Previous Year Question

Non-conventional Energy Sources are energy sources developed and used as alternatives to conventional fossil-fuel-based sources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. In the examination context, they are primarily understood as renewable energy sources.

Their major characteristic is that they are continuously replenished by natural processes and do not depend on limited fossil-fuel reserves that are exhausted on a human timescale.

Under India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), sources such as Solar, Wind, Small Hydro, Biomass, Geothermal and Tidal are covered within the new and renewable energy framework. The Ministry itself was formerly called the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, and was renamed the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in 2006.

Major examples include:

Solar Energy → energy obtained from solar radiation.
Wind Energy → utilisation of the kinetic energy of moving air.
Biomass/Biogas → energy obtained from organic matter.
Small Hydro → renewable electricity generation using flowing water.
Geothermal Energy → energy obtained from Earth's internal heat.
Tidal Energy → energy obtained from the movement of ocean tides.

It is also important to understand that “renewable” does not mean that a technology has absolutely zero environmental impact. A renewable project may have impacts related to land use, ecosystems or material requirements; the classification is based on the replenishment characteristic of the energy resource.

Among the other options:

Being Produced from electricity is not a category of energy source. Electricity itself is a secondary form of energy that can be generated from several primary sources.

Being Produced from heat is also not a common characteristic of all non-conventional sources. For example, Wind and Solar Photovoltaic electricity are not defined solely on the basis of heat production.

Non-renewable represents the opposite category and includes finite sources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas.