What is Renewable Energy?

Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is defined as energy that is generated from sources that are of "infinite" or in unlimited amount. While it's true that solar, wind, geo-thermal, hydro and tide sources are infinite, there's some controversy in considering that some other types of sources are infinite; it's the case for sources that need to be grown such as biomass or biofuels (for example corn and wood), and sources that need to be mined, such as nuclear energy.

That's where the notion of Clean Energy helps. The terms Renewable Energy and Clean Energy are often used interchangeably, but there are significant differences between them. Clean Energy is defined as energy whose production does not generate pollution of air, water or soil. While it's true that solar, wind, hydro, geo-thermal and tide are clean, it's not true of nuclear and bio-fuels because the source needs to be processed (sometimes at the cost of huge amounts of water) and because the generation of energy creates by-products that need to be disposed of ("dirty" spent nuclear fuel).

It might argued that hydro-electricity generation is not clean because of the need to displace people, animals and plants to drown valleys. And after it's built, a dam constitutes a barrier for wildlife to go upstream.

The conclusion is that Renewable Energy is clean, but Clean Energy is not necessarily renewable. In another section of this wiki, we also discuss the definition of Alternative Energy.

Jobs in Renewable Energy have 4 basic work activities: Every sub-category of renewable energy jobs described below includes these 4 types of work activities.
 * Technology research and development jobs,
 * Manufacturing jobs,
 * Construction jobs, and
 * On-going maintenance and operation jobs.

Renewable energy jobs or clean energy jobs include jobs in sub-categories related to the type of energy:
 * Solar Energy Jobs. The Solar Energy Jobs category is by far the fastest growing in the green energy generation segment, and include many sub-categories, and a multitude of job types. Examples of sub-categories include solar panel research and development jobs, solar panel manufacturing jobs, and roof-top solar panel installation jobs.
 * Wind Energy Jobs. The Wind Energy Jobs category is one of the fastest growing in the green energy generation segment (probably the 2nd fastest growing), and include many sub-categories, and a multitude of job types. Examples of sub-categories include wind turbine blade research and development jobs, wind turbine manufacturing jobs(rotors and blades), and construction and installation jobs that involve large wind turbines for utility-scale projects.
 * Geo-thermal Energy Jobs
 * Biomass and biofuels Energy Jobs
 * Tide and ocean-based Energy Jobs
 * Nuclear Energy Jobs. This last category can be somehow controversial since many people do not believe that nuclear energy is a green energy, and therefore nuclear energy jobs are not green jobs. The many dangers of nuclear energy, as well as the problems facing the disposal of spent nuclear fuel make this segment of the renewable energy business a difficult one. It's included it here for the sake of completeness, and the readers should judge for themselves.