Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Unlike other renewable energy sources, biomass can be converted directly into liquid fuels, called "biofuels," to help meet transportation fuel needs

Today, ethanol is made from starches and sugars, but NREL scientists are developing technology to allow it to be made from cellulose and hemicellulose,

For hundreds of years mankind has been making use of the energy and power generated by wind. Whether it has been to travel the world, manufacture products, or in the modern age to generate electricity, wind has provided the means. and while there have been dozens of different methods over the years, new technology is still being invented to make even further use of this ancient power source.

Windmills were one of the second most widespread uses of wind energy. The variety of uses that windmills were put to included grinding grain, as well as pumping water, up until the industrial revolution where the windmill was mostly replaced by the steam engine.

A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, is a large-scale photovoltaic system designed for the supply of merchant power into the electricity grid. They are differentiated from most building-mounted and other decentralised solar power applications because they supply power at the utility level, rather than to a local user or users. They are sometimes also referred to as solar farms or solar ranches, especially when sited in agricultural areas.

Renewable electrolysis is a process that uses renewable electricity to produce hydrogen by passing an electrical current through water. Renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics, wind, biomass, hydropower, and geothermal can provide clean, sustainable electricity for our nation

Wind turbines can be used to produce hydrogen through a process called renewable electrolysis.

In the photoelectric effect, electrons are emitted from matter (metals and non-metallic solids, liquids or gases) as a consequence of their absorption of energy from electromagnetic radiation of very short wavelength and high frequency, such as ultraviolet radiation.

Light–matter interaction Low-energy phenomena: Photoelectric effect Mid-energy phenomena: Thomson scattering Compton scattering High-energy phenomena: Pair production

All winds are caused by differences in air pressure, which are usually caused by the sun. When high air pressure flow into low air pressure, it creates wind.Our planet turns around the Sun on an axis with a 23 degree tilt towards the North Star. The difference of heating on the surface of the Earth (between the equator and the pole) causes a mass of hot air to go up and to displace colder air toward the bottom - this all causes movement in the mass of air that is contain in our atmosphere.

By the time it reaches Earth's surface, the energy in sunlight has fallen to about 1,000 watts per square meter at noon on a cloudless day. Averaged over the entire surface of the planet, 24 hours per day for a year, each square meter collects the approximate energy equivalent of almost a barrel of oil each year, or 4.2 kilowatt-hours of energy every day. Deserts, with very dry air and little cloud cover, receive the most sun—more than six kilowatt-hours per day per square meter. Northern climates, such as Boston, get closer to 3.6 kilowatt-hours. Sunlight varies by season as well, with some areas receiving very little sunshine in the winter. Seattle in December, for example, gets only about 0.7 kilowatt-hours per day. It should also be noted that these figures represent the maximum available solar energy that can be captured and used, but solar collectors capture only a portion of this, depending on their efficiency. For example, a one square meter solar electric panel with an efficiency of 15 percent would produce about one kilowatt-hour of electricity per day in Arizona.

Thirty-eight nationally recognized companies in the United States, including eleven Fortune 500 corporations, are collectively saving millions of dollars in electricity costs while reducing carbon emissions by tens of thousands of tons per year by using fuel cells, according to a new report by Fuel Cells 2000, a non-profit education and outreach organization. 

Wind energy releases no pollution into the air or water, and does not contribute to global warming

"on average, each MWh of electricity generated in the U.S. results in the emission of 1,341 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2)

his avoided CO2 equals over 1.8 million tons of carbon, enough to fill 180 trains, each 100 cars long, with each car holding 100 tons of carbon every year."

Price projections vary among fuel cell developers, but most are targeting costs below $1,500/kW

Maintenance costs of a fuel cell are expected to be comparable to that of a microturbine, ranging from $0.005-$0.010/kWh (based on an annual inspection visit to the unit).

At the current price, units are only used in high value, "niche" markets where reliability is premium, and in areas where electricity prices are very high and natural gas prices are low.

The most noticeable impact a wind turbine places upon the environment is noise pollution.

This is down to the noise, and many people compare the sound output of a wind turbine to a small jet engine.

Another disadvantage regarding a wind turbine and it's impact on the surrounding environment can be expressed with the term "visual impact" or "visual pollution".

Biofuels or biodiesels are fuels that are, in essence, biodegradable and non-toxic. They are manufactured from vegetable oils, waste cooking oils, animal fats or tall oil (a by-product of the pulp and paper industry).

Fuel Cost & Availability. Hydrogen is currently expensive to produce and is only available at a handful of locations, mostly in California. Vehicle Cost & Availability. Fuel cell vehicles are currently far too expensive for most consumers to afford, and they are only available to a few demonstration fleets.