Journalism student Alexandra Walters writes for this title.

Sidmouth Herald: Alexandra Walters, who writes for this titleAlexandra Walters, who writes for this title (Image: Alexandra Walters)

Renewable energy is becoming a more popular way to create energy all around the world, with so many ways to produce energy naturally it appears to be the best option for everyone.

It is important to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and help reduce pollution.

Wind and solar farms, hydro, tidal, geothermal and biomass energies, just to name a few, are much cleaner and more natural ways of creating energy on both large and small scales.

For example, you can invest in your own solar panels for houses, land and even on your car. A small wind turbine can gain natural energy for your house.

On the larger scale, there can be wind and solar farms, hydro and tidal energy, that can all create a lot more energy for towns, cities or even Countries. Wind and solar power are highly and widely available.

Whilst the use of hydro and tidal energy is also popular, it's not as widely available here, although not massively expensive in comparison to other energy producers. Once the initial outlay is made, they aren't too expensive to maintain and keep running. You will often get more in the long term then non-renewable resources.

Although renewable resources are becoming more widely used in the UK, there are still many more places they could be. In Cornwall they have a number of wind farms due to strong winds they often get. Devon could look into this option, as well as more solar farms.

Clearly, we don’t get as much sun as Countries like Italy or America, but we do benefit during the spring and summer months, that could be beneficial even on small scales. If we could persuade our councils and government to invest and develop more into this, many more people would be encouraged to use this easy, renewable, and clean energy.

It is certainly worth the cost at the beginning for the outcome of energy you will receive in the long run. We can all play a part in producing a cleaner world for us to live in and I believe renewable energy is the way forward