nly 10 - 15 years ago the world’s energy supply was heading towards disaster with resources being soaked up at faster and faster rates, reserves being used and prices on the rise. But this was only half the story with a much more insidious potential disaster lurking in our frighteningly near future. Carbon emissions and their effect on global warming are directly caused by the out of control burning of fossil fuels used to create electricity, power transport and heat our homes.

Renewable Energy Development tracks this growth, detailing new and proposed projects that have been undertaken around the world. These new developments can be found listed on the pages of the respective renewable energy sources.

When we talk about advancements in renewable energy we are focusing largely on 6 main areas, namely Solar Energy, Wind Power, Tidal Energy, Geothermal Energy, Biomass and Wave Power. There is another energy source that can be classed as renewable but is not included in this discussion and that is hydro-electric power. The reason that hydro-electricity is not included here is that it is a mature industry that has largely been fully developed rendering it a conventional energy source rather than alternative. The environmental and regulatory issues surrounding possible new hydro-electricity sites prevent most of the possible new sites from being developed.

What Is Renewable Energy?

Renewable energy is any source of energy that can be used without depleting its reserves. It is distinct from alternative energy because alternative energy may or may not be renewable. It is also distinct from ‘green’ energy which refers to clean, low or nonpolluting energy such as solar and wind power. Renewable energy simply refers to the fact that the sources used to create power can replenish themselves. These sources include sun, wind, biomass and hydro energy.

Each of these energy sources can be harnessed to varying degrees and at varying costs. For the purpose of this article, nuclear energy will be regarded as a non-renewable energy source because, although uranium is not a fossil fuel, it is a finite resource and its reserves are depleted through use.

It’s important to remember that all energy production has an effect on our environment to some extent. Some adverse effects are created in the manufacture , operation or disposal of each of the generating facilities for even the lowest polluting renewable energy. For example, photovoltaic cell manufacture sometimes involves hazardous materials like arsenic and cadmium.

It should be acknowledged that no single renewable energy solution is going to provide a complete answer. At this stage in the technological advancement that is being experienced there is still a great deal of work to do before the sun, ocean and earth can be relied upon to provide a significant share of our energy needs.

However, the ratio is slowly shifting in the right direction. Every megawatt of electricity supplied by a solar energy power plant is a megawatt less that is required to be produced by a coal powered power station. Wind power has grown over the last 5 years at an annual average rate of 25% and that promises to continue. Solar energy is still meeting only a tiny fraction of the world’s energy needs yet it is the energy source that has enjoyed the greatest growth and continues to promise tremendous potential. Wave energy is still in its mewling infancy with most power plants still in the experimental or demonstration phases with numerous projects still trying to prove that the world’s oceans can provide us with another sustainable source of power.

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