Alternative Energy
| June 2, 2011 | Posted by admin under Earth For Energy |
Solar Power: An Alternative Energy Whose Time Has Come
By Kelly Gillis
So you're finally tired of those exorbitant electricity bills, or, you're catching onto a "greener" way of life. Either way, solar power may have many advantages for you and your home.
There are many obvious positives to using solar power. One is that solar power produces no waste. We all benefit when there are fewer pollutants in the air. The rays of the sun, which are the source of solar power are free, and, without doubt, the sun will rise each morning. In other words, solar power is an absolutely free and renewable energy source. Even local governments are jumping on the solar bandwagon. Perhaps you may have noticed in your local area your state highways using solar powered signs warning of roadwork.
There are initial high costs involved in outfitting your home for solar power but the savings realized over the years will quickly make up for the start-up costs.
The most popular way of harnessing solar power for most homeowners is through the use of solar panels. These solar panels are made up of what are called photovoltaic cells which are able to covert sunlight directly into electricity. These solar panels are placed on the roof of a building. The size of the solar panel is determined by the amount of energy needed. The panels can easily be added onto if needs increase. Some new homes are now being built using these photovoltaic cells as roof tiles.
These solar panels are generally easy to install for most DIY'ers. They require virtually no maintenance, and will last for decades.
There are other ways to take advantage of the sun's energy. If you are building a new home and have solar power in mind talk with your architect. You can have your new home built facing the sun where it can take full advantage of the energy and warmth. Have large windows installed to take in as much light as possible, especially in winter months when the sun is lower in the sky. Plant trees that will shade your home in the hot summertime.
Some states offer their residents solar energy grants that will repay a portion of the costs associated with installation. These grants give homeowners incentives for solar water and photovoltaic systems, with some refunding up to ,000.00. Check with your local energy administration bureau.
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Alternative Energy?
I’ve read reports that by 2030, 115 million barrels of oil need to be produced to the meet the increase needs of China and India.
This particular author advocated highly for alternative energies.
However, I read another source, where the argument was that alternative energies were just as harmful to the environment.
It is clear that the stifling need of fuels from over-populated India and China pose a large challenge, but is alternative energy the answer? Is there really enough oil to last us at least a century as some sources suggest? It’s difficult to get the truth from so many differing biases on our economy and fuel-usage.
It doen’t really matter if there is enough oil to last us for 100 years. As you can see by the last run up of oil prices we will not be able to afford the cost of oil 100 years in the future.
We as world leaders need to migrate to renewable power sources such as solar, wind, wave, geothermal, and hydroelectric as first tier sources for the power grid.
While these are developing we will need to use clean coal to continue producing power for the grid. We have enough coal to last 400 years according to some estimates.
One of the most interesting ways to reduce the CO2 signature of the coal plants was proposed by a group at MIT. They used CO2 hungry algea to scrub out the CO2. The algae are latter harvested and oil is produced from the algae and used to produce Biodiesel. While biodiesel and diesel will be needed for sometime it has been determined that clean diesel and biodiesel are an improvement over the older diesel products. Biodiesle can also be produced from vegetable oils and waste cooking oil.
Agriculture is realing form price increases caused by the increase in using corn crops to produce ethanol for automobile fuel additives. But this chaos will only last as long as auto producers refuse to market electric cars. Hybrids are only a stop gap. Electric cars will drive more of the energy requirements to the power grid, a place were we can use renewable energy.
Then there is hydrogen power. It can be used two ways.
First hydrogen can be produced from the electrolysis of water into H2 and O2. Hydrogen is then run over a fuel cell to produce electricity and water. This system would be most effective if excess electricity produced for the grid were used to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen is then stored until needed during peak usage to keep from having to bring a coal or gas fired plants back on line.
The second way to use Hydrogen is to fuel automobiles, trucks, planes, and trains as well as powering homes and office buildings.
But I digress H2 is a topic for a later date.
We could easily intoduce massive solar and wind farms to replace coal, gas, and oil fired power plants. We could all easily be dirving electric cars if just the government, oil companies, and auto industry would cooperated and give the public the products needed to get off of fossil fuels.
Alternative energy?
What do you think will happen once oil and natural gas start becoming really scarce? I read somewhere that the world could survive with 20/30% less energy because so much is wasted but then what? What if the supply decreases by 75%?
Judging by prices alone i would say that current supply is at best “tight” and will slowly decrease worldwide in the years to come.
Will alternative energies, even the ones that supposedly work (and they might not), be at least available when needed?
Oil could run out in a short of a time as 20 years, but natural gas should last much longer. Our country has a ton of coal and natural gas, so if worst comes to worst we can always turn to them. When those run out however, we will have nuclear energy as a clear option. Ethanol, Wind, Solar, and Hydrogen Fuel Cell energy are all in their fledgling stages and haven’t yet proven that they are viable. I truly believe that our country will definitely be ready once fossil fuels cease to exist just because the plethora of options and the plethora of knowledge that scientists and other people have.
alternative energy ??
What form of alternative energy should be developed to solve the energy problems that we face today and could possibly face in the future?
Thank You.
All forms of renewable/alternative energy come with their own list of pros and cons.
Windmills are great for producing energy in the plains states and coastal regions, but they are a hazard to birds.
Photovoltaic cells work well just about anywhere in the US. But if we used enough of them to provide a significant amount of our energy, we’d also be contributing to a warmer climate because of the heat being absorbed by the black surfaces of the solar panels.
Hydroelectric dams interfere with wildlife and increase the amount of water that is lost to evaporation.
One of the sources of energy that has the most promising future with regards to having minimal adverse impacts would be that derived from geothermal sources. However, geothermal energy isn’t as widely available as other sources of energy.
The answer might just be that we shouldn’t limit ourselves to any one single source of energy but rather to draw from a variety of sources.
When are alternative energy stocks going to rise?
Obama seems to be the ultimate alternative energy supporter, so I suppose that alternative energy stocks will rise under his presidency.
The oil price is down a lot right now, and that doesn’t support investments in alternative energy; I also heard that oil companies will fight to death to stop alternative energy companies from taking off. When is going to be the best time to invest in solar, wind and hydrogen?
When those methods of generating energy are no longer “alternative”, but are normal & usual…
What to study for alternative energy major?
I am thinking of studying alternative energy in the future. What shoudl I major in, what classes should I take, and do alternative energy researchers make good money?
Researchers I’ve spoken to in alternative energy seem to make more or less the same amount of money as researchers in other fields.
If you end up researching a ‘soft’ subject like geography or economics then you might be able to do some research into alternative energy – but it would be limited to studying things like its effect on society, and policies to encourage it.
Any hard science, maths or engineering will give you the grounding you need for ‘proper’ research into the technology.
Biologists can work on biofuels, chemists on biofuels and processing for things like solar panels. Engineers can work on anything and whilst a physics degree makes you particularly suited to solar power (provided you take the right modules in thermal & condensed matter/solid state physics), it gives you the tools to go into other areas too.