Sun, wind, water and other renewable sources can generate energy without burning fossil fuels, but a working energy system also needs networks, storage, flexible demand, maintenance and materials.
Three ideas to keep separate
- Generation is the energy produced by a source at a time and place.
- Storage shifts energy across time; it does not create energy.
- Efficiency and demand reduction can lower the amount a system needs to supply.
Try this
Ask a better local question
- Choose one building, community or tariff question.
- Name whether it concerns generation, storage, demand or the grid.
- Use an official local source before comparing products or making a purchase.
Context for this view
Global context
Energy systems combine sources, networks, storage and demand; no single technology answers every context.