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There are several types of renewable energy that are more common than others. These can be used for the home and/or for transportation. They are solar, wind, water, geothermal, biomass, and biofuel.

Let's start with solar power. We can use solar to heat the entire home and/or hot water tank. Depending on where you live you can greatly benefit this source of energy. If you live where you get lots of sun this might be one of the best choices. I have found some other ways that solar energy is used as: solar cells, concentrated solar power, solar updraft tower, solar building design, solar ovens, solar thermal panels, solar chimneys, solar power satellites, and solar air conditioning

Wind power has been around for several years and then whittled away. Now it is making a comeback. The most recent one, that I have heard, was put up in Jiminy Peak Ski Mountain Resort and one in the works is a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Depending on the size of the wind turbine it can power between 100 kilowatts (single home) to 5 million watts or 5 megawatts. Wind power produces no greenhouse gases during operation. The best places that you will find these are windy places such as the coast lines, open plains and hills/mountains.

Hydropower has been around for years, at first to turn a paddlewheel for grinding grain. Then, it was used for irrigation and flood control, but is also used to produce electricity. The places you will find hydropower is on water. The first U.S. plant opened on Fox River in Wisconsin.

Geothermal energy comes in the form of geysers, hot springs, volcanoes and fumaroles. There are three main uses of geothermal: direct use and district heating systems use hot water from springs or reservoirs near the surface; electricity generation in a power plant requires water or steam at very high temperature (300 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit), and are built where geothermal reservoirs are located within a mile or two of the surface; and geothermal heat pumps use stable ground or water temperatures near the earth's surface to control building temperatures above ground. A lesser known geothermal energy is called ocean thermal-energy conversion (OTEC). This is used by the temperature difference of the ocean tides that rise and fall twice daily to produce power.

Biomass energy can be burned or converted into other forms of reusable energy like gas. The forms it used are wood, garbage, crops, and manure. Wood is the most common form that we use, in most homes, as a source of heat and cooking. Garbage, a.k.a. municipal solid waste (MSW) comes from our everyday trash. Burning MSW in waste-to-energy plants produces steam to either heat or create electricity. Biogas comes from our landfills once it rots and releases methane gas, and used as a fuel source. When burned, biomass can pollute the air but not as much as fossil fuels.

When it comes to transportation we look for lower fuel cost and to become less dependent on foreign oil. Biofuel is an alternative fuel source. This comes from our crops that we grow (ethanol) and vegetable oil (biodiesel). Hydrogen is the one of the complicated ways to create as fuel. All of these help lower or remove emissions.

I find it amazing that some of this renewable energy has actually been around for years. It reminds me of the saying, "history repeating itself". Now we are taking what was learned all those years ago and making it better to fit our modern day technology. Just by more people being involved with any of these renewable energies will help us be independent from foreign oil and slow down global warming.

Learn more about this author, Elaine Thigpen.
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