Renewable and sustainable sources of energy are essential if we want a healthy human population and a thriving planet in our future. Unlike fossil fuels, renewable sources of energy don?t produce greenhouse gases or harmful pollutants, and they won?t run out over time. Australia is already using a number of renewable energy technologies and these […]

Renewable and sustainable sources of energy are essential if we want a healthy human population and a thriving planet in our future. Unlike fossil fuels, renewable sources of energy don?t produce greenhouse gases or harmful pollutants, and they won?t run out over time.
Australia is already using a number of renewable energy technologies and these are only set to grow. Here?s what you need to know about the energy sources of the future. What is renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is produced by sources that are always being replaced and won?t run out, such as the sun, wind and water.
Renewable energy is sometimes called ?clean energy? or ?alternative energy?. It is different from commonly used non-renewable energy sources like coal and natural gas.
The most common types of renewable energy sources are explained below.
Solar Energy
Solar power is electricity generated from the sun. There are two main types of solar energy: solar thermal and solar photovoltaic (PV).
Solar thermal is when solar radiation is converted into heat energy. A common use of this is solar hot water systems. The solar collectors absorb ene...