Renewable energy is energy, collected from renewable resources, which are replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, rain, tides and geothermal heat. Renewable energy provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation and water heating/cooling and rural energy services. Based on REN21's 2017 report, renewables contributed 19.3% to humans' global energy consumption and 24.5% to their generation of electricity in 2015 and 2016, respectively. This energy consumption is divided as 8.9% coming from traditional biomass, 4.2% as heat energy, 3.9% from hydroelectricity and the remaining 2.2% is electricity from wind, solar and other forms of biomass. Worldwide investments in renewable technologies amounted to more than US$286 billion in 2015. In 2017, worldwide investments in renewable energy amounted to US$279.8 billion with China accounting for US$126.6 billion or 45% of the global investments, the United States for US$40.5 billion and Europe for US$40.9 billion. Globally there are an estimated 7.7 million jobs associated with the renewable energy industries, with solar photovoltaics being the largest renewable employer.

Renewable energy systems are becoming more efficient and cheaper and their share of total energy consumption is increasing. As of 2019, more than two-thirds of worldwide newly installed electricity capacity was renewable. Growth in consumption of coal and oil could end by 2020 due to increased uptake of renewables and natural gas. At the national level, at least 30 nations around the world have renewable energy contributing more than 20 percent of energy supply. National renewable energy markets are projected to continue to grow in the coming decade and beyond; some places and at least two countries and Norway, generate all their electricity using renewable energy and many other countries have the set a goal to reach 100% renewable energy in the future. At least 47 nations around the world have over 50 percent of electricity from renewable resources. Renewable energy resources exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to fossil fuels, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries.

Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies is resulting in significant energy security, climate change mitigation, economic benefits. In international public opinion surveys there is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power and wind power. While many renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are suited to rural and remote areas and developing countries, where energy is crucial in human development; as most of renewable energy technologies provide electricity, renewable energy deployment is applied in conjunction with further electrification, which has several benefits: electricity can be converted to heat, can be converted into mechanical energy with high efficiency, is clean at the point of consumption. In addition, electrification with renewable energy is more efficient and therefore leads to significant reductions in primary energy requirements. Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, tides, plant growth, geothermal heat, as the International Energy Agency explains: Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly.

In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, ocean, biomass, geothermal resources, biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources. Renewable energy resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency, technological diversification of energy sources, would result in significant energy security and economic benefits, it would reduce environmental pollution such as air pollution caused by burning of fossil fuels and improve public health, reduce premature mortalities due to pollution and save associated health costs that amount to several hundred billion dollars annually only in the United States. Renewable energy sources, that derive their energy from the sun, either directly or indirectly, such as hydro and wind, are expected to be capable of supplying humanity energy for another 1 billion years, at which point the predicted increase in heat from the Sun is expected to make the surface of the earth too hot for liquid water to exist.

Climate change and global warming concerns, coupled with the continuing fall in the costs of some renewable energy equipment, such as wind turbines and solar panels, are driving increased use of renewables. New government spending and policies helped the industry weather the global financial crisis better than many other sectors; as of 2019, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, renewables overall share in the energy mix needs to grow six times faster, in order to keep the rise in average global temperatures "well below" 2.0 °C during the present century, compared to pre-industrial levels. As of 2011, small solar PV systems provide electricity to a few million households, micro-hydro configured into mini-grids serves many more. Over 44 million households use biogas made in household-scale digesters for lighting and/or cooking, more than 166 million households rely on a new generation of more-efficient biomass cookstoves. United Nations' Secretary-General

Graham Robert McKenzie-Smith, is an Australian historian and forester. McKenzie-Smith has written books about Australian Second World War army movements, he has been a regular contributor to Sabretache, the journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia. McKenzie Smith spent some 35 years working on The Unit Guide – a six-volume box set which gives profiles of all 5,700 units that made up the Australian Army in the Second World War; each profile covers what is known of the unit's formation, organisation, movements and place in the army's hierarchy, including references to the unit's war diary at the Australian War Memorial. The series was published in 2018, led to the Chief of Army awarding Graham a Gold Level Commendation presented at the Army Museum of Western Australia in Fremantle in November 2018. In the 2020 Australia Day Honours McKenzie-Smith was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to military history preservation, to forestry". McKenzie-Smith's recent works include a book about the coastal defences of Albany and Fremantle in the Second World War, the Royal Australian Engineers in Western Australia.

In the 1980s and 1990s McKenzie-Smith was a forester in Western Australia. When resident in Canberra in the mid-1990s, he was CEO of ACT Forests, he was a member of the ACT Bush Fire Council in 1998–2000. McKenzie-Smith is resident in Perth, Western Australia. McKenzie Smith, Graham R. "Encyclopaedia of the Australian Army, 1939 to 1945". Sabretache. 38: 20–30. ISSN 0048-8933. McKenzie-Smith, Graham. "The unluckiest unit in the Second AIF?: 2/12th Field Ambulance AAMC". Sabretache. 51: 17–20. ISSN 0048-8933. McKenzie-Smith, Graham. "13 field squadron: The oldest unit in the Australian army?". Sabretache. 52: 40–46. ISSN 0048-8933. McKenzie Smith, Graham R. "The numerology of the Second AIF 1939 to 1945". Sabretache. 30: 3–11. ISSN 0048-8933. McKenzie-Smith, Graham. "The other Dick Smith and the Sio code books". Sabretache. 53: 13–16. ISSN 0048-8933. McKenzie-Smith, Graham. "The army's grocers and truckies: Understanding the Australian Army Service Corps in WW2". Sabretache. 56: 16–22. ISSN 0048-8933. McKenzie-Smith, Graham.

"'We make'EM and we break'EM': Understanding the royal Australian engineers in the Second World War". Sabretache. 57: 43–48. ISSN 0048-8933. McKenzie-Smith, Graham. "'To the warrior his arms': Understanding the Australian army ordnance corps in World War 2". Sabretache. 57: 13–17. ISSN 0048-8933

Ahna O'Reilly is an American actress. She is best known for her role in the film The Help. O'Reilly began her acting career in 2003 in Bill the Intern, she has appeared in several other movies like Dinocroc, Nancy Drew, Just Add Water and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She acted in television series like CSI:NY, The Vampire Diaries and Prime Suspect. In 2011, she appeared in the movie The Help based on Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel of the same name, a period piece set in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s; the film opened to positive reviews and became a box-office success with a worldwide gross of $211,608,112. It won several ensemble awards including National Board of Review Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Satellite Award. O'Reilly co-starred in the 2013 film Jobs, alongside Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad, about the life of technology pioneer Steve Jobs. In 2016, she appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company off-Broadway production of The Robber Bridegroom. A cast recording featuring O'Reilly in her role as Rosamund was released on September 9, 2016.

In 2017, O’Reilly starred as Sarah Foster in the film Sleepwalker. O'Reilly graduated from Menlo School in 2003 and attended the University of Southern California for one year before dropping out, she dated actor James Franco for a time before the two broke up in 2011. Ahna O'Reilly on IMDb