Renewable Energy -Its uses around the home
Renewable Energy -Its uses around the home
Renewable energy is a phrase often used when discussing problems of energy and climate change. It is often cited as a replacement for the environmentally damaging and expensive fossil fuels that we currently rely on.
But what are renewable energy's and can they really provide us with all the power we need to run our homes, cars and businesses?
Types of renewable energy
The term renewable energy simply refers to energy that is produced in nature that is unlimited or replenishes itself. There are primarily four types of renewable energy used at the moment:
Solar
Wave
Wind
Kinetic
Solar Power
Solar power is perhaps the most commonly used form of renewable energy. The sun's power has been harnessed by mankind since early civilisation and storing solar power is a technology that has been around for decades.
There is a major problem of solar powe4r of course: it is only available during the day and is reliant on clouds and the weather. In the northern hemisphere it is doubtful that solar power will ever be able to provide much of our home energy use but it can still be harnessed for a whole host of uses.
Solar powered devices have come along way from the small digital watches and calculators you may remember from childhood. Solar power can now be used to power a whole host of devices.
Solar powered chargers can recharge nearly any type of device that takes batteries. From MP3 players to mobile phones; PDA's to solar laptop chargers, solar powered chargers allow most of these devices to be recharged completely free, and eco-friendly.
Wave Power
Around the coastline, there are many-wave energy products that are converting the power of the sea into electricity. Wave energy is incredibly difficult though and is while the UK is an island and has the advantage of large amounts of coastline, wave energy is not available to all nations.
Wind Energy
Perhaps the most useful for generating energy for our homes but wind energy does come with its disadvantages. Windmills, that convert the wind's power into electricity, are very large and are unpopular features on the landscape. They are also limited to the amount of energy they can produce and of course when there is no wind there is no energy production.
And while we are a long way off from being able to power the entire nation with wind energy we can provide some, lifting some of the burden from the CO2 emitting power stations.
There are also some wind energy products available for home use. Wind powered lights are available for the garden. Rather than just turn wind power into light for electricity, wind powered garden lights store the energy created by the wind in a battery, allowing you to use the light when needed even when there is no wind.
Induction Torch - Kinetic energy, by shaking the torch generates power
You can also find wind powered chargers. These hand held wind generators allow you to store wind energy and then recharge devices like mobile phones from it. These have the advantage over solar powered chargers in that they can recharge devices over-night, so devices can be recharged when you are asleep ready to use in the day.
Kinetic Energy
Another form of renewable energy is kinetic energy. This is taking the wasted energy from mechanisms and using it to make electricity. A good example of this is the latest type of hybrid cars. These cars make use of the kinetic energy generated when a car brakes and converts it into electricity that the vehicle can use as an additional power source.
And all sorts of kinetic energy devices are available. Many of which use human power to generate and store energy. Wind-up radios are a good example as are torches that work by being shook.
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