Green Energy Research
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Green Energy, A Look Around
Alternative “Green Energy” has had a long and interesting history. It started out as the primary way of generating power a long time ago. Now it is much of what the world is banking on to “save” us from our current energy demise. There are several ways of generating “green” power that are all based off ways of generating power for centuries. Green energy has also become political fodder that generates many arguments and has surrounded itself with massive sums of money. Green energy, in all its forms, has its ups and downs, but we have yet to determine if it will be a long term viable solution.
Green energy has been around for a very long time. It was just known as something else. For instance, the concept of wind energy has been around for at least 1,500 years. The early versions werent used to generate electricity but to simplify and automate regular tasks like pumping water and grinding grain. Energy harnessed from the sun has been around since, I am sure, the dawn of man. Man has used the sun for drying crops and heating water since the simplest of living conditions. The concept of geo-thermal has been around for a long time too. Man has been using water from the earth to cool food and other things since primitive times as well. Imagine, a hybrid car in the 1800s. It happened, not just with one car, but many. Walsh says that in New York “there was a thriving electric-taxi company at the turn of the 20th century that served the entire metropolis.” (2011)
Hydro-electric energy is the use of energy in moving water to generate electricity. The moving water spins turbines which in turn spin the generator and electricity is generated. Hydro requires moving water to generate electricity. This can be accomplished with a river, a waterfall, or a dam. Hydro is clean power, meaning there are next to no toxic emissions that harm the environment. Hydro electric power generated in the world makes up twenty percent of the total power generated. Hydro is also the cheapest form of mass electricity generation. Costs are initially high when installation of the plant occurs, but generation costs are relatively low. Another great benefit of dammed hydro electric are the reservoirs that are formed behind each dam. People are then able to enjoy what has been created in all sorts of ways. It also creates a whole new eco-system.
Wind power utilizes the naturally blowing wind in a certain geographic area. Wind travels across the turbine blade and turns the turbine. The turbine is again attached to a generator that generates electricity. Wind power is not as prolific as hydro electric power. This is for several reasons. One, the locations that do well for wind power are typically hard sites to build on, such as mountain tops. Wind turbines are also not as consistent as hydro. Water typically flows and keeps on flowing. Wind, on the other hand, blows intermittently leaving the energy inconsistent. Wind power is best suited in high wind areas. That typically means mountain tops or on shorelines. These are places that people have the most problems defacing. Wind power has seen much opposition in the last fifteen years.
Wind power is the same concept whether the windmill is small or large. Windmills can be small and reside in someones backyard or they can be a commercial unit that stands over 500 feet tall. The blades on these units are larger than a city bus. Wind energy faces some significant issues environmentally. Wind energy typically requires a large land clearing initially. Wind turbines also contribute to many bird species dying from running into the moving blades. People have also complained about the noise wind turbines make claiming that they have acquired migraine headaches since the installation of the wind turbine.
Solar energy has been around for some time. Solar energy is used for electricity or heating. Solar energy uses our suns rays collected by photo cells. The energy from the sun is converted and stored in battery cells. It is possible to send the energy right to transmission lines but it is not widely used. This is the reason much of the solar energy is used for home or private use. Solar energy is by definition a renewable resource. The biggest drawback is when the sun goes down. You can only generate energy while the sun is up and the quality of solar energy generated corresponds directly to how high the sun is in the sky. Another issue that surrounds solar right now is the material the panels are made of. They use the same material as microprocessors and therefore the competition for the material is fierce, which leads to higher prices. The biggest drawback to solar energy generation is the limited capacity of production. Solar energy is a