Renewable energy is used as the primary solution to climate change and a decrease in the usage of fossil fuels. However, the monopolies of solar, wind, and hydropower have numerous merits for environmental health. Understanding the disadvantages of renewable energy, we are searching for the best energy mix with knowledge of the drawbacks of renewable power sources like intermittency, cost of installation, and the use of large acreages of land together with the negative environmental impacts.
Main Topic
What is the Renewable energy?
Renewable energy is a type of energy that comes from natural sources that can be replenished over time. We use power from sources that are naturally replenishing and comprise sunlight, wind, water tidal action, and geothermal energy. Unlike hydrocarbon sources, which are scarce and emit greenhouse gases, renewable energy resources are inexhaustible and barely affect the environment.
Renewable energy sources such technologies as Solar panels, wind turbines, hydropower, and Geothermal plants. Energy diversification is critical for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions thus combating climate change and attaining energy security. Renewable energy is fast-growing because as technology improves, the cost of producing this energy also drops, making it more plausible to incorporate it into the world’s energy matrix.
The natural sources include solar energy which is the earth is constantly flooded with 173,000 terawatts of solar energy, wind energy which has a global potential of about 95 terawatts, hydropower which generates about 4,300 TWh annually, biomass and last is geothermal. These sources are therefore renewable and have low effects on the environment as compared to fossil fuels which give out 33. 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The maximum efficiency of solar panels is 22% whereas for wind energy, the efficiency is obtained by wind turbines with 14MW capacity. It is a fact that only an effective switch to renewable energy sources can allow for the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to at least 50% by the year 2030.
Renewable energy sources
Today, as many are aware, there are 7 types of renewable energy depending on the country's time and season. An example of this is some places have very strong winds for extraction of energy through wind but the region is usually cloudy or experiences limited sun exposure for the extraction of energy through solar power.
1. Solar Energy
Description:
Made from the sun through either a photovoltaic (PV) system or a solar thermal system.
Technologies:
Photovoltaic Panels: They possess the capability of converting sunlight into electricity.
Solar Thermal Systems:
Capture the sunlight to heat a fluid which has a propensity to turn a turbine with a view of generating electricity.
Applications:
Home electricity systems, utility-scale systems, Hot water systems.
2. Wind Energy
Description:
Uses the movement of wind through wind turbines to produce electricity.
Technologies:
Onshore Wind Turbines: Locally mounted.
Offshore Wind Turbines: Found in water-logged areas.
Applications:
Onshore wind power, and offshore wind power.
3. Hydropower
Description:
He who builds dams or harnesses the force of a plunging stream to produce electricity.
Technologies:
Dams: Collect water in large bodies known as reservoirs; the water thus released turns turbines.
Run-of-River: Redirects the water flow through the generation of power without large-scale dams.
Pumped Storage: Through which energy is stored by lifting water to a certain level of altitude.
Applications:
Conventional hydropower plants that comprise large hydroelectric dams, and small-scale hydropower systems.
4. Biomass
Description:
Biomass energy is generated from organic matter (wood, agricultural residues, animal waste, etc.
Technologies:
Burns biomass for heat and power applications directly.
Combustion:
Biogas: Anaerobic digestion is used to generate methane for power or fuel.
Biofuels: Transmutes biomass into liquid such as ethanol biofuel or biodiesel.
Applications:
Power plants, biofuel, heating & cooking.
5. Geothermal Energy
Description:
Ignores and rejects the heat that is produced from the interior of the earth for the
generation of electricity or heating.
Technologies:
Geothermal Power Plants: Take steam or hot water directly from the pockets deep under the ground.
Geothermal Heat Pumps: Make use of Surface Temperature for Heating System and Cooling System.
Applications:
Indiana Lighting and Ventilation, Edu Temperature Control, Indiana Electrical Power.
6. Ocean Energy
Description:
Utilise energy from any activity since energy can be obtained from oceanic deals whereby energy is derived from tidal waves, waves, and temperature differences.
Technologies:
Tidal Power: It employs tidal activities to cause the movements of turbines.
Wave Power: Collects power from the sea swell in which it occurs.
Ocean Thermal Energy: Utilises this temperature contrast of surface and deep water.
Applications:
New technologies that are still in the path of research and experimentation are the primary technologies seen here.
7. Hydrogen Energy
Description:
Employ hydrogen as a clean fuel either by using it in fuel cells or getting electricity through combustion.
Technologies:
Hydrogen Fuel Cells: H2O into electricity in a positively sustainable way, those simple molecules of hydrogen and oxygen.
Hydrogen Combustion: Combusts internal hydrogen in internal combustion engines.
Applications:
Transportation, especially in fuel cell cars, stationary power generation, and some industrial applications.
Disadvantages of renewable energy
Intermittency: Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are known to be intermittent (e.g., no possibility of solar at night, variance of wind velocity).
High Initial Costs: Renewable energy systems such as the photovoltaic system, the wind power system, and others call for rather huge capital costs.
Energy Storage Challenges: There is a need to find proper means of storage for variable energy sources such as solar energy but modern technologies are expensive and not optimum.
Large Land Use: Wind farms, solar arrays, and some renewable resources are concentrated in large areas of land and may affect ecosystems, lands, and their utilization.
Environmental Impact: Although it is cleaner than traditional energy sources, there are impacts associated with renewable energy sources for instance the impacts of hydroelectric power dams or windmills.
Resource Availability: That is, not all regions can generate renewable energy resources in equal measures (for instance, solar energy is not as productive in regions with little sunlight, and wind energy is not as productive in areas with low wind power).
Infrastructure Requirements: Shifting to renewable energy sources may involve huge investments and alterations to the existing electricity infrastructure.
Supply Chain Constraints: Renewable energy technologies such as solar panels and batteries use materials that are scarce and whose supply source may pose geopolitical risks.
Limited Energy Density: Renewable energy sources possess less energy density compared to conventional fossil energies; it means that more facilities have to be established to generate energy.
Aesthetic Concerns: While there are many benefits of renewable energy installations like wind farms for instance pose some aesthetic concerns and could therefore be a subject of criticism.
Noise Pollution: Wind turbines for instance pose a problem in that they can produce noise which is likely to inconvenience those in the vicinity.
Grid Stability Issues: Some of the groups of renewable energy are intermittent and as such the availability of electricity at any given time of day or year may be a problem for the grid.
Dependence on Weather Conditions: Different from other sources of energy, solar and wind energy mostly depend on weather and, hence less reliable.
Shorter Lifespan of Technology: The maintenance of such renewable energy solutions – solar panels and wind turbines – for instance, has a reduced service life than that of conventional energy solutions and, therefore, undergoes more frequent replacement.
Summary
As for the cons of renewable energy sources, we can speak about this: they are intermittent, which means that solar and wind energy, for example, aren’t available around the clock. There are also crown challenges such as high initial costs, and energy storage issues presenting another major problem. The effects include a break in the ecosystems for the large land use while the changes in infrastructure call for investments. Nonconventional energy sources have low energy density levels and are location-based, hence they cannot perform well in a few places. Several disadvantages can be listed – short technology life cycles and supply chain limitations are among them. For instance, problems of grid stability, the appearance of systems, and noise also play a role in the acceptance by the public. Finally, shifting to renewable energy sources could lead to the downsizing of workers in the conventional supply chain of business.
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