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"Fossil fuel power stations typically cost about $2.1 dollars per watt to build solar stations around $7 at present. The efficiency is increasing and costs are falling. This of course does not represent the cost to the consumer. In addition it does not take into account all the various other costs and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Fuel (fossil stations), poor sunlight (solar stations). Maintenance costs are similar for single plants but solar stations do not have the capacity of fossil fuel stations."

"The heat from the earth's own molten core can be converted into electricity. This core consists primarily of extremely high temperature liquid rock known as magma. This "geothermal" heat circulates within the rock or is transferred to underground reservoirs of water, which also circulate under the earth's crust. Because of the near limitless ability of the earth to produce magma, and the continuous transfer of heat between subsurface rock and water, geothermal energy is considered a renewable resource. Geothermal resources have been harnessed as an energy source since the dawn of civilization, when natural hot springs were first used for cooking and bathing. The geothermal resources tapped to generate electricity are far more intense than those used for space heating and can reside as deep as 10,000 feet below the earth's surface. Capital costs for the construction of geothermal power plants are much higher than for large coal-fired plants or new natural gas turbine technologies. But geothermal plants have reasonable operation and maintenance costs and no fuel costs. Though more expensive than wind power in most cases, new geothermal electricity generation facilities are increasingly competitive with fossil options."

"The history of geothermal power can be traced back to over 10,000 years ago to the American Paleo-Indians at their settlement in hot springs. This history has been uncovered through the use of archeology and shows the Indians used the hot springs for activities including, bathing and heating. It is also believed the springs were seen as a healing source."

"The hydrogen economy is a proposed system of delivering energy using hydrogen. The term hydrogen economy was coined by John Bockris during a talk he gave in 1970 at General Motors (GM) Technical Center.[1] Hydrogen advocates promote hydrogen as a potential fuel for motive power[2] (including cars and boats), the energy needs of buildings and portable electronics. Free hydrogen does not occur naturally in quantity, but can be generated by steam reformation of hydrocarbons, water electrolysis or by other methods. Hydrogen is thus an energy carrier (like a battery), not a primary energy source (like coal). The feasibility of a hydrogen economy depends on issues of electrolysis, energy sourcing, including fossil fuel use, climate change, and sustainable energy generation."

"The fuel cell is being considered as an eventual replacement for the internal combustion engine for cars, trucks and buses. Major car manufacturers have teamed up with fuel cell research centers or are doing their own development. There are plans for mass-producing cars running on fuel cells. Because of the low operating cost of the combustion engine, and some unresolved technical challenges of the fuel cell, however, experts predict that a large scale implementation of the fuel cell to power cars will not occur before 2015, or even 2020."

"China has also laid claims to having invented windmills around 2,000 years ago, but the first documented claims appear in the 1200's. Around 250 A.D. the Romans introduced windmills into their culture and in the 700's so did Afghanistan. The Afghanistan windmills were also of the vertical axis style and cloth sails or reed matting was developed to catch the air. These windmills were used to grind corn and sugarcane plus draw water. In the 13th century Holland started developing large horizontal axis windmills. These four-blade windmills were larger, carried more torque and wind speed and could do more work than other windmills previously designed. The Holland windmills were also being used to grind grains and to drain part of the Rhine River. In the 19th century Denmark had an estimated 2,500 windmills and in the U. S. windmills were starting to be used to pump water. The Halladay windmill of 1854 is one such example of this. The first windmill in the world built for electrical production was in 1887 in Scotland built by Professor James Blyth. A year later in 1888 in the U. S. Charles Brush of Cleveland, Ohio built a large wind turbine used to generate electricity."

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"The company is seeking to add up to 50 megawatts (MW) of geothermal energy from geothermal resource developers at prices not tied to the cost of oil to help lower electricity costs for customers. The added power must also blend operationally with other resources, including renewable energy from wind, solar, biomass and hydro. "Moving forward on geothermal is important to Hawaii Island because we want to increase our use of renewable energy and bring down costs to our customers,"