Norms Green Energy

Posts Tagged ‘Alternative Energy Sources’

I need a few examples of alternative energy and what it is.

Alternative energy is a term that refers to methods of generating energy that are not the usual method (i.e. fossil fuels). There are many forms of alternative energy, but, as energy is conserved, you have to ask yourself where the energy comes from (and the answer is always "the sun"). You should always be careful when you look at energy forms, because some of them just won’t work – like the idea of putting water in your gas tank that another user has suggested (thermodynamics shows that these ideas won’t work).

The sun undergoes nuclear reactions which result in the release of photons (beams of light that have energy associated with them). Alternative energy forms just capture the energy from the sun in different ways (actually, fossil fuels also got their energy from the sun a long time ago).

Here are a few alternative energy sources and how they relate to the sun:

Bio-fuels: We can grow plants (such as algae, corn, sugar cane) which collect the photons from the sun and use the energy in the photons to create sugars. We can harvest those sugars and and turn them into liquid fuels such as ethanol.

Solar Energy: This technology directly harnesses the energy of the sun by absorbing photons through photovoltaic solar cells and which create an electrical current when they absorb a photon. Additionally, you can use the energy of the sun to thermally heat an object, which is referred to as solar-thermal energy.

Wind Energy: When the photons from the sun hit the air in the atmosphere, that energy can cause the generation of wind. We can harvest the wind energy by using turbines which spin when the wind hits them. The spinning motion is used to turn a generator which produces electricity.

Hydro-electric: When the sun hits water, it can cause the water to turn into a gas and later that gas can result in rain. If the rain occurs at a high enough elevation and gets held behind a dam, the water now possesses a high potential energy due to the energy from the sun. That energy can be turned into electrical energy by converting the potential energy of the water into kinetic energy which is then used to turn a turbine in a hydroelectric dam.

I came accross a new, proven and tested home made wind power system and solar power system which eliminates our electricity bills. It was written by a renewable energy enthusiasts Michael Harvey the diy called Earth4energy. You can get your copy to save energy and help environment while eliminating your power bills. Get it from here: http://homemadeenergyreviews.blogspot.com/

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If he wants to make the Democrats the party of new forms of energy…cleaner and greener energy, and the Republicans the party of big oil and BP…he would crush them on this issue with the general public. Will he use this to pass green energy reform in the next year? Or will he back off because he fears a fundraising backlash from big oil (just like how he backed off significant health care reform because he was scared of the big insurance companies and their money).

Republicans aren’t "the party of big oil and BP." We also see the need to reach out to different forms of energy. We support oil companies and new drilling because that is our primary energy source right now. We can also research new and alternative energy sources, but why should we crush the main source of energy we have right now?

President Obama will probably back off for right now, but if he actually cares about "cleaner and greener energy," then sometime in the near future he will do something about it.

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I just want to know what you think about researching alternative ways for green energy.

Such as wind turbines and solar cells, and what not.

Totally for it.

The US operates on about 10% renewable or alternative energy sources right now and I think we should definitely keep looking for ways to keep harnessing and improving on these numbers. Anything we can do to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and switch over to alternative energy is great. It not only makes us a more independent nation it makes us a greener, cleaner, healthier, and wealthier nation as well with greater prospects for our future.

The majority of what we use right now is #1 Biomass/Bio-fuel and Hydroelectric at a close second. I hope that we can start more wind energy programs. Biomass is great because it creates a potential way to get rid of our garbage problem (which is another substantial problem) while providing energy…so it is a double victory) The fact that it is responsible for 51% of our renewable energy sources is great!

Wind, geothermal, and solar energy technology on a mass scale are somewhat harder to use because they need large open spaces to work productively, they are expensive and with geothermal there isn’t a source available geologically to every nation.

The geothermal energy plant technology is totally there if we had more areas within the US to take advantage of it we would be set. It is relatively easy to tap into and almost nonexistent as far as cost goes to operate once you do. It is just a matter of finding those darn underground patches of volcanic activity. About 30-35% of Iceland is fueled by geothermal power now.

I hope that research will fine tune wind and solar energy so that it can become affordable for the everyday Joe like myself and there could be the potential to have a wind turbine or solar panel in my backyard or on my roof in the next 10 years with out costing me $30,000 like it would now to install the solar. (I have researched it and had companies out to do solar assessments multiple times) As it is it is still just too expensive for many to make it a reality even with incentives and tax rebates.

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Is it better or worse than majority of the other alternative energy sources? If so why?

It is actually a nice form of energy. Unfortunately it has a few negatives
1: Only available during the day (unless power produced goes to storage)
2: Only produces full power on sunny days
3: Requires a large array to supply decent amount of power, requiring larger area for the array.
4: Storage facility (so you have power at night) requires space and maintenance.

This is where wind is claimed to be better but if the wind dies the generator stops, but if wind it operates day, night, cloudy or rain and usually at night puts power back into the grid and can do so during the day while you’re at work.

Solar is great for low power demand items like lights (you can now get a variety of low power lighting systems) and chargers for cell phones and other devices. To run larger devices you need a large array and power converters and a power storage (batteries) with enough capacity to supply the demands of your devices. The whole system can be quite expensive but yes in the long run could save you money. Note that storage devices require weekly maintenance and checking for problems as they die after a few years so you have to replace them.

Technorati Tags: Alternative Energy Sources, Array, Cell Phones, Chargers, Lighting Systems, Money Note, Power Converters, Power Lighting, Power Storage, Rain, Solar Energy, Storage Batteries, Storage Devices, Storage Facility, Sunny Days

this is a science hmw that is due on tuesday, and i need help plz!
the topic is Alternative Energy.

So I need to know how alternative energy sources work. that is the question i have the most problems on… if you wouldn’t mind I would appreciate a sentence or two on these two questions about alternative energy sources.

Can we use them to generate electricity?
and
How can we use them to generate electricity?

alternative energy is from the sun air or water this is use instead of electricity even though by doing something with alternative energy you can create (generate) energy.

in my class some classmate already do theirs.
here is the ides i most like. (only one i put attention)

a oven that works with sun.
you use some carton and cover it with aluminium and other stuff but i dont remember.

http://www.cie.unam.mx/~arp/solar1.html

i know is in spanish but just look the pictures so you get the idea.

theres was one of my classmates who make i light bulb shine but i dont remember how he did it, the thing i do remember is that it shines when the wind blow.

Technorati Tags: Alternative Energy Sources, Aluminium, Arp, Carton, Classmate, Classmates, Electricity, Hmw, Ides, Light Bulb, mx, Science, Solar1, Sun Air, Unam, Wind Blow