Renewable Energy

INTRODUCTION
Solar energy is referred to as renewable or sustainable energy because it will be available as
long as the sun continues to shine. Estimates for the remaining life of the main stage of the
sun are another 4 to 5 billion years.
The key drivers for renewable energy are the following:

➢ The demand-supply gap, especially as population increases a large untapped potential

➢Concern for the environment

➢ The need to strengthen India’s energy security

➢ Pressure on high-emission industry sectors from their shareholders

➢ A viable solution for rural electrification

 Energy Scenario - India
▪ India is a major force in the global energy economy

▪India has a vast supply of renewable energy resources, and it has one of the largest programs in the
world for deploying renewable energy products and systems.

▪ It is the only country in the world to have an exclusive ministry for renewable energy development, the
Ministry of Non Conventional Energy Sources (MNES). Since its formation, the Ministry has launched one
of the world’s largest and most ambitious programs on renewable energy.

▪Over 80% of India’s energy needs are met by three fuels: coal, oil and solid biomass.
• Renewable energy Sources

➢Solar

➢Wind

➢Hydro

➢Geothermal

➢Biomass

➢Ocean (OTEC, Wave, tidal)

The main renewable energy source include solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal energy

➢Energy sources from the ocean, including ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), wave, and tidal are
also renewable sources, but they are currently not economical, and the technologies are still in the
experimental and developmental stage.

➢An energy source is called renewable if it can be renewed and sustained without any depletion or
significant effect on the environment. It is also called alternative, sustainable, or green energy source.

➢The best known renewable source is solar energy.

 Solar Energy
➢Solar energy is sufficient to meet the energy needs of the entire world, currently it is not used as extensively
as fossil fuels because of the low concentration of solar energy on earth and relatively high capital cost of
harnessing it.

➢The conversion of the kinetic energy of wind into electricity via wind turbines represents wind energy, and it
is one of the fastest growing renewables as wind turbines are installed all over the world.

➢Hydro or water energy represents the greatest amount of renewable electricity production, and its supplies
most of the electricity needs of the countries.

➢ Geothermal energy refers to the heat of the earth. High temperature underground geothermal fluid found in
some locations is extracted, and the energy of the geothermal fluid is converted to electricity or heat.

➢Geothermal energy is mostly used for electricity generation and district heating.
Solar Energy
The application of solar energy is

1. Heating and cooling residential buildings

2. Solar water heating

3. Solar drying of agricultural and chemical products.

4. Solar distillation of a small community scale

5. Salt production by evaporation of seawater

6. Solar cookers

7. Solar engines for water pumping

8. Food refrigeration

9. Bio conversion and wind energy and which are indirect source of solar energy
10. Solar furnaces

11. Solar electric power generation by

i) Solar ponds

ii) Steam generators heated by rotating reflectors

iii) reflectors with lenses and pipes for fluid circulation

12. Solar photovoltaic cells which can be used for conversion of solar energy directly into
electricity (or) for water pumping in rural agriculture purposes
Organic renewable energy is referred to as biomass, and a variety of sources (agriculture, forest, residues, crops etc.) can be used to
produce biomass energy.

Wave and tidal energies are renewable energy sources , and they are usually considered to be part of ocean energy since they are
available mostly from oceans.

Thermal energy of oceans due to absorption of solar energy by ocean surfaces is also considered to be part of ocean energy, and this
energy can be utilized using the OTEC system.

Wave and tidal energies are mechanical forms of ocean energy since they represent the potential and kinetic energies of ocean
water.

Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can be used to store renewable electricity.

Fuel cells convert the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity directly without a highly irreversible combustion process, and they
are more efficient than combustion based conversion to electricity.
 Nuclear Energy
The tremendous amount of energy associated with the strong bonds within the nucleus of
the atom is called nuclear energy.
Mostly widely known fission reaction involves splitting the uranium atom (U-235 isotope)
into other elements, and it is commonly used to generate electricity in nuclear power plants,
to power nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, and even spacecraft, and as a component of
bombs.
The first nuclear chain reaction was achieved by Enrico Fermi in 1942, and the first large-
scale nuclear reactors were built in 1944 to produce material for nuclear weapons.
When a Uranium- 235 atom absorbs a neutron and splits during a fission process, it
produces a cesium - 140 atom, a rubidium- 93 atom, 3 neutrons, and 3.2 x10-11 J of energy.
 COAL
Coal is made of mostly carbon, and it also contains hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and ash.

▪ Coal is used mostly for electricity production in steam power plants.

▪Four common types of coal with following general characteristics
▪Bituminous coal,
▪Subbituminous coal,
▪Anthracite coal and
▪Lignite coal.
The electromagnetic energy emitted by the sun is called solar radiation or solar energy (or solar heat).
Tremendous amount of energy are created within the sun, and only a fraction of this energy reaches earth.
This keeps earth at a temperature suitable for life.
Solar energy reaches the earth by radiation.
 Advantages
The advantages of renewable energy are that
▪ They are sustainable (nondepletable),
▪ Ubiquitous (found everywhere across the world, in contrast to fossil fuels and minerals), and
▪ Essentially nonpolluting.

Note that wind turbines and photovoltaic panels do not need water for the generation of electricity, in
contrast to steam plants fired by fossil fuels and nuclear power.
 DISADVANTAGES
The disadvantages of renewable energy are
• Variability and low density, which in general results in higher initial cost.

For different forms of renewable energy, other disadvantages or perceived problems are
▪ Visual pollution,
▪ Odor from biomass,
▪Avian and bat mortality with wind turbines, and
▪ Brine from geothermal energy.