Renewable Energy: Introduction, Current Status, and Future Prospects

The rapid rise in global temperature is a topic of concern, with spiraling impacts on economics and societies worldwide. The potential solution to this problem is to adopt long-term measures for sustainable development. In this view, renewable energy plays a major role and is often seen as the most efficient and effective solution. Renewable energies are sources of energy that are persistently replenished by nature and can be derived directly or indirectly from the sun or from other natural processes occurring in the environment. The main purpose of deploying renewable energy is to improve energy security, alleviate climate change, advance economic development, and improve energy access. Renewable energy resources can exponentially go beyond the world’s energy needs without affecting human health and the environment and thus, can significantly contribute to future global energy collection. This chapter focuses on different types of renewable energy resources and their current and future prospectives and applications.