ESAHomeUnderstanding Our PlanetSecuring Our EnvironmentBenefiting Our Economy
   
About benefiting our economy
Space & Practical Benefits
Space & Sustainable Development
About Observing the Earth
Opportunities with us
Multimedia
Services
Calendar
 
 
 
Bookmark and Share
 
 
 
 
Article Images
Space shows way to Europe’s renewable energy future
 
31 July 2003

Back to article
A windfarm in Germany
View to Klettwitz, eastern Germany, 80 miles south of Berlin, Europe' s most powerful and biggest area for wind power plants.

Credits: AP Photo-Matthias Rietschel
 
  Solar power
 
Back to article
Solar electricity represents a free, abundant and inexhaustible fuel source that already provides energy to hundreds of thousands of people and represents a billion Euro business. The possibilties for expansion are vast: the total energy shone from the Sun to our planet's surface is equivalent to 10,000 times annual global energy consumption.
 
  Wind energy
 
Back to article
Offshore windmills
An offshore windfarm. Coastal installations have an output up to 50% higher than land-based winfarms and most future expansion is expected in this area. (Photo: AMEC Border Wind)
 
  Hydropower
 
Back to article
Hydroelectric power - based on running water turning turbines - is the single largest contributor to the world's production of green energy.
 
  The next step
 
Back to article
An ERS-2 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image of Horns Rev windfarm in the North Sea off Denmark. SAR satellite images can be used to accurately estimate offshore wind resources.

Credits: ESA/Risø National Laboratory
 
 
Related links
Renewable energy workshopEarth Observation Market Development (EOMD)Inivitation to Tender AO 4364EC Renewables DirectiveEuropean Photovoltaic Industry AssociationGarrad HassanNorwegian Computing Center
 
 
 
   Copyright 2000 - 2011 © European Space Agency. All rights reserved.