You probably heard a lot about renewable energies and why they are important. Today we know that we need a different way to produce energy than burning fossil fuels like coal or gas. We already do this and we are developing more and more ways and increase the efficiency of the existing energies. This article will give you an overview over the existing types and explains how they work and how efficient they are.
What are the different types of renewable energies?
Renewable energies are energies from sustainable resources like wind, water, sun, biomass and the terrestrial heat. These are the five types which are available at the moment. The difference between those and fossil energy sources is that they can be used almost unlimited and without taking care off to make sure there is always enough. Fossil energy sources are limited and will be depleted. Scientists argue that in 50 to 100 years the reserves of oil will be used up. Renewable energies are necessary and will be our future provider for electricity. There are a lot of different types of renewable energies and to give you an overview on which I split them up into 5 parts:
- Solarthermics & Solar energy
- Bioenergy
- Hydropower
- Geothermics
- Wind power
Solarthermics & Solar energy The sun provides heat and collectible energy. Photovoltaic cells are able to collect this energy by converting the sunbeams into energy with semi-conductors like silicon. The solar collectors contain a liquid that circulates and produces heat which can be used for water for example. Another way to use the power of the sun is to bundle it with reflectors and convert it into steam. The steam will be used for a generator to run a heater or a solar air conditioning machine. Yes the sun can even cool down your house. Pretty cool. The sun provides about 10.000 times more energy than we require on earth. We can’t manage to collect all of this energy. I couldn’t find any data which shows the whole production and consumption of solar energy for the earth. This Hydropower
Geothermics
will provide more soon
Wind power
will provide more soon
Bioenergy
A pretty diverse energy which can be used for heat, power or fuels. The resources for bioenergy are sustainable things like wood, corn or orcolza. Bioenergy is not in every case a very environmentally-friendly energy because it can produce greenhouse gases! Three different types of bioenergy can be produced:
- gas
- liquid fuel
- solid fuel
During the combustion process dangerous smoke or gas can occur which are dangerous for humans and the environment. Bioenergy requires a responsible combustion. In 2010 3% of all used fuels were biofuels. Used sources: