Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat - energy derived from sources that do not use up natural resources or harm the environment. Another term commonly used is alternative energy, which refers to energy generated from sources that have no undesired consequences such as fossil fuels or nuclear energy.

Most of the forms of renewable energies depend in one way or another on sunlight. Wind and hydroelectric power are the direct result of differential heating of the Earth's surface which leads to air moving about (wind) and precipitation forming as the air is lifted. Solar energy is the direct conversion of sunlight using panels or collectors. Biomass energy is stored sunlight contained in plants. Other renewable energies that do not depend on sunlight are geothermal energy, which is a result of radioactive decay in the crust combined with the original heat of accreting the Earth, and tidal energy, which is a conversion of gravitational energy.

Renewable energy sources are most commonly found as the following sources;

Solar Energy

This form of energy relies on the nuclear fusion power from the core of the Sun. This energy can be collected and converted in a few different ways. The range is from solar water heating with solar collectors or attic cooling with solar attic fans for domestic use to the complex technologies of direct conversion of sunlight to electrical energy using mirrors and boilers or photovoltaic cells. Unfortunately these are currently insufficient to fully power our modern society.

Wind Energy

The movement of the atmosphere is driven by differences of temperature at the Earth's surface due to varying temperatures of the Earth's surface when lit by sunlight. Wind energy can be used to pump water or generate electricity, but requires extensive areal coverage to produce significant amounts of energy.

Hydroelectric Energy

This form uses the gravitational potential of elevated water that was lifted from the oceans by sunlight. It is not strictly speaking renewable since all reservoirs eventually fill up and require very expensive excavation to become useful again. At this time, most of the available locations for hydroelectric dams are already used in the developed world.

Biomass Energy

Biomass is the term for energy from plants. Energy in this form is very commonly used throughout the world. Unfortunately the most popular is the burning of trees for cooking and warmth. This process releases copious amounts of carbon dioxide gases into the atmosphere and is a major contributor to unhealthy air in many areas. Some of the more modern forms of biomass energy are methane generation and production of alcohol for automobile fuel and fueling electric power plants.

Geothermal Energy

Energy left over from the original accretion of the planet and augmented by heat from radioactive decay seeps out slowly everywhere, everyday. In certain areas the geothermal gradient (increase in temperature with depth) is high enough to exploit to generate electricity. This possibility is limited to a few locations on Earth and many technical problems exist that limit its utility. Another form of geothermal energy is Earth energy, a result of the heat storage in the Earth's surface. Soil everywhere tends to stay at a relatively constant temperature, the yearly average, and can be used with heat pumps to heat a building in winter and cool a building in summer. This form of energy can lessen the need for other power to maintain comfortable temperatures in buildings, but cannot be used to produce electricity.

Hydrogen and fuel cells.

These are also not strictly renewable energy resources but are very abundant in availability and are very low in pollution when utilized. Hydrogen can be burned as a fuel, typically in a vehicle, with only water as the combustion product. This clean burning fuel can mean a significant reduction of pollution in cities. Or the hydrogen can be used in fuel cells, which are similar to batteries, to power an electric motor. In either case significant production of hydrogen requires abundant power. Due to the need for energy to produce the initial hydrogen gas, the result is the relocation of pollution from the cities to the power plants. There are several promising methods to produce hydrogen, such as solar power, that may alter this picture drastically.

Other forms of energy

Energy from tides, the oceans and hot hydrogen fusion are other forms that can be used to generate electricity. Each of these is discussed in some detail with the final result being that each suffers from one or another significant drawback and cannot be relied upon at this time to solve the upcoming energy crunch.

More than just a fad, building green has rapidly become an industry trend. "$12 Billion was spent on Green Buildings in 2008. This number is projected to grow to $60 Billion by 2013.” -McGraw-Hill Construction, SmartMarket Trends Report, 2008

Building green aims to maximize the efficiency with which buildings use resources such as energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment.

What Is Green Building?
Green buildings are sited, designed, constructed, and operated to enhance the well-being of their occupants and support a healthy community and natural environment. In practical terms, green building is a whole-systems-approach to building that includes:

• Designing for livable communities
• Using sun and site to the building's advantage for natural heating, cooling, and daylighting
• Landscaping with native, drought-resistant plants and water-efficient practices
• Building quality, durable structures
• Reducing and recycling construction and demolition waste
• Insulating well and ventilating appropriately
• Incorporating durable, salvaged, recycled, and sustainably harvested materials
• Using healthy products and building practices
• Using energy-efficient and water-saving appliances, fixtures and technologies

When implemented holistically, these strategies serve to preserve our environment for future generations by conserving natural resources and protecting air and water quality. They provide benefits for us today by increasing comfort and well-being and helping to maintain healthy air quality. Finally, green building strategies are good for everyone's pocketbook by reducing maintenance and replacement requirements, reducing utility bills and lowering the cost of home ownership, and increasing property and resale values.

Learn about the five principles of green building

Green Point Rating is a certification program developed by Build It Green a non-profit membership organization who’s mission is to promote healthy energy and resource efficient building in California.

The Green Point Rating system was developed to meet the growing need of setting a standard to qualify a new home as sustainable / green.

It is based on 5 Categories:

• Energy Efficiency
• Resource Conservation
• Air Quality
• Water Conservation and
• Community

Green Point Rating is becoming a mandatory certification for new home construction in many municipalities around the state. In the Bay Area alone there are 16 municipalites that have some from of Green requirement.

By: Mortgageloan.com
What’s a “Green Mortgage”?  it’s not what you might think. It is not a marketing or public relations effort. It is a program backed by private and government mortgage programs designed to help you make your home more energy efficient.

Green, or “Energy efficient” mortgages, let you borrow extra money to pay for energy efficient upgrades to your current home or a new or old home that you plan to buy. The result is a more environmentally friendly living space that uses fewer resources for heating and cooling and has dramatically lower utility costs. The types of things that are covered include upgrades that you may have thought you couldn’t afford like double paned windows, tankless water heaters, modern HVAC systems, and new insulation.

At this time, Energy Efficient Mortgages aren’t second mortgages. Though they are created separately from your primary mortgage, they are ultimately rolled into your primary mortgage—so you only make only one payment per month.

Find out more at Mortgageloan.com.

How do you find lenders who can give you an Energy Efficient Mortgage or EE?  Even though EEMs have been available for many years, HUD has not widely promoted their existence or benefits. For that reason, many real estate professionals are not familiar with them. Your current lender may in fact offer an EEM and not even realize it. In fact, all FHA approved lenders can offer EEMs.

It’s probably worth your while, though, to search for a lender who is familiar with the ins and outs of EEM’s and can really guide you through the process.  Here you can access an EEM lender database.

Whether or not you are concerned about the state of world energy supplies or global warming, energy savings pay. For example, the U.S. Department of Energy says that families who have received weatherization services see their annual energy bills reduced by an average of about $437, depending on fuel prices.

Because the energy improvements that make up weatherization services are long lived, the savings add up over time to substantial benefits for weatherization clients and their communities, and the nation as a whole. Plus, a lot of weatherization may be undertaken as a do-it-yourself project.

There are also many ways to use water more efficiently in the home. For example, fixing a silent toilet leak may save as much as 500 gallons per day. Installing high efficiency plumbing fixtures and appliances can help a typical family of four reduce indoor water use by one-third, save about $95 per year on their water and sewer bill, and cut energy use by as much as six percent.

The following are common sense ideas for helping to save energy and water in your home or buildings.

• The U.S. EPA provides a downloadable Residential Energy Efficiency program that can be used to develop effective ways of reducing home energy consumption.
• EPA also provides a list of common sense practices for conserving energy in your home.
• Stop Water Leaks. Replace your old Toilet, the largest water user inside your home.If your home was built before 1992 and the toilet has never been replaced, then it is very likely that you do not have a water efficient 1.6 gallon per flush toilet.
• Replace your Clothes Washer, the second largest water user in your home. Energy Star™ rated washers that also have a Water Factor at or lower than 9.5, use 35-50% less water and 50% less energy per load. This saves you money on both your water and energy bills.
• Plant the Right Plants with proper landscape design and irrigation. Native plants are usually more adapted to local conditions and require less maintenance and irrigation.
• Water Only What Your Plants Need. Make sure your irrigation controller has a rain shutoff device and that it's appropriately scheduled. Most water is wasted in months prior to or just after the rainy season when intermittent rains occur. You can also consider installing a weather adjusting ET irrigation controller (see description in glossary) that automatically saves water by not watering when the plants don't need the water.

• Older toilets use 3.7 to 7.0 gallons per flush
• Dishwashers use 8-14 gallons per cycle
• Top-loading washers use 45 gallons per load
• A dripping faucet wastes 15-21 gallons per day
• US water users withdraw enough water to fill a line of Olympic-size swimming pools reaching around the world EVERY DAY (300 billion gallons)
• Although our planet is 71 percent water, humans depend on a mere 0.65 percent of the water for survival – much of which is polluted.
• An estimated 7 million Americans are made sick annually by contaminated tap water

• US EPA ranks indoor air pollution among top five environmental risks. Unhealthy air is found in up to 30% of new and renovated buildings
• W.H.O. reports that indoor air pollution causes 14 times more deaths than outdoor air pollution (2.8 million lives)
• Of hundreds of EPA-regulated chemicals, only ozone and sulfur dioxide are more prevalent outdoor than indoors
• 20 percent of all housing in the US has too much lead dust or chippings (causes kidney and red blood cell damage, impairs mental and physical development, may increase high blood pressure)

• Although the US is home to only 4.5 percent of the global population, it is responsible for over 15 percent of the world’s consumption of wood.

Best Management Practices, or BMPs, can help improve energy efficiency. Developed by experienced practitioners or management and research organizations, they are based upon the best available science.

The following are a selection of BMPs culled from various national, regional, state and local sources. Each is available for download as a pdf.

A practical guide to ways agricultural producers can profit from the growing environmental marketplace from American Farmland Trust, 2010. An in-depth 55-page handbook that introduces and surveys the types of environmental markets, how to get involved including evaluating financial returns and assessing risks, and what farmers and ranchers can do to encourage these markets.

Read More »


This 2011 document from EPA provides an extensive listing of service providers who can assist farm operations in turning waste into energy.  EPA’s AgSTAR Program produces this Industry Directory to assist livestock producers and others involved in developing anaerobic digestion systems to identify consultants, designers, developers, equipment vendors, and other providers of biogas energy services. Read More »


A 293 page guide to the Legal Issues in Farming the Wind on your farm from June 2007 Read More »


This EPA factsheet gives information on trends in use of these manure management systems in the U.S.


Improved performance at competitive costs is promised by this 2002 EPA publication all about anaerobic digestion and biogas recovery for energy. Read More »



This fact sheet explains how to build bins from concrete blocks or wood, and how to add waste and maintain the compost. Read More »


How to make and use a garbage can composter. Read More »


This factsheet differentiates composting from biodrying, with the former leading to good soil amendments and the latter leading to good material for bioenergy production.   It explains the basics of biodrying equipment and methods. Read More »


This factsheet explains the compost process, what can be composted, its benefits, and the major different methods of composting. Read More »

BMPs oriented more specifically toward farming and agriculture, wildlife habitat and invasive & native species are also available on this site.