Renewable energy has been with us for many years. It wasn’t until recently when we really started to see the benefits and start to use it more often. The main advantage of renewable energy is that you don’t pollute the earth or have to mine coal or other natural resources which deplete and are now depleted. Renewable energy has been around for centuries but only recently has it started to become commercially viable, as well as something that everyone can use. We all should be using renewable energy; even those that generate their own power through solar panels and wind turbines.
How does renewable energy work? Renewable energy is essentially free energy, which is collected from non-polluting, naturally occurring resources, such as wind, water, or solar radiation. These resources will continually come into being without any replenishing or depleting, so we can rely on them indefinitely without having to worry about running out. Renewable energy can be generated by any number of different technologies, from solar panels to wind turbines. The way these systems work is that turbines are used to convert solar rays, wind into electricity, and rain into water.
The renewable energy industry is growing at an exponential rate. In the last ten years alone, over two hundred new renewable energy plants have been created worldwide. India is leading the world in green construction, using the sun, wind, and sand to provide clean energy for its citizens. In India alone, solar PV cells have been manufactured for over two thousand commercial and residential applications.
Although there are many benefits to using renewable energy, perhaps one of the most important and certainly the most controversial is the fact that it is clean energy. Unlike fossil fuels, which pollute the air, and are obviously a limited resource, renewable energy can be replenished by using the earth’s natural processes such as wind, water, and geothermal. So even though we may run out of fossil fuels in the foreseeable future, we can easily replace them with geothermal or solar power.
One benefit of using renewable energy rather than fossil fuels is that it can potentially provide all of our energy needs, from powering our homes to powering the national grid. When you consider the costs of electricity, you quickly see that this is a major savings. It also saves money on utility bills because you are no longer relying on large coal power plants to provide your electricity. Many states in the USA already have laws requiring that their electricity providers to get a certain percentage of their power from solar, wind and geothermal sources.
Another benefit is that as the world becomes more aware of the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy will become more popular in the years to come. As fossil fuels get further depleted, prices will increase, forcing utility companies to either raise rates or give up providing electricity generation altogether. By getting started now, it may be possible for you to save the planet from complete destruction.