Please check back to this page regularly, as we will be highlighting green energy products and services, green energy alternatives and renewable energy schemes for businesses and consumers in the UK during the forthcoming months. The following article from Wikipedia provides a useful overview of the range of alternative and renewable energy sources available and their current contribution to the global energy supply:-

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). In 2006, about 18% of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3% from hydroelectricity. New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for another 2.4% and are growing very rapidly.[1] The share of renewables in electricity generation is around 18%, with 15% of global electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 3.4% from new renewables.[1]

Wind power is growing at the rate of 30% annually, with a worldwide installed capacity of 157,900 megawatts (MW) in 2009,[2][3] and is widely used in Europe, Asia, and the United States.[4] The annual manufacturing output of the photovoltaics industry reached 6,900 MW in 2008,[5] and photovoltaic (PV) power stations are popular in Germany and Spain.[6] Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert.[7] The world's largest geothermal power installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW.[8] Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18% of the country's automotive fuel.[9] Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA.

While most renewable energy projects and production is large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited to small off-grid applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development.[10] Kenya has the world's highest household solar ownership rate with roughly 30,000 small (20−100 watt) solar power systems sold per year.[11]

Some renewable energy technologies are criticized for being intermittent or unsightly, yet the renewable energy market continues to grow. Climate change concerns, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, and increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization.[12] New government spending, regulation and policies helped the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other sectors.[13]

Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, as the International Energy Agency explains:[15]

Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. 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.

Each of these sources has unique characteristics which influence how and where they are used.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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