ABSTRACT
Renewable energy is often viewed as the ultimate in sustainable development, especially in comparison with the consumption of fossil fuels for power generation, transportation, and heating and cooling. Renewables consist of a broad range of generating technologies, including biomass, geothermal, wind, solar, ocean energy, and hydropower, which collectively now provide about one quarter of total global generating capacity. 1 These energy sources do not consume a finite fuel resource, but tap into sources that are self-renewing or continuous. In fact, with the exception of geothermal, one can argue that all of these renewable energy sources derive ultimately from the sun, for all practical purposes (at least in terms of the duration of the human species) a nearly unlimited energy source.
