Renewable energy resources are those—unlike coal and fossil fuel—that are continuously being replenished over time (BBC). Wind and biomass are some of the many alternative energy resources used today. These alternative resources of energy does not produce greenhouse gases thus, they are environmentally friendly. However, both renewable energy resources also have their downsides.
While wind has a zero net emission of CO2 the biomass fuel cycle emits a negligible amount of CO2 during electricity production since the greenhouse gas is fixed by plants. At optimum conditions a wind turbine has the capacity to produce at least 500kW of electricity where the estimated cost of generation is US$ 0.07 per kWh. The energy input–output ratio is 1:5 during the 30-year life of the system (Nalan, Murat and Nuri, 1432). The downside of wind energy is the fact that it is an intermittent resource. There will be instances where power is switched on at a specific time or day (Nalan, Murat and Nuri, 1434).
Biomass energy encompasses fuel wood, agricultural residues, animal wastes, charcoal and other fuels derived from biological sources. Electricity produced from methane gas released by biomass under a 40% efficiency process yields a unit cost of 1.5 euro cents. But the total cost would be 2.8 euro cents since operations and management cost would also cover gas purifications (0.5 euro cents), gas collection and power transmission losses along with safe disposal of hazardous waste from gas purification (0.2 euro cents) (Nalan, Murat and Nuri, 1432-1433). While wind energy is concerned with locating wind sources, biomass deals with issues on land area. Another downside of biomass is that it may also degrade soil quality during waste production and may also result in competition of land use for food and fuel supply. Further, it is also difficult to collect large amounts of biomass wastes because of such disperse nature—availability is seasonal. Biomass gas is also difficult to transport. Annual productions of biomass fluctuate from year to year and also depend on the production and economic value of plants (Nalan, Murat and Nuri, 1435).
Works Cited
BBC. “Renewable and Non-renewable Energy Resources.” BBC. (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/energy_resources/energy_rev1.shtml.
Nalan, Cicek B., Ozturk Murat and Ozek Nuri. “Renewable Energy Market Conditions and Barriers in Turkey.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13 (2009) 1428–1436.
