Renewable Energy is generated from natural resources

When we talk about renewable energy we talk about energy that is being generated from natural resources such as wind, tides, rain and sunlight as well as geothermal heat which are all naturally replenished. As early as 2006 there was already around 18% of energy coming from renewable and only 13% still coming from the conventional biomass and then something like 3% from hydroelectricity. Sources that are being used such as biomass, geothermal, solar heating, wind turbines, bio fuels are all considered new renewable energy and have accounted for 2.4% usage recently but is increasing extremely rapidly. The use of renewable energy is becoming of the utmost importance especially when we look at the rising electricity costs as well as the effects of climate change. Renewable energy resources are within everyone’s reaches not only the commercial industry but homeowners as well. There are numerous options to chose from that require affordable and reasonable financial investments and one can save even more by taking advantage of state and federal tax as well as other incentives and rebates. There are several ways in which homeowners can power as well as heat their homes using renewable energy. Let us discuss some of these products as well as the cost and advantages.

The most popular renewable energy sources on the market right now are wind turbines which can reduce your electricity bills by 15% or more. Wind turbines are eligible for state, utility and federal tax incentives and credits and the smaller turbines cost around $1000 to $5000. Although one needs to do some research to see if the wind conditions are suitable and if the turbine will be passed by your Home Owners Association as they can be noisy. Then there are solar panels which can be installed at a residential home or offices and factories. Solar panels can reduce your total costs by around 50% and these cost anything between $10 and $20 thousand. Another renewable energy source is solar hot water systems which cost $7 to $15 thousand and save you up to 50% on geyser heating. Farmers are now using biomass combustion boilers. One would use scrap wood mixed with other biomass and this is used to create steam and electricity in conjunction with a turbine and generator as a form of renewable energy.