What is Renewable Energy?

Renewable energy refers to the form of energy derived or extracted from the earth’s natural resources. Unlike traditional energy, it’s not exhaustible or finite. For example, wind, sunlight, and water are natural alternatives that don’t rely on fossil fuels. Also, renewable energy is considered the interconnecting link to the green future we strive for since it’s significantly less detrimental to our already struggling environment.

6 Links to A Green Future

There are six renewable energy resources, including wind, solar, ocean, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass. While a few of these resources are re-shaping the energy sector gradually, others are making a comparatively extinguishing and quick stand. Not to mention, although some of these resources’ significance isn’t yet widely realized or understood, they’re still making progress and surfacing despite the current limitations.

To put things into further context, let’s understand the benefits and limitations of these six types of renewable energy resources in brief detail:

1. Wind

Turbines and wind-powered machinery situated on open green fields capture the energy retrieved from wind flow and convert it into electricity. Nowadays, we can see several energy sector businesses planting single-wind turbines and other commercial systems using this particular type of renewable energy to boost a positive attitude among competitors.
The wind is a clean energy source that does not release carbon dioxide or other harmful toxins that pollute the air in any way. Moreover, making investments in wind-powered technology opens up new career opportunities, jobs, and avenues since the equipment installed on wind farms must be maintained and serviced with proficiency to keep them running.

Current Limitations
Considering that most wind farms are planted in remote areas, they aren’t much help for the bustling cities where electricity is needed the most. The reason behind this is that while wind turbines produce close to no pollution, they generate noise and dominate skylines, which is unsuitable for the local wildlife like birds in the area.

2. Solar

Solar energy captured from the sunlight turns into heat, electricity, and even hot water. The Photovoltaic (PV) systems we usually see on rooftops or wide-open fields convert direct sunlight into electricity through solar cells. The best long-term benefit of this renewable energy is that it is an endless supply of a natural resource that could eventually make our reliance upon fossil fuels obsolete.

Current Limitations
While installing solar panels is not that much of a limitation for industrial sectors, personal households can’t usually find spaces with ample sunlight to use this energy appropriately. The upfront maintenance costs can also be an unrealistic expense for them.

3. Ocean

The ocean is a source of renewable energy that offers us thermal and mechanical power. While thermal energy production depends upon the ocean’s warm water going through different systems, mechanical energy relies on the tide’s ebbs and flow generated by the earth’s rotation. Ocean energy, also referred to as wave energy, is an abundant natural resource for cities near oceans and harbors. Moreover, it’s an untapped natural resource that can potentially produce power for around 93,850 homes in the U.S. alone with just 1 TWh/yr of wave energy!

Current Limitations
Individuals living in landlocked areas can’t reap benefits from this particular energy resource. Moreover, the plantation of ocean energy machinery can disrupt the ocean floor and sea life habitat to some extent.

4. Hydroelectric

Hydroelectric power is associated with the energy produced from dam turbines to turn into electricity, also referred to as pumped-storage hydropower. We can see this as an excellent alternative to ocean energy for the landlocked areas that store water in large reservoirs for public consumption. In general, hydroelectric is one of the best types of renewable energy due to its versatility since we can incorporate it at both large and small-scale projects on dams, rivers, and streams.

Current Limitations
The animals living in the waterways where the hydroelectric equipment is placed may suffer due to changing water levels and currents. This type of energy source is also impacted by droughts. Changes in water levels impact energy production. Plus, most hydropower facilities haven’t yet found a way to develop more energy than they use for production.

5. Geothermal

Geothermal energy is the heat trapped under the earth’s crust which often escapes naturally, resulting in disruptive volcanic occurrences. We can produce renewable energy from the heat rising to the earth’s surfaces, saving our earth from natural disasters in the process. While this natural energy is not as common as other renewable energy resources, it still packs plenty of potential for extensive energy supply. Since this system can be built underground, there’s significantly less footprint on the land.

Current Limitations
While cost and infrastructure planning is the major limitation of producing this renewable energy with geothermal plants costing between 2.5 to 5 million to build. Construction of these plants can also cause instability in the land and trigger earthquakes.

6. Biomass

Lastly, we can produce a significant amount of bioenergy from biomass, which is an organic matter extracted from previously living plants and organisms. A few examples of this inaugural renewable energy include harnessing methane gas and burning biomass produced by the natural decomposition of organic materials found in landfills and waterways. Simply put, bioenergy production creates a balanced atmosphere that we can benefit from if our ultimate goal is to see a greener tomorrow.

Current Limitations
We currently don’t have the technology required for replacing fossil fuel consumption with bioenergy production. It can also lead to deforestation because of the vast amounts of wood that is needed to produce enough renewable energy.

As consumers, we have several opportunities to improve our environment by opting for greener energy solutions. We can elevate our standard of living with safer, eco-friendly products that don’t rely upon resources that harm our ecosystem. The day we all begin to strive for the same purpose together as a community, leaving a carbon footprint would become a thing of the past!

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1. Orlando FLA/USA: Nope, exciting new attractions associated with the Disney enterprise are not the reason that Orlando tops our list for economic growth. Once a hotbed for aerospace and technology firms, this region has seen almost 24% industrial job growth since 2012. This surge can be traced to both multinationals like Mitsubishi and Siemens Energy, as well as Lockheed Martin and a wide number of small sub-contractors.
2. What is it with cities that start with the letter O? From Orlando we travel across the nation to Oakland, north of L.A. where factory workers have increased by 22% since 2012 in this smokin’ hot tech center.
3. Dear to Carl Sandburg, the heartland places third overall with the greater Grand Rapids region in Michigan posting a leap of almost 21% in industrial employment due to almost 2,500 manufacturing firms within its footprint. Here the leading employer is metals and plastics, followed by biopharmaceuticals and medical devices, production technology, food processing and lastly, automotive. As in Florida, the big employers such as General Motors, Cargill, Kellogg’s, Bissell, and Amway are reinforced by their much smaller subcontractors leading to an economic boost across firms of every size. Tied for number three is Reno Nevada, which on the strength of one industry, Tesla’s battery manufacturing plant, has seen an increase of 30% employment growth since the plant opened last year.
4. It’s back down to Florida for the 4th and 5th spots on this survey. Miami has posted an almost 23% growth in industrial employment over the past six years.
5. At number 5. West Palm Beach/Boca Raton/Delray Beach is generally associated with an upscale, recreational lifestyle, luxurious homes, boutiques, and dining destinations. Yet this region has posted an almost 28% increase in industrial jobs since 2012 due to a marked increase in executive positions within the aerospace and technology sectors.

Skilled workforces, low cost to work and to live, business-friendly regions that offer lower or no income taxes (which translates to higher wages), reasonable housing prices, and pro-development, low-restriction building policies are among the many reasons these urban areas have seen exponential industrial growth over the past 6 years. However, there are numerous urban areas, once known for their manufacturing companies, that have fallen down the charts. Some have morphed into sectors for other types of businesses such as educational, research, or recreational. Others have been supplanted by areas that offer milder climates, better education systems, and a lower cost of living overall. These tarnished regions include:

1. Los Angeles/Glendale/Long Beach: The garment industry, aerospace, and technology jobs in what was once the nation’s largest industrial center, have left at a rate of 20% over the last decade. It is believed that given an economic retrofit and a major reboot, this once thriving region will again diversify its economy and attract new industries to its cities.
2. Sadly, in recent years, the “city of the broad shoulders”, Sandburg’s Chicago, has not been pulling its weight economically. It has posted less than 1% employment gains since 2012. This means that jobs have been leaving in droves, most likely to the Grand Rapids area where the climate for business has been made as enticing as possible.
3. Another region that has been hemorrhaging jobs is the greater Houston area which includes the upscale semi-suburban towns of Woodlands and Sugar Land. Exponential grown in the early 2000s ended abruptly at the end of that decade, thereby encouraging economic expats. The nationwide energy industry decline caused regions that depended on this sector for its economic welfare post job losses of 12% since 2012. The aerospace industry was also hard hit contributing to this decline.
4. While New Orleans can fall back on its tourism, the state of Oklahoma is not a vacation destination. For decades refining energy from petrochemicals and natural gas had made this industry the state’s top employer. Currently, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City in particular, is turning to wind power, geothermal, and solar development hoping for a job resurgence via the state’s new diverse energy plan.
5. While New Orleans can fall back on its tourism, the state of Oklahoma is not a vacation destination. For decades refining energy from petrochemicals and natural gas had made this industry the state’s top employer. Currently, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City in particular, is turning to wind power, geothermal, and solar development hoping for a job resurgence via the state’s new diverse energy plan.

What is called America’s ‘great job resurgence’ is taking place primarily in smaller cities. Thanks to a number of factors it has become increasing possible for these more rural areas to compete for skilled workers with large urban areas. There are many reasons for this. As mentioned above, many municipalities tempt industries and workers to their regions with higher wages, lower taxes, low crime, and generally, an improved quality of life. These are factors that matter to families, and industries seeking the best and brightest workforces are taking heed. Other regions, like the Midwestern “rust belt”, have seen their economies suffer for decades, as older industries lacked the skilled workers or money for technology upgrades to keep pace with more prosperous regions. Here, the government has stepped in, providing incentives for businesses to employ and train local workers, thereby improving their economy and reducing both crime and poverty rates.

Our nation’s industries, long the backbone of our economy, are rallying after what for most, has been a very trying decade. Slow but steady growth is being seen and acceptable employment, taxation, and housing solutions are being implemented. Things are looking good, America. Here’s to continued our economic growth!

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Electrical Power

Most Americans are already accustomed to electricity and to be honest, most Americans couldn’t really imagine life without it. In an age where people have the full power of the internet at their fingertips, things tend to be taken for granted. Electricity is a great way to power our lives because we can always make more of it (hence it being an example of renewable energy) and it doesn’t leave any known negative impacts on our planet or ecosystems.

Having the ability to make more electricity means we can regulate prices easier, making it more affordable, and the machinery used to not extract, but CREATE it means more jobs for everyone from the engineering level, to manufacturing, testing, distributing and so on.

How Electrical Power Works

Now that we know that we CAN make electricity, the next step is knowing HOW. With the use of generators and batteries, we can make energy out of magnetism! Negatively charged electrons naturally want to move towards positive charged electrons. In the process, they emit energy which sparks and charges the battery. Knowing the laws of electricity allows us to design different batteries and manipulate it for our benefit.

Making The Most of Electricity With Energy Storage

Now that we know a little more about electricity, we can look into other methods of making it. These are, and will continue to be especially valuable methods for creating electricity in large supplies (for masses of people). To paint a better picture, energystorage.org divided the six main types of energy storage around the world.

• Solid State Batteries – a slew of chemically-based energy storage solutions
• Flow Batteries – slightly more advanced and user-friendly batteries in which the electricity is stored directly in the electrolyte solution. This is most known in lithium-ion batteries.
• Flow Batteries – slightly more advanced and user-friendly batteries in which the electricity is stored directly in the electrolyte solution. This is most known in lithium-ion batteries.
• Compressed Air Energy Storage – These utilize compressed air to create high units of energy.
• Thermal – Captures energy with hot and cold temperatures.
• Pumped Hydro-Power – Larger reserves of energy with the use of moving water, often with large turbines.

Solar Power

Not a bad idea harvesting energy from the single strongest source of energy (the sun). Other than its sheer power, what makes the sun such a great source of energy is its presence. When the day comes that we lose the sun, we’ll be gone anyway, so it’s as reliable, powerful, and consistent source of energy as we can get, here on earth.

How Solar Power Works

Of course, the idea is to capture energy from the sun and convert the radiation into usable electricity. This is achieved through solar panels and of course, the more the merrier. Solar panels by taking in photons from the sun (radiation) and knocking electrons lose from the captured atoms. The silicon panels are made with two layers that act as a battery (with a positive and negative charge), hence why the larger the panels and higher quantities can produce higher grades of power.

Wind Powder

Geographic locations pending, there’s a lot of wind out there. So it only makes sense to utilize this natural phenomenon to harness tons of clean, renewable energy. These, of course are more common in wide-open areas that are susceptible to higher volumes of wind.

How Wind Power Works

Heavy winds work to move turbines, creating kinetic energy. When connected to a line of generators, windmills can create large quantities of energy. Now there are quite a few types of wind turbines because they come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. They are mostly divided into horizontal axis and vertical axis, where the blades tend to range from two to four.

Wrapping Up

With so many new technologies becoming available, it’s becoming more and more clear that there is an increasing need for renewable energy. Recycling energy is the future! To leave a lighter carbon footprint and a more positive impact on the economy, we know electricity is the answer.

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First, let’s accept this common hypothesis about crises in general: In hindsight, everyone can see that the issue was looming. In real-time, however, most folks do not have the scope nor the access to information to take action to avoid potential disaster. Countless video conferences about global warming and its impact on energy resources have been debated at universities, corporations, and the government both here and abroad. Currently (pun intended), industry observers note that America’s electrical grid structure is a break-point. We are not only vulnerable to terrorist attack, but also to ‘catastrophic failure’ from a ‘major weather event’.

Examining this statement, one believes that terror attacks have historically impacted a targeted area, and that single-event weather anomalies like a hurricane, tornado, record rainfall, or a blizzard, will not affect the majority of the U.S. However, it is very important to listen to the advice from energy experts who warn that our country depends on wind, solar, and natural gas to generate our energy, instead of nuclear or coal sources. Again, this article is not a forum for debating the benefits and liabilities of each. Instead to realize that energy output needs to be increased, and that there are pros and cons to be weighed in every decision.
Americans Take Energy for Granted

As a nation we have to stop taking our energy resources for granted. We press a remote, our TV turns on, we turn a dial, our stove heats our food, or even our home. But what if one day it didn’t? Observers note that the existing power grid in the U.S. relies too much on what is termed, “baseload power”- energy that is produced by coat, nuclear, and hydro-electric. Following well-publicized meltdowns and the release of toxins at some nuclear facilities, many states have curtailed building additional nuclear resources yet have not offered viable substitutes. For example, on Long Island, public outcry forced the closing of a nuclear reactor in Shoreham. However, subsequent attempts to create wind power facilities off Long Island Sound, have met with resistance from industries that serve the area’s fabled tourist attraction, the Hamptons.

Often, widespread awareness of important facts can spur public action. The most important takeaway regarding America’s energy sources is that there is no way to store substantial amounts of energy. Energy must be produced as needed, not before. This can rule out sources such as solar and wind power which only produce power during two instances: when there is sunlight, and when there is sufficient wind. Natural gas lines rely on a steady supply of fuel which must be sent via pipeline. Surges in need cannot increase the rate of supply, the system is just not set up that way, nor apparently can be modified to respond to an immediate demand for more energy from this source.

On the subject of energy derived from natural gas, we’ve learned that this energy supply can be disrupted by a number of events. Human error is the most common, followed by pipeline repair, and a catastrophic weather event. Terrorism is often cited as a potential issue, but fortunately, to date, this threat has not materialized. The fact is, any of the above reasons can disrupt power plant operations. Each 500-megawatt plant will generate electricity to light up about 350,000 buildings. Energy advisors caution that there could be widespread outages lasting an indefinite length of time, possibly weeks, if regardless of the trigger, even one power plant went offline.

Time to Diversify Our Energy Supply

The proposed solution is to further diversify our energy supply, as well as to retain nuclear and coal-fired power plants that deliver consistent energy. Even if coal and nuclear plants were held in escrow to provide reliable power such as when an event triggers an huge spike in need would prove beneficial. Being able to quickly bring these power plants online to generate reliable energy almost immediately would avoid impacting hundreds of thousands of Americans and prevent a hit to the U.S. economy. Advisors urge politicians and local energy facilities to take the steps now to avoid calamity later.

To summarize, no one can tell exactly when or why a future energy crisis of national or global proportions will develop, only that the potential is present. Part of the reason for concern is that should a sudden demand for electricity occur, energy output from the most common sources can be taxed to a breakpoint. For decades due to public safety concerns, coal-fired and nuclear power plants have been abandoned or taken off-line. It is suggested that these and new energy sources be examined, reconsidered and implemented. What is agreed is that should the present power plants be taxed to the point of failure, that some form of reliable energy-producing backup system be in place, ready to circumvent widespread inconvenience and potential disaster. The time to act is now.

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