Renewable Energy Jobs
Author: Adam Singleton
If environmental sustainability is important to you then a career in renewable energy is one of the best ways to make a real difference in combating climate change and environmental damage.
Global targets have been set and each individual country must contribute towards these. The British government has vowed to reduce carbon emissions in large non-energy intensive organisations by 1.2 million tonnes of carbon per year by 2020.
By 2020 the Scottish Government also aim to generate 50% of electricity by renewable energy meaning the United Kingdom as a whole is making moves to tackle the problem together.
There are many schemes in place the United Kingdom (UK), tasked with reducing carbon emissions, increasing green energy sources and generally creating a more environmentally friendly country.
The UK has also passed legislation which introduces the world's first long-term legally binding framework to tackle the dangers of climate change. The Climate Change Bill was introduced into Parliament in 2007 and creates a new approach to effectively managing energy issues within Britain.
The enormous amount of effort being focused on tackling climate change means renewable energy is one of the fastest growing job sectors, offering unyielding job opportunities and salaries that are comparable with other industries.
Renewable energy offers a wide range of careers due to the different kinds of energy source; wind, hydro, tidal, solar and biofuels.
The renewable energy sector has the added security of continued government support for expanding the alternative energy market in order to achieve the targets that have been put in place.
The commitment to tackling climate change is one which will continue for many years to come so a career in renewable energy could be a wise move.
One of the attractions about working in the field is the scope for growth; renewable energy is already the fastest growing area in the energy sector and recent government figures suggest several thousand jobs could be created in years to come.
Equally as important as relevant qualifications is the ability to demonstrate commitment to, and understanding of, the renewable energy sector.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/renewable-energy-jobs-1121314.html
About the Author
Adam Singleton writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
Renewable energy is energy that comes from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, and biomass to name the big ones. These are all renewable because they’re either omnipresent (like solar, tidal power, etc) or because they can be replenished in a short time period (like biomass).
As a contrast, nonrenewable energy sources are those that cannot replenish in our lifetime. Fossil fuels are a great example because they require millions of years to form. Our source of nonrenewable energy sources is finite whereas our source of renewable energy sources is infinite if managed correctly.
Does using renewable or nuclear energy mean that no heat or pollution comes from appliances and machines?
I don’t mean something like a toaster, I mean stuff like air conditioners or copy machines.
No. The things that use electricity still will do their thing and release heat as the electric current goes through their wires and other electricity conducting materials.
Solar and wind (renewable) energy comes from sunlight and wind energy being turned into electricity in some way, but that has nothing to do with your appliances until the electricity gets to your house.
Nuclear energy is used to make electricity at a nuclear power plant, and the electricity from that can be combined with those renewable sources and with electricity produced from burning coal. The pollution mostly comes from coal or other fossil fuels being burned. The waste from nuclear reactors is contained and can be buried rather than released to the atmosphere. It is the best choice to get a lot of energy without pollution.
Solar and wind energy are renewable but not very reliable as they depend on mother nature. They also require lots of land and hardware that has to be maintained. They are in themselves another form of pollution, even if they seem to be preferred by non-engineers.
Can someone explain to me in simple words what renewable energy means?
Renewable energy effectively uses natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity/micro hydro, biomass and biofuels for transportation.
In 2006, about 18 percent of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional biomass, like wood-burning. Hydropower was the next largest renewable source, providing 3%, followed by hot water/heating which contributed 1.3%. Modern technologies, such as geothermal, wind, solar, and ocean energy together provided some 0.8% of final energy consumption. The technical potential for their use is very large, exceeding all other readily available sources.
Renewable energy technologies are sometimes criticised for being unreliable or unsightly, yet the market is growing for many forms of renewable energy. Wind power has a worldwide installed capacity of 74,223 MW and is widely used in several European countries and the USA. The manufacturing output of the photovoltaics industry reached more than 2,000 MW per year in 2006,and PV power plants are particularly popular in Germany. Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert. The world’s largest geothermal power installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW. Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country’s automotive fuel. Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA.
While there are many large-scale renewable energy projects, renewable technologies are also suited to small off-grid applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. Kenya has the world’s highest household solar ownership rate with roughly 30,000 small (20–100 watt) solar power systems sold per year.
Climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices, peak oil and increasing government support are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization. European Union leaders reached an agreement in principle in March 2007 that 20 percent of their nations’ energy should be produced from renewable fuels by 2020, as part of its drive to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, blamed in part for global warming. Investment capital flowing into renewable energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006. This level of investment combined with continuing double digit percentage increases each year has moved what once was considered alternative energy to mainstream. Wind was the first to provide 1% of electricity, but solar is not far behind. Some very large corporations such as BP, General Electric, Sharp, and Royal Dutch Shell are investing in the renewable energy sector
Good question David
From my understanding (and I fully support the amendments to the RET by the way), domestic REC values will be $40 each for the next six months, and the solar multiplier for domestic PV will remain as it was been until then as well. After that time both the value of the RECs AND the amount of PV multiplier will be reviewed and changed as needed which will ultimately mean less capital subsidies for domestic systems. Bare in mind that PV prices have been plummetting lately, which in effect means the subsidy CAN be reduced and system out of pocket costs remain about the same.
If more RECs are generated than needed in that timeframe, the target will be temporarily lifted and then adjusted/corrected as we get closer to 2020.
Hope that helps, and we’ll see how things develop. I’m involved in a sustainability group who will be doing a PV bulk purchase soon – we’ve been waiting for this amendment before going ahead with it as without it, the phantom RECs from the solar mutiplier have been eliminating any net climate benefits.
Edit : I clarified the situation with a policy advisor and if a system is generated now (or in the next six months) the RECs created will count to the 2010 allocation which will mean less slice of the pie for large scale renewables, and therefore the REC is essentially wasted. Advice is to purchase a (domestic) system ONLY if you can defer the RECs generation until after Jan 1st to make sure it will fall into the new system.
Also, here’s the official media release… http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/minister/wong/2010/media-releases/June/mr20100625.aspx
What does natural source of energy mean? Is it renewable source of energy only? Or it is also non-renewable?
please help me! I’ll give you maximum points for helping me… What does natural sources of energy mean? Do they include fossil fuels and nuclear? Or it simply means sources of energy like solar, tidal, etc? please help me!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks in advance…
“Natural” means all things that simply need to be harness; the occur naturally and are clean energy.
This definitely means solar, tidal, wind, etc.
what does renewable energy mean?
solar energy
What does Penny Wong’s press release mean for renewable energy certificates between now and Jan 1st?