Renewables-info.com

Coal is fossil fuel that has many negative environmental impacts, and the most harmful of them all  is global warming driven by carbon emissions which are released into the atmosphere by human activities connected with coal burning.

The latest report from North Carolina State University and the University of Colorado says that from 2008 to 2013, coal usage decreased from about 50 percent of U.S. power generation to around 30 percent, which is news that is certainly well accepted by many environmentalists.

However, the downside of this news is that this rapid decline in coal usage is not primarily related with strict environmental regulations but rather with less expensive natural gas and the availability of wind energy.

Germany is second in terms of installed solar power capacity, trailing only global leader China. German solar industry experienced tremendous increase in installed power capacity in 2008-2012 period but since then the new solar power installations have been declining steadily.

But it looks like Germany's solar industry is back on track, this time characterized by steady and slower growth and not like in its prime years by meteoric rise in PV installations.

It is expected that German solar power capacity growth should reach the 2.5GW annual expansion target this year. A few years ago, Germany introduced subsidy degression dependent on capacity growth. As a result of this solar subsidies declined gradually, and in 2016 Germany decided to shift subsidies for solar installations above 750kW from a guaranteed payment model to competitive tenders.

Tidal power is renewable energy source that converts the energy of tides into electricity. Many areas in the world have constant and predictable tidal resources which can in turn lead to very efficient source of energy. However, tidal power technologies are still in infancy and in need of major evolution in order to become relevant in global energy supply.

Scientists estimate that about 80% of the energy from tides are located in areas of over 40 meters of depth, and this in combination with the current technological development leads to high construction costs. This is why tidal energy sector needs new technologies that are able to operate in areas where it is expensive to install first generation devices such as large structures held to the seabed.

Canada, and some European countries have already started testing first experimental parks based on devices set on the seabed, called of the first generation but lately there has also been talk about systems of the second generation which have anchors and a series of cables that hold the device to the seabed.

Human population continues with its rapid growth. By the end of this century there will likely be more than 11 billion people living on this planet. The increase in human population leads to increase in global energy demand. The next logical question that pops out is which energy sources will be used to satisfy growing demand for more power?

Many energy analysts agree that renewable energy sources will hold keys to future energy security. This doesn't mean that fossil fuels will be completely phased out in the foreseeable future, what it means is that renewable energy will play much bigger, even crucial role, in helping the global battle with ever-growing energy consumption.

According to the most recent estimates world will need 124 percent more energy in 2100, so there will be tremendous pressure on renewable energy sources to deliver the goods. This means that renewable energy sources will not only have to address certain issues such as intermittency but will also need to become more efficient.

The opponents of renewable energy development usually point to the intermittency of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind when discussing the major setbacks of the current renewable energy development. They even say that the increased renewable energy generation can lead to unreliable grid and cause problematic energy supply.

Several studies have proved otherwise. Last year's study commissioned by the US government concluded that the stability of energy supply is not being threatened by the increase in renewable energy generation.

The latest report by the IEEFA (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis) also says that major power systems can cope with increasing shares of intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, if the appropriate measures are taken.