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Biomass fuel refers to anything that can either burn or decompose. Other terms are biomass energy or biofuel. The prefix "bio" refers to life.

Also utilizing the source of bioenergy reduces pollution, helps control carbon dioxide emissions ( Remember, plants take in CO2 which will offset emissions)

Solar Cells or photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly into electricity. When energy from the sun comes in contact with the cell, electrons in the two different semiconductors absorb the energy and use it to move around, creating an electrical current.

In scientific terms, wind energy is the "force" of winds blowing across the earth’s surface ("Wind Energy"). Wind is caused by uneven heating on the earth’s surface. The equator region receives more heat than say, Antarctica.

That heat tries to move from hotter to colder regions. Wind energy was first harvested centuries ago, when early windmills were used to power millstones, pumps, and forges

The amount of kinetic energy within Earth's atmosphere is equal to about 10,000 trillion kilowatt-hours.

The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.

While the United States today gets barely 1 percent of its electricity from wind turbines, many experts are starting to think that figure could hit 20 percent.

Achieving that would require moving large amounts of power over long distances, from the windy, lightly populated plains in the middle of the country to the coasts where many people live.

Fuel Cell Principle A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy converter. It converts chemical energy into electrical energy by two separated electrochemical reactions. In a hydrogen-fuelled polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), hydrogen is oxidised to protons and electrons at the anode. Protons migrate through the membrane electrolyte to the cathode. As the membrane is an electric insulator, electrons are forced to flow in an external electric circuit. At the cathode, oxygen reacts with protons to produce water, which is the only waste product

Advantages

Solar energy is free - it needs no fuel and produces no waste or pollution.

Handy for low-power uses such as solar powered garden lights and battery chargers, or for helping your home energy bills.

Applications These wind turbines near Lamar, Colorado, are part of the 162-MW Colorado Green Wind Farm. Each turbine produces 1.5 megawatts of electricity. Wind turbines can be used as stand-alone applications, or they can be connected to a utility power grid or even combined with a photovoltaic (solar cell) system. For utility-scale (megawatt-sized) sources of wind energy, a large number of wind turbines are usually built close together to form a wind plant. Several electricity providers today use wind plants to supply power to their customers.

What is wave energy? Waves are generated by the passage of wind across the surface of the sea.  Energy is transferred from the wind to the waves.  Waves travel vast distances across the ocean and at great speed and the energy is concentrated near the water surface.  The energy within a wave is proportional to the square of the wave height.  Therefore a two-meter high wave has four times the power of a one-meter high wave. The longer and stronger the wind blows over the surface of the sea, the higher, longer, faster and more powerful the sea is.

Although wave energy is a form of concentrated wind energy, as it has often travelled over large distances it is regularly out of phase with the local wind conditions.  Wave energy can therefore help to balance output variability from other renewable sources and maximise the efficient use of the electricity networks.   Wave energy is also more predictable than many other forms of renewable energy, such as wind or solar, and can be forecast accurately up to five days in advance.

Wave energy is clean and renewable!  It is one of the last renewable energy forms which mankind has yet to harness, and its potential is huge.

Tidal energy use harnesses the water flow created primarily by the moon orbiting the Earth. As water is pulled toward the gravity of the moon, currents are created that can turn generator turbines.

Tidal energy use involving dams creates many of the same environmental concerns as damming rivers. Tidal dams restrict fish migration and cause silt build up which affects tidal basin ecosystems in negative ways. Systems that take advantage of natural narrow channels with high tidal flow rates have less negative environmental impact than dammed systems. But they are not without environmental problems. Both systems use turbines that can cause fish kills. But these are being replaced by new, more fish friendly turbines. The art and science of environmentally friendly hydro engineering is well advanced and will certainly be applied to any tidal energy project.

Because of intermittency and variable flow problems of tidal energy, it is a very limited resource. The DOE Tidal Energy link, above, states that there are only about 40 really good sites on Earth with high enough flows to be considered economically practical

Future Of Geothermal Energy The future of geothermal energy depends on three factors: it's demand, supply and it's competitiveness among other renewable resources in terms of cost, availability, reliability etc.. Demand for geothermal energy is going to increase and increase with the increase in the population and extinction of other non-renewable sources. Moreover, today government also support the resources which are cleaner and do not spoil the environment. Supply of geothermal energy is limited and confined to certain areas only.

Like many renewable resources, geothermal resources need relatively high initial investments to access the heat, hot water and steam. But the geothermal "fuel" cost is predictable and stable. Fossil fuel supplies will increase in cost as reserves are exhausted. Fossil fuel supplies can be interrupted political disputes abroad. Renewable geothermal energy is a better long term investment.

Examples are the huge costs of global climate change; the health effects from ground level pollution of the air; future effects of pollution of water and land; military expenditures to protect petroleum sources and supply routes; and costs of safely storing radioactive waste for generations. Geothermal energy can already compete with the direct costs of conventional fuels in some locations and is a clean, indigenous, renewable resource without hidden external costs.

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), also sometimes called engineered geothermal systems, offer great potential for more than 100 GW of geothermal power which 40 times more than present geothermal power.

ultimately geothermal global resources amount to 50,000 times the energy of all oil and gas resources in the world.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) – Often categorized under the antiquated term‘Hot Dry Rock,’ EGS is thought by several experts to refer to any resource that requires artificial stimulation. This includes resources that have to be fully engineered, or ones that produce hydrothermal fluid, but sub-commercially. Regarding the latter, one expert states that, ‘As we go further, there might be projects that require more and more stimulation.’ Although EGS technology is still young and many aspects remain unproven, several projects are currently underway. If EGS technology proves commercially successful, it is expected to allow significantly increased extension of and production from existing fields, as well as utilization of geothermal energy in previously implausible locations.

The Life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions of solar power are in the range of 22 to 46  g/kWh depending on if solar thermal or solar PV is being analyzed, respectively. With this potentially being decreased to 15 g/kWh in the future.[71] For comparison (of weighted averages), a combined cycle gas-fired power plant emits some 400-599 g/kWh,

A solar cell is any device that directly converts the energy in light into electrical energy through the process of photovoltaics. The development of solar cell technology begins with the 1839 research of French physicist Antoine-César Becquerel. Becquerel observed the photovoltaic effect while experimenting with a solid electrode in an electrolyte solution when he saw a voltage develope when light fell upon the electrode.

Each day the ocean surface rises and falls because of tides. The highest point of the rise is called high tide. The lowest point is called low tide. Most places have two high tides and two low tides each day. Tides happen because of the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun on ocean water. The Moon has a much greater impact on tides than the Sun because it is much closer. The Moon pulls water that is closest to it making a high tide on the side of the Earth closest to the Moon and there is a high tide on the opposite side of the Earth too. Low tides happen in places between the high tides. Because Earth is rotating, the tides change over time. The difference between high tide and low tide is called the tidal range. The tidal range can be as little as a few centimeters to as much as several meters depending on the shape of the ocean floor. In Canada's Bay of Fundy the tidal range is very large – 16 meters.

trictly, tidal power comes from the mov

1) Individual silicon based (most commonly) cells called photovoltaics (PV) make up the modern day solar panel. These PV cell clusters perform the task of converting incoming sunlight directly into electricity. 2) Wires attached to the panels transport the converted electricity to a piece of equipment called an inverter. The job of the inverter is to convert the solar generated Direct Current (DC) electricity into the type of power your home can use, which is called Alternating Current (AC). 3) After the electricity travels through the inverter, the AC electricity is then transported via wire to your breaker panel to meet your home’s electric demands. 4) The process doesn’t end there, though. There are times when your panels will generate more power than you consume and times when you aren’t generating enough electricity (night times and periods of low light). When your panels are not generating enough solar electricity, you will continue to get power from your local utility. However, when you’re generating a surplus of solar electricity, that excess clean energy will be “net metered” to your local utility grid and you may earn a credit on your power bill for that net metered electricity.

t's called geothermal energy -- from the Greek words geo, or "earth," and therme, meaning "heat."

The core, about 4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers) beneath the surface, can reach temperatures of 7,600 degrees Fahrenheit

(4,204 degrees Celsius).