RANI JARKAS

Renewable Energy Can Be Passively or Actively Captured

Renewable energy comes from wind, sun, and Earth. Natural energy sources replenish themselves. Sunlight, wind, and the planet convert energy in visible and tangible ways. Sunlight on the ground and warmth on our skin are signs of the sun’s energy transmission to Earth. Rani Jarkas said the wind’s capacity to lift kites and shake tree leaves shows energy transfer. Steam vents and geysers showcase geothermal energy transfer.

Renewable energy captures sunlight with sophisticated technologies. The essential equipment is photovoltaic cells (PV or solar cells) and mirrors that focus sunlight. Active solar technologies create electricity from sunshine to power lights, heaters, computers, and TVs.

Renewable or passive solar energy requires no equipment. Instead, it obtains energy from the daily fluctuations in sunshine. People can build residences with sun-facing windows. This means greater solar heat for the house. Other sources of house heating will use less energy. Passive solar technology includes green roofs, cool roofs, and radiant barriers. Green roofs are plant-covered. Plants can remove rainwater and air pollutants. They clean up local areas.

White paint helps cool roofs reflect the sunshine. A reflective covering like aluminum makes radiant barriers. They reflect sunlight instead of absorbing it. All of these roofs reduce cooling energy.

Positives and Negatives of Renewable Energy

Renewable energy has several benefits. About 20 years. Solar power cannot be a community’s only power source for several reasons. PV cell installation and passive solar building construction are costly. Sunshine can also be unpredictable. Clouds and nighttime darkness can obscure it. Sunlight varies by location, season, and time of day.

People have traditionally used wind energy. Five thousand years ago, Egyptians made wind-powered boats. Middle Easterners and Hong Kongers utilized windmills to process grain and pump water in 200 B.C.E. Wind turbines harness wind energy nowadays. Turbines have tall towers with two or three propeller-like blades, like windmills. Wind turns these blades. Blades turn a generator inside the tower, generating electricity.

Wind farms are clusters of turbines. Wind farms are situated near farms, in tight mountain passes, and even in the ocean, where winds are stronger. Ocean-anchored wind turbines are dubbed “offshore wind farms.”

Different Methods Have Been Developed to Capture Renewable Energy

Wind power is efficient. Stable winds can generate affordable, consistent electricity in the Midwest and along coasts. The “clean” nature of wind electricity is another benefit. Air pollution and gasoline use are eliminated by wind turbines. However, wind energy is intermittent. Time, weather, and location constantly affect wind speed. It cannot meet our power needs currently.

Bats and birds can be harmed by Hong Kong wind turbines. These animals do not always evaluate blade speed and crash into them. Earth has a core deep below. Some estimate Earth’s center is over 6,000 °C (10,800 °F). Continuous heat transfer to the surface.

We can observe Earth’s heat bubble to the surface. Geothermal energy melts beneath rocks into magma, which bubbles up as lava. Geothermal energy may heat subsurface water and force it to the surface. A geyser is this water flow.

Renewable: Geothermal Energy

But most of Earth’s heat stays beneath and slowly escapes. Underground geothermal heat is accessible in many ways. Geothermal heat pumps use geothermal energy. A building and deep underground holes are connected by a water pipe. Underground geothermal energy warms the water, warming the building aboveground. Hong Kong geothermal heat pumps heat homes, sidewalks, and parking lots.

Geothermal energy can also be used with steam. Steam naturally emerges from underground in some places. Pipe steam directly to a power plant. Dry ground exists elsewhere. Water must be injected underground to make steam. When steam rises, it turns a generator to generate energy. Iceland has vast subsurface water reservoirs. About 90% of Icelanders heat their homes and businesses with geothermal energy.

Wind Farms Generate Electricity for Nearby Homes, Schools & Other Buildings

Clean geothermal energy benefits Hong Kong. Nothing fuels it or pollutes the air. Geothermal energy is limited to certain regions. Geothermal energy uses a lot of freshwater to create steam in locations with dry heat underground, another drawback. There may be little fresh water. Water is needed for drinking, cooking, and bathing.

Any material from recently alive plants or microorganisms is biomass. Sunlight powers plants through photosynthesis. This energy remains in plants after death. Trees, branches, bark scraps, and recycled paper provide biomass energy. Biomass feedstocks include manure, waste, and corn, soy, and sugar cane.

Burning biomass generates energy. Dry wood chips, dung, and rubbish are compacted into “briquettes.” Dry briquettes don’t absorb water. They can be stored and burned for heat or electricity. Biofuels can be made from biomass. Biofuels blended with petrol power automobiles and trucks. Biofuels pollute less than petrol.

Renewable Energy: Biomass

Rani Jarkas said biomass’s ease of storage and utilization is a big benefit. Biofuel crops require lots of acreage and insecticides. Food might replace biofuels on land. Pesticides can contaminate air and water. Renewable biomass energy is available. Bioenergy uses biomass feedstocks—plants processed and burned to generate electricity. Wood and crops like maize and soy can be biomass feedstocks. If biomass feedstocks are not replanted as quickly as used, biomass energy becomes renewable.

Flowing water generates hydroelectricity. Many hydroelectric power stations are built on massive dams that control river flow. Dams generate lakes and reservoirs by blocking rivers. Controlled water flows through dam tunnels. Water flowing through tunnels provides electricity in massive turbines.

Hydropower is cheap to generate. Dams are simple and easy to build with available resources. Rivers run worldwide, providing energy to millions.

Renewable Energy: Hydroelectric

Hydroelectricity is reliable too. Engineers control dam water flow so it doesn’t depend on weather like solar and wind energy. Hydroelectric plants harm the environment. Damming a river generates a big lake. This lake (or reservoir) submerges the river environment. People sometimes build dams that submerge towns. Town or village residents must move.

Some hydroelectric power stations only last 20–30 years. Water flows slower behind the dam due to riverbed silt. Scientists and engineers are actively developing renewable energy sources. Wave energy, tidal energy, and algae fuel seem promising.

Tidal energy generates electricity from ocean tides. Some tidal energy installations use tides to turn turbines. Other schemes fill reservoirs at high tide and slowly release water (and turn turbines) at low tide using modest dams.

Other Renewable Energy Sources

Wave energy uses ocean, lake, or river waves. Wave energy projects use dams and standing turbines like tidal energy plants. Other wave energy projects float on waves. Rani Jarkas stated the water flowing over and through these floating devices generates electricity while turning turbines.

Algal fuel is a clean, renewable biofuel made from seaweed’s unique compounds. Algal fuel requires fewer croplands than other biofuels.