Natural and Energy resources: Solar, Wind Soil, Hydro,                   Geothermal, Biomass, Nuclear and Forest                                        

Renewable Energy is a natural energy which does not have a limited supply. Renewable Energy can be used again and again, and will never run out.

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Renewable energy is used to describe energy sources that are replenished by natural processes on a sufficiently rapid time-scale so that they can be used by humans more or less indefinitely, provided the quantity taken per unit of time is not too great. Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun or from heat generated deep with in the earth.

Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels in four distinct area :

1. Power Generation

2. Hot water / Space heating

3. Transport Fuels and

4. Rural (off-grid) energy services.

 Solar Energy

Solar Power is attractive because it is abundant and offers a solution to fossil fuel emissions and global climate change. Earth receive solar energy at the rate of approximately 1, 73,000 Tul. This enormously exceeds both the current annual global energy consumption rate of about 15 TW and any conceivable requirement in the future. India is both densely populated and has high solar insolation, providing an ideal combination for solar power in India. India is already a leader in wind power generation.

 Wind Power

Wind power generation capacity in India has significantly increased in recent years. As of 31 Decembar 2018 the total installed wind power capacity was 35.288 Gul, the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world. Wind power capacity is mainly, spread across the south, west and North regions. Indian largest wind power supplies Tamilnadu.

Wind power costs in india are decreasing rapidly. The levelised tariff of wind power reached a record low of 2.43 (3.4 $ us) Per Kwh (without any direct or indirect subsidies) during auctions for wind projects in December 2017.

In December 2017, union government announced the applicable guidelines for tariff-based wind power auctions to bring more clarity and minimise the risk to the developers.

 Hydroelectric Power

India is the 7th largest producer of Hydroelectric Power in the world. As of 30 April 2017, India's installed utility-scale hydroelectric capacity was 44,594 Mul, or 13.5% of its total utility power generation capacity.

Additional smaller hydroelectric power units with a total capacity of 4.380 MW (1.3% of its total utility power generation capacity) have been installed.

India's hydroelectric power potential is estimated at 1, 48, 700 MW 60%. load factor.

In the fiscal year 2016-17, the total hydroelectric power generated in India was 122.31 TWh (Excluding small hydro) with an avastage capacity factor of 33%.

 Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy is the natural heat of the earth. Earth's interior heat originated from its fiery consolidation of dust and gas over 4 billion years ago. It is continually regenerated by the decay of radioactive elements, that occur in all rocks.

From the surface down through the crust, the normal temperature gradient- the increase of temperature with the increase of depth- In the earth's crust is 17°C -30°C per kilometer of depth (50°F - 87°F per mile)

Below the crust in the mantle, made of highly viscous, partially molten rocks with temperatures between 650°C -1250°C (1200°F-2280°F). At the earth's core, which consists of a liquid outer core and a solid inner core, temperatures vary from 4000°C -7000°C (7200°F-12600°F).

There are four major types of Geothermal energy resources.

1. Hydrothermal

2. Geopressurised briness

3. Hot dry rocks

4. Magma

There are seven geothermal provinces in india: The Himalayas, Sohana, West Coast, Combay, Son-Narmada - Tapi (SONATA), Godavari and Mahanadi.

Achievements

Geothermal Atlas of India, prepared by the geological servey of India (GSI) gives information / data for more than 300 geothermal potential sites. This Atlas is being updated by GSI with the support from MINES. Application of geothermal energy for small-scale power generation and thermal applications are being explored potential Applications :

Power generation

Cooking

Space heating

Use in greenhouse cultivation

Crop drying

 Biomass

India is an ideal envisionment for biomas production given its tropical location and abundant sunshine and rains. The countries vast agricultural potential provides huge agro - residues which can be used to meet energy needs, both in heat and power applications. According to IREDA "Biomass is capable of supplementing the coat to the tune of about 260 million tonnes," "Saving of about Rs 250 billion, every years.

 Biogas

In 2018, India has set target to produce 15 million tons (62 mmcmd) of biogas / bio- CNG by installing 5,000 large scale commercial type biogas plants which can produce daily 12.5 tons of bio-CNG by each plant. The rejected organic solids from biogas plants can be used after Torrefaction in the existing coal fired plants to reduce coal consumption.

 Bio-Protein

Main article: Power-to-gas. Synthetic methane (SNG) generated using electricity from carbon neutral renewable power or Bio CNG can be used to produce protein rich feed for cattle, poultry and fish economically by cultivating methylococcus capsulatus bacteria culture with tiny land and water foot print. The carbon dioxide gar produced as by product from these bio-protein plants can be recycled in the generation of SNG.

 Bio-fuel / Ethanol

Ethanol market penetration reached its highest figure of a 3.3% blend rate in india in 2016. It is produced from sugarcane molosses and partly from graints and can be blended with gasoline.sugarcane or sugarcane juice may not be used for the production of ethanol in India.

 Bio-Diesel

The market for biodiesel remains at an early stage in India with the country achieving a minimal blend rate with diesel of 0.0001% in 2016. Initially development was focussed on the jatropha (Jatropha curcas) plant as the most suitable inedible oilseed for biodiesel production. Development of biodiesel from jatropha has met a number of agronomic and economic restraints and attention is now moving to wards other feedstock technologies which utilize used cooking oils, other unusable oil fractions, animal fat and inedible oils.

 Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Power is the fifth-largest source of electricity in India after coal, gas, hydroelectricity and wind power. As of March 2018, India was 22 nuclear reactors in operation in 7 nuclear power plants, having a total installed capacity of 6,780 MW. Nuclear power produced a total of 35 TWh and supplied 3.22% of Indian electricity in 2017. 7 more reactors are under construction with a combined generation capacity of 4, 300 MW

India has a largely indigenous nuclear power programme.

The Indian government is committed to growing its to nuclear power capacity as part of its massive infrastructure development programme.

The government has set ambitious targets to grow nuclear capacity. At the start of 2018 six reactors were under construction in india, with a combined capacity of 4.4 Gwe.

 Soil As Natural Resource

soil is one of the world's most important natural resources. Together with air and water it is the basis for life on planet earth. It has many important functions which are essentail for life. Not only does it play the major part in allowing us to feed the world's population, but it also plays a major role in the recycling of air, water, nutrients and maintaining a number of natural cycles, there by ensuring that there will be a basis for life in generations to come. Without soil, the world's population neither would or could survive.

Forest as natural Resource

A forest is a complex ecosystem which is predominantly composed of trees, shrubs and is usually a closed canopy. Forests are storehouses of a large variety of life forms such as plants, mammals. birds, insects and reptiles etc. Also the forests have abundant micro-organisms and fungi, which do the important work of decomposing dead organic matter thereby enriching the soil. Nearly 4 billion hectares of forest cover the earth's surface, roughly 30 percent of its total land area.

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