Sl.

No Conventional Energy Sources Non-Conventional Energy Sources

Energy sources that are being used or in use Energy sources that are invented in
1
from several decades recent years
These energy sources are non-
2 These energy sources are exhaustible
exhaustible
3 They are not eco-friendly They are eco-friendly
They are primarily used for industrial and They are mainly used for domestic
4
commercial purposes purposes.
5 Maintenance costs are high Maintenance costs are low

6 Transmission cost are high Transmission cost are comparatively low.

The fuel produced from these energy The fuel produced from these energy
7
sources are comparatively costlier sources are comparatively cheaper
Eg: Solar energy, wind energy, tidal
8 Eg: Fossil fuels and Hydel energy sources
energy, biomass, etc.
Sl. No Renewable Energy Sources Non-Renewable Energy Sources
Energy sources that are produced Energy sources which are accumulated
1
continuously in nature over the ages
These energy sources replenish themselves These energy sources not quickly
2
naturally in a relative short interval replenishable when they are exhausted.
3 They are Non-exhaustible They are exhaustible
Initial cost is high however, the Both initial and maintenance cost are high
4
maintenance cost is low
Freely available and ecofriendly Not freely available and also not eco
5
friendly
Energy concentration varies from region to Energy concentration is mostly constant
6
region
The equipment to harness the energy at its Highly efficient equipments have already
7
full rate are yet to be designed been designed and developed
Eg: Solar energy, Hydel energy, Wind Eg: Fossil fuels (Coal, petroleum, natural
8 energy, Geothermal energy, Tidal energy, gas, etc), Nuclear fuel (Uranium), Heat
OTEC, Biomass, etc. traps, etc.
Advantages of Renewable Energy Sources
1) Renewable energy won’t run out.
2) Maintenance requirements are lower
3) Renewables save money
4) Renewable energy has numerous health and environmental benefits
5) Renewables lower reliance on foreign energy sources

Disadvantages of Renewable Energy Sources

1) Higher upfront cost
2) Intermittency
3) Storage capabilities
4) Geographic limitations

Advantages of Non-renewable Energy Sources

1) Non-renewable energy resources are high in energy.
2) Huge profits can be generated by mining and selling
3) These energy sources are easy to use in house or anywhere else
4) Consumers can find these energy sources at cost effective prices.
5) Based on the existing technology these anergy sources can be easily stored

Disadvantages of Non-renewable Energy Sources

1) It consumes more time to harness
2) These energy sources can cause health problems to humans due to the emission of carbon
monoxide
3) One requires to keep huge quantity of fuel in reserve for continuous power generation
4) It is expensive and require large space.
Breaking barriers in deployment of renewable energy
 Deployment of renewable energy is crucial not only to meet energy demands but also
to address concerns about climate change. However, the barriers (social, economic,
technological and regulatory) existing in this sector prevents the development and
penetration of renewable energy globally.
 User-friendly procedures: Bureaucratic procedures in the deployment of renewable
energy are considered the biggest hindrance, and this demotivates investors and
entrepreneurs from entering and investing in renewable energy. Government policies are
not aligned at national and state level, thus failing to attract energy sector investment.
 Higher stakeholder satisfaction: Energy is the backbone of the socioeconomic
development of any country. By utilizing more renewable energy resources, nations can
help fulfil energy deficiencies without damaging nature. The repercussions of this change
would be the creation of more jobs in the designing, building, operation and maintenance
of renewable energy project infrastructures. Higher levels of diffusion will help to achieve
economies of scale, and that will bring down the costs and thus the price for the end user.
This will improve investors' confidence and will trigger increased investments in
renewable energy projects. Higher benefits can be reaped from the availability of green
energy as there will not be severe environmental implications, and that can help in
maintaining the earth's ecosystem.
 Successful research and development (R&D) ventures: In a study, it was pointed out
that technological advancement to effectively generate, store and distribute renewable
energy at lower costs is crucial. However, compared to conventional energy, insufficient
R&D initiatives are undertaken. This is due to fact that organizations are unable to earn
beneficial returns from R&D, and that makes the future of these initiatives look dull.
 Cost savings: The biggest challenge that renewable energy faces is the competition
from low cost fossil fuels. Renewable energy projects require huge land areas to produce
the amount of energy which a conventional plant can produce in a small area. Prohibitive
costs are involved in establishing and running renewable energy projects, mainly due to
the huge financial capital required to acquire a suitable piece of land, the costs associated
with lobbying, and power losses due to inefficient energy storage capabilities.
 6/29/2023

Solar Energy:

• Energy produced through the sunlight is called solar energy.

• Sun’s energy comes to earth in form of Light and Heat. This
energy keeps the temperature of earth’s atmosphere at normal
level, so that living things can survive, the heat causes currents in
atmosphere (wind) and ocean (tide), causes the water cycle and
generates photosynthesis in plants.
• Solar energy can be utilized in two ways, either Thermally or by
Photovoltaics.

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Solar Energy:

• The solar photovoltaic cells are exposed to sunlight and in turn the
electricity is produced. Photovoltaic cells converts the sun light
energy into electricity.
• The Solar energy’s potential is about 178 Billion MW, which is
around 20000 times more than the world’s total energy
demand.
• Various applications of Solar energy are:
1. Solar Water Heating
2. Solar Cookers
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Solar Energy:
3. Solar energy for water pumping.
4. Street Lights
5. Solar drying of agricultural and animal products.
6. Salt production by sea water evaporation.
7. Heating and Cooling of Residential buildings.
8. Solar Furnace.
9. Solar distillation.
10. Electric power generation by Solar Ponds, Steam Generators
heated by rotating reflectors and Photovoltaic cells.
6/29/2023
Sangamesh C. Godi
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
B.M.S.C.E. Bengaluru
Sangamesh C. Godi
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
B.M.S.C.E. Bengaluru
Sangamesh C. Godi
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
B.M.S.C.E. Bengaluru
Sangamesh C. Godi
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
B.M.S.C.E. Bengaluru
 6/29/2023

Bio Mass and Bio Gas

• Bio Mass means Organic Matter.
• The Bio-mass is produced in nature through Photosynthesis
achieved by solar energy conversion.
• In simplest form the reactions in the Photosynthesis can be
represented as:
6H2O + 6CO2 C6H12O6 + 6O2
• In this reaction, the water and carbon dioxide are converted into
organic material C6H12O6 which is basic molecule of stable
carbohydrate at low temperature.
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Bio Mass and Bio Gas

• At high temperature, it breaks and releases Heat of amount
equal to 112 kcal/mole or 469 kJ/mole.
C6H12O6 + O2 CO2 + H2O + 112 kcal/mole
• So the absorbed energy of photons is converted into
carbohydrate which can then be used as source of energy.
• It is possible to produce large amount of carbohydrate by growing
Algae (say) under suitable conditions, in plastic tubes or in ponds.
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Bio Mass and Bio Gas

• Then the Algae, which is our Bio-Mass in this example, could be
harvested, dried and burned for production of heat that could be
converted into Electricity.
• The energy from Bio-Mass is taken by burning it directly or by further
processing it to produce more convenient liquid and gas forms.
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Bio Mass and Bio Gas

• The Bio-Mass resources falls into three categories:
1. Bio-Mass in its traditional solid form. (e.g. Wood, agri waste etc.)
This form is directly burned to get energy.
2. Bio-Mass in its non-traditional form (converted into liquid form) In
this category the Bio-Mass is converted into liquid from such as
Ethanol & Methanol, which can be used as liquid fuel in engines
3. Bio-Mass in Fermented form. In this category Bio-mass is fermented
to obtain its Gaseous fuel called Bio-Gas. Bio-gas has 55-65%
Methane, 30-40% CO2 and rest impurities containing H2, H2S and
some N2.
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Bio Mass and Bio Gas

• Energy Plantation: For large scale production of electricity, use of
fire wood as a fuel for the boiler of a conventional power plant is
called Energy Plantation scheme. In this some selected species of
trees are planted and harvested over regular time period, on land
near a power plant.
• This requires a large area near power plant for plantation
purpose.
• The trees which are suggested for India are Eucalyptus,
Casuarina and Babool.
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Bio Mass and Bio Gas

• Bio-Gas: The main source for production of bio-gas is wet cow
dung (gobar) or wet livestock waste (or even Human waste).
• The bio-gas has a particular significance in India because of
large cattle population, which is about 250 million.
• Some other sources of bio-gas are: Sewage, Crop residue,
vegetable waste, poultry waste, algae etc.
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Geothermal Energy
• This energy is embedded within the Earth. The Earth has molten
core and various volcanic activities occurs in many places.
• Due to the heat, the ground water is converted into steam and
sometimes the hot water and steam comes out naturally due to high
pressure.
• For large scale use, we can bore holes (Steam Wells) for upto
1000m, which will release the steam & hot water with temperature
upto 200-300 ºc.
• These steam can be used to operate steam turbine which will
generate electricity.
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Geothermal Energy
• Geothermal power plant
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6. Geothermal Energy
• The water coming out of steam wells contains high amount of
dissolved minerals, and the steam contains these water molecules.
• So the moisture and solid particles needs to be separated out from
the steam before being fed to the steam turbine.