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Dakota Management Services Environmental Pages |
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Renewable Energy Renewable energy effectively utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity to biomass and biofuels for transportation. About 13 percent of primary energy comes from renewables, with most of this coming from traditional biomass like wood-burning. Hydropower is the next largest source, providing 2-3%, and modern technologies like geothermal, wind, solar, and marine energy together produce less than 1% of total world energy demand. The technical potential for their use is very large, exceeding all other readily available sources. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy Why Renewable? Renewable energy resources are an excellent way to supplement our use of more traditional methods of energy production. We can begin reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil, as well as reduce the output of certain pollutants. Development in these renewables can lead to new industries and jobs, cleaner energy production, and less dependence on an accepted finite source of fossil fuels. If we could improve our understanding of these topics, as long as there is wind, sun, and moving water, we would have energy. Why not Renewable? Just as there are many arguments in favor of renewable energy, there are many concerns associated with it as well. One concern revolves around the net benefit to nature. Although it is true that these renewables generally have less operating pollution, they do impact the environment in other negative ways. Large wind farms containing acres of windmills, or enormous dams across natural waterways are just two examples of the difficulty with this question. Removing the environmental questions still leaves the economic problem. Right now, it does not seem that many of these renewables are efficient producers of electricity. Cost is always a factor. Supposing we get past these first two arguments against renewables. There still remains the issue of dependability. Cloudy days means reduced output from solar plants. Areas without wind means no production from windfarms. So, who's right? It seems a difficult topic to weed through, as both sides seem to have very valid points. That is why today, renewable resources make strong supplements to our current energy production. Given time, research and experience, we may be able to rationalize a perfect balance between our sources of energy.
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Learn About Different Forms of Renewable Energy... -Biomass -Geothermal -Solar -Wind -Hydropower |
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