What is renewable energy?

The sight of shimmering black panels on urban roof tops or swirling blades in the countryside are becoming a much more common. Solar PV and wind turbines aren’t for everyone and everywhere, though, and plenty of consideration needs to be given to be sure it’s right for you.

They aren’t the only types of renewable energy, though, and another technology may be more suitable.

Renewable energy makes use of the natural resources around us – resources that won’t run out, such as the wind, sun, water. More traditional sources of energy, such as coal, oil, gas and nuclear all rely on the Earth’s resources that will, eventually, run out.

Why use renewable energy?

Well, apart from the fact the resources aren’t going to run out, there are two other reasons why it makes sense.

Firstly the process is clean, i.e. it doesn’t produce carbon emissions which cause climate change (or at least in the case of biomass, the CO2 that is produced is captured again by planting new trees and plants). The whole process from producing the technology to capturing the energy is considered carbon neutral.

The second reason is that it’s free or considerably cheaper. You don’t have to pay anyone to capture the sun’s rays, or to harness the wind or flow of the river. There may be costs involved in buying wood for heating your home, but this is generally cheaper than, say, heating your home with oil.

There are six main methods of renewable energy: biomass, energy from waste, heat pumps, hydro, solar and wind.