RENEWAL ENERGY
OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE IS NOW !
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.
Renewable energy sources make up 26% of the world’s electricity today, but according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) its share is expected to reach 30% by 2024.
In the future, it’s expected that the number of renewable energy sources will continue to increase as we see an increase in demand for power. This will drive down the price of renewables – great for the planet, and great for our wallets.
Sunlight is one of our planet’s most abundant and freely available energy resources. The amount of solar energy that reaches the earth’s surface in one hour is more than the planet’s total energy requirements for a whole year. 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. Solar energy is an increasingly popular way to supplement your energy usage.
SOLAR ENERGY
WIND ENERGY
Wind is a plentiful source of clean energy. Wind farms are an increasing in Europe 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. Although domestic or ‘off-grid’ generation systems are available, not every property is suitable for a domestic wind turbine. Find out more about wind energy on our wind power page.
HYDRO ENERGY
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. Like wind energy, in certain situations hydro can be more viable as a commercial energy source (dependant on type and compared to other sources of energy) but depending very much on the type of property, it can be used for domestic, ‘off-grid’ generation.
TIDAL ENERGY
This is another form of hydro energy that uses twice-daily tidal currents to drive turbine generators. Although tidal flow unlike some other hydro energy sources isn’t constant, it is highly predictable and can therefore compensate for the periods when the tide current is low.
BIOMASS ENERGY
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.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
By harnessing the natural heat below the earth’s surface, geothermal energy can be used to heat homes directly or to generate electricity.