Show Summary Details

Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). © Oxford University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 24 June 2021

Abstract and Keywords

Renewable energy has come to hold a significant place in public discourse surrounding the future supply of energy worldwide. Defined by their ability to replenish themselves within a reasonable time frame, renewable energy resources are extremely varied, as are the technologies that are used to harness them. Renewable energy encompasses a wide range of fields and disciplines, from physics, chemistry, geology, and engineering to manufacturing, electricity production, and economics. This chapter discusses several key renewable energy resources and technologies, including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydropower. It provides a simple technical overview of the resources and the mechanisms behind their respective technologies, along with a discussion of the benefits and challenges associated with each resource and technology covered. Finally, it includes a discussion of the state of the industries to help policy makers and political scientists understand the current status—and the potential for future developments—of each area.

Keywords: renewable energy, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, direct-use, electricity generation, final energy

Kyle Bahr

Kyle Bahr, Tohoku University

Nora Szarka

Nora Szarka, Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum (DBFZ) gGmbH

Erika Boeing

Erika Boeing, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Access to the complete content on Oxford Handbooks Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can''t find the answer there, please contact us.