RENEWABLE ENERGY

TIDAL ENERGY

Tidal Energy or Tidal Power is an example of a renewable energy where tidal action from
the ocean is converted into electric power. It could be generated in two way, tidal stream
generators or by barrage generations. Tidal power is similar to wind turbine, but it rotates
underwater and is driven by the movement of water. Although it is not widely used, tidal power
has potential for future electricity generation. Tide mills are used both in Europe and in the
Atlantic coast of the USA. Tidal power is the only form of energy which derives directly from
the relative motions of the Earth–Moon system, and lesser extent from the Earth–Sun system.
The tidal forces produced by the Moon and Sun, in combination with Earth’s rotation, are
responsible for the generation of the tides.

The advantages of tidal power are:

1. The power made by the tidal generators is environmental friendly and cause less damage on
ecosystems.
2. Tides are a lot more predictable than wind energy and solar energy.
3. Low cost to run since tidal power are inexpensive and does not require a lot of staffs to run it.
4. Efficient even at the low speed since water is denser than the wind. Energy can be generated in
tides efficiently at slower speeds than wind turbines.

The disadvantages of tidal power are:

1. Weather effects such as storm that occur in the coast line could damage the tidal power
generators or equipment.
2. Limited use period since tide surges happens approximately 10 hours a day out of 24 hours.
That’s why it is just considered as an effective energy storage solution.
3. Tidal power is expensive to construct it requires massive investment to construct so as the
equipments.
4. Difficulty in sea usage since tidal generators could occupy the sea making it hard to have an
access to the sea. This could affect transportation of goods and other vessels that need to travel
by the ocean.
 NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY

FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuels are an example of a non-renewable energy that was derived from organic
matter that is trapped within the layers of sediments in the Earth for years. It is highly
combustible making them ideal to be an energy source. They are typically retrieved through
drilling or mining. It is the world’s primary source of energy. An example are coal, oil, natural
gases.

The advantages of fossil fuels are:

1. It is extremely efficient because it could generate huge amount of energy in small amount of
fossil fuels.
2. Easy to set up because fossil fuel plants can be set up anywhere as long as it gets large amount
of fuels to generate power.
3. Relatively cheap and accessible.

The disadvantages of fossil fuels are:

1. Contributes global warming because it is the main cause of pollution since carbon dioxide is
release when fossil fuels are being burned that is extremely harmful to the general health of the
planet.
2. Fossil fuels are finite resources since they are not renewable and they can also irreparably
harm the environment.
3. It can harm human health because of the air that is released by the fossil fuels when they are
burned that can cause different kinds of disease in the human body.