Wat r t various types of renewable energy resources that can be employed for generation of electrical energy?

Question

and also suggest some methods for the generation of bio fuels...

Answer 1

Sunlight - solar panels. Water eg tidal variation or waterfall to drive a turbine, Wind as in windfarms. Pedal power when you pedal your cycle dynamo.

Answer 2

This is a question with a HUGE answer and there are lots of books out there - Godfrey Boyles Renewable Energy covers all of them. Basically most renewable energy sources come from the sun whether it's solar photovoltaic (PV) panels which produce electricity or solar thermal panels which use the sun's power to directly heat water (over half of our domestic energy use is for heating and hot water - electricity is only a part of the equation), wind power as our weather patterns are all a product of the sun's power, or ground source heat pumps which rely on the grounds ability to retain the heat of the sun. In addition to these are geothermal - which taps into the heat generated by the earth's core, hydro power from flowing water and tidal.

Biomass (burning anything recently living - from wood and straw to rubbish) is not always "renewable" as there isn't an infinite supply of it but it is generally treated as "carbon-neutral" as the carbon realeased into the atmosphere is only that absorbed in the lifetime of the growing matter that is burnt (but it still takes energy to harvest, process and deliver it). For it to be renewable it must be replanted and regrown. Biodiesel is created by fermenting living matter and then refining the alcohol thus created. It can then be used to replace diesel although a lot of older diesel engines will happily run on half and half diesel and vegetable oil. Whilst it might seem like the magic solution to the oil problem remember that we have a limited amount of space on the planet and where food crops are being replaced with fuel crops or, worst of all, rainforest is cleared to provide growing space then not only does it exacerbate the problems of climate change but it also causes food shortages in some of the countries who can least afford them (If we wanted to run all the vehicles in the UK on biodiesel we would require a growing space over that of the area of the UK to grow the stuff). The Centre for Alternative Technology provides a wide range of tipsheet, books and courses on all of these topics and more and operate a free information service.

Answer 3

Photo Voltaics and wind are the two most common.

You can make your own windmill for less than $5k, that will power your whole house.

The sun will make more power per acre than any other type of energy over the course of your life time.

Here's a link to some real world applications of Renewable Energy used today.