Renewable and Non-renewable energy sources

Renewable energy sources

• Renewable energy sources are energy sources that
can be replenished over short period of time.
• e.g. solar energy, wind energy, hydro-energy,
geothermal energy
Non - renewable energy sources
• Non - renewable energy sources are the energy
sources that cannot be replenished over short period
of time.
• e.g. coal, fossil fuels, nuclear fuels

Education for the Real World

Generating electricity using renewable
energy sources
Solar energy
Solar Energy is the energy from the Sun.  The Sun is
a big ball of heat and light resulting from nuclear
fusion at its core.  The nuclear reaction releases
energy that travels outward to the surface of the
Sun.

Education for the Real World

Solar Panel

Solar panels absorb energy from the sun and converted

into electrical energy.
Most solar energy is collected through photovoltaic cells,
typically made of silicon that acts as a semiconductor.
The sun's rays contain heat and radiation. When the rays
hit the surface of the silicon cells, they cause a release of
electrons that roam freely.

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Energy conversions take place in solar panel

Heat energy from Electrical energy

the sun
Block diagram of solar panel
Solar panel transformer

Advantage
• Low running cost
• No major pollution
• It is renewable energy source

Disadvantage
• Low efficiency
• Covers a large area
• Availability varies
• Amount of current produced by solar cells is usually too small to
power devices that need large amount of electricity.
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Wind energy

Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the

uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the
irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the
earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth's
terrain, bodies of water, and vegetation. Humans use
this wind flow, or motion energy, for many purposes:
sailing, flying a kite, and even generating electricity.
In remote and exposed parts of the countries it is
common to see many wind mills grouped together to
form wind farms.

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Wind turbines
Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into
mechanical power. The generator in the wind turbine can
convert this mechanical power into electricity.

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 Energy conversions take place in wind mills
K.E of Mechanical energy Electrical
wind of the turbine & energy
generator

Block diagram of wind mills

Wind turbine Generator Transformer

Advantage
• Renewable energy source
• Non polluting

Disadvantage
• Wind is irregular
• They are noisy
• Occupies a lot of space
• Power generated is relatively small Education for the Real World
Geo-thermal Energy

The heat from the earth's own molten core can be

converted into electricity. This core consists primarily of
extremely high temperature liquid rock known as magma.
Temperature of the earth rises with increasing depth. The
heat energy to keep cover at this temperature comes
from the nuclear reaction which takes place in the core.

Education for the Real World

• Cold water is pumped down a bore hole several
kilometers deep into the hot granite rocks
underground. Waters comes up through a second
hole as steam at over 200°C
• This high pressure steam can be used to drive a
turbine and generate electricity
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 Energy conversions take place in geothermal power
station
Geothermal K.E o f Mechanical energy Electrical
energy steam of the turbine & energy
generator

Block diagram of geothermal power station

Hot rocks turbine Generator Transformer

Advantage
• Renewable energy source
• Low running cost
• High power can be generated
Disadvantage
• Pollute the atmosphere by releasing steam
• This technique is a very expensive process
• Destroy the land area
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Hydroelectric Energy

River and rain water fill up a lake behind dam. Water

rushes down from the lake and spin the turbine. The
turbine is connected to the generator, when the turbine
rotates generator also rotates and produce electricity.

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 Energy conversions take place in hydro - electric power station
P.E of the K.E o f Mechanical energy Electrical
water water of the turbine & energy
generator

Block diagram of hydro - electric power station

Dam turbine Generator Transformer

Advantages
• Low running cost
• It is renewable energy source

Disadvantages
• Building large dam cause flooding of vast area of land
• High building cost
• Water pollution
• Destroy the natural land area
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 Generating electricity using Non-
renewable energy sources
Fossil fuel/coal power station
• In thermal power station electricity is produced by burning non-
renewable energy sources like coal, oil, natural gas.
• Thermal power stations have boiler, turbines and generator. We
use these non-renewable energy sources (coal, oil, natural gas) as
a fuel for the generation of heat energy by burning it.
• As the heat energy is transferred into the boiler the water in boiler
starts to boil and evaporate the high pressurized steam.
• These high pressure steam passes to the turbine and it rotates as
a result the generator is turned on and produce electricity. Once
steam has passed through the turbines, it is cooled and
condensed (turned back into a liquid) so that it can be fed back to
the boiler and the process repeat.

Education for the Real World

Education for the Real World
 Energy conversions take place in fossil fuel / coal power station
Chemical K.E of Mechanical
Heat Electrica
energy steam energy
energy l
of the turbine &
generator energy
Block diagram of Fossil fuel/coal power station

Boiler turbine Generator Transformer

Advantage
• It requires less space to build up the power stations as
compared to other types of generators.
Disadvantage
• It pollutes the atmosphere due to production of large amount of
smoke and fumes. (air pollution, global warming, acid rain)
• Higher cost of running (for buying fuels).

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Nuclear power station
In nuclear power stations uranium is used as a fuel. In
the boiler the nuclear fuel (uranium) does not burn. But
its energy is released by nuclear reaction (nuclear
fission) which splits uranium atoms. Then the other
process works as fuel power station.

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 Energy conversions take place in Nuclear power station
Nuclear K.E of Mechanical
Heat
energy Electrica
energy energy steam
of the turbine & l
generator energy
Block diagram of Nuclear power station
Nuclea turbine Generator Transformer
r
reactor
Environmental impact
• It pollutes the atmosphere due to production of large
amount of smoke and fumes.
• It is dangerous to human body.
• Radioactive material mix with water and water
become radioactive.
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