Renewable energy has been expensive compared to conventional energy. Technological advancement has been done in renewable energy to make them economically competitive. Mechanical engineers are in rush to develop energy conversion and storage technologies from renewable resources like wind, wave, solar and thermal. The key technology trends in renewable energy as identified by Global Data are listed below:

1. 1.    Repowering of old wind farms i.e., replacing older turbines with new wind turbines.
3. 2.    Consolidation in the wind turbine manufacturing market
5. 3.    Larger wind turbines are being developed and preferred.
7. 4.    Longer wind turbine rotor blades
9. 5.    Advanced wind farm operation and maintenance (O and M) practices and techniques
11. 6.    Growing scale and technology of offshore installation
13. 7.    Harnessing the energy from the waves
15. 8.    Accelerating the discovery of photovoltaics

Nuclear energy is the energy that is found in the nucleus, or core, of an atom. Nuclear energy can be used to create electricity and huge energy. A power plant is a series of machines that can control nuclear fission to produce electricity. The advantages of nuclear energy are:

1. 1.    Carbon-free electricity: Traditional fossil fuel generation sources pump a massive amount of Co2 that causes global climate change while nuclear energy does not produce Co2 or any other air pollution.
2. 
   
3. 2.    Small land footprint: As compared to other energy like wind and solar power, nuclear energy plants take less space thereby producing a small land footprint.
4. 
   
5. 3.    High power output: nuclear power plant produces a high level of energy compared to other renewable energy which makes them a great provider of baseload electricity.
6. 
   
7. 4.    Reliable energy sources: It is a reliable renewable energy source based on its constant production and accessibility.

Disadvantages of nuclear energy

1. 1.    Uranium is technically non-renewable although nuclear energy is a clean source of power.
2. 
   
3. 2.    It has high upfront costs at the beginning.
4. 
   
5. 3.    Nuclear waste is a complicated issue.
6. 
   
7. 4.    Malfunctions can be catastrophic

Fossil fuels are formed from the fossilized, buried remains of the plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Some examples of fossil fuels are oil (petroleum), coal, and natural gas like methane. The environmental effects of fossil fuels are listed below:

1. 1.    Land degradation: The different operations like unearthing, processing, and moving of underground oil, gas and coal deposits takes on large toll on our landscapes and ecosystems.
2. 
   
3. 2.    Water Pollution: Coal, oil, and gas development threats to our waterways and groundwater.
4. 
   
5. 3.    Emissions: Fossil fuel emits toxic air pollutants from active oil and gas wells.
6. 
   
7. 4.    Global warming pollution: Fossil fuels produce a large number of carbon dioxide when burnt causing global warming.
8. 
   
9. 5.    Other form of air pollution like mercury, Carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide.

References:

https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-renewable-energy

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/renewable-energy-clean-facts#sec-whatis

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/renewable-sources/

https://www.edfenergy.com/for-home/energywise/renewable-energy-sources

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/fossil-fuels-dirty-facts#sec-whatis

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/nuclear-energy