0
0
Clean energy technologies are not just improving our quality of life by reducing air and water pollution, they are mitigating our dependence on energy resources by creating renewable resources within our own communities. Using renewables can cut back on fossil fuels, the largest source of U.S. CO2 emissions. Renewables and clean energy are growing sectors as the world begins moving away from fossil fuels, meaning that there will be greater opportunities in areas from eMobility to energy
production and storage.
As the push for cleaner, greener, renewable power continues to progress, costs will come down, and jobs will be created to design and deploy these next-generation power solutions. Now that we have more innovative, lower-cost ways of capturing and storing energy from wind and solar, renewables are becoming an even more significant power source, accounting for over an eighth of US electricity generation. The growth of renewables is happening on both small and large scales, too, from rooftop
solar panels on homes, which can sell energy back into the nations electric grid, to massive offshore wind farms.
Homes powered by wind and solar power can stand on their own or connect with a larger electric grid, provided by their power providers. Some only generate electricity intermittently (when the sun is shining, in the case of solar), although these can be combined with energy storage solutions to produce reliable 24 hours-a-day power for a full year. Using renewables to generate electricity depends on cost and technology efficiency, which are improving all the time, thereby driving down costs for each peak kilowatt, as well as each kWh from source.
Hydropower is generally more reliable than solar or wind power (especially if it is tidal, not river-based), and it also allows the storage of electricity to use it at times when demand is peaking. Hydropower, which uses the potential energy in rivers, is far and away the most well-established means of producing power from renewable sources. Only one, the power from falling water in rivers, has been harnessed meaningfully for electricity for years, although the harnessing of wind is increasing rapidly, and is now recognized as the main source.
Hydroelectricity, or water-powered energy, is considered to be more reliable than either wind or solar power, and also allows the easiest storage of power generated, so that it can be used on demand. A large amount of clean energy is renewable too, including wind, some hydro resources, and the energy production from solar. Clean energy can be used in many different applications, ranging from generating electricity to heating water, etc., depending on the source of energy.
Solar power is a powerful energy source that can be used for heating, cooling, and lighting homes and businesses. By utilizing natural heat beneath Earths surface, geothermal energy can be used to directly heat homes or to produce electricity. Solar energy is obtained by capturing radiant energy from the sun and converting it into heat, electricity, or hot water. While sunshine sounds like the ideal source for renewable energy, the amount of solar energy that we are able to harness is dependent on time of day and season of year, and geographic location.
While renewable energy is usually thought of as new technology, harnessing the energy from nature has been used for heating, transport, lighting, and much more. To harness the electricity produced by wind power, turbines are used to power generators, which then feed the power to the national grid. Commercial-scale wind generating systems can provide electricity for a variety of different organizations, and individual wind turbines are used to help augment pre-existing energy organizations. Wind turbines have developed significantly over recent decades, solar PV is far more efficient, and the prospects for harnessing the power of tides and waves are improving.
Businesses and industries are using solar technologies to diversify their power sources, increase efficiency, and save money. Businesses that have sustainability goals are also driving the growth of renewables, building their own facilities (e.g., solar rooftops and wind farms), sourcing renewable energy via PPAs, and purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). Implementing Different Renewable Energy Technologies These renewable energy technologies, along with energy efficiency measures, lead to less greenhouse gases and other air and water pollutants, as well as a general reduction in costs and an increase in energy security.
Clean technologies encompass a wide variety of technologies related to recycling, renewable energy, computing, sustainable transportation, electric motors, green chemical products, lighting, graywater, etc. Some of the more common examples of clean energy sources include solar, wind, water, geothermal, bioenergy, natural gas, and nuclear. To truly be clean, carbon costs for generation and storage must be zero, and that is where sources like solar power and wind energy are seen as being truly clean and renewable. This same clean energy technology can scale to larger panels used to supply energy for homes or other buildings, or even to install more solar panels, like in the case of community solar panels to provide energy to whole towns.
Like wind power, hydro may in some situations be most viable as a commercial power source (depending on type and in comparison with other sources), but depending greatly on type of facility, can be used for off-grid, home-based generation. While hydropower — power generated by rapidly flowing water — is renewable, some argue the process of producing large amounts of energy from water is actually not environmentally friendly, due to industrialization and deforestation involved in the process of building large hydropower dams. Hydropower does not produce pollution, so it is a far more eco-friendly power
choice for our environment. Wind, which accounts for just over 6% of US electric power generation, has emerged as a cheaper power option in many parts of the country. Our teams have worked with power utilities and ministries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to grow renewables
as a share of the nations energy generation mix, and integrate them into its domestic electric grids.
