About Renewable Energy Sources
Wind
According to this article, the British Wind Energy Association believes we could get 20% of our energy from wind.
You can find out more about wind energy here.
The Sea
According to the Carbon Trust, we could get 20% of our energy from the sea. It’s a good option for us because we’re an island and we have a lot of sea.
Wave power involves putting a heavy floating thing on the sea. The floating thing is attached to a cord, which is attached to a turbine. The movement of the waves pulls the floating thing up and down, which in turn pulls the cord, which makes the turbine turn. Then the turbine creates electricity.
Tidal power involves using the power of the tides to move things and turn turbines, rather than the power of the waves.
You can find out more about wave and tidal power here.
Microgeneration
Researchers at Oxford University believe we could get 40% of our energy from microgeneration.
Rather than using big, centralized power stations, ‘microgen’ involves putting smaller renewable power generators in homes and communities. A wind turbine on your roof, a community CHP plant, or solar panels on church roofs are all examples of microgeneration.
This type of decentralized energy makes sense because in the current centralized system – with a few big power stations feeding a national grid -about 66% of our electricity is wasted at the power station and in the journey from power station to home, according to Greenpeace.
You can find out more about microgeneration at the Energy Savings Trust and Better Generation. If you install microgen in your home or community, Good Energy will pay you for all of the electricity you generate.
Biomass and solar
According to this article, we could get 5% of our energy from biomass and solar.
You know about solar power: photovoltaic cells take energy from the sun and convert it into electricity. It’s still quite expensive and inefficient in this country – you can find out more here.
There’s also solar thermal, which involves putting things like radiators on roofs and heating water in them using the sun. This is one of the most popular forms of microgeneration. You can find out more here.
Biomass, ‘formerly known as wood’ is a generic term which means taking organic matter – food waste, trees, etc, and turning it into energy by a variety of means.
You can find out more about biomass here.
