Renewable Energy and the Environment

International Energy Agency defines renewableturn are responsible for heat imbalance of the
(re-new-able) energy as the energy derived fromearth resulting climate change. Climate change is
natural processes that are replenished constantly.the burning environmental issues. On the other
In its various forms, it derives directly from thehand, energy produced by renewable sources
sun, or from heat generated deep within thegreatly reduces greenhouse gas emissions relative
earth. Included in the definition is electricity andto energy produced from burning fossil fuels.
heat generated from solar, wind, ocean,Global environmental concerns, the depletion of
hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, andthe earth's finite resources and economic
biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewableconsiderations are all incentives to interest
resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides andconsumers in renewable. Although renewable
geothermal heat.cannot yet replace all existing energy sources,
Sun is the ultimate of all the source of energy.they can supplement power generated by utilities
Renewable energy can be obtained from theand increase the diversity of our energy supply.
same source for a long period of time withoutGlobal climate change due to pollution and the
depleting a source. For example solar energy caneffects of pollution on the environment have
be obtained continuous from the sun withoutbecome major environmental issues since the Rio
depleting the source. This is in contrast to theSummit in 1992.
non-renewable or commercial forms of energyOne of the greatest benefits of renewable
such as oil and gas. The more they are extracted,energy is its potential to provide clean sources of
the more will be the reduction in source.electricity even to remote populations. Although
A growing body of scientific evidences hasmany people around the world do not have an
demonstrated that the heavy reliance on fossileconomical connection to an electrical grid,
fuels or commercial form of energy is destabilizingrenewable energy technologies can capture natural
the climate. Emission resulting from thesources of (electrical and heat) energy in
combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, andnon-conventional locations and in non-conventional
gases are responsible for the emission ofways.
Greenhouse gases. Green house gases (GHGs) in