Your Questions About Sustainable Energy

admin answers:

There are several kinds of renewable or sustainable energy sources and these are different.

Renewable energy is what is there on our planet, that you can use and there will be more tomorrow, without you having to do anything. Those types of energy are solar and wind energy. You can capture these sources of energy fairly “easily”. (There are also geothermal, tidal and hydro electricity but those are not available everywhere – but they are all still renewable energy)

Sustainable energy comes from sources that you can keep going without reducing the availability (if you replace them). This would include wood, for instance. You can cut and burn wood for energy and replace it by planting more trees.

These are all different from non-renewable and non-sustainable sources, such as coal, oil and gas which are non renewable and non sustainable.

My personal interests would lie in (a) solar energy and (b) wood. In the northern part of the UK, the sun doesn’t always shine as much as we would like but wood grows well, so you get the use of both in case of need.

admin answers:

Solar power; Geothermal power; Windmills; Wave power and Tidal power are all necessary if we are to reduce our reliance on coal, gas and uranium to a sustainable level.

I personally am also interested in powering a laptop from a stationary bicycle with a fly wheel and generator.