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Energy Sources

 

Non-Renewable Sources:

Fossil Fuels

Nuclear Energy

Hydrogen Energy

Clean Coal Technology

 

Renewable Sources:

Solar Energy

Wind Energy

Biomass

Hydroelectric Power

Tidal Energy

Geothermal Energy

Wave Energy

 

Energy Conservation:

Energy Efficiency

 

 

 

 

 

 

Renewable and Non-renewable Energy Sources

 

 

Environmental Events



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Energy is the ability of a system (human, mechanical etc) to do work. Practically all things on Earth require one form of energy or the other to function as designed or desired. Humans, animals, and mechanical/ electrical systems require energy inputs to perform. Electricity, heating, and lighting for home and industrial uses are all derived through energy.

Energy comes in different forms: kinetic, mechanical, electrical etc. Energy can be transformed from one form to the other. However, overall energy within a system is conserved i.e. does not change - net energy lost balances net energy gained within the system.

There are various forms of energy sources. Most sources are traceable to the Sun. The traditional energy source, fossil fuels, received the initial energy from the light used by plants for photosynthesis and animal metabolic needs. Organic matters from the plant and animal remains later turn into the fossil fuels (Coal, oil and natural gas) which are currently widely in use for energy supply.

Some energy sources are renewable while others are non-renewable. Renewable energy sources are sources that are freely available and cannot be easily depleted while the non-renewable sources can run out and are often not freely available.

Some energy sources are non-polluting or have low pollution while others produce tremendous pollution as by-products of the transformation process that takes them to useful forms. Fossil fuels, for instance, has been noted for producing tremendous amount of green house gases (GHGs) which are heat trapping gases believed to be responsible for global warming with its attendant problems. For more details visit the Climate Change section.

To mitigate the effects of the climate change, there are increasing call and search for alternative energy sources. Alternative energy sources (alternative to fossil fuels) are sources producing little or no GHGs emissions while still meeting the current and future energy needs of the World. The renewable energy sources described earlier on this page are alternative energy sources (alternative to fossil fuels). However, alternative energy can also be realized from cleaner processing of the dirty fossil fuels or from other sources such nuclear energy.

Fossil fuels are fuels believed to have been formed from plants and animal remains of ancient times that have undergone significant decomposition. They are mainly Coal, Crude Oil (petroleum) and Natural Gas. Other less common and more expensive to process ones are bituminous sands (e.g. Canada's tar sands) and oil shale. Electricity that powers several industrial installations and provided lighting for cities and communities are derived from these three sources. The combustion of these fuels release GHGs, which contributes to climate change and global warning. Besides polluting the atmosphere, fossil fuels are non-renewable and are gradually being depleted.

Natural Gas produces lesser amount of GHGs than Coal and Oil and besides, the abstraction, transportation and storage processes for Natural Gas are being improved upon to further reduce the GHGs emissions to the atmosphere.

  Energy News Headlines

AT&T Orders 1,200 CNG-Powered Chevrolet Express Vans from General Motors

NASA Confirms Man's role in Global Warming

Dam About to Bust on Clean Hydrokinetic Energy

Palm Oil Biodiesel and greenhouse gas emissions

Cooling Lagoons aim to reduce thermal discharges to marine ecosystems, improve efficiency

UK tops global league table for sustainable corporations

Why Biodiversity Loss Deserves as Much Attention as Climate Change

Some technologies such as Clean Coal Technologies (CCTs) have been suggested to make the burning of coal cleaner as well. CCTs are, however, still being researched.

Despite efforts to clean-up the production processes of energy from fossil fuels, several alternative energy sources (which are renewable and/or reduce or eliminate GHGs generation) are being researched constantly. Some of these alternative energy sources:

Nuclear Energy and Clean Coal Technologies are other alternative energy sources. Full list of the energy sources are contained in the left panel of this page. 

Other Resources:

Energy Resources - Contain information about various forms of energy

Department of Energy - Energy Sources - United States Department of Energy

The Energy Story - Energy Quest of California Energy Commission

EIA Energy Kids - Energy Kids: Energy Information Administration - United States Environmental Information Administration

Sources of Renewable Energy - Website of the Pembina Institute

Biofuel Companies - Index of biofuel producing / research companies

 

There are 9 comments
bhargav
December 23, 2011 - 04:54
Subject: a proposal for a new post

the information depicted in this site is informative. but i would be a lot happier if there is a post about RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING . please try to post about it !

Chiptuning
December 13, 2011 - 01:11
Subject: chiptuning

Great Superb Post guys, keep up the great work :)

*Chiptuning

ottle stottle
November 03, 2011 - 00:49
Subject:

thanks my assignment is over

Teptep
October 10, 2011 - 02:19
Subject: Science

Thank You For All Information

girija
August 07, 2011 - 03:37
Subject: we should conserve natural resoures

day by day natural resources are getting vanished
so start conserving natural resources for future generations.

saurabh
August 05, 2011 - 01:01
Subject: procedure to start the business

sir iwants to join this business how i start this business what are the oppurtunities in india

mwadini H Mwadini
March 23, 2011 - 04:46
Subject: application for shortcourses in renewable energy

am Tanzanian boy wbleepedcompleted a degree course in the field of electrical engineering at Dar es salaam institute of technology 2009 in Tanzania.
please send to me an application form ,so as to increase an experince.
thanks and have a nice day.

Environ Admin
February 27, 2011 - 20:09
Subject: renewable energy and co2 emission

Farhood, Renewable Energy projects are planned/executed to reduce CO2 emission. Is your question on - how renewable energy projcet influence CO2 emissions? Clarify. In the mean time, CO2 emissions basics can be found on this website - http://www.environbusiness.com/CChange/CChangemain.html;
http://www.environbusiness.com/CChange/ghg.html;
Good luck

Farhood
January 17, 2011 - 23:21
Subject: renewable energy and co2 emission

Hello
Thank you for your good information.
I am looking for references,web-site ,books or articles about " co2 emission and it is impact to renewable energy projects".
If you can help me,please send some information or say how can I find the information about this topic.
Thank you
Farhood

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