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Tidal turbines use similar technology to wind turbines, although their blades are much shorter and stronger. So a good way to think of them is as underwater windmills. Basically the water currents turn the turbines, which in turn activate a generator that produces electricity. These systems work best where there are very strong tidal zones (Norwegian and British coastlines.) and although it is still in it’s infancy it does show great promise.The upfront cost of these tidal stream systems is very high and also installation and maintenance is difficult.

On a global scale, approximately 15,000 MW of new PV installations have been added during 2010, amounting the entire PV capacity to almost 40,000 MW.

Every hour the sun beams onto Earth more than enough energy to satisfy global energy needs for an entire year. Solar energy is the technology used to harness the sun's energy and make it useable. Today, the technology produces less than one tenth of one percent of global energy demand.

A benefit is very little pollution. However, there is a very serious potential draw back. It can be very hard of fish populations. The proposal for tidal power is to put turbines on the bottom of a bay and let the water rushing in and out with the tide turn them and generate electricity. However, along with the water will come fish and other marine animals. What do you think will happen when these critters get sucked into the turbines. Can you say sushi, boys and girls? Putting some kind of screen in front of the turbine to prevent this would just mean that the animals would be sucked up against the screens, obstructing the flow of water through the turbines.

In the photoelectric effect, electrons are emitted from matter (metals and non-metallic solids, liquids or gases) as a consequence of their absorption of energy from electromagnetic radiation of very short wavelength and high frequency, such as ultraviolet radiation.

Light–matter interaction Low-energy phenomena: Photoelectric effect Mid-energy phenomena: Thomson scattering Compton scattering High-energy phenomena: Pair production

Visible light is only one type of EM wave. We use different kinds of electromagnetic waves for many different purposes.

There were 140,000 fuel cell stacks shipped globally in 2010

although, as of 2010, no public company in the industry had yet become profitable

Sea waves have associated a form of renewable energy which can be captured by using a hydro mechanical device that in turn drives an electrical generator to produce electrical energy.

Biofuels have the potential to be significantly less expensive than gasoline and other fossil fuels. This is particularly true as worldwide demand for oil increases, oil supplies dwindle, and more sources of biofuels become apparent.

Hartlepool-based JDR Cable Systems is constructing the armored 25- kilometer subsea cable that will connect Wave Hub to the grid and the hub structure that will sit on the seabed. Work also is progressing on the hub assembly, which will provide a connection between the main cable from the shore and the tails leading to the wave energy devices.

Because wave energy needs only 1/200 the land area of wind and requires no access roads, infrastructure costs are less;

Waves are generated by winds blowing over the ocean surface.  Wave energy is effectively a stored and concentrated form of solar energy since the winds that produce them are caused by pressure differences in the atmosphere caused by the sun's differential heating of the earth's surface. Waves can efficiently transport energy for thousands of miles and retain their energy long after the winds that first created them have died down, which makes waves one of the most concentrated and consistent sources of renewable energy. 

Globally, the potential use of wave power is, unsurprisingly, limited to areas of the world where there are waves. On a global scale, this is dictated by global wind patterns, with the result that waves are more prevalent in the mid-latitudes (40-60(N/S), than nearer the equator where the lack of ocean wind is referred to as the 'doldrums'.  Interestingly, this potential for wave power contrasts with that of solar power, which is more effective in lower latitudes

The theory of global warming is nothing new. The Nobel Prize-winning chemist Svante Arrhenius first proposed the idea of global warming in 1896. Carbon dioxide, he knew, traps heat in the Earth's atmosphere. He also knew that burning coal and oil releases carbon dioxide (CO2).

PEM Fuel Cell Applications