We in EnergyBeta provide you information and free downloads on renewable energy and related topics. Our mission is to spread the use of renewable energy in a global scale. We cover topics from general renewable energy concepts to the different types of renewable energy, like solar power, wind power, geothermal power, and ocean energy including tidal power. You can simply browse our articles by following the links to your right. You will also find articles related to different technologies related to alternative energy and some articles on new ideas.

Below is a brief introduction to Renewable Energy and Few Renewable Energy sources.

Solar Power

Click Here to Lean More About Solar Energy

Sun is our main energy source. Solar power will not end, or in another sense, we will not live to see the end of our sun. Solar energy is one of the most important sources of renewable energy. It sends us unimaginable amount of power everyday hidden in its rays.

According to research data currently available, the Sun radiates 174 Petawatts (Pw) of solar energy every day. Out of this roughly 30% of energy is reflected back to space, and another major share is absorbed by our atmosphere. Even if we get only 10% of this energy which is about 17.4 Pw per day, it is still more than the whole daily energy requirement worldwide.

Do you want to learn more about Solar Power? Visit our Solar Power Section. You can also download the Renewable Energy Guide for more information 100% free. This eBook covers the subject of solar energy in more detail.

Wind Power

Click Here to Learn More About Windmills. Download "The Renewable Energy Guide" Free"

Wind energy has been converted to other forms of useful energy, especially mechanical form even long time back. Energy stored in Wind is used to turn a windmill and then to used to grind grains and other stuff.

Unlike solar power, wind energy is always present, day and night alike. This is a very important advantage of using wind power. Wind power is comparatively cheap to produce. It takes little space when compared with solar panels. Today Europe, especially Germany is leading the way in Wind energy.

There are number of ways to use the power of wind. The wind mill is the common choice. Nowadays windmills are almost always used to produce electricity. If you want to learn more about wind energy visit our wind energy archive. Our free eBook renewable energy guide has a complete section on using wind energy. You may download it for free, by following this link.

Hydro Power

Click Here to Learn More About HydroPower. Download "The Renewable Energy Guide" Free

Just like Wind Power, people from ancient world knew how to use the power of flowing water to do something useful.

like turning a waterwheel and grinding their grains. Hydropower today though is mainly discussed with electricity generation. There are thousands and thousands of dams built around the world to convert energy stored in water flow into electricity.

Unlike, solar or wind, hydropower is more stabilized. Most countries use hydropower in big scale to produce electricity and achieve some other benefits is create like irrigating the lands and controlling floods. Currently micro hydro plants are gaining in popularity. Small hydroelectric plants are used to power up small communities.

You need higher capital investment to build a hydropower plant though. But hydroelectric plants are very much cost effective to operate in long run. More information about hydropower can be found here on our archive. We have a dedicated section on hydropower in our free eBook the renewable energy guide. You can download this eBook 100% free by following this link.

Geothermal Power

Learn More About Geothermal Energy. Download "The Renewable Energy Guide" Free

Earth crust is heated and its molten rocks forms lava. This heat is a great energy source. Earth’s heat is available regardless of the place, and it is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. This makes geothermal energy a great reliable renewable energy source.

Obviously, building geothermal power plant will cost more, as it is little complex to build. But it works almost on autopilot. Only little maintenance is needed. This makes the operational costs of the plant low.

Iceland is the leader in geothermal energy. Nearly 18% of their energy comes from geothermal while US has a great potential too. You can read more about geothermal energy here. Renewable energy guide contains very informative section on geothermal energy. You can download the eBook 100% free by following this link.

Biomass

Learn More About Biomass Energy. Download "The Renewable Energy Guide" Free

Biomass is the most commonly used source of renewable energy. Even the ancient man knew how to use wood to cook their food using firewood. But today, biomass energy mainly refers to burning or using materials like wood and different types of seeds to produce electricity.

Biomass has created a separate market by substituting the traditional oil with the biofuel or biodiesel. This energy sector is becoming. Ability to make your own biodiesel in your own backyard is another reason for the resent popularity behind biodiesel.

There are diverse opinions about using biomass excessively. We have discussed them on this site as well as on the renewable energy guide. You can see our biomass section for more details. You can download our free eBook renewable energy guide for even more information.

Tidal Energy:

Learn More About Tidal Energy. Download "The Renewable Energy Guide" Free

Tides are a great source of renewable energy. Tides are created due to gravitational pull of earth, moon and sun. This is a complex natural behavior. Rising water levels provides a great opportunity to generate reliable renewable energy.

Unlike other sources, tidal waves can produce large amount of electricity with a high degree of reliability. This makes tidal energy a key competitor in commercial renewable energy sector. Building a tidal renewable energy plant needs large sums of capital. Also the technology is costly and relatively new.

Tidal waves are only one form of ocean energy. There are other ways we can use the vast amount of energy hidden in the oceans. These are discussed in our free eBook renewable energy guide. You may download this by following this link. You can learn more about the tidal waves by reaching our tidal energy archive.

There are more renewable energy sources emerging. But what listed above are more stable technologies.

In summary, we have many options open to go green with renewable energy. We can save lots of money if we tap into these alternative energy sources. In addition we will find solutions for the global environmental problems we are facing today.

Today, we have an option to use these alternative sources to produce energy. But tomorrow, we will not have an option; we will have to optin to renewable energy sources whether we like it or not. Ever decreasing oil and coal reserves and environmental crisis we are facing even today will leave us no other option. So act today, go green.

Bookmark This Article

People are continuously looking for ways to build an environmentally sustainable car, which consumes less resources and emits less amount of CO2 and other gases. One of the preferred methods is the famous “Electric Car”. In concept electric car is a great idea. But when it comes to practice, it has its own share of problems. First and foremost, the infrastructure makes it difficult to operate. If we run out of fuel, we will go to a gas station and fill the tank and we are on the move in couple of minutes. But recharging points for electric vehicles are not widely available and even if you find one, it takes some time to complete the charging. This will at least take 4 hours for a full charge. So if you in hurry, this option will not help you. (In my opinion the better solution will be changing batteries. If we can have places where the battery can be replaced with a fully charged one, and the dead battery can be charged by the station and then can be fitted to another vehicle. This will save good amount of time to the user and will make the system more reliable). In addition, another main drawback I see is that if we do not manufacture electricity using renewable sources, using electric cars will just switch the pollution from the highway to the power plant. So the ultimate objective is not achieved.

This is why I am fond of hybrid technology than pure electric car technology. Hybrid technology can drastically reduce the consumption of oil; hence it will reduce pollution and will save you big bucks as well. One of the most popular hybrids is the Toyota Prius. This vehicle can give you about 50 miles per gallon in contrast to 30 miles per gallon which most of the normal cars would do. This is almost doubled efficiency. So you can save almost half in your gas stations. In addition you will emit only half of the harmful gases.

This technology is now mature and has a great future. Until we switch to more viable solutions, hybrids can save some money to the user and do a great favor to the environment.

Bookmark This Article

William is from a rural village, of Malawi, with little to live with. He was living in a small house, without the basic needs, including electricity. So when he was just 14, he comes through some information about windmills, and he comes to know how windmills can be used to produce electricity. So he creates one, one just produce 2.5 Watts. No I am not mistaken, it is not 2.5 Kilowatts, it is just 2.5 watts. If you live in a developed country, you may wonder what a mere 2.5Watts of electricity can do. But William could light his house with 4 bulbs and he powered 2 radios. No, these are not fancy lamps, nor the radios are state-of-the-art. But it would be just enough for William and his family.

I found this story amazingly inspiring. We have the potential of generating energy on our own. Every one of us does. Think about it, Williams did not have the access to the fancy tools like the internet nor he had the access to the high end raw materials. Nor he had step by step guides like greenDIYenergy Guide which are freely available to you and me. But he did his bit. With all the resources you have you may help yourself too. You can help yourself by building a renewable energy system yourself. You will help our environment. If a 14 year old can, do you think you can’t? Start building your renewable energy system. It is not hard, nor is it expensive. You can build few hundred watts of power without much trouble. Even you can make few kilowatts. You can not only power your home, you can sell the extra electricity to the main grid and save more money too.

Have a look at the video below. Leave your comments too.

Bookmark This Article

An alternative energy ETF invests in companies which are involved in alternative energy research and production. An alternative energy ETF holds a number of stocks of companies that generate energy from environment friendly resources. Exchange Traded Funds is as compelling an investment theme as you’ll ever come across. These Alternative Energy ETFs are created and marketed just like any other ETF. The only difference is the underlying securities.

As alternative energy ETF is a green investment. With global energy demand growing sharply, oil prices at record highs, climate change concerns growing, and new technologies allowing more proficient power extraction from natural resources, the case has never been better for investing in alternative energy companies that will assist us conquer our oil and carbon-emission addictions. With more and more companies focusing on alternative energy research, the portfolio of these ETFs is becoming increasingly convincing.

Alternative energy research is in the public interest due to two reasons:

1. Depleting natural resources
2. High demand of environmental friendly products

Many companies have by now launched their eco-friendly products in the market and the rest are catching up due to the growing demand for such products. This has opened up new opportunities for investments and alternative energy ETFs are smoothing the progress of their funding and profits for investors too.

Before you buy or sell any investment product you want to be familiar with all the limitations of the asset. Understanding the benefits of ETFs will assist you utilize the right investment strategy when including exchange traded funds in your portfolio. It is equally important to understand the disadvantages of ETFs.

Advantages of Alternative Energy ETFs:

1.Alternative Energy ETFs is a green investment.
2.ETFs are tax-friendly investment. Capital gains taxes are usually lower for ETFs than usual mutual funds due to the structure of each trade.
3.ETFs perform like indexes and pursue certain market sectors. But, not like an index, you can buy an ETF with one single transaction.
4.As there is single transaction per trade, commissions are lower on an ETF as compared to an index, which involves many stocks and multiple trades. Moreover unlike regular mutual funds, there are no load fees and managing fees tend to be lower for ETFs.
5.Alternative energy ETFs are narrower as compared to other ETFs. As the requirement for alternative energy is high, a narrow investment brings in more profits than a diversified one.
6.Alternative energy ETFs is the precise way to diversify your portfolio. The high volatility and demand joined with the prospects make these ETFs the perfect hedging funds.
7.Alternative energy ETFs are best for short term traders since they are very volatile and less risky.
8.Alternative energy ETFs are very flexible, like equity, ETFs trade throughout market hours. ETFs can be sold short or on margin, and prices are continuously updated during the trading day.
9.With most ETFs, dividends are straight away reinvested back into the fund. In the case of traditional funds, the time frames may differ.

Investing in alternative energy ETFs is a profitable and a responsible investment. But, one should identify that many companies invest only a small portion of their resources in alternative energy. Hence, lot of caution must be exercised while investing in these ETFs. The underlying securities must always be checked.

Disadvantages of Alternative Energy ETFs:

1.Alternative energy ETFs has a higher expense ratio. Their higher expense ratio than usual indices makes them an expensive fund to spend in.
2.Although the U.S. has an excess of ETF products, some countries only have a few ETFs in which to invest. Moreover those regions which offer market ETFs, generally only include large-cap products leaving a lack of normal and small-sized funds.
3.In spite of many benefits to include ETFs in your portfolio, but it is very important to know that they are not the perfect investment for every situation. ETFs must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for every investing strategy. You should understand all the risks involved with ETFs before you get started.
4.As Alternative energy ETFs tend to be narrowly focused, the lack of diversification makes them prone to huge losses.
5.The high volatility of the ETFs, obsessed by rumors and emotions, can de-motivate traders from investing long term.
6.A number of ETFs are not as actively traded as others. It may be a sector associated issue or even a regional issue. When such situation arises, it may be more useful to invest in managed fund where activity is higher.

Facts:

1.Many green technologies are becoming economically viable. For example, through the development of less expensive materials and improved production and installation methods, researchers aim to make solar cells cost-competitive with traditional electricity by 2015.[#1]

2.China has set a goal of creating 30 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2020, up from 1.3 gigawatts now. [#2]

3.In 2007, for example, $18.9 billion of new money was raised in the public markets by clean energy companies — up 80% from 2006. And more than $6 billion was raised through the initial public offering of a single company.[#3]

4.Money is required to fund research and development of green technology. Money is needed to build the infrastructure that carries clean water to families and fields. In the U.S., it’s estimated that $662 billion is needed for water infrastructure from 2000 to 2019.[#4]

5.As developing nations industrialize, pollution has come to the fore. The World Bank estimates that between 2001 and 2020, nearly 600,000 Chinese a year will die prematurely due to air pollution.[#2]

6.The Chinese government estimates nearly one-third of the country’s rivers are too dirty for agricultural or industrial use.1 In addition to the human toll, the economic toll is huge — pollution and its related health problems cost China $54 billion a year.[#2]

7.Of the 11 industry segments that make up the cleantech investment category, the top five categories by total financings were solar, bio fuels, transportation, wind and smart grid.[#5]

8.Cleantech investments in North America, Europe, China and India reached $8.4 billion in 2008, up from $6.1 billion in 2007.[#5]

9.Transportation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., accounting for 47% of the net increase in total U.S. emissions since 1990.[#6]

10.Eighty-six percent of the U.S.’s primary energy — the natural resources we harness for power — comes from carbon-emitting fossil fuels.[#7]

Bookmark This Article

Within few days, I found some websites with very negative comments about earth4energy (You can have a look at one of them here and another here). Some have criticized the product, the site, person who is selling the product and so on. But on the same page, I found some good comments as well. I felt most of the times Affiliates who want to sell the product could have come up with good comments. If my primary method of income generation is by selling this product, I wouldn’t be writing any negatives about the product. It is that simple. When I came across all these negatives, I felt upset about selling the product through my affiliate link. I immediately removed links I used to promote the product and I stopped advertising. Then I dug further to the negative comments on these sites. I found two set of people who are commenting on this product.

The first set of people are Affiliates who want just to sell this product. This is how they earn money. I do not know whether they have seen the product but they have come up with beautiful stories and reviews. But I must say some sounded very true to me. And probably they might have used the product themselves. I am not sure about that. Second set of people hated this product for some reason. Some actually have tried Earth4Energy and some haven’t.

Naturally I was not in a position to accept both parties. Greed and Hate both can lead to inaccurate conclusions and decisions right? Although I lacked time to build the solar and wind panels myself, I thought of doing the research. First I listed key points people talk about Earth4Energy. Then I started checking each of them for their accuracy. This includes both good and bad aspects and I tried avoiding any biasness. I asked one of my friends with no experience buying online to go through the website and make the purchase to begin with.
This is how he made the purchase:

Order Form - Top

To simulate the actual affiliate sale (this is how most of people would buy the product), my friend used my affiliate link to purchase the product. When he was on the order page, he entered all his credit card and relevant details. This page is provided by ClickBank, largest internet information product marketplace. So we did not see any problem there. You can have a look at the price you are about to pay and the form to enter credit card details, terms and conditions on below screenshots(most of the screenshots have two parts since the page was longer).

We gave our special attention to the return policy of ClickBank. In simple words this said, if the customer is unhappy ClickBank will refund the full amount within 60 Days from the purchase.

Order Form - Bottom

One thing to note, it is the ClickBank not Earth4Energy who is giving this facility. So Earth4Energy is highlighting the money back feature on their site which is offered to any ClickBank purchase. They have reworded this to capture user’s eye and embark trust. I think this is smart marketing.

If you have noticed my friend only had to pay $39.97, not $49.97. this is because when I promoted this product I found a little trick to save $10 for my customers. Most of the affiliates did not want to tell their customers about this technique (and some have disabled this feature) since they will lose roughly $7 from their commission. I asked my friend to use the same trick when he purchased so he can save $10. I will show you how to do this at the end of this article. After completely reading this article if you decide to use this guide, you can use this simple trick to get earth4energy guide with a $10 discount.

Once we entered details and Clicked On Pay Now button, we were taken to another confirmation screen. Here we reviewed our details and Completed our Order.

Order Confirmation Page

In the confirmation page (Where Ideally We should be getting to download the product), we got a page to enter Our Email and the Name again. This was annoying and not required, because we have already paid for the guide Earth4Energy. Anyway my friend went ahead and entered his name and email there. And we got the download page. (But we saw a link in small font. We think even if we did not enter our name and email there, this link should have taken us there. But we had no second chance. We already entered information and press the button).

On the download page we had a link to the manual and videos and some other bonuses. So my friend downloaded the Manual and went through the videos.

Download Email Request Page

Actual Earth4Energy Manual Download Page

Now we have the product to do a real review. So we evaluated this product in four areas.

1. Credibility of the website and the information on it

First start with the Logos of popular news companies like New York Times, CNN and NBC, Cnet and Google. What I wanted to know was what they mean by the phrase “#1 rated site as Seen On”. I guessed they are talking about when you do a search on any of these sites for the term earth4energy this site will be the first result. Google and CNN gave me earth4energy as the first result when I ran the query. Not the others. But I saw lots of advertisements appearing on them about the product. If they meant “this is the #1 site for DIY solar and wind power And it was seen on these” this might be at least partially true since chances are they might have at least advertised this product on these sites. If they meant something else I am sorry, I cannot guess that. But in any case I think this is misleading and hence not required.

Secondly about the old person appearing as Michel Harvey. Some have quoted that, this picture is misleading and the actual person running this is not old, but a young man. When we went through the videos we got the feeling they might be true. Because the presenter seems to be much younger than the person in the picture. I am sure when they design the site thought to them, people will feel comfortable in getting advice from an experienced old guy than a younger guy. This is the same concept with celebrity endorsements. They might not have used the product in their life, but when they say they do, we feel like buying. So I understand the marketing concept behind this image. Anyway I do not have a way to verify this image positively.  So I leave this point open.

I agree with the people argue, there is no postal mail address to verify the physical location of the publisher. I couldn’t find any postal address on the site. I think this should have been there to increase the credibility of the website. Although I do not look for any postal addresses as I am now much used to the internet, people would still need to see a physical location, they would not want to be dealing with a person on a virtual space like internet. For me this is not a big issue as I understand internet is all about going out of boundaries. Meanwhile if earth4energy had a physical address I think they would have done much better for the credibility.

For me the last and the most important credibility related question people who oppose earth4energy asked is about the credibility of the Claim “…Making your own solar and wind power for less than $200”. I think most people misunderstand this claim. They do not claim they will power your entire home for $200. What they say is they will show you how to generate your own solar and wind power for less than $200. If you visit the FAQ page of this site you will see they have answered the question “Can I power my whole home with just a $200 system?” They have given a clean NO to this and explained how to power your entire home by joining multiple solar panels and so on. Have a look at the screenshot below.

So in this point I would say they are credible enough. They have answered a question on their FAQ. Most others will answer not answer this kind of a critical question until you make the purchase.

2. The Affiliate marketing model and huge 75% commission paid for the affiliates

Affiliate marketing model is not new to the world. Very popular sites like Amazon.com use this model to promote their products to the end users. ClickBank is the largest information product network with huge number of affiliates and vendors. If I simplify this, ClickBank is not much different to a large supermarket or a department store. They have a set of people who is selling their information products in their store. Unlike in a traditional supermarket ClickBank do the billing and handle all the transactions. They charge the vendor a fee for their service. Affiliates bring people to this supermarket. If the visitor likes the product from a particular vendor they will buy it, if not they will simply return. If a visitor bought the product, affiliate will get a commission from the sale. It is a simple concept.
I agree with many saying affiliates are motivated by huge amount of commission (75% in this case). I know Amazon.com will only give around 5% of their sale to the affiliate as a commission.

But the reality is information products, distributed online has no cost associated in manufacturing, distributing and handling. Once the product is done, you can keep on distributing it. In the case of a physical book publisher have to print the book, covers and then bind it. Then they have to store it, pack them and courier them once the order is received. So it is much more costly to sell physical products than information products. So affiliate will only get little commission when they promote physical products.

But when it is easier to create the product, it becomes difficult to market it as anyone can create a product. Marketing needs lots of effort and money. This is where the owner of the product needs to give good amount of his sale to his affiliate. If Michel was providing only 10% of his sale to his affiliate, I wouldn’t be writing this article as product would have been dead long before. In reality many of the information product owners give good amount of their sale to their affiliates. Most of them give more than 50% of their sale to their affiliates. So I do not think earth4energy is doing anything bad here. They are acting just like any other online information product seller.

Most of the affiliates might be just motivated by the commission. But remember I am an affiliate too. I never hide any negatives of the product, did I? Nor I asked you to blindly purchase the product. In fact I removed all the advertising when I came through the sites I listed in the beginning of the article. I never sell products which I feel not useful to my visitors. I know plenty of other people follow the philosophy “honesty is the best seller”. So it is wrong to say all the visitors are motivated just by money. Some really want to add value to their visitors. I know when I help you to save money and effort you will come back to my site. So affiliate marketing is not always bad.

3. Usefulness of the earth4energy guide

I found some people have already purchased the earth4energy guide and they are questioning the usefulness of the guide. So I went through the product keeping all the negatives people came up with in mind.

People have complained there are no pictures to help them with. I found this to be true. There were no pictures to take the user step by step. My biggest disappointment was there was no picture of the finished product in operation within the manual. But I think earth4energy people have listened to the users and have added three videos demonstrating few critical steps separately. I thought these will be very helpful for an average user. But still I think they should have taken the user step by step with pictures to the end product. This would make people much comfortable. Do not misunderstand me here. There are diagrams to show you what you should do within this manual. But they were not followed up with the pictures of actual products in each stage. So I would say product would have been much more completed with the images even with the new instructional videos.

I also would agree with people arguing some of the information provided in this guide is commonly available. But I do not think earth4energy guide has done anything wrong there. Knowledge is everywhere. Information is only useful when it is properly managed. I think this guide has done that well. Gravity was in existence and apples were falling down from trees, even before Sir. Isaac Newton sat under that particular apple tree. But don’t all of us agree Newton is the person introduced the concept of gravity. This is because he presented this information is a useful manner, and even today we are using his formulas and concepts to our advantage. The same thing with earth4energy. So my conclusion is, although some of the information provided here is available publically, earth4energy has done a good job in managing it.

Some people argued saying information on this product is vague. This is how I felt about this. Guide will not go into the fine details of some information. I felt this guide is mainly for a novice not for a person with some experience in solar and wind power. So if you have some knowledge already I do not want you to buy this product. So I would say it is half true.

4. About Cheating and Refunds

As I discussed earlier, all the transactions for this product is done through the world largest information product seller “ClickBank”. As I explained earlier, refunds are offered by ClickBank to their customers. If the customer is unhappy with the product they will refund the money within 60 days from purchase. Even if you feel you have been cheated by earth4energy guys, you can get this refund. But I strongly suggest you reading their return policy. So I do not see a big issue here.

I guess by now you have read the entire article. You might have come to a conclusion on your own. If you do not think earth4energy is going to help you, that is fine. Do not waste your money. But please bookmark our website www.energybeta.com. Leave your comments. It took us lots of time and effort to put this article together. We want to know what you think about this article. Thank you for going through our article.

If you weigh the pros and cons of this product and thought to yourself “this product might help me” then, we will be able to help you to save some money with your purchase. As I said in the beginning of this article, my friend only paid $39.97 Not $49.97. He used this simple technique. This is how you can get this discount.

First Visit the earth4energy site via our affiliate link by clicking here (this will give us the commission but there will be no difference for you). Wait till the site load and then Click Close button to close the window.

Then a PopUp Screen will appear asking “Are You Sure You Want to Navigate Away From This Page?” Since you are trying to leave the page a Now they are offering you a “One Time Offer” which is the same product for a with a $10 discount. Press Cancel Button, you will see a Chat window underneath. This is a special chat program to give you discounts. Click On the Link there and you will be taken to the One time offer discount page. Here just like my friend did, you can enjoy a $10 discount.  Have a look at the screenshots below for more information.

One Time Offer Pop Up. Click Cancel Here

When you complete the purchase we will get a commission since you used my affiliate link. But this will be less than what I would get if you bought the product at $49.97. That’s OK. If you are happy we are happy too. Please leave your comment before you move out from our page. We hope you would come back to our site.

One Time Offer Link - Click On this Link to Get the Discount

If you have weighed the pros and cons, and still cannot come to a conclusion, if you are looking for an opinion, I would suggest you purchasing this product if you are a complete novice to solar and wind power. But if you are an advanced user with experience do not purchase this. If you want to purchase follow the Steps above, you will also be able to get your discount.

We did our best to give you best possible review honestly.  I think you would have found this article to be good.  We would like you to enter your comments on the form below. Please be honest in your comment too. We hope you will return to our site.

Bookmark This Article

For centuries untold, we have harnessed the power of renewable energy. From the first time the wind caught our sails to propel our ships through the water, to burning the biomass material wood to cook our food, to using the geothermal energy from underwater reserves to heal our aches and pains. It’s only been within the last century or so that we have turned our backs on these valuable sources of energy and turned to less expensive (then) and caustic energy sources such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas.

By using these cheaper forms of energy, we have managed to produce an excessive amount of pollution and waste and the time to return to the more natural, clean, and sustainable energy sources has become a key to securing our future as a profitable and healthy society. As it stands, only 2% of the world’s energy came from renewable resources last year 1. By burning harmful fossil fuels, we release poisons such as carbon dioxide, a known greenhouse gas, and sulfur, which causes acid rain. The United States alone is responsible for more than 21 percent of carbon dioxide emissions 2.

Change is coming though. There is a current movement underway to discover new and more efficient ways of harnessing these renewable energy sources. A pilot project in Germany at the University of Kassel called the Combined Power Plant, studied the possibilities of combined multiple sources of renewable energy to generate electricity. Their research proved without a doubt that renewable resources can provide a reliable source of energy. The plant links and controls 36 wind, solar, biomass, and hydropower installations throughout Germany and provided clean and efficient energy 3.

There are many different types of renewable resources that can be used to meet the rising demands of energy production.

Solar Energy

Perhaps the most known source of renewable energy, solar power is literally the process of harvesting the sun’s energy and is one of the most abundant energy sources in the world. In the United States alone, if we were to install solar power plants in the southwestern deserts, we could power the entire country with absolutely no pollution 4.

Although solar power is an intermittent energy source, meaning it’s not available all the time, and less energy is produced during colder months of the year, it is still a viable option for renewable energy and can be used in conjunction with other renewable energy sources.

Wind Energy

Growing in popularity lately, wind power is created when the force of the wind turns wind turbines and generates electricity. The United States uses only 1 percent of wind power for energy use, but the rest of the world is benefiting greatly from this clean energy source. Denmark, Portugal, and Spain receive more than 20 percent of their electricity from wind power 5.

The Unites States has great potential for this power sources as up to 46 states have winds that can be used for commercial use. North Dakota could supply up to a third of our energy needs.

Hydro Power

Hydroelectricity is created by the force of falling water and is harvested by constructing a dam. The water in the created reservoir flows through a pipe and turns the water turbines as it falls, thereby generating electricity.

A huge advantage to a hydro power plant is the ability to store energy. Because the reservoir of water is essentially a storage system for the hydro power plant, it can be used to produce energy whenever needed. There are about 80,000 dams in the United States, but only 3 percent of them produce electricity 6.

Biomass Energy

Biomass energy is produced when organic materials that come from plantlife and animals are converted into electricity usually by burning the biomass materials. The most common biomass material is wood.

Ethanol alcohol is also considered a biomass fuel and is created by the fermentation of certain crops, mostly corn and sugar cane, but it can also come from sugar beets, potato skins, rice, and wheat. Ethanol is used as a transportation fuel and can be either used as a replacement for gasoline in certain engines or a mixture of ethanol and gasoline can be used to power regular automobiles.

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal Energy

Literally meaning earth’s heat, geothermal energy has been used for centuries dating back almost 10,000 years when the Paleo-Indians used hot springs to cook their food. Geothermal power plants convert geothermal energy by converting the water rising from underground reservoirs into steam that can power an electric turbine.

Geothermal plants are extremely reliable as their resource, unlike solar and wind, are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The United States is the current leader in geothermal energy.

Tidal Power

Tidal power harnesses the energy created by the force of the rise and ebb of the tides. The force of the current propels underwater turbines and causes them to spin, thereby generating electricity.

Tidal Power Plant

Because the power comes from the predictable tides, tidal power is an extremely reliable source of energy that is not affected by outside forces such as the weather. However, there are only certain locations throughout the world that have the potential to generate enough power from the tides to actually produce a substantial amount of electricity.

The Future of Renewable Energy

The rising pollution and the increased demands for energy make renewable sources of energy that much more significant in the role they play in our future. Today, we consume coal, petroleum, and natural gas as the main sources of our energy. And, petroleum usage is almost half of our total energy consumption. With more than 60 percent of the United States’ total petroleum coming from foreign countries, exploring renewable resources that can be found within our own borders can increase our economy and reduce our dependency on foreign countries for our energy needs.

While there’s no one answer to meeting the demands of our energy needs, it’s obvious that renewable energy sources, when combined together can provide a lasting, reliable, and pollution free source of energy.

1. International Energy Agency. Monthly Electricity Statistics, 2009. http://www.iea.org/Textbase/stats/surveys/mes.pdf

2. Energy Information Administration, What Everyone Should Know About Energy, (July 2008).

3. The Combined Power Plant: the first stage in providing 100 % power from renewable energy. http://www.solarserver.de/solarmagazin/anlagejanuar2008_e.html

4. David Comarow, “Here Comes the Sun,” Kyoto Planet Sustainable Enterprise Report, November 2008, Whitepaper.

5. American Wind Energy Association, Wind Power – Clean and Reliable, http://www.awea.org/utility/pdf/Wind_and_Reliability_Factsheet.pdf

6. Hydropower. Hydropower at a glance 2006. http://www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/SecInfo/HydroS.pdf

Bookmark This Article