Renewable Resources

• Renewable resources are those that can be replenished naturally. Due to the fact that increased use of fossil fuels has led to the depletion of these sources of energy, the world is now looking towards the various renewable sources of electricity in the world. The most commen forms of renewable energy are:

• Hydropower: As the name suggests it is water that is the source of energy in this case. Water is stored at a height where is gains potential energy. This water is then dropped from the high storage unit that turns the turbine blades.

• Solar Energy: Converted either directly into electricity with the use of solar cells or photovoltaic cells or indirectly by using solar thermal collectors that harvest solar energy. This harvested energy is used to produce steam that generates electricity in the generators. However, the major drawback of this technique is its dependence on intensity of sunlight.

• Wind Energy: Windmill or wind turbines are erected at elevated places where they harvest wind energy of moving wind. However the disadvantage of wind power is that the wind does not blow with the same velocity at all times. More on windmills for electricity.

Other forms of renewable energy resources are biomass, geothermal energy and tidal energy.