Solar cells
- Using solar power has an advantage as it is not harmful to the environment because the energy that is used comes from the sun.
- It is also sustainable, which means it does not runout unlike fossil fuels or any other non-renewable resources.
- It reduces the amount of greenhouse effects released in the atmosphere which makes it an alternative resource. ‘ A disadvantage of using solar power is that it disposes waste that is harmful when it is used frequently.
- However, considering that the source of energy is becoming popular, this means in the future it could become harmful to the environment.
- Additionally, solar power work at the disadvantage where if there’s no sun, there won’t be any power supplied as it depends on how shiny the sun is.
Wind power
- Wind power releases clean energy as it does not need fuel for the turbines to work. This makes it a renewable energy resource because it can be used over and over again.
- It can be used everywhere as long as it is in rural areas where they need a lot of power supplies to maintain their farm lands. ‘ The higher the wind, the more power generated. This means if there isn’t steady wind, there is no electricity.
- This type of power supply is expensive as it depends on the government to make sure they are located in fields where they do not affect the land.
Hydroelectric power
It is a renewable source of energy which makes it sustainable. This also means it is less expensive because it does not run out.
- Hydroelectric energy is a clean source of energy because it does not need any type of fuel to work. This means the energy source does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. ‘ Causes environmental damage as a lot of water is required to keep the plants fresh and alive. This might cause other species to relocate as there will be lack of water.
- Expensive to build because they are power plants which require high maintenance. This means it only lasts for a few years before it stops working.
- The construction of power plants is highly risky as it could lead to drought because lack of water in dry lands can leave people not having access to electricity.
Nuclear reactors
Nuclear reactors produce low cost electricity because the energy used changes to different forms until it is generated into homes and industries.
- Small amounts of greenhouse gases are released which means there a fewer emissions.
- Nuclear reactors are related to uranium which is a harmful to the environment if not used adequately.
- They release radioactive isotopes such as alpha particles, beta particles and gamma particles. This means it caused impacts to living organisms.
Efficiency
There are different types of energy sources that are used to produce energy which is then turned into electricity. These different types of sources contain a variety of percentages when it comes to efficiency. Efficiency is the useful energy used to make a machine work. This efficiency can determine the amount of energy that a machine can provide. Therefore, this is useful because some of the power supplies require high voltage.
For example, a solar power is powered by the sun which means without the sun, the solar panels will have low amounts of energy which means there will be low power transmitted. Whereas with hydroelectric power works with water from dams. Hydroelectric power contains an efficiency percentage of 80, which means it does not produce any greenhouse effect gases. However, there is a disadvantage with using hydroelectric power which is the cost. It is expensive to build up dams that will only store water to use as a source of energy. Additionally, if there isn’t enough water, the turbines might not work which means there will not have electricity transmitted into homes or industries.
Some of these energy sources that are used to produce electricity have really low efficiency which makes it really expensive to generate electricity using the sources. For example, biomass power has an efficiency of 35% which means it is a renewable gas that is sustainable as the energy lost is turned into other forms of energy. Additionally, it is sustainable because it produces less air pollution compared to the fossil fuel power station. This means that it is easy to get biomass gases as it is power made up of biological material. However, the disadvantage is still the fact that it contains insufficient efficiency. This makes it expensive as there are different forms of energy produced as wasteful energy.