Answer: 3. C, D, E, A only

Option 3 (C, D, E, A only) is correct — Solar, Hydroelectric, Wind and Biodiesel are all renewable; Nuclear is not.

Why 3 is correct: Renewable resources replenish on a human timescale from natural flows or biological cycles. Solar (C), Hydroelectric (D) and Wind (E) tap continuous solar/gravitational flows; Biodiesel (A) is produced from vegetable oils/animal fats and other biomass, which regrows seasonally, so it qualifies as a renewable bio-fuel. Nuclear energy depends on finite uranium/thorium ores that cannot be regenerated, so it is excluded — leaving A, C, D, E as the renewable set.

A: Biodiesel — renewable; derived from biomass feedstocks (jatropha, soy, used cooking oil) that can be regrown.
B: Nuclear Energy — NOT renewable; uses exhaustible fissile fuels (U-235, Pu-239, Th-232), classed as non-renewable though low-carbon.
C: Solar Energy — renewable; direct radiation from the Sun, effectively inexhaustible.
D: Hydroelectric Energy — renewable; driven by the solar-powered water cycle.
E: Wind Energy — renewable; arises from differential solar heating of the atmosphere. Options 1 and 2 wrongly include Nuclear; Option 4 omits Solar and Hydro.

Paper 1 tip: MNRE (India) officially recognises solar, wind, small hydro, biomass/bio-fuels (incl. biodiesel) and geothermal/tidal as renewable; nuclear is treated as a separate "clean but non-renewable" category — a frequent UGC NET/UPSC trap.