Renewable or alternative energy 3d models are used to represent the technologies and infrastructures that aid in generating energy from Earth’s natural resources. Renewable energy is sometimes called green because it can be replenished naturally.

There is a wide variety of renewable energy 3d models that are used to represent the various forms of renewable energy from Earth, which include electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from the Earth’s renewable resources. Today, the majority of renewable energy technologies are powered by the sun.

Renewable energy involves sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat that result from the Earth’s atmosphere system dissipating energy around the globe in the form of ocean and wind currents and solar energy.

Each form of renewable energy 3d models have their own unique characteristics which influence how and where they are used. Below are some examples of renewable energy 3d models and their uses.

Wind Power

Wind power 3d models mainly consists of mechanisms such as wind turnies which convert mechanical power into electricity. Wind turbines 3d models are graphical representations of turbines that exist today in the market and also turbines that are currently in development. Wind turbines typically consists of the turbine itself, the monopile foundation, transitioner with platforms and ladders, buffers and navigation lights.

Wind turbines output power greatly depends of the wind speed, so as wind speed increases, the power output increases. When several turbines are grouped together they form a wind farm. Wind farms are located in areas where winds are stronger and more constant, such as offshore and high altitude sites.

Water Power

Water power is energy stored in the water in the form of kinetic energy, temperature differentials, and salinity

gradients. Water can yield much more energy than wind, sicne is about 800 times denser than air, so this means that a flowing stream of water will potentially generate 800 times more that the equivalent flowing stream of air. There are many forms of water energy including hydroelectric energy which derives electricity from the kinetic energy from flowing rivers and oceans. Ocean energy is another form of water energy and both kinetic and thermal energy is used from the ocean marine currents and the deep sea (marine current power, tidal stream power, ocean thermal energy conversion).

Solar Energy

Solar energy is light and heat from the sun. Solar radiation together with other solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biofuels make up most of the renewable energy available on Earth.

Solar power provides electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert the Sun’s energy directly into electrical energy. Solar panel 3d models are used to design systems that can convert sunlight into active energy.

Solar 3D models are used to represent technologies that use solar energy in a wide variety of applications including space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.

Solar technologies can be active or passive depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active solar tecniques convert sunlight into useful outputs while passive solar techniques use the existing solar energy to increase or reduce energy consumption, such as solar architectural structures.

Solar Architecture

Advanced solar architecture and urban planning methods are used today on green building to provide light and heating. Solar Architecture methods include orientation relative to the Sun, compact proportion (a low surface area to volume ratio), selective shading (overhangs) and thermal

mass.3D models are used in solar architecture to visualize an ecological or green building before the building is built. An ecological or green building typically has a roof garden with solar cell panels, solar hot water panel and light shelves at the windows. Ecological or green building 3d models are used in animations that show how a green building utilizes solar energy to meet theits power needs.

Solar Powered Vehicles

Solar Powered Vehicles are electric vehicles powered by by solar energy. The solar energy is typically obtained from solar panels on the surface (generally, the roof) of the vehicle.

3D models are used to represent the solar powered vehicles during the design, development and marketing of the solar powered vehicles. Solar powered vehicles are currently not practical transportation devices, they can be used for research purposes and extended missions to collect scientific data over long periods of time, such as volcano plume studies, North and South Poles flights, space exploration, etc.

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy is energy obtained by tapping the heat of the Earth itself.

Geothermal power plants are used to generate power from geothermal energy and they include dry steam, flash, and binary power plants.

3D models of a geothermal plants show the technology that generates renewable energy from Earth’s core including hot underground steam or water and hot underground radiogenic granite rocks.