Useful Alternative Energy Resources

The need for alternative sources of energy has become urgent in today’s world. Global reserves of fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are diminishing rapidly with reserves left to last for only a few decades. Moreover, owing to the high prices of conventional sources of energy and the environmental hazards posed by them, alternative sources of energy have come as a welcome relief.

Most alternative energy resources are clean and can be used in a variety of applications. We have listed some of key sources of alternative energy for your reference below.

Hydroelectricity – This is the most popular form of alternative energy where the pressure of the water falling from a height is used to rotate heavy turbines which in turn, produce electricity. Energy from this method has been used the world over to power entire states. A large size hydro electric power comes costly but serves the purpose well, over time

A hydroelectric power plant does not produce any king of hazardous waste and emissions of green house gases are negligible compared to fossil fuel power plants.

Tidal Energy – This is a typical form of hydropower in which the kinetic energy of the tides is converted into electricity or other types of energy. Tidal power is not widely in use but has an immense potential owing to the fact that tides are created through gravitational forces and energy from them would thus never deplete.

Wind Energy – This is one of the few renewable resources of energy available in plenty. Kinetic energy of the wind is used to run windmills connected with turbines. The energy obtained from wind is thus directly converted into electricity and can be used for various domestic tasks such as water pumping and providing electricity to individual homes. On a commercial level, large farms constituting thousands of windmills are set up to generate thousands of megawatts of power every year for industrial and for other conventional uses.

Solar Energy – Solar energy is essentially based on the concept of photo-electricity produced through the help of sunlight through a process called photovoltaic. Sunlight falls on a number of photovoltaic cells directly converting it into electricity, which can further be used for various purposes like street lighting. Solar Power plants have been set up all over the world on a large scale and solar energy today, accounts for a significant fraction of the power generated all together.

It is also used for other purposes like water heating, pool heating and space heating. Through technological advancement, it is being applied to the development of solar vehicles and other hybrid locomotives, which would run a lifetime on the energy from the sun.

Nuclear Energy – Nuclear energy is a great source of energy and as of today takes care of 85% of France’s power consumption. On a single fill, a nuclear power plant can work up to a span of 5 years.

The biggest drawback of using this form of energy is that it produces a lot of toxic waste and the raw material is very costly and doesn’t come easy owing to its peculiar applications in weapons of mass destruction.

Besides the sources of energy mentioned above, biofuels, hydrogen and geothermal energy are also widely used today.