RECENT TRENDS IN THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS (NCRTTEP-2011)

Present Status of Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Sources: Smita B. Joshi Department of Physics, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar-388120 E-mail: [email protected]

INTRODUCTION Renewable Energy: Energy generated from natural resources e.g. •Sunlight •Wind • Rain •Tides •Geothermal heat

ALSO Sunshine, wind and water power are considered almost limitless resources while fossil fuels are limited in their supply, and their price will increase as they become scarcer .

Coal has negative impact on environment. Mining can damage ground and surface waters . Coal burns as the fuel it releases CO2 which is one of the main

greenhouse gas that causes global warming.

POTENTIAL OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN INDIA : • India is well situated for exploring renewable energy resources. Being a tropical country, it receives solar insolation of the order of 1650-2100 kw/m2/year for nearly 250-300 days. • Daily solar energy incidence varies between 5-7 kwh/m2 in different parts of country. • The total solar energy received by India is 19 trillion kwh per day which is about 2.2 million tons of coal to 1.5 million tons of oil equivalent. • There is average wind density of 35 kwh/ m2/ day at number of places at India. • India has an over 6000 km long coastline and so tremendous prospects of harnessing energy from ocean too.[1]

Renewable Energy Consumption in the Nation's Energy Supply, 2008[2]

Applications of Solar Energy : • Solar energy is the energy derived from the sun through the form of solar radiation. • Solar cooking • Day lighting • Solar hot water systems • Space heating and cooling • Solar desalination • High temperature process heat for industrial purposes. • Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. • Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. • Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

Potential of wind energy: Top 10 wind power countries[3] Total capacity Country 2009 (MW) US 35,159 China 26,010 Germany 25,777 Spain 19,149 India 10, 925 Italy 4,850 France 4,521 UK 4,092 Portugal 3,535 Denmark 3,497 Rest of world 21,698 Total 159,213

Total capacity 2010 (MW) 36,300 33,800 26,400 19,500 12,100 5,300 5,000 4,600 3,800 3,700 24,500 175,000

Potential for Bio power • In the United States, we already get over 50 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from biomass, providing nearly 1.5 percent of our nation's total electric sales. • Biomass was the largest source of renewable electricity in the U.S. until 2009, when it was overtaken by wind energy. • Bio power accounted for more than 35 percent of total net renewable generation in 2009, excluding conventional hydroelectric generation.

• Growth in wind power is tremendous, with capacity more than doubling every three years. • In 2009, global installed wind capacity reached around 160 Giga watts, rising 40 GW on the previous year, • According to the World Wind Energy Association, which estimates that by 2020 global capacity could reach 1900 GW.[3] • Since 2007, annual wind power additions in Europe have exceeded growth of any other power source.

Concluding Remarks: • Solar energy could generate 2.5 percent of the world's electricity by 2025. • Solar energy will be more affordable in future with new scientific researches that should decrease the costs and increase the efficiency of the solar energy. • Solar energy's value must be recognized by politicians in order to get more funds for further research.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

• The author thanks Prof. A.R.Jani for providing guidance and technical assistance.

REFERENCES 1. Dayal M Renewable Energy: Environment & Development Komak Publishers Pvt Ltd, 1989 Energy Information Administration, Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels 2. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/r enew_energy consump /figure1.html 3. Wald, Matthew L.”China’s Galloping Wind Market, January 11, 2011