Renewable energy Essays - Energy, Physical Universe,

Renewable energy Renewable energyis energy that is collected fromrenewable resources, which are naturally replenished on ahuman timescale, such assunlight,wind,rain,tides,waves, andgeothermal heat.[2]Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas:electricity generation,airandwater heating/cooling,transportation, andrural (off-grid)energy services.[3] Based onREN21's 2016 report, renewables contributed 19.2% to humans'global energy consumptionand 23.7% to their generation of electricity in 2014 and 2015, respectively. This energy consumption is divided as 8.9% coming fromtraditional biomass, 4.2% as heat energy (modern biomass, geothermal and solar heat), 3.9% hydro electricity and 2.2% is electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, andbiomass. Worldwide investments in renewable technologies amounted to more than US$286 billion in 2015, with countries likeChinaand theUnited Statesheavily investing in wind, hydro, solar and biofuels.[4]Globally, there are an estimated 7.7 million jobs associated with the renewable energy industries, withsolar photovoltaicsbeing the largest renewable employer.[5]As of 2015 worldwide, more than half of all new electricity capacity installed was renewable.[6] Renewable energy resources exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast toother energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy andenergy efficiencyis resulting in significantenergy security,climate change mitigation, and economic benefits.[7]The results of a recent review of the literature HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy" \l "cite_note-8" [8]concluded that asgreenhouse gas(GHG) emitters begin to be held liable for damages resulting from GHG emissions resulting in climate change, a high value for liability mitigation would provide powerful incentives for deployment of renewable energy technologies. In internationalpublic opinion surveysthere is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power and wind power.[9]At the national level, at least 30 nations around the world already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 percent of energy supply. National renewable energy m arkets are projected to continue to grow strongly in the coming decade and beyond.[10]Some places and at least two countries, Iceland and Norway generate all their electricity using renewable energy already, and many other countries have the set a goal to reach100% renewable energyin the future. For example, inDenmarkthe government decided toswitch the total energy supply(electricity, mobility and heating/cooling) to 100% renewable energy by 2050.[11] While many renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited toruraland remote areas anddeveloping countries, where energy is often crucial inhuman development.[12]United Nations' Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moonhas said that renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity.[13]As most of renewables provide electricity, renewable energy deployment is often applied in conjunction with furtherelectrification, which has several benefits: Electricity can be converted to heat (where necessary generating higher temperatures than fossil fuels), can be converted into mechanical energy with high efficiency and is clean at the point of consumption.[14][15]In addition to that electrification with renewable energy is much more efficient and therefore leads to a significant reduction in primary energy requirements, because most renewables don't have a steam cycle with high losses (fossil power plants usually have losses of 40 to 65%).[16] Renewable energy systems are rapidly becoming more efficient and cheaper. Their share of total energy consumption is increasing. Growth in consumption of coal and oil could end by 2020 due to increased uptake of renewables and natural gas There are many forms of renewable energy. Most of these renewable energies depend in one way or another on sunlight. Wind and hydroelectric power are the direct result of differential heating of the Earth's surface which leads to air moving about (wind) and precipitation forming as the air is lifted. Solar energy is the direct conversion of sunlight using panels or collectors. Biomass energy is stored sunlight contained in plants. Other renewable energies that do not depend on sunlight are geothermal energy, which is a result of radioactive decay in the crust combined with the original heat of accreting the Earth, and tidal energy, which is a conversion of gravitational energy. Solar.This form of energy relies on the nuclear fusion power from the core of the Sun. This energy can be collected and converted in a few different ways. The range is from solar water heating with solar collectors or attic cooling with solar attic fans for domestic use to the complex technologies of direct conversion of sunlight to electrical energy using mirrors and boilers or photovoltaic cells. Unfortunately these are currently insufficient to fully power our modern society. Wind Power.The movement of the