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The PV effect was discovered in 1954, when scientists at Bell Telephone discovered that silicon (an element found in sand) created an electric charge when exposed to sunlight.

Where Does Tidal Energy Come From? The gravitational force of the Earth stops the ocean from floating off into space, just like everything else. The Moon also has a very weak gravitational effect on the Earth, which is not normally noticable as far as falling teacups are concerned, but the ocean, which can flow around the globe to even out differences, is noticably affected.

The Brazilian government still awaits a reduction in solar prices to create a specific auction by the end of 2013 or the beginning of 2014. However, the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) does not demonstrate any signs of this happening.

In 2013, however, revenue and capacity Installed are expected to double: projects will be delivered, the resolution 482/2012 will have a major impact, and X% of the National Association of Electric Energy’s (ANEEL’s) research and development (R&D) will conclude. Capacity Installed expectations In 2013 will near X megawatts (MW); In 2014, X MW; In 2015, X MW; and beyond, faster expansion is expected. Currently, capacity Installed for the solar market is X MW, but it is expected to reach X MW by 2017. The total possible capacity Installed for Brazil is close to X gigawatts (GW). This market revenue will have a X% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) durIng the forecast period (2012–2017) due to ANEEL´s R&D, International events, and the resolution 482/2012 cost reductions. Now, market revenue is close to $X million and can reach $X million by 2017.

Distributed generation could grow faster with financial support, better service from energy concessionaries, and cost reductions; nonetheless, it will grow considerably.

Wave energy is as source of power that comes from the endless march of the waves as they roll into the shore then back out again. Humans harness this power along the coastal regions of the United States, Canada, Scotland, and Australia. Energy that comes from the waves in the ocean sounds like a boundless, harmless supply.

Advantages of Wave Energy 1. Renewable: The best thing about wave energy is that it will never run out. There will always be waves crashing upon the shores of nations, near the populated coastal regions. The waves flow back from the shore, but they always return. Unlike fossil fuels, which are running out, in some places in the world, just as quickly as people can discover them. Unlike ethanol, a corn product, waves are not limited by a season. They require no input from man to make their power, and they can always be counted on

Also unlike fossil fuels, creating power from waves creates no harmful byproducts such as gas, waste, and pollution. The energy from waves can be taken directly into electricity-producing machinery and used to power generators and power plants nearby. in today’s energy-powered world, a source of clean energy is hard to come by.

* Because there is no combustion in a fuel cell, fuel is converted to electricity more efficiently than any other electrical generating technology available today. * There are no moving parts in a fuel cell stack, making them more reliable and quieter than generators. Even the ancillary systems (fans, pumps, controls, etcetera) in a complete fuel cell unit are relatively mature and simple technologies that should prove extremely reliable.

In the past, fuel cells were large and extremely expensive to manufacture, just as the first calculators and computers were. But, just like these products, the cost of fuel cells will quickly come down to consumer-affordable levels with mass production. We are currently In a transition period now, where many fuel cell companies are InvestIng literally hundreds of millions of dollars to gear up for mass manufacturIng at the same time they are tryIng to begIn to develop a variety of markets for their product.

Each year we release millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas). in 2010, on average, every single EU citizen emitted 9.4 tonnes of CO2 – that’s enough to fill ten three-storey buildings. For every kWh of wind energy that you use, you will save approximately 696g of CO2. EWEA estimates that wind energy avoided the emission of 140 million tonnes of CO2 in 2011 in the EU, equivalent to taking 33% of cars in the EU – 71 million vehicles – off the road. This avoided CO2 costs of around €3.5 billion (assuming a price of €25/t CO2). Choosing how your electricity is produced plays an important role in protecting the climate: it’s easy to switch to a green power provider; you request the change and your current and future providers will organise it themselves.

First used in about 1890, "photovoltaic" has two parts: photo, derived from the Greek word for light, and volt, relating to electricity pioneer Alessandro Volta. And this is what photovoltaic materials and devices do—they convert light energy into electrical energy, as French physicist Edmond Becquerel discovered as early as 1839.

When looking at a wind powered electric generator, many people see a permanent source of renewable electricity. The problem with this image is that wind generators have shorter life spans than the term “sustainable” would imply. Wooden windmills in Holland that used to power industrial machinery before the invention of steam engines were more durable than these picket lines of propellers along our Columbia Gorge. The composite material and rare earth chemicals they require are both perishable and costly to replace. More important, like fossil fuels, our planet has a finite supply of these materials. Wind power is such an inefficient means of generating electricity that a world that seriously relied on it the way we do fossil fuels would run out of the limited resources needed to build and maintain them long before our present trends would exhaust our vast bounty of hydrocarbons.

idal power can be harnessed using a barrage (dam) built across an estuary that captures the potential energy generated by the change in height (or head) between high and low tides. As the tide goes in and out, the water flows through tunnels in the dam. The ebb and flow are used to either turn a water turbine or compress air through a pipe that then turns a turbine, which generates electricity. Tidal Fences and Turbines Tidal fences and turbines can also be used to capture tidal power. Tidal fences are turbines that operate like giant turnstiles, while tidal turbines are similar to wind turbines. in both cases, electricity is generated when the turbines are turned by the tidal currents that occur in coastal waters. Ocean currents generate relatively more energy than wind (air currents) because ocean water has a higher density than air and therefore applies greater force on the turbines.

Tidal energy is produced through the use of tidal energy generators. These large underwater turbines are placed in areas with high tidal movements, and are designed to capture the kinetic motion of the ebbing and surging of ocean tides in order to produce electricity. Tidal power has great potential for future power and electricity generation because of the massive size of the oceans. These articles explore the potential energy of tidal power technologies.

It will generate one of the most environmentally-friendly forms of energy - it makes no noise

The first windmills in Europe appear in sources dating to the twelfth century. These early European windmills were sunk post mills. The earliest certain reference to a windmill dates from 1185, in Weedley, Yorkshire, although a number of earlier but less certainly dated twelfth century European sources referring to windmills have also been adduced.

The first windmill used for the production of electricity was built in Scotland in July 1887 by Prof James Blyth of Anderson's College,

Wind energy is cost-competitive with fossil fuels, especially coal. in Montana, wind energy is less expensive than coal for NorthWestern Energy--the state's largest utility.

ccording to the EIA, the total cost of wind energy without federal tax and other financial incentives is about 9.7 cents/kilowatt-hour. The total cost of conventional coal without federal tax and other financial incentives is about 9.4 cents/kilowatt-hour.

here are integration costs associated with intermittent renewable energy but unlike fossil fuels, wind (and solar and many other renewables) the fuel price stays the same: Zero.  Plus, wind-power technology has rapidly evolved. Turbines are much larger, growing from an average of 1.2 megawatts to 1.6 megawatts (a 33% increase in average capacity) in just three years.

The exchange of thoughts and ideas by speech or writing

Cooperative effort within a group in order to achieve a desired goal

To give rise to imaginative or artistic abilities as well as the ability to find novel solutions to problems

This initiative, supported by legislation in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) and the Advanced Energy initiative of 2006, aims to develop hydrogen, fuel cell and infrastructure technologies to make fuel-cell vehicles practical and cost-effective by 2020

Why are governments, private businesses and academic institutions collaborating to develop and produce them? Fuel cells generate electrical power quietly and efficiently, without pollution. Unlike power

that use fossil fuels, the by-products from an operating fuel cell are heat and water

Because solar electricity is so expensive, you would normally go to great lengths to reduce your electricity consumption. Instead of a desktop computer and a monitor you would use a laptop computer. You would use fluorescent lights Instead of Incandescent. You would use a small B&W TV Instead of a large color set. You would get a small, extremely efficient refrigerator­. By doIng these thIngs you might be able to reduce your average power consumption to 100 watts. This would cut the size of your solar panel and its cost by a factor of 6, and this might brIng it Into the realm of possibility.

From our calculations and assumptions abo­ve, we know that a solar panel can generate 70 milliwatts per square inch * 5 hours = 350 milliwatt hours per day. Therefore you need about 41,000 square inches of solar panel for the house. That's a solar panel that measures about 285 square feet (about 26 square meters). That would cost around $16,000 right now. Then, because the sun only shines part of the time, you would need to purchase a battery bank, an inverter, etc., and that often doubles the cost of the installation.If you want to have a small room air conditioner in your bedroom, double everything.

A "typical home" in America can use either electricity or gas to provide heat -- heat for the house, the hot water, the clothes dryer and the stove/oven. If you were to power a house with solar electricity, you would certainly use gas appliances because solar electricity is so expensive. This means that what you would be powering with solar electricity are things like the refrigerator, the lights, the compute­r, the TV, stereo equipment, motors in things like furnace fans and the washer, etc. Let's say that all of those things average out to 600 watts on average. Over the course of 24 hours, you need 600 watts * 24 hours = 14,400 watt-hours per day.

A fuel cell converts the chemical energy in hydrogen and oxygen into direct current electrical energy by electrochemical reactions. Fuel cells are devices that convert hydrogen gas directly into low-voltage, direct current electricity. The cell has no moving parts.

The process is essentially the reverse of the electrolytic method of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. in the fuel cell, the cathode terminal is positively charged and the anode terminal is negatively charged. These electrodes are separated by a membrane. Hydrogen gas is converted into electrons and protons (positive hydrogen ions) at the anode. The protons pass through the membrane to the cathode, leaving behind negatively charged electrons. This creates a flow of direct current electricity between the terminals when connected with an external circuit. This current can power an electric motor placed in this circuit. The hydrogen ions, electrons, and oxygen combine at the cathode to form water, the only byproduct of the process.

Can Already Cost Under $.06 per Kilowatt Hour * Pneumatic devices, such as the oscillating water column (OWC), use wave motion to compress and decompress air, and drive a turbine. * Float-based devices utilise a buoyant float moving with the waves, reacting against a sea bed anchor in order to harness energy. * Spillover devices utilise wave height to replenish a reservoir of seawater, which runs a turbine. * Raft-type devices use the relative motion of adjacent rafts or pontoons to harness wave energy. * Moving-body devices articulate in the water, inducing motion, which may be used to drive a hydraulic motor.

Tidal stream devices extract energy from the diurnal flow of tidal currents (caused by the gravitational pull of the moon). Unlike wind and wave power, tidal streams offer entirely predictable output. However, as the lunar cycle is of around 25 hours’ duration, the timing of peak outputs differs by around an hour each day and tidal energy cannot be guaranteed at times of peak demand.

However, several large grid-connected demonstration projects are expected to enter the water in the near future. Tidal stream is thus a few years behind wave energy.

Method Cents/kW-h Limitations and Externalities WindCurrently supplies approximately 1.4% of the global electricity demand. Wind is considered to be about 30% reliable. 4.0 - 6.0 Cents/kW-h Wind is currently the only cost-effective alternative energy method, but has a number of problems. Wind farms are highly subject to lightning strikes, have high mechanical fatigue failure, are limited in size by hub stress, do not function well, if at all, under conditions of heavy rain, icing conditions or very cold climates, and are noisy and cannot be insulated for sound reduction due to their size and subsequent loss of wind velocity and power. GeothermalCurrently supplies approximately 0.23% of the global electricity demand. Geothermal is considered 90-95% reliable. 4.5 - 30 Cents/kW-h New low temperature conversion of heat to electricity is likely to make geothermal substantially more plausible (more shallow drilling possible) and less expensive. Generally, the bigger the plant, the less the cost and cost also depends upon the depth to be drilled and the temperature at the depth. The higher the temperature, the lower the cost per kwh. Cost may also be affect by where the drilling is to take place as concerns distance from the grid and another factor may be the permeability of the rock. HydroCurrently supplies around 19.9% of the global electricity demand. Hydro is considered to be 60% reliable. 5.1 - 11.3 Cents/kW-h Hydro is currently the only source of renewable energy making substantive contributions to global energy demand. Hydro plants, however, can (obviously) only be built in a limited number of places, and can significantly damage aquatic ecosystems. SolarCurrently supplies approximately 0.8% of the global electricity demand. 15 - 30 Cents/kW-h Solar power has been expensive, but soon is expected to drop to as low as 3.5 cents/kW-h. Once the silicon shortage is remedied through alternative materials, a solar energy revolution is expected.

Tide 2 - 5 Cents/kW-h Blue Energy's tidal fence, engineered and ready for implementation, would provide a land bridge (road) while also generating electricity. Environmental impact is low. Tides are highly predictable.

Method Cents/kW-h Limitations and Externalities GasCurrently supplies around 15% of the global electricity demand. 3.9 - 4.4 Cents/kW-h Gas-fired plants and generally quicker and less expensive to build than coal or nuclear, but a relatively high percentage of the cost/KWh is derived from the cost of the fuel. Due to the current (and projected future) upwards trend in gas prices, there is uncertainty around the cost / KWh over the lifetime of plants. Gas burns more cleanly than coal, but the gas itself (largely methane) is a potent greenhouse gas. Some energy conversions to calculate your cost of natural gas per kwh. 100 cubic feet (CCF)~ 1 Therm = 100,000 btu ~ 29.3 kwh. CoalCurrently supplies around 38% of the global electricity demand. 4.8 - 5.5 Cents/kW-h increasingly difficult to build new coal plants in the developed world, due to environmental requirements governing the plants. Growing concern about coal fired plants in the developing world (China, for instance, imposes less environmental overhead, and has large supplies of high sulphur content coal). The supply of coal is plentiful, but the coal generation method is perceived to make a larger contribution to air pollution than the rest of the methods combined.

In January 2012 the San Onofre nuclear power plant, which provided power to 1.4 million homes In Southern California

SCE went from having 50 percent of its energy production carbon-free in 2011 to 30 percent in 2012,