Biomass Energy

Biomass energy is the use of organic material to generate energy. Biomass is just organic matter like wood pellets, grass clippings and even animal waste. Crops, like sugarcane and corn, can also be used to create biofuels. And because plant matter can be regrown, it’s a renewable source of energy.

Biomass can generate electricity in a number of ways, but the most common is combustion – burning agricultural waste or woody materials to heat water and produce steam, which spins turbines. In some biomass plants, excess steam can also be used in on-site manufacturing processes, or for heating. 

Pros and Cons of Biomass Energy

Biomass material is cheap as there is abundant plant waste. Using waste for energy can reduce the amount that ends up in a landfill. While growing energy crops could potentially yield a large energy supply, competition for available land likely prohibits such usage. Energy crops take up land which we could use for farming and housing. Also, it is not a very clean energy as burning of biomass will release greenhouse gases.

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy extracts heat naturally stored and generated with the earth and use for direct heating and electricity generation. To produce power from geothermal energy, wells are dug a mile deep into underground reservoirs to access the steam and hot water there, which can then be used to drive turbines connected to electricity generators. There are three types of geothermal power plants; dry steam, flash and binary.

Dry steam is the oldest form of geothermal technology and takes steam out of the ground and uses it to directly drive a turbine. Flash plants use high-pressure hot water into cool, low-pressure water whilst binary plants pass hot water through a secondary liquid with a lower boiling point, which turns to vapour to drive the turbine.

Pros and Cons of Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy is a source of renewable energy. The hot reservoirs within the Earth are naturally replenished, making it both renewable and sustainable. It has a low environmental impact which requires no fuel to operate. However, the installation cost is high. The locations where it can be exploited are limited, and there is a possibility that it  can trigger earthquakes.

Solar Energy

Solar Energy is energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy.

There are three main ways to generate solar energy: photovoltaics, solar heating & cooling and concentrating solar power. Solar Photovoltaic uses solar cells/panels to convert sunlight directly into electricity via photovoltaic effect. Solar heating & cooling (SHC) and concentrating solar power (CSP) applications both use the heat generated by the sun to provide space or water heating in the case of SHC systems, or to run traditional electricity-generating turbines in the case of CSP power plants.

Pros and Cons of Solar Energy

Both residential and commercial rooftop systems use solar power. Solar power is getting popular because it is a free energy supply. It is a clean energy with no air and water emissions. However, electricity cannot be generated at night nor on cloudy days. It is also expensive to install the equipment. 

87% of current worldwide commercial energy consumes fossil fuel which is a non-renewable energy. In the future, biomass energy will gradually displace the use of oil, and solar energy will displace the use of coal. Even so, there is still 54% energy consumption that uses fossil fuel. There is still lots of room to improve our energy efficiency.