Renewable Energy Articles

The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is now available and will be administered by the energy regulator Ofgem.

The RHI will support and reward households who move away from fossil fuels for heating their homes. Use this helpful guide on how to apply and what the benefits will be.

The Americans are using more energy with each new year. The latest report by the US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory showed that in 2013 Americans used 2.3 quadrillion thermal units more than in 2012. The increase included all energy sectors: renewable energy sources, fossil fuels, and even nuclear energy.

The increased use of energy, especially in relation to increased fossil fuel use, has resulted in growth in US carbon dioxide emissions which have increased to 5,390 million metric tons, representing the first increase in emissions since 2010.

The most significant increase refers to wind energy sector. Wind energy use increased by 18% in 2013 as compared to 2012, mostly because of the installation of new gigantic turbines on many of new wind farms that have much better output as compared to previous wind farms.

Hydropower is still the most important renewable energy source in United States, accounting for approximately 7% of total US electricity generation. Nonetheless, hydropower could provide even more clean electricity because US seem to have plenty of untapped hydropotential.

The latest report claims that United have around 65GW of untapped hydropower capacity across the three million river and streams in the country which theoretically means that United States could approximately double its current hydrocapacity by harnessing this untapped hydro potential.

Hydropower is much cleaner energy source than coal and natural gas (currently the primary two sources of electricity generation in the country) so going for more hydro instead of staying with these two would lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The currently operational hydrolectric stations across the United States are said to offset aproximately 200 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year.

Wind energy is becoming important source of energy in many countries of the world. Large wind farms with hundreds of turbines are becoming a rather common site in many places. In order for wind farm to generate maximum possible amount of power, wind energy developers need to ensure the optimum design for each wind farm.

In most cases there are complex computer models that do the work in terms of design. These programs need to find optimal solutions on spacing and orienting individual turbines to maximize their efficiency. The more power wind farm produces the bigger the revenue, so developers need to make sure every possible factor is included into program prior to construction.

There is no such thing as universal wind farm design because everything depends upon location and weather patterns on this location, meaning that developers need to come up with specific designs for each new location, in order to achieve maximum efficiency. 

The 2007 White Paper “Meeting the Energy Challenge” is the UK government’s international and domestic energy strategy designed to address long term energy challenges faced by the UK.  It aims to deliver four key policy goals:

• To put the UK on a path to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050, with real progress being seen by 2020.
• To promote competitive markets in the UK and beyond, helping to increase the rate of sustainable economic growth and to improve productivity.
• To maintain reliable energy supplies in the UK.
• To ensure that every home in the UK is adequately and affordably heated.

The policy also recognises that the UK will need 30-35GW of new electricity generation capacity over the coming two decades as many of our current coal and nuclear power stations reach the end of their lives.