Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Wind Energy The answer is blowin’ in the wind How is man going to keep up with increasing energy demand while the amount of available fossil fuel diminishes? The answer could be wind power, the capturing of the energy contained in gusts of wind. What is wind Energy?

Man has been using wind energy for thousands of years. Windmills, sails and even kites are all devices designed to harness the awesome power produced when the wind blows. Even modern aircraft benefit from wind power. Pilots flying westward usually expend much effort trying to make sure they place themselves in the jet stream, the hundred mile per hour wind caused by the earth spinning. Now engineers are able to convert such power into electricity, pump it into grids and provide energy for homes.

Biofuels and bioenergy are as old as civilization itself.  Solid biofuels like wood, dung and charcoal have been used ever since man discovered fire, and are still used today for cooking and heating in many communities in developing countries.

Hazardous chemicals are used in the manufacture of solar cells, creating environmental considerations in their manufacture and, in some cases, in their eventual disposal. Solar cell manufacturers minimize their use of these chemicals, recycle them when possible, and release a minimum of pollutants to the environment.

Generating plant fuelled by biomass uses conventional steam turbine electricity generating plant as used in coal fired power stations with modifications to the combustion chamber and fuel handling systems to handle the bulkier fuel.

Solar power is different: although it too uses a lot of space, solar panels can be very well integrated into the urban environment, so they have virtually no impact on land use and cause very little visual pollution.

In 2011, U.S. geothermal power plants produced about 17 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), or 0.4% of total U.S. electricity generation.

The geothermal energy process extracts heat from the Earth for the purpose of generating electricity to power homes. Most development in this area is concentrated at where tectonic plates meet, such as the western coasts of North and South America, the Mediterranean and east coast of Africa and East Asia.

The U.S. could have as much as 10 gigawatts of geothermal power at its disposal if current projects under development are completed, according to a new report.

U.S. geothermal infrastructure manages 3,100 megawatts, the new projects could add an additional 7,100 megawatts, or 7 gigawatts, of energy output.

Biodiesel fuel almost eliminates the air pollution caused by petroleum based fuels. Toxins that can cause cancer are virtually cut to zero by the use of biodiesel fuel instead of regular diesel fuel.

of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged

The conversion technologies from hydrothermal fluids to electricity include flash steam, dry steam, and binary-cycle power plants. Each geothermal electric system is made up of several key components including a: Production well Turbine Generator Injection well. Dry steam power plants are the simplest and oldest design, upon which the two other systems are based. They use a geothermal production well that produces fluid heated by the natural heat of the earth. The steam goes directly to a turbine, which drives a generator that produces electricity. The fluid then goes into an injection well, which is a well that is specifically drilled for the safe disposal of the geothermal fluids.

bounadaries and faults are cracks in the Earth’s crust where magma rises near or to the surface. Geothermal plants take advantage of this fact using water heated by this volcanic activity to produce electric power.

The best part is that it is clean energy. There is no way it can produce pollution that can harm the environment

Wind turbine installations impact vast amounts of land, far more than traditional power plants.

Raptors, bats and other beautiful flying creatures continue to be sliced and diced by wind turbines.

Principal health issues are associated with noise – not just annoying audible noise, but inaudible, low-frequency “infrasound” that causes headache, dizziness, “deep nervous fatigue” and symptoms akin to seasickness. “Wind turbine syndrome” also includes irritability, depression, and concentration and sleep problems. Others include “shadow flicker” or “strobe effect” from whirling blades, which can trigger seizures in epileptics, “vibroacoustic” effects on the heart and lungs, and non-lethal harm to animals. Serious lung, heart, cancer and other problems have been documented from rare earth mining, smelting and manufacturing in China, under its less rigorous health, workplace and environmental regulations.

Although this source of energy shows some promise in terms of "clean", renewable energy there have been some roadblocks to widespread use of energy from the tides. This type of energy should not be put on the back burner even though there appears to be limited opportunities at this time

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.