What are the Different Types of Alternative Energy?
Thursday, March 5th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
What are the Different Types of Alternative Energy?
There is a lot of energy that we can harness if we only seek to research and develop the technologies needed to do so. It is imperative to begin getting away from the fossil fuels that have been used for decades and we must turn to different energy resources.
One of these alternative energy resources, is wind power. Wind turbines can be developed to have more energy efficiencies, and will cost a lot less to produce. Wind farms have been springing up in many nations, and they have even become more strategically placed over time so that they are not jeopardizing birds, as the former wind turbines did.
Another alternative energy resource is the one that is most well known: solar energy. This involves the manufacturing of solar cells which gathers and focuses the energy given off directly by the sun and then translates it into electricity or in some cases, hot water. As with wind energy, solar energy creates absolutely zero pollution.
Governments and investors have seen ocean wave energy as a way of generating huge amounts of energy. A generator in France has been in operation for many years now and is considered to be a great success, and now the Irish and Scots are running experimental facilities too.
Hydroelectric power has been with us for a while, and wherever it is set up, it is a powerful generator of electricity and is cleaner than a grid. However, there are certain limitations due to the availability of the right places to set up a large dam. Several run-of-the-river hydroelectricity or localized hydroelectric generators have been set-up in recent times due to that type of limitation.
Another alternative energy source we have is Geothermal energy, this extremely abundant energy source is located just a few miles below the earth’s surface. This energy is produced by the heating of water through the actions of earth’s fantastically hot molten core. The water turns into steam, that can be harnessed and used to drive turbine engines that will generate electricity. A lot of research and development is needed in order to further our usage of geothermal energy tapping.
Waste gas energies, which are essentially methane, reverse the usual energy-pollution relationship by creating energy from waste that lies in the dumps and from some air pollutants. This type of energy from waste gas is used in fuel cells and can also be used in standard gasoline generators.
Ethanol is an known substitute for gasoline and can be created from things such as sugarcane, wheat, corn and even wood chips and wood cellulose. There may be some controversy about this fuel in regards to it ever becoming economical or practical except in very restricted areas, nonetheless, the technologies for extraction and admixturing are continuously being improved upon.
Biodiesel energy is created out of the oils contained in plants. So far, the commercial stores of biodiesel have been created by using soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower oils. By the time of this writing, biodiesel is typically produced by industrially minded individuals who want to experiment with alternative energy possibilities, however, commercial interest from many manufactures is also on the rise. Biodiesel will burn much cleaner than an oil based diesel.
By using the process of nuclear fission we are able to create atomic energy which is created in atomic energy plants. This form of energy is very efficient and can generate large amounts of power. There is concern from some people about what to do with the relatively small amount of waste product atomic energy gives off, since it is radioactive and takes hundreds of years to decay, and no longer be consider harmful to our environment.
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