Renewable Energy Resources for Irrigation - Practices of Irrigation and On-farm Water Management - page 480

13.6 Water Energy ............................... 502
13.6.1 Forms of Water Energy ..................... 503
13.6.2 Wave Energy .......................... 503
13.6.3 Watermill ........................... 504
13.6.4 Tide Mill ............................ 505
13.6.5 Exploring the Potentials of Water Power .............. 505
13.7 Bio-energy ................................ 506
13.7.1 Liquid Biofuel ......................... 507
13.7.2 Biogas ............................. 508
13.8 Geothermal Energy ............................ 508
13.9 Modeling the Energy Requirement ..................... 509
13.10 Factors Affecting Potential Use of Renewable Energy in Irrigation ....... 509
13.10.1 Groundwater Requirement and Its Availability ........... 510
13.10.2 Affordability of the User ..................... 510
13.10.3 Willingness of the User to Invest in a Renewable Energy
Based Pump .......................... 510
13.10.4 Availability of Alternate Energy for Irrigation and Its Cost ...... 511
13.10.5 Alternate Use of Renewable Energy ................ 511
13.11 Renewable Energy Commercialization: Problems and Prospects ........ 511
13.11.1 Problems ............................ 512
13.11.2 Prospects/Future Potentials .................... 514
13.11.3 Challenges and Needs ...................... 516
Relevant Journals ................................ 516
Questions .................................... 517
References ................................... 518
The growing energy use all over the world and the increase in energy cost result in
an increase in the prices of energy-dependent products, such as crops, meats, etc.
Environmental pollution caused by the use of traditional energy sources, such as
fossil fuel, makes it necessary to find new solutions for this problem. In addition,
sources of fossil fuel are being rapidly depleted and energy consumption is increas-
ing at an exponential rate. Under such situation, renewable energies seem to be the
alternative. Renewable energy effectively uses natural resources such as sunlight,
wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which may be naturally replenished. Using
renewable energy resources to power an irrigation system is a means of decreasing
the dependency of food products on the prices of fuel and minimizes the impact of
the irrigation system on the environment.
13.1 Concepts and Status of Renewable Energy Resources
13.1.1 General Overview
We use energy to do work and make all movements. Energy is defined as the ability
or the capacity to do work. When we eat, our bodies transform the food into energy
to do work. When we run or walk or do some work, we “burn” energy in our bodies.