To live a comfortable life amid electricity for our homes, schools, offices, energy sources play vital roles. We also need an energy source for our vehicles to run. Not just this, the need for energy resources is everywhere from massive industries to small scale businesses.
Some older energy sources like natural gas, oils found via offshore exploration in a deep sea, and coal are considered as conventional energy sources. For example, powering electricity via water is the standard/conventional way of utilizing resources, and we are still using it.
However, the question is, how often, and how long the conventional resources are going to be available. The answer could be uncertain, but the solution is Unconventional energy sources.
What are Unconventional Energy sources?
The term refers to the renewable or, we can say, unlimited energy source. The best example is wind energy. As compared to traditional energy sources like water or coal, unconventional sources are pretty much new. Hence, the majority of the time, they are not considered as standard resources of energy.
Moreover, renewable energy sources are much less harmful to the environment compared to the energy generated from fossil fuels.
Nowadays, there are some resources like oils found in the deep sea that are unconventional too. New technologies are also helping to retrieve the locations holding oil sources. Drilling down to get to the sources with more modern technology is getting easier these days.
After speaking a lot on Unconventional resources, it’s only fair to talk about their advantages. To dig deeper, why not talk about some obvious and simple examples that are easy to notice.
Read More: Sustainable Energy in the Eyes of Douglas Healy
Most Common Unconventional Energy Sources:
● Solar energy:
As the name suggests, using sunlight and heat to generate an eco-friendly power is the primary use of solar energy.
Everyone has seen solar panels or photovoltaic cells over the building to heat the water AKA solar water heaters. But this is just a small scale example.
Hundreds of photovoltaic cells arranged on a field or a farm produces a considerably right amount of electrical energy from sun rays. Even some vehicles and smart devices use solar energy too.
As sunlight or heat is infinite, the biggest benefit is long term and unlimited usability, maintaining the health and environment.
● Wind energy
Converting wind energy into electricity using turbines is a great way to generate eco-friendly energy. Newer technology makes it more efficient.
Depending on how many turbines are used to create power, wind energy can generate a large amount of power It’s no surprise that using top notch and latest techniques, wind energy can power up a large enterprise.
Wind energy does not contribute to air pollution at all; hence it is safer and environment-friendly to use.
● Oceans
Generating thermal or mechanical energy is possible via the ocean. A warm water surface is an excellent unconventional source of thermal energy. Moreover, it is easy to predict the estimate of wave energy. The energy that we get from oceans, be it thermal or offshore deep oil resources, is consistent.
● Biomass
Biomass is essential to generate bioenergy, which is an environment-friendly resource. Bioenergy can be generated by burning biomass or harnessing methane gas. Biomass energy could be beneficial for environmental balance. By reusing the waste, bioenergy can generate electricity or heating/cooling effects for the schools or hospitals. These are some of the sources of renewable energy. Thanks to new methods and technology that finding energy sources in the environment has become easier.
