Renewable energy - Renewable energy paragraph

Renewable energy - Renewable energy paragraph

Renewable energy is one that comes from resources which are continually being replenished such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. About 16% of global energy consumption comes from renewable resources. New renewables account for another 3% and are growing very rapidly. While many renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited to rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. Over 44 million households use biogas made in household-scale digesters for lighting and/or cooking, and more than 166 million households rely on a new generation of more efficient biomass cookstove.

Climate change concerns, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, and increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization. Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides, plant growth, and geothermal heat, as the International Energy Agency explains. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.

Renewable energy resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels in four distinct areas: electricity generation, hot water/space heating, motor fuels, and rural energy services.

Renewable energy provides 19% of electricity generation worldwide. Renewable power generators are spread across many countries, and wind power alone already provides a significant share of electricity in some areas. Solar hot water makes an important contribution to renewable heat in many countries, most notably in China, which now has 70% of the global total. Most of these systems are installed on multi-family apartment buildings and meet a portion of the hot water needs of an estimated 50-60 million households in China. Renewable biofuels have contributed to a significant decline in oil consumption in the United States since 2006. The 93 million liters of gasoline, equal to about 5% of world gasoline production. Solar energy applies energy from the sun in the form of solar radiation for heating or generating electricity.

Solar powered electricity generation uses either photovoltaics or heat engines (concentrated solar power). A partial list of other solar applications includes Space heating and cooling through solar architecture, daylighting, solar hot water, solar cooking, and high emperature process heat for industrial purposes. Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive sola ractive solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy.