How Renewable Energy Generations Works
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by: LoganBell | Total views: 21 | Word Count: 642
In terms of renewable energy generation, there are so many ways that this can work that it won't be possible to go through all of them in detail. The focus is therefore going to be on the kind of renewable energy systems that you can use on your own property.
Renewable Energy: What is It?
The first thing to comment on is what renewable energy actually is. To put it simply, it is energy that comes from renewable resources, although that is begging the question to some extent. What we mean by renewable resources are the natural processes that we have on this planet, and which are not diminished by using them for our energy.
There are a number of different renewable resources, which come from many of the natural processes on the planet. For example wind brings us wind power, the sun brings us solar energy and moving water allows us to produce hydro power. We'll be concentrating on geothermal energy (energy from the latent heat in the ground) and solar energy.
Energy from the Sun
At the moment, the most popular form of renewable energy generation is probably solar energy as it is so versatile. You don't need a big power station or even anything as intrusive as a wind turbine. All you need to do is have the solar panels installed on your roof, so there are lots of people who can make use of this. Either for electricity producing or in terms of a solar hot water system.
The most prominent form of solar energy is the kind that produces electricity. It is able to do this because solar panels are made out of silicon, a semiconductor which behaves in such a way that when light hits it, that causes electrons to move. As electricity is the flow of electrons, not much more has to be done in order to create electricity.
Recently this has become a more popular form of renewable energy in the UK because the government has introduced the feed in tariff. That allows you to make extra money from each unit of energy you produce, on top of the savings that you naturally make on your energy bills.
The kind of solar energy that provides you with hot water comes from solar thermal systems. This is provided by solar thermal panels, which are designed in such a way that the light from the sun heats them up. There is also going to be a government incentive applied to this sort of system as well soon, the renewable heat incentive.
The model that the renewable heat incentive is based on is the same as the feed in tariff, so for every unit of heat energy that you generate, you'll get paid some amount. You'll also be able to get the RHI for systems like the ground source heat pump, which uses geothermal power.
Geothermal Power
Underground there is a pretty constant level of heat, and the lower down you go the higher the heat level is. That's what is called geothermal energy, and it can be used to heat an individual property with a ground source heat pump. It's also a form of energy that can be used for electricity generation.
Geothermal power stations are not a very common form of renewable energy generation though, and they certainly aren't suitable to power an individual property. That's because they work in the same basic way as a conventional power station does, with heated water creating steam, and that steam going on to make turbines spin to create the electricity. The only difference is where the heat comes from.
The way that geothermal energy can be very useful though is when it is utilised in a ground source heat pump, which can provide your home with hot water. You just need to have pipes installed underground, and refrigerants in these will extract the heat and bring it to your home.
About the Author
If you're interested in finding out more regarding solar energy, it is possible to do so at renewable energy generation, which is where author Alexander Bell writes extra information on the subject. This site also happens to be the location to go if you are interested in receiving a free quote for an installation.
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