Environmental Importance of Concentrating on Renewable Energy Sources Research Paper

Environmental Importance of Concentrating on Renewable Energy Sources - Research Paper Example Nonconventional sources include solar thermal power, biogas wind energy, solar photovoltaic and tidal energy. Most of these sources are cheaper and renewable as compared to conventional sources. However, in most of the countries, these sources have not yet been fully developed and commercially exploited. The overall limitations and scarcity of fossils have given a rose to the urgent need for developing and exploiting these alternate energy sources. In addition, considering the cost of transportation of energy to far-flung and rural areas, local available non-conventional and renewable energy sources become more important for meeting localized rural energy needs. The sources of energy are divided into three categories: Renewable Sources, Non-Renewable Sources, and Nuclear Sources. In Nonrenewable sources comes the fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum. The renewable energy sources are solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, and geothermal power. The nuclear-powered sources are fission and fusion. The advantages of Renewable energy is that they are sustainable energy sources and are replaced by nature after use, unlike fossil fuels and petroleum which take millions of years and special conditions for their formation and are in limited supply. Among renewable energy sources Sunlight, wind, water, and biomass are mostly used all over the world. Sunlight can be transformed into electricity using photovoltaic panels. This electricity can be used to drive a multitude of electrical appliances. In addition, light, heat, and ultraviolet composure of the sun's energy can also be converted into heat using solar thermal panels. The heat can be used to heat water or air for residential, commercial and industrial use. Electricity is also produced by flowing water and Wind in large scale in man parts of the world.