Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind power, and hydropower. Bioenergy and geothermal power are also significant in some countries. Some also consider nuclear power a renewable power source, although this is controversial, as nuclear energy requires mining uranium, a nonrenewable resource. Renewable energy installations can be large or small and are suited for both urban and rural areas. Renewable energy is often deployed together with further electrification. This has several benefits: electricity can move heat and vehicles efficiently and is clean at the point of consumption. Variable renewable energy sources are those that have a fluctuating nature, such as wind power and solar power. In contrast, controllable renewable energy sources include dammed hydroelectricity, bioenergy, or geothermal power. Renewable energy systems have rapidly become more efficient and cheaper over the past 30 years. A large majority of worldwide newly installed electricity capacity is now renewable. Renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, have seen significant cost reductions over the past decade, making them more competitive with traditional fossil fuels. In most countries, photovoltaic solar or onshore wind are the cheapest new-build electricity. From 2011 to 2021, renewable energy grew from 20% to 28% of global electricity supply. Power from the sun and wind accounted for most of this increase, growing from a combined 2% to 10%. Use of fossil energy shrank from 68% to 62%. In 2024, renewables accounted for over 30% of global electricity generation and are projected to reach over 45% by 2030. Many countries already have renewables contributing more than 20% of their total energy supply, with some generating over half or even all their electricity from renewable sources.
The main motivation to use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels is to slow and eventually stop climate change, which is mostly caused by their greenhouse gas emissions. In general, renewable energy sources pollute much less than fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency estimates that to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, 90% of global electricity will need to be generated by renewables. Renewables also cause much less air pollution than fossil fuels, improving public health, and are less noisy.
The deployment of renewable energy still faces obstacles, especially fossil fuel subsidies, lobbying by incumbent power providers, and local opposition to the use of land for renewable installations. Like all mining, the extraction of minerals required for many renewable energy technologies also results in environmental damage. In addition, although most renewable energy sources are sustainable, some are not. (Full article...)
Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns and operates renewable power assets, with corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is 60% owned by Brookfield Asset Management.
As of the end of 2017, Brookfield Renewable owned over 200 hydroelectric plants, 100 wind farms, over 550 solar facilities, and four storage facilities, with approximately 16,400 MW of installed capacity.
Brookfield Asset Management claims to have "more than 100 years of experience as an owner, operator and developer of hydroelectric power facilities." It was founded in the 1890s in Brazil, where the company installed the first electrical lights and tramways in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. (Full article...)
Denis Allen Hayes (born August 29, 1944) is an environmental advocate and an advocate for solar power. He rose to prominence in 1970 as the coordinator for the first Earth Day.
Hayes founded the Earth Day Network and expanded it to more than 180 nations. During the Carter administration, Hayes became head of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory), but left this position when the Reagan administration cut funding for the program. (Full article...)
... that Selling Solar: The Diffusion of Renewable Energy in Emerging Markets, a 2009 Earthscan book by Damian Miller, argues that in order to solve the climate crisis, the world must immediately and dramatically accelerate the commercialization of renewable energy technology ? This needs to happen in the industrialized world, as well as in the emerging markets of the developing world where most future GHG emissions will occur.
The following are images from various renewable energy-related articles on Wikipedia.
Energy from wind, sunlight or other renewable energy is converted to potential energy for storage in devices such as electric batteries or higher-elevation water reservoirs. The stored potential energy is later converted to electricity that is added to the power grid, even when the original energy source is not available. (from
Wind power)
Cost development of solar PV modules per watt (from
Solar energy)
The oldest known pool fed by a hot spring, built in the
Qin dynastyin the 3rd century BCE (from
Geothermal energy)
Concentrated solar panels are getting a power boost.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory(PNNL) will be testing a new concentrated solar power system – one that can help natural gas power plants reduce their fuel usage by up to 20 percent.
[needs update](from
Solar energy)
Onshore wind cost per kilowatt-hour between 1983 and 2017 (from
Wind power)
Typical components of a wind turbine (gearbox, rotor shaft and brake assembly) being lifted into position (from
Wind power)
Distribution of wind speed (red) and energy (blue) for all of 2002 at the Lee Ranch facility in Colorado. The histogram shows measured data, while the curve is the Rayleigh model distribution for the same average wind speed. (from
Wind power)
grazing near a wind turbine. (from
Wind power)
's Solar House #1, built in 1939 in the US, used
seasonal thermal energy storagefor year-round heating. (from
Solar energy)
Share of electricity production from hydropower, 2024 (from
Hydroelectricity)
Hydro generation by country, 2021 (from
Hydroelectricity)
A turbine blade convoy passing through
Edenfieldin the U.K. (2008). Even longer
2-piece bladesare now manufactured, and then assembled on-site to reduce difficulties in transportation. (from
Wind power)
Participants in a workshop on sustainable development inspect solar panels at
Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico Cityon top of a building on campus. (from
Solar energy)
Wind turbines are typically installed in windy locations. In the image, wind power
generators in Spain, near an
Osborne bull. (from
Wind power)
Global map of wind speed at 100 meters on land and around coasts. (from
Wind power)
1:Reservoir 2:Pump house 3:Heat exchanger 4:Turbine hall 5:Production well 6:Injection well 7:Hot water to district heating 8:Porous sediments 9:Observation well 10:Crystalline bedrock (from
Geothermal energy)
Parabolic dish produces steam for cooking, in
Auroville, India. (from
Solar energy)
Installed geothermal energy capacity, 2023 (from
Geothermal energy)
like these in the Westland municipality of the Netherlands grow vegetables, fruits and flowers. (from
Solar energy)
The
Three Gorges Damin
Central Chinais the
world's largestpower-producing facility of any kind. (from
Hydroelectricity)
's wind turbine of 1888, used for generating electric power. (from
Wind power)
The Sun produces
electromagnetic radiationthat can be harnessed as useful energy. (from
Solar energy)
A power plant at The Geysers (from
Geothermal energy)
The
Hoover Damin the United States is a large conventional dammed-hydro facility, with an installed capacity of
2,080 MW. (from
Hydroelectricity)
: an onshore wind farm in
West Texasnear
Roscoe(from
Wind power)
Acceptance of wind and solar facilities in one's community is stronger among U.S. Democrats (blue), while acceptance of nuclear power plants is stronger among U.S. Republicans (red). (from
Wind power)
Solar water heaters facing the
Sunto maximize gain (from
Solar energy)
A panoramic view of the United Kingdom's
Whitelee Wind Farmwith Lochgoin Reservoir in the foreground. (from
Wind power)
A micro-hydro facility in
Vietnam(from
Hydroelectricity)
Museum Hydroelectric power plant "Under the Town" in
Užice,
Serbia, built in 1900 (from
Hydroelectricity)
World electricity production by source, 2000-2024 (from
Wind power)
The
Warwick Castlewater-powered generator house, used for the generation of electricity for the castle from 1894 until 1940 (from
Hydroelectricity)
Global geothermal electric capacity. Upper red line is installed capacity; lower green line is realized production. (from
Geothermal energy)
Electricity generation at Ohaaki, New Zealand (from
Geothermal energy)
Typical wind turbine components:
(from
Wind power)
In 2016,
Solar Impulse 2was the first
solar-powered aircraftto complete a
circumnavigationof the world. (from
Solar energy)
Global map of wind power density potential (from
Wind power)
in
Sudan. Hydroelectric power stations that use
damssubmerge large areas of land due to the requirement of a
reservoir. These changes to land color or
albedo, alongside certain projects that concurrently submerge rainforests, can in these specific cases result in the global warming impact, or equivalent
life-cycle greenhouse gasesof hydroelectricity projects, to potentially exceed that of coal power stations. (from
Hydroelectricity)
, Germany, won the 2007
Solar Decathlonin Washington, DC with this
passive housedesigned for humid and hot subtropical climate. (from
Solar energy)
Geothermal power station in the Philippines (from
Geothermal energy)
Yearly hydro generation by continent (from
Hydroelectricity)
Share of electricity production from wind, 2024 (from
Wind power)
The
Ffestiniog Power Stationcan generate
360 MWof electricity within 60 seconds of the demand arising. (from
Hydroelectricity)
Measurement of the tailrace and forebay rates at the
Limestone Generating Stationin
Manitoba,
Canada(from
Hydroelectricity)
Electricity generation at Wairakei, New Zealand (from
Geothermal energy)
Pico hydroelectricity in
Mondulkiri,
Cambodia(from
Hydroelectricity)
Electricity generation at Poihipi, New Zealand (from
Geothermal energy)
Wind farm in
Xinjiang, China (from
Wind power)
Seasonal cycle of capacity factors for wind and photovoltaics in Europe under idealized assumptions. The figure illustrates the balancing effects of wind and solar energy at the seasonal scale (Kaspar et al., 2019). (from
Wind power)
Greenhouse gas emissions per energy source. Wind energy is one of the sources with the least greenhouse gas emissions. (from
Wind power)
. The
AndasolCSP plant uses tanks of molten salt to store solar energy. (from
Solar energy)
A small
Quietrevolution QR5 Gorlov type vertical axis wind turbineon the roof of
Bristol Beaconin
Bristol, England. Measuring 3 m in diameter and 5 m high, it has a nameplate rating of 6.5 kW. (from
Wind power)
Wind turbines such as these, in
Cumbria, England, have been opposed for a number of reasons, including aesthetics, by some sectors of the population. (from
Wind power)
Krafla Geothermal Station in northeast Iceland (from
Geothermal energy)
Greencap Energy solar array on
NHShospital in
Keighley,
England(from
Solar energy)
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