Different Renewable Energy Sources

I have been writing a lot about solar energy advantages in my previous posts in this blog. We all know that solar energy is one of the best sources of renewable energy available out there. It generates a lot of energy and of course, we know that the sun shines at almost all places on earth except for the poles, of course and hence making it a really attractive source of energy to try and capture to be used efficiently. Unfortunately, one of the solar energy disadvantages is of course, the word "efficiency". Scientists are in a race to try and invent technology that will increase the efficiency of solar energy equipment including photovoltaic cells. But what about the other sources of renewable energy and how well do they convert into electrical energy. What is the availability of these other renewable sources of energy? Is it practical to even consider them as options for converting it into other sources of energy such as electricity? Find out by reading this blog post on the different types of renewable energy.
You may be surprised to know about the extremely high potential of some of the other renewable sources of energy such as Geothermal Energy. I, for one, had always thought that solar energy was, by far, the most practical source of renewable energy that could be converted into other sources of energy such as electrical energy. In one of my previous post, I had written about Mojave Desert, largest solar power installations in the world. The Mojave Desert which uses Solar Energy Generation Systems has a combined electrical capacity of 354 MW (megawatts). This is an immense amount of power and satisfies the energy needs of more than 500,000 people in the United States. If that is not whopping enough to think about, wait till you hear this. The Geysers Geothermal Power plants which has a combined rated capacity of more than 750 MW has more than 22 power plants in it. It is located in California and currently meets the electricity energy needs of more than a thumping 1.1 million people. This is an immense amount of power and is indeed for the environment as all it makes use of is the thermal power or the heat coming out from the core of the earth. However, equipment that makes use of solar energy still remains to be one of the most widely distributed equipment in the world and outcompetes other sources of energy by a pretty big margin. Wind Energy comes at a pretty close second.
One of the countries which meets about 20% of its automotive fuel needs through renewable energy sources is Brazil. It makes use of ethanol that is extracted from sugar canes and other sources and uses the latest technology to generate electricity from that. Ethanol fuel is also used a lot in large powers in the United States.
Let's take a look at what exactly the definition of renewable energy sources is. According to Wikipedia, "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."
Alright, so lets take a look at each of these renewable energy sources in detail.

1. 
   
   Wind Energy: Although the energy generated from wind may not sound like much because it feels like part of everyday life, (at least that's how I used to think) wind energy is capable of generating immense amounts of power sufficient to meet the energy needs of a lot of people. Wind energy is used to rotate turbines
   which in turn generate electricity with the help of the standard turbine technology used to generate electricity. Wind farms are places where a lot of wind mills are set up to generate electricity. These wind farms are typically located at high altitudes and basically areas such as the prairies where the wind is really strong. Offshore resources are also used a lot for setting up wind farms as they also receive as much as 90% more wind than land. Wind energy is clean, renewable and does not produce harmful gases such as methane or carbon-di-oxide.
   
   
    
   
2. 
   
   Geothermal Energy: I already mentioned this kind of energy when I was talking about the Geysers and how much energy they are capable of producing. This is another popular renewable energy source that basically uses the heat or the thermal power coming from the core of the earth to convert it into electricity. Geothermal energy is generally converted into electricity using 3 types of power plants – dry steam, flash and binary. Although the initial costs for setting up geothermal power plants can be quite high, the operating costs are really low hence resulting in low energy costs.
   
   
    
   
3. 
   
   Hydropower: Typically set up in places where there is a large flow of water such as waterfalls and rivers, hydropower generates huge amounts of power as it makes use of the kinetic energy of water. Hydropower is also available in other forms such as tidal power and ocean energy. Normally, huge hydro power stations are built along with big dams.
   
   
    
   
4. 
   
   Biomass: Biomass is the energy that is derived from plants. Plants use a process called photosynthesis to convert energy from the sun into chemical energy. Thus energy from the sun is stored in plants as chemical energy. This energy gets released when the plants are burned. This is basically, the principle upon which biomass works.
   
   
    
   
5. 
   
   Solar Energy: This is basically what
   this blog is all about and you can find out more information about solar energy by going around in this blog. It is one of the widely used renewable sources of energy all over the world. You too should learn how to make use by browsing through the various solar energy facts available in this blog.
   
   
    
   

The above are basically the different types of renewable energy that are available and are widely used. Other sources include biofuel and using ethanol as fuel etc. Many countries and their governments are making use of these renewable sources of energy by setting up big power plants. Learn how you too can help by building your own solar panels and making use of the various solar energy advantages.

DIY Solar Pool Heater – 7 important things you absolutely must know

"Solar pool Heater" is a very good project to work on and until a few months back, I myself was very much involved in trying to build a do it yourself (DIY) solar pool heater. I finally succeeded in doing so and thought I would share some of the tips that I learnt along the way so that you could get install your own solar pool heater without any fuss. Also, if you are making use of all the various solar energy advantages, then you also probably know about other things such as installing your own solar panels or getting a solar heater that can generate heat for your house. Now, as the title promises, here is a list of 10 things that you must know before installing a DIY solar pool heater by looking up various guides online.

1. Outdoor swimming pools are better places to install solar heaters at – There is a very important reason why this is an important fact that you must consider for installing your own solar pool heaters. The heat generated by the sun warms the water that is directly exposed to it and helps a lot in generating extra heat that can save you a few valuable watts of energy that is otherwise being generated either by your solar pool heater or by traditional heating sources. However, indoor swimming pools can also be heated by solar pool heaters except that they need to be oriented towards the direction and need an outside generator to get the heat for you thus making it less efficient.
    
   
2. Use it along with traditional sources of heating – This is also important since there will be certain days in the year when either the sun will not be shining bright enough or the sun is just being a b&**% and hiding behind the clouds. On such days, your solar pool heater alone cannot generate all the heat needed and you will need your traditional heater to provide backup. But of course if you live in places such as a desert where there is no chance of this happening or other places where there is constant bright sunshine and no real need of traditional heaters, then it is even better since you are generating energy off of a free source, the sun. You, of course, are the best judge of this.
   
   
   
3. You are helping in creating a clean and healthy environment - This is indeed an important thing you must know since you need to be not only confident of opting for solar pool heaters but also proud of the fact that you are actually reducing the burning of tonnes of carbon dioxide every year and controlling all the pollution from affecting the various living beings of the earth such as trees and us human beings ourselves. You are also helping your own grandchildren and children grow up in a healthy pollution-free environment.
   
   
    
   
4. View it as a long term investment – Yes, when you first look at the initial amount of money that you have to put in to get your own solar pool heater,, it could be a little mind boggling (however, considering you are following a DIY guide online like the one found in the homepage of this blog, "Solar energy advantages" then you are actually saving a lot of money). But you need to cheer up and look at this as a long term investment just like you would when you make financial long term investments such as buying stocks and shares that pay off after a couple of years. You will easily recover your initial investment in a couple of years at the most.
   
    
   
5. How solar pool heaters work – These solar pool heaters work based on a very simple principle. There are solar panels that get the heat from sun which get preheated to about 10-15 degrees higher than air temperature. Here's a simple way to make you understand how a basic "solar pool heater" works. It uses a pipe which is coated with black colour that is long enough such that if you laid it out, it would cover half of the entire pool that you are planning to heat up. This pipe is laid out open to the sun and water is pumped through this. The water then gets heated due to exposure to the sun and due to the way that the black colour in the pipe attracts heat. The water from the pool gets recirculated back and in the process, again gets heated.
   
    
   
6. What you get if you get solar pool heating systems from companies instead of doing it yourself – Here's what the companies set up for you if you pay them for it. Instead of the set up that was described above, you will get a system wherein the same pipe is placed in a glass panel. This glass panel heats up the water inside the pipe and thus further heating up the water which can be used for your swimming pool. For this, you get charged $3000 although you get other things such as professional consulting to check if your swimming pool is actually good enough to set up solar pool heaters in.
   
    
   
7. Different types of collectors – This is another important thing that you will need to know if you are setting up your own solar pool heater. There are two types of collectors, "glazed" and "unglazed". The unglazed collectors are typically used for solar pool heaters and are the type of collectors that you will be using for do-it-yourself pool solar heating systems. The glazed collectors are typically used for smaller versions such as for hot tubs etc. 

So I hope that the above information helped you in making a decision on building your own solar pool heaters. Make sure that you have checked out the various websites online for do it yourself guides and other important tips such as the ones in this blog post.

For a greener future,

Andy.
"Solar pool heater"