Advantages And Disadvantages Of Renewable Resources | Types, Meaning, Pros and Cons

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Renewable Resources: Ever since we have started studying the environment we are quite aware of two types of resources- Renewable Resources and Non-Renewable Resources. Now today we are going to talk about Renewable Resources.  Renewable Resources are those which can replenish themselves after a certain period of depletion or a part of their whole’s depletion. It means that it can be gained back again after a certain period or maybe immediately. Wind Energy, Solar energy, and Hydro-energy are examples of Renewable Resources. Here, in this article, we will learn more about Renewable Resources and their advantages and disadvantages of Renewable Resources.

Renewable Resources are those types of resources that can be used over and over again without the fear of depletion. In fact most of the time when you hear the word Alternative Energy, it is meant and directly related to Renewable Resources. Only, the reason is once the Non- Renewable Resources are finished and depleted completely, Renewable Resources act as an alternative to them and hence fulfill the energy requirements. Renewable Resources are also known as Flow Resources. Also, these resources can be called perpetual resources as the chances of depletion of these resources are beyond the human life scale.

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Types of Renewable Resources

All the resources which we receive naturally from the environment are known as Renewable Resources. These types of resources include Solar Energy hydraulic energy and wind energy. Apart from these energy sources, there are also renewable minerals but they are not relevant here so we are not going to talk about them. Let’s discuss all of these Renewable Resources one by one.

Solar energy: Solar energy is one of the most abundantly available and free of cost energy which we get from the natural resource that is the sun. You might have seen, nowadays big buildings and big cooperations have installed Solar panels in their office and even households are trying to go more natural in the terms of energy consumption and have a solar panel. The use of natural energy especially solar energy has seen a great boom in the past couple of years.

Wind energy: Wind energy is said to be the cleanest form of energy to be used when it comes to the use of Renewable Resources. Wind energy uses turbines to generate electricity. the winds convert the kinetic energy of the moving wind into electrical energy or mechanical power this mechanical power is used to perform various electric tasks like grinding and pumping etc.

Hydro Energy: When we say hydro the very first image that comes into the mind is blue color water in form of any water bodies can be an Ocean, or pond or a river, or anything. It is right, hydro means water, and the energy which is generated from the water is known as hydro energy. Water as we know is an indispensable substance that nature has given us. Despite using it for daily life purposes, it can also be used to generate electricity called hydroelectricity to a vast difference. Hydroelectricity is used to provide energy to the household and the factories as well.

Biomass Energy: Biomass is a unique type of energy that can be obtained from any plant or animal. Biomass can be obtained from the materials in living organisms which get gratified these materials contain the carbon in it which gets activated in the presence of heat under the sun and hence the fuel is found this kind of fuel is used in household farms industries the example of biomass can be wood and residence of wood the energy crops the agriculture residues and waste from the industries.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Renewable Resources 1

Advantages of Renewable Resources

  • Abundant supply: As the name itself is quite an explanation, Renewable Resources are those types of resources that can never run out of their own existence. They have the ability or self-replenishing themselves such as sunlight water biomass and even sometimes the geothermal heat also acts as a renewable resource.
  • No carbon emissions: This is the best and most significant advantage of Renewable Resources that it has zero carbon emissions. This means if we use the Renewable Resources of energy for our use, then there will be no harm to the environment. As the resources, we are using directly come from the environment only. Renewable Resources are the best choice to make in order to have a pollution-free environment.
  • Fresh air and water: If we compare the Renewable Resources to the non-Renewable Resources the fossil fuels which we used to burn and generate the electricity produce more amount of heat than present already in the environment. Also, along with that, it contaminates the environment by producing a high amount of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. On the other hand, if we use the Renewable Resources of energy for consumption, they produce the least and zero carbon emissions which are harmful to the environment and since they are repeatedly used, they help in refreshing the air and water.
  • Cost-efficient electricity: As the use of Renewable Resources has increased in the past decade the most prominent type of Renewable Resources or renewable energy that has been used in daily life are solar and wind power.  However, hydroelectricity is also used but the electricity generated from hydropower is broadly used for commercial purposes, not the domestic ones. Therefore the electricity or the energy which is generated from the Renewable Resources is quite cheaper and cost-efficient for daily use.
  • Provides employment opportunities: Employment is surely one of the greatest problems in today’s period. With the increase of global warming and to curb this problem, with the increase of the use of natural resources or we can say the Renewable Resources of energy, this process has helped to generate many job opportunities for people as a source of income

Disadvantages of Renewable Resources

  • High maintenance cost: Undoubtedly the Renewable Resources have helped and they will keep on helping humankind as far as they are available which is an alternative still the installation of big machines and infrastructures requires a lot of land and higher capital costs which is financially unstable for some government or organizations.
  • Unreliable energy production: Bad weather is the major and the big hindrance to the use of Renewable Resources. The reason is all the Renewable Resources are the environmental or the natural resources like Sun Air, and water and if the weather is not suitable, these energy resources cannot produce the require ample amount of energy that domestic and commercial purposes need for their regular process work
  • Suitable environment Conditions required: In order to work efficiently, it is important for all the Renewable Resources to have the basic requirements for the operations. For example, to install a wind energy power plant it is important first to search for a place or a geographical location that has an ample amount of wind means there should not be a lack of wind.

Similarly, the Solar Energy power plant setup does not need to have any particular geographical area. It can be set up at any place. Still, if the weather is not good or it is cloudy or it’s a rainy season then, in that case, the energy production from the Solar Power Plant may get hampered. Therefore it is important to look for better suitable conditions to set up the plant for Renewable Resources energy.

  • Can have slight carbon footprints: However this point may same to be contradicting itself as in the above advantages section, we have mentioned that the Renewable Resources do not produce any kind of carbon footprints or any carbon emissions, but they do. They produce carbon emissions, not directly but in an indirect form. Whether it is the installation of this setup of a power plant, the manufacturing, or its transportation of the energy they all combinedly produce a lot of carbon footprint which may get connected to the Renewable Resources also.

Comparison Table for Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Resources

Advantages Disadvantages 
Reduce Global WarmingNot able to Meet Large Requirements
Zero PollutionNeeds Lots of Space for Installation
Stable Supply and PricesGenerate small amounts of Pollution
Employment OpportunitiesExpensive Storage

FAQ’s on Advantages And Disadvantages Of Renewable Resources

Question 1.
What is the importance of using Renewable Resources?

Answer:
Using Renewable Resources is very much beneficial for domestic purposes as well as in terms of environmental safety as they do not produce any kind of carbon emissions. That fosters ozone depletion and increases the greenhouse effect.  Therefore they diversify the energy supply and reduce the dependence on the imported or the harmful fuels

Question 2.
What are the best Renewable Energy Resources?

Answer:
The best Renewable energy resources are solar, hydro, and wind energies.

Question 3.
Is the Renewable Resource energy efficient?

Answer:
Yes, Definitely, Renewable Resources are more efficient than Non-Renewable Resources. The reason is, that they are present in abundance and can be used over and over again.

Question 4.
Are Renewable Resources and Sustainable Resouces the same?

Answer:
When we say, Sustainable, we mean the resource that can be used in present and in future times too. So yes, in that context, the Renewable Resources and Sustainable Resouces are the same.

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