All our tariffs are backed by zero-carbon electricity 1 and if you choose to switch to us, you could play your part now in achieving the net zero target. Although it sounds like a perfect renewable energy source, the amount of solar energy we can use varies according to the time of day and the season of the year as well as geographical location. In the UK, solar energy is an increasingly popular way to supplement your energy usage. Wind is a plentiful source of clean energy. Wind farms are an increasingly familiar sight in the UK with wind power making an ever-increasing contribution to the National Grid.
To harness electricity from wind energy, turbines are used to drive generators which then feed electricity into the National Grid. Find out more about wind energy on our wind power page. As a renewable energy resource, hydro power is one of the most commercially developed.
By building a dam or barrier, a large reservoir can be used to create a controlled flow of water that will drive a turbine, generating electricity. This energy source can often be more reliable than solar or wind power especially if it's tidal rather than river and also allows electricity to be stored for use when demand reaches a peak. Find out more by visiting our hydro power page. This is another form of hydro energy that uses twice-daily tidal currents to drive turbine generators.
Find out more by visiting our marine energy page. Although it harnesses a power directly below our feet, geothermal energy is of negligible importance in the UK compared to countries such as Iceland, where geothermal heat is much more freely available.
This is the conversion of solid fuel made from plant materials into electricity. Although fundamentally, biomass involves burning organic materials to produce electricity, and nowadays this is a much cleaner, more energy-efficient process. By converting agricultural, industrial and domestic waste into solid, liquid and gas fuel, biomass generates power at a much lower economic and environmental cost. Fossil fuels are not a renewable source of energy because they are not infinite. Plus, they release carbon dioxide into our atmosphere which contributes to climate change and global warming.
On the one hand, wood is a renewable resource — provided it comes from sustainably managed forests. Compressed biomass fuels produce more energy than logs too. On the other hand, burning wood whether it be raw timber or processed waste releases particles into our atmosphere. As world population rises, so does the demand for energy in order to power our homes, businesses and communities.
Innovation and expansion of renewable sources of energy is key to maintaining a sustainable level of energy and protect our planet from climate change. In , the UK hit a new amazing renewable energy milestone. On Wednesday 10th June, the country celebrated two months of running purely on renewable energy for the first time ever.
This is a great step in the right direction for renewables. This will drive down the price of renewables — great for the planet, and great for our wallets. EDF Renewables. Wondering what new and innovative ways scientists are looking at in order to reduce our dependence on traditional fossil fuels?
And if you're after some more technical knowledge, find out how our innovation team use Big Data to create better value out of offshore wind farms. Find out what it's like working in renewable energy.
Find out what green energy tariffs are and how to know the difference between real green tariffs and 'green washed' ones. Would you like to reduce your carbon emissions at home? Read our easy and free tips. Read our guide for students on how to manage your bills with your housemates. The zero carbon electricity purchased is supplied into the National Grid. Customers receive electricity via the National Grid, not directly from zero-carbon generators.
For home. Log in. My bills and payments. For this reason, fossil fuels are still in use to top-up renewable sources in many countries. This variable production capacity means that large energy storage solutions are required to ensure there is enough power when renewable energy generation dips.
An alternative solution is to deploy several renewable technologies, creating a more flexible system of supply that can counteract dips in production for a given source. Some renewable resources, such as hydropower and biomass, do not suffer with these problems of supply, but these both have their own challenges related to environmental impact, as noted above. In addition to this, some renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind farms, create complaints from local people who do not want to live near them.
However, this is not always the case, as shown by the example of Ardossan Wind Farm in Scotland, where most local residents believe the farm enhanced the area. Furthermore, a study by the UK Government found that, "projects are generally more likely to succeed if they have broad public support and the consent of local communities.
This means giving communities both a say and a stake. Non-renewable energy comes from sources that will either run out or not be replenished for thousands or millions of years.
These include fossil fuels, such as coal, and natural gases that are burned to generate electricity. Renewable energy is important as it has the potential to provide a ready supply of power without using natural resources. There is also a lower risk of environmental problems like fuel spills and minimal issues with emissions, while also reducing the need for imported fuels. With reliable supplies and fuel diversification, renewable energy could meet our power needs for years to come. The effectiveness of renewable energy depends upon the resource being used.
Some renewable sources are more readily available and effective than others, while some, such as geothermal are of great use in some locations and not in others due to accessibility. Iceland, for example, has ample geothermal resources, while places like the highlands of Scotland are well-suited to wind power.
In other areas, solar energy is best suited while the United States has invested in hydroelectric power. Each type of renewable energy has benefits and drawbacks, often related to supply, meaning that the best solution is often to use a variety of types of resource in together. A study of nations around the world found that Germany uses the highest amount of renewable energy with This was followed by the UK Clearly, much work needs to be done to increase these usage rates in order to reach a completely renewable future, but this need is driving industry forward and creating opportunities in this sector.
Renewable energy sources will not run out — at least not for many millions of years in the case of the sun, for example. They provide a viable alternative to non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels while many are also environmentally friendly and produce little of no CO2. The hope is that renewable energy will one day replace fossil fuels.
There is a finite amount of coal and oil on the planet, so these will eventually run out. This means that the future needs to be renewable. In addition the environmental benefits of a clean, green and renewable energy future are becoming increasingly obvious as global warming continues. To fully replace fossil fuels, there will be a need to continue innovating renewable energy solutions. This reduces transmission costs. Distributed generation tends to yield the largest returns in locations where it averts the need to increase transmission capacity.
There are many other uses of each technology. Although a complete list of the benefits of renewable technologies can be very extensive, they can be categorized under four headings: environment, diversification, sustainability and economics.
Renewable resources are environmentally benign. Renewable energy facilities generally have a very modest impact on their surrounding environment. The discharges of unwanted or unhealthy substances into the air, ground or water commonly associated with other forms of generation can be reduced significantly by deploying renewables. Clean technologies can also produce significant indirect economic benefits.
For example, unlike fossil-fuel facilities, renewable facilities will not need to be fitted with scrubbing technology to mitigate air pollution, nor will a country need to expend resources in cleaning up polluted rivers or the earth around sites contaminated with fossil-fuel by-products.
Furthermore, they provide greenhouse gas reduction benefits and should a worldwide market for air emission credits emerge as has been predicted, countries with a strong portfolio of renewable energy projects may be able to earn pollution credits which can be exchanged for hard currency. Finally, having a clean environmental profile enhances the attractiveness of renewable projects in the eyes of investors, especially the multilateral development agencies, many of whom operate under guidelines that require the promotion of non-polluting technologies.
Renewable resources promote energy diversification. In effect, the construction of a renewable energy project provides future generations a low cost, energy facility that produces power with little or no environmental degradation. Renewable resources are sustainable. Reduced dependence on fuel imports reduces exposure to currency fluctuations and fuel price volatility.
Renewable energy projects thus act as engines for regional economic development. In the case of large scale, on-grid projects, easements will need to be purchased and local workers hired to construct and operate the facility.
Frequently, a local industry such as a sugar mill or a paper mill when biomass technology is employed will be associated with the development, enhancing the opportunities for joint ventures between local landowners and private investors who may supply technological expertise.
Smaller scale facilities often attract local private sector involvement. Local involvement, in turn, stimulates new economic activity in a multiplier effect and adds value to the local tax base. Appendix A provides concise descriptions of renewable energy technologies, their applications and environmental impacts. Universally, the goal of electric power generation planners is to deliver electricity to the maximum number of customers at the lowest possible price.
The political acceptability of power generated from any source will depend upon the ultimate tariff to the consumer relative to the benefits delivered. Does renewable energy generate affordable power? On a total cost basis, a new, renewable energy, generating facility is often cost competitive with a conventional fuel facility provided that the cost calculation considers long-term fuel costs - and even more so when one considers environmental costs and benefits.
Since this generalization is not true in every situation confronting the policy planner, the policy planner will need to apply cost-effectiveness criteria adapted to each situation.
What are the applicable cost-effectiveness evaluation criteria? Any given electric generating technology including renewables may be cost effective in one market or application and not in another. There is no simple calculus a policy maker can apply, but a number of established criteria will assist in determining the financial viability of renewable energy generation.
The quality and quantity of the resource. Quality and quantity of renewable resources may be determined by a government-conducted resource assessment, but private-sector developers commonly have their own pre-feasibility and feasibility studies which can be more accurate measures of the commercial viability of a given project.
The measures of resource quality and quantity are unique to each resource, but for each of the renewables, resource quality and quantity affects the energy input to, and the effective capacity of a generation facility.
In geothermal resource development, for example, the temperature of the resource and the dissolved impurities determine the requisite production equipment. The bars of different heights show provincial capacities as follows:. All the hydroelectric stations in Canada generated This accounted for Canada is the second largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world. Hydroelectric stations have been developed in Canada where the geography and hydrography were favourable, particularly in Quebec.
Other areas producing large quantities of hydroelectricity include British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, and Ontario. Bioenergy comprises different forms of usable energy obtained from materials referred to as biomass. A biomass is a biological material in solid, liquid or gaseous form that has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. Excluded from this definition is organic material that has been transformed over long periods of time by geological processes into substances such as coal or petroleum.
Several types of biomass can be used, with the proper technology and equipment, to produce energy. The most commonly used type of biomass is wood, either round wood or wood waste from industrial activities. Wood and wood waste can be combusted to produce heat used for industrial purposes, for space and water heating, or to produce steam for electricity generation.
Through anaerobic digestion, methane can be produced from solid landfill waste or other biomass materials such as sewage, manure and agricultural waste. Sugars can be extracted from agricultural crops and, through distillation, alcohols can be produced for use as transportation fuels. As well, numerous other technologies exist or are being developed to take advantage of other biomass feedstock.
With its large landmass and active forest and agricultural industries, Canada has access to large and diversified biomass resources that can be used for energy production. Currently, bioenergy is the second most important form of renewable energy in Canada. Historically, the use of wood has been very important in Canada for space and water heating, as well as for cooking.
It is still important today, as 4. Every year, over petajoules of energy from wood are consumed in the residential sector, representing more than 7 per cent of residential energy use. The most important type of biomass in Canada is industrial wood waste, especially waste from the pulp and paper industry, which is used to produce electricity and steam.
Every year, more than petajoules of bioenergy are used in the industrial sector. The pulp and paper industry is by far the largest industrial user of bioenergy, which accounts for more than half of the energy used in this industry. At the end of , Canada had 70 bioenergy power plants with a total installed capacity of 2, megawatts, and most of this capacity was built around the use of wood biomass and spent pulping liquor, as well as landfill gas.
In , 8. Most of the biomass-fired capacity was found in provinces with significant forestry activities: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and New Brunswick.
Biofuels — or fuels from renewable sources — are a growing form of bioenergy in Canada. In , Canada accounted for 2 per cent of world biofuels production 5 th highest in the world after the United States, Brazil, the European Union and China.
There are two main biofuel types produced in Canada: ethanol a gasoline substitute and biodiesel a diesel substitute.
The principal agriculture feedstock for producing ethanol, in Canada includes corn, wheat and barley.
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