What is Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is poised to save us from our lethal addiction to fossil fuels. So what kinds of energy are renewable?

Fossil fuels are rapidly being depleted, increasing in price at an alarming rate and damaging to our environment. What are our options?

Fortunately there are options in the form of renewable energy.

So what is renewable energy?

It's a big question these days and the short answer is, renewable energy constantly replaces itself and can not be used to depletion.

Think about it in these terms. The fuels we use primarily today are oil, gas and coal, referred to as fossil fuels. They are mined and drilled and sucked from the earth at an alarming rate. In a way they are renewable too...if you're willing to wait millions of years. That's how long it took for those fuels to form. We use them way faster than they are able to renew themselves.


Now consider using the sun or the wind or even the power of water. They are forms of energy that cannot be depleted even through constant use. These sources of power renew themselves instantly and more than that they don't have the negative effect on the environment that fossil fuels have.

What is renewable energy?

Any form of energy that is able to replace itself as fast as we use it.

There are several types of energy that are considered renewable. Some renew themselves very rapidly and others more slowly. In order to be considered renewable it must be able to regenerate itself, even when it's constantly used, faster than we can use it.


To answer the question "what is renewable energy" here is a list of 5 renewable resources that can rapidly regenerate themselves:

• Solar

  No matter how much of the sun's power we utilize we cannot over use it. The sun will rise again tomorrow and the tommorrow after that. Solar researchers are making great progress using the rays of the sun and even making inroads into using infra red rays which will more than double its efficiency. At the moment cost is the major drawback to using solar energy.




• Wind

  The wind can be used to turn giant generators that in turn produce power. Drawbacks are that it's only useful in windy areas and the turbines have caused harm and even death to some birds. Possibly some sound or other warning device could prevent this in the future.




• Geothermal

  Geothermal makes use of the heat under earth's crust. The heat produces steam which can be used to turn turbines which then provide power. Deep fissures (cracks) occur naturally in places such as Iceland. In other cases holes are drilled into the earth to access the heat and water is added to produce steam. The obvious disadvantage is that natural occurrences are rare and drilling deep holes can be rather invasive.




• Hydropower

  Hydro is one of our other sources of renewable energy. Rapidly moving water is directed through turbines. The force of the rushing water turns the turbines producing power. Although this has little effect on air quality it can harm aquatic wildlife and land based wildlife. Also water quality in the immediate area can be negatively affected.




• Biomass

  Using biomass (organic waste such as wood chips and other waste products from forestry and agricultural industries) has some definite advantages. The technology even exists to convert biomass into fuel.

Please note that although biofuels can be a very positive addition to our list of renewable energies when waste products are used, the editor of this website is NOT supportive of using food sources such as corn to produce biofuels.

Alternative energies can be produced without trading one problem for another and using valuable resources such as viable farmland to produce fuel and energy is not a good tradeoff. Food is higher on the list of things we need to survive than fuel or energy.

When you ask yourself, what is renewable energy? consider each source and whether it will be able to sustain itself as demand grows.

Even wood heating can be considered renewable but the rate at which it renews itself is slower than some sources. Studies have indicated that the pollution released from burning wood is offset by the positive effect the tree had on the environment during it's lifetime. In order to be considered a renewable source of fuel the trees must be replaced constantly as they're used.


Trees are the lungs of the earth breathing in carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen for the duration of their lives.

So, what is renewable energy? It's life for our planet and her inhabitants.