Renewable Energy

What is renewable energy?

Renewable energy, also referred to as ‘alternative energy’, is energy generated from a natural
source that is not depleted when used, such as wind or solar power. Renewable energy has gained
popularity as it does not harm the environment.

The renewable energy market is booming worldwide and is predicted to surpass fossil fuel use,
thanks to such factors as falling prices and the Paris Climate Agreement. It is seen by many as a
route to mitigating climate change, a problem brought on in part, by the widespread use of fossil
fuels such as coal.

Types of renewable energy

1. Solar – Solar energy is a sustainable form of renewable energy from the sun, which can
be used to generate electricity and heat. Electricity is generated using photovoltaic panels.
Solar thermal panels, normally containing a liquid, capture heat from the sun.
2. Wind – Wind energy is harnessed using wind turbines, located on or off shore. Wind
turns the blades of a turbine, which then turn a generator to make electricity. One large
turbine can power roughly 3000 homes.
3. Geothermal – Geothermal energy is captured from shallow ground or hot water and hot
rock found a few miles beneath the Earth’s surface, and even from deeper down from the
extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma. This heat can be used directly
or used to generate electricity.
4. Biomass – Plant and animal matter (biomass) can be burned to create heat or to drive a
turbine to generate electricity.
5. Hydropower – Hydropower is energy harnessed from moving water such as rivers, tides
and waves. Alternatively water is captured in dams and released through a turbine to
generate electricity.

Renewable energy in numbers

Worldwide
– As of 2015 worldwide investment on
renewable’s stands at £198 Billion. [1]
– In 2015, twice as much money was spent on
renewable’s compared to coal and gas-fired
power generation. [1]
– 161 gigawatts of power has been installed as
of 2016, solar energy accounted for 47% of this.
Africa
– Renewable energy made up a total of 17% of
Africa’s power generating capacity by 2009. [2]
– Solar energy estimated to have most technical
potential in Eastern Africa over other renewable
sources [3].
– It is estimated that Africa has a potential for
10 terawatts of Solar power and a potential of

[5]
– In 2017, worldwide, renewable power
capacity had a 31% share of total power
capacity, edging out coal. [7]
– In terms of total power output, renewable
energy is predicted to make 28% of global
electricity output by 2021. [7]
475 gigawatts combined, for hydropower, wind
and geothermal energy. [6]
– In 2015 South Africa generated 1.5 gigawatts
of power from wind farms. Kenya will soon
open Africa’s largest wind farm, it will make up
15% of the countries power capacity. [5]
– Benin, Nigeria and Rwanda saw sales of
household level renewable systems exceed
100,00 units. [5]

The advantages of renewable energy over fossil fuels

 Greater access – Nearly 600 million people in Africa live without access to electricity.
Sustainable energy such as solar energy provides an opportunity to decentralise energy
production and hasten greater access, by taking it off-grid. Subsidies towards on-grid
sources favour the wealthy and put the rural poor at a disadvantage, who often use a
greater percentage of their incomes on energy access. [5,8]
 Lower barriers to entry – The International Energy Agency has recommended 53% of
energy investment should be on mini-grids and 17% on household level production. Both
require fewer subsidies than utility scale grid electricity. Furthermore, entry level solar
products such as solar lights act as gateways to mid range products e.g. solar home
systems and larger solar roofs. [8]
 Climate change – Fossil fuels generate carbon dioxide emissions which creates climate
change, but renewable energy is carbon neutral. Black carbon, which is emitted when
kerosene is burned in small lamps across Africa, is known to be a very powerful absorber
of sunlight, and also contributes to global warming. One kilogram of black carbon
produces as much atmospheric warming in a month as 700 kilograms of carbon dioxide
does over 100 years. It is estimated that 7-9% of kerosene lamp emissions are black
carbon compared to around 0.001% in a diesel engine. Solar lights offer zero emissions,
making them a climate friendly alternative. [9,10]
 Pollution and safety – The smoke and particulates released by burning fossil fuels,
especially kerosene, along with a higher risk of fires, make them a general health hazard.
[11]
 Health and economic advantages – Air and water pollution resulting from fossil fuel
use is associated with cancers and heart attacks, as well as brain and lung damage. In
contrast, renewable energy use has resulted in lower premature deaths and less lost
productivity related to illness, it’s also helped reduce health care costs. Fossil fuel use has
been estimated to cost the US economy between $361.7 and $886.5 billion because of its
effects on health [12].
 Job creation – Compared to fossil fuels, renewable energy production creates more jobs
as production requires more labour[11]. A 2009 study by the Union of Concerned
Scientists found that having 25% of total electricity output produced by renewable
 energy would create 3 times as many jobs as an equivalent amount of output from fossil
fuels [13].

Source:

This is the category of natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, that can be converted
into forms of usable energy.

Generally, energy sources are grouped into three categories – fossil fuels, alternative energy, and
renewables. Fossil fuels refer to resources created by thousands of years of heat and pressure on
prehistoric organisms. Alternative energy refers to any form of energy that is not a fossil fuel; this
includes renewables and nuclear energy. Renewable energy refers to sources of energy that can be
replenished in a human lifetime.

These categories are further broken down into individual sources like oil, coal, wind, solar, hydro and
nuclear that require specific and unique processes to be converted into usable forms of energy.

Production:

Production refers to the methods used to get an energy source into a state where it can be converted
into a usable form of energy.

For natural resources found in the Earth, this generally involves exploration, extraction and basic
processing of the resource. For other resources such as hydrogen, production may involve a chemical
process to obtain the element in its pure form. Many renewable resources, such as wind and solar, skip
production processes because they undergo direct conversion into a usable form of energy.

Renewable Energy
Definition

Renewable energy is energy produced from sources that do not deplete or can be replenished
within a human’s life time. The most common examples include wind, solar, geothermal,
biomass, and hydropower[1]. This is in contrast to non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels.

Most renewable energy is derived directly or indirectly from the sun. Sunlight can be captured
directly using solar technologies. The sun's heat drives winds, whose energy is captured
with turbines. Plants also rely on the sun to grow and their stored energy can be utilized for
bioenergy. [2]

Not all renewable energy sources rely on the sun. For example, geothermal energy utilizes the
Earth’s internal heat, tidal energy relies on the gravitational pull of the moon, and hydropower
relies on the flow of water.
Context

Renewable energy accounts for 13.5% of the world’s total energy supply, and 22% of the world's
electricity [3].

Renewable energy systems are a major topic when discussing the globe's energy future for two
main reasons:

1. Renewable energy systems provide energy from sources that will never deplete.
2. Renewable energy systems produce less greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuel energy
systems.

While renewable energy systems are better for the environment and produce less emissions than
conventional energy sources, many of these sources still face difficulties in being deployed at a
large scale including, but not limited to, technological barriers, high start-up capital costs, and
intermittency challenges[4].

It is important to note that the terms ‘renewable energy’, ‘green energy’ and ‘clean energy’ are
not interchangeable in all cases; for example, a ‘clean’ coal plant is simply a coal plant with
emissions reduction technology. The coal plant itself is still not a ‘renewable energy’ source.
‘Green energy’ is a subset of renewable energy, which boasts low or zero emissions and low
environmental impacts to systems such as land and water[1].