Power Generation From Renewable And Sustainable Sources

The development of renewable, sustainable energy is crucial not just for the environment, but also the economy. According to current estimates, both oil and gas will run out in around 50 years. This means we have just five decades to find green alternatives to the fossil fuels our cars, planes, homes and businesses are dependent on.

As well as giving you a glimpse into the future of energy, learning more about renewable and sustainable energy sources will help you understand your energy bills. More and more companies, including Octopus Energy, Bulb and even British Gas are offering 100% renewable energy tariffs, bringing green energy into homes across the UK.

What are sustainable energy sources?

Unlike fossil fuels – which will run out in just a few decades, sustainable energy sources can keep providing us with power indefinitely. Things like solar power, wind power and biomass can’t be used up and can sustain homes and businesses indefinitely.

As well as being sustainable, these types of energy sources are also kinder on the environment. Burning fossil fuels releases a lot of pollution into the atmosphere, including greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide. The process of extracting fossil fuels from the Earth is also potentially damaging, especially when techniques like fracking are employed.

Although the process of manufacturing solar panels, batteries, biomass plants and other sustainable energy infrastructure isn’t completely clean, it’s still much better for the environment than traditional alternatives. What’s more, as they’ll never run out, we can keep using the sun, wind, water and waste to generate power indefinitely.

How is power generated from renewable sources?

There are a number of ways to generate power from renewable energy sources. The most common are:

Solar panels are probably the most familiar of these processes as they’ve been in use for a number of years. Panels are now regularly installed on domestic properties as well as in commercial solar farms.

The popularity of wind turbines has grown significantly in recent years. Wind farms are located across the country and the UK is now a world leader in offshore wind power generation. At the moment, around a fifth of the energy we consume in the UK comes from wind power

This figure is only set to grow as on and off shore wind infrastructure expands.

Biomass is possibly the least well known source of renewable energy. The term actually covers a fairly wide spectrum of technologies, ranging from landfill gas recovery to pyrolysis and direct combustion.

One of the main benefits of biomass energy production is that it can be carried out on a relatively small scale and doesn’t necessarily require a lot of specialist infrastructure. This makes biomass energy a versatile and readily available source of power.

With fossil fuels set to run out in a few decades, now is the time to invest in renewable energy production and find a sustainable alternative for the future of power.