/9781315579573-5 1 Sustainable Development or Alternative Energy The phrases ‘sustainable development’ and ‘green (or alternative) sources of energy’ keep popping up every day – often in unexpected places. Usually these and similar labels are simply shorthand for anything environmental. Many people nowadays see them as a better basis for taking decisions which, by some miracle, are balancing energy costs, providing well-rounded benefits and controlling pollution. They don’t. 1 Finding a better mousetrap is laudable, but running after lots of hares at the same time guarantees that none is caught. Sustainable provision of energy supplies able to reduce the costs associated with them and controlling pollution seem to be the right targets. In reality, however, they contradict each other. Solar and wind energy, for example, cannot compete with coal and oil without hefty subsidies. We can better appreciate what comes under the term ‘alternative energies’ by looking at them as processes promoting decarbonization. Their opposite is reliance on continuing to produce energy by carbon compounds – coal, oil and gas – which today dominate energy sources. Theoretically, it is not really difficult to set Alternative Energy targets. In practice, the challenge is to meet them in a consistent, affordable and sustainable way. For example, the US Department of Energy has set a target for 30 per cent of the 2004 petrol demand for vehicles to be met by biofuels by 2030 (biofuels is the theme of Chapter 6). The European Union wants 25 per cent of transport fuels to be derived from biofuels by the same date. These targets sound great, provided that technology delivers the better mousetrap. Today’s ethanol does not pack a particularly powerful punch, although that seems to be changing. A biofuel that did not suffer from the current stuff’s limitations would be welcome...
eBook - ePubBiogas from Waste and Renewable Resources
An Introduction
- Dieter Deublein, Angelika Steinhauser(Authors)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- Wiley-VCH(Publisher)
...Only a very small percentage is generated by nuclear power plants, and the contribution of energy from renewable resources is almost negligible. However, this will change with increases in the price of oil. In the future, countries may use different technologies, depending on their climatic and geographic location. Germany refrains from using nuclear power plants as a source of energy, which makes Germany one of the leading countries in the development of technologies for alternative and renewable energy sources. 1.1 Primary Energy Sources In general, primary energy sources are classified as follows: Fossil energy sources: Hard coal, brown coal, petroleum, natural gas, oil shale, tar sand, gas hydrate Renewable energy sources: Water, sun, wind, geothermal heat, tides, biomass Nuclear fuels These primary energy sources follow so-called “life cycles” as shown in Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1 Life cycles of primary energy sources. Until the late 19th century, wood, the traditional biomass, was the only primary energy source used for cooking and heating. This ended when wood was replaced by hard coal, an epoch which lasted about 75 years. This was followed in the late 1950s by the continuously increasing use of petroleum and natural gas. Around 1950, nuclear power technology was industrialized for the first time, but it never became truly accepted. For some years now, this technology has remained stagnant and has not expanded because of still unresolved issues such as the storage of the radioactive waste and the risk of explosion of a reactor. This leaves “renewable energies,” showing the greatest potential for securing the availability of energy in the future. As an example, the total consumption of primary energy in Germany is about 4100 TWh a −1, which has been provided by the use of different primary energy sources, shown in Figure 1.1. The primary energy source used during the past few years in Germany was mainly mineral oil (Figure 1.2)...
eBook - ePubRenewable Energy
Physics, Engineering, Environmental Impacts, Economics and Planning
- Bent Sorensen(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
...3 Individual renewable energy sources Abstract Details characterizing each renewable energy source are presented. For direct solar energy, variability, wavelength spectra and atmospheric scattering, and other processes are discussed. For wind energy, formation and variability is discussed, as well as the distinction between wind velocity, energy, and power. Waterflows in rivers and ocean are discussed, including currents, waves, and tides. Photosynthesis and biological productivity is discussed, and so are a number of other energy flows, such as geothermal, nuclear, or those formed by thermal and salinity gradients. Keywords Solar radiation variability; Wind power variability; Ocean currents; Hydropower; Wave power; Tidal power; Geothermal energy; Thermal gradients; Nuclear energy; Biological energy; Biomass productivity 3.1 Direct solar energy Assessment of the “magnitude” of solar radiation as an energy source will depend on the geographical location, including local conditions, such as cloudiness, turbidity, etc. In section 2.2.2 a number of features of the radiation flux at a horizontal plane are described, such as spectral distribution, direct and scattered parts, geographical variations, and dependence on time, from annual to diurnal variations at a given location. The seasonal variation in solar radiation on a horizontal plane is shown in Fig. 3.1, corresponding to the annual average of Fig. 2.24. Figure 3.1 Average short-wavelength solar radiation on a horizontal plane at the Earth’s surface (W m −2), for the months of January (a), April (b) and July (c) of 1997 (NCEP-NCAR, 1998)...
