(Educational Carnival)
(5 Min) Evolution of energy sources as developed by humans:
*Cited pages to be written in soon
Sunlight
Food
Wood
Animal Power
Farming
Human Slavery
Wind
Coal
Oil
Psuedo Green (112-113)
Energy Alternatives
*Info/ Pros/ Cons
Hydrogen Cell : the hydrogen fuel cell to consider: a battery that depends on oxygen and pure hydrogen gas and converts chemical energy into electrical energy. The real challenge is obtaining that pure hydrogen gas, but all Earth's hydrogen is already oxidized -- unless you obtain it from hydrocarbons in oil and natural gas, which puts the focus back on nonrenewable fossil fuels.
Since we can't harvest pure hydrogen from the rich reserves on Jupiter or the sun just yet, we're left with one option: produce it through the electrolysis of water. Sadly, this process currently demands more energy than it supplies. If we can overcome this technological hurdle, however, hydrogen fuel cells could have a major impact on global energy.
Natural Gas (Fracking)
Solar
Valuable energy source in highly heated areas
Cons: Production, maintenance, and infrastructure can be costly
The amount of solar energy we can harvest on Earth is somewhat limited by varying cloud cover and the cycle of night and day. Space-based solar power (SBSP) would allow us to work around these challenges. Solar harvesters in orbit, on the moon or elsewhere in space could collect solar energy and transmit it back to Earth. While the idea originated in the 1960s, SBSP gains more and more potential as solar technology improves and the cost of deployment decreases.
Wind: great option in some locations, costly start-up, low maintenance cost, and competitive profit margin possibilities.
Hydro Turbine/ Dam
Nuclear
Fusion: Nuclear fusion, the source of the sun's energy, generates significantly less waste without all the radiation. But again, it occurs in the sun, where powerful gravity and heat strip hydrogen atoms down to their nuclei and fuse them together. Scientists are getting closer to pulling off this effect on Earth, but the fusion reactors are still expected to expend more energy than they produce. As the technology improves, however, fusion will become an increasingly attractive option, assuming we can figure out how to contain it, too.
Fission : While nuclear fission produces a great deal of energy without relying heavily on fossil fuels, it also produces nuclear waste.
Geo-Thermal : Super cheap but only available in some locations.
Interplanetary Mining: hydrogen on Jupiter
Solar-wind : Advantages of Solar wind power.
One billion gigawatts of power could also be generated by a satellite having 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) cable with a sail 8,400 kilometers (5,220 miles) across, which are placed at roughly the same orbit.
If some of the practical issued are solved, Solar wind power will generate the amount of power that no one including the scientists working to find new means of generating power ever expected.
How does the Solar wind power technology work?
The satellite launched to tap solar wind power, instead of working like a wind mill, where a blade attached to the turbine is physically rotated to generate electricity, would use charged copper wire for capturing electrons zooming away from the sun at several hundred kilometers per second.
Disadvantages of Solar wind power
These may include:
Brooks Harrop, the co-author of the journal paper says that while scientists are keen to tap solar wind to generate power, they also need to keep provisions for engineering difficulties and these engineering difficulties will have to be solved before satellites to tap solar wind power are deployed.
The distance between the satellite and earth will be so huge that as the laser beam travels millions of miles, it makes even the tightest laser beam spread out and lose most of the energy. To solve this problem, a more focused laser is needed.
But even if these laser beams reach our satellites, it is very doubtful that our satellites in their present form will be able to tap them. As Greg Howes, a scientist at the University of Iowa puts it, “The energy is there but to tap that energy from solar wind, we require big satellites. There may be practical constraints in this.”
Methane from Artic:
Arctic methane release is the release of methane from seas and soils in permafrost regions of the Arctic. While a long-term natural process, it may be exacerbated by global warming. This results in a positive feedback effect, as methane is itself a powerful greenhouse gas. The feedback of the undisturbed process is comparably weak, however, because the local release leads to a warming spread over the whole globe.
Methane is 10x worst as a greenhouse than CO2.
I would like to mine this methane before it is released into our atmosphere, as an alternate energy source. That way we save the planet and produce energy.
Missed alternative energy sources :
reduce usage or conservation, secondary energy producer such as heat, vibration, light, and natural chemical reactions that produce energy. Their are great possibilities in GMO's and bio-waste. They even have ways to recycle CO2 into useable product. If we learn a method to break down H2O without using much energy we could use the hydrogen as a fuel source.
Point to be noted
the cost of electrical infrastructure is great and will only rise. However, it could be a less expensive to run a hydrogen type infrastructure. Hydrogen and oxygen is viable choice it's not only for your home or business but you could charge everything with it. Take it on the go, not only your car, but your phone and laptop. Why not let water replace your lithium ion battery? Even if we don't find some miracle way to break down H2O efficiently, if we can produce a large abundance of energy some other way, the hydrogen cell and a hydrogen infrastructure are still two very viable options.
Sea Urchin-Inspired House Captures Tidal Energy
The concept house is designed to capture tidal energy by allowing water to flow through multiple channels between an inner and outer shell. The outer shell is anchored to the shoreline, while the inner shell pushes and pulls with the tide.
A turbine system of magnets and copper wire coils stored in an electrostatic capacitor transform the tidal energy into electrical current. Solar cells that line the upper and outer portions of the concrete structure provide extra power.
The concept home was designed for the residential suburb of Llandudno, in Cape Town, South Africa, which is known for its rugged shoreline and rough seas. Large boulders dot the beaches, allowing for the structure to anchor itself and roll with the tide, as it were — much in the manner of actual sea urchins.
Credit: Margot Krasojević
Underwater Kite Harvests Energy From Slow Currents
A kite with a three-meter wingspan has just started to produce electricity in a pilot project off the coast of Northern Ireland.
The technology, dubbed Deep Green, consists of a wing with a gearless turbine mounted underneath that is tethered to the ocean floor. As the tide flows over the wing, it glides through the water and the turbine rotates. The tether also contains the unit's power and communication cables. For the pilot, there is an offshore control room in the inlet. The kites don't just float along anywhere they please—operators send them along a controlled trajectory to maximize energy output.
Deep Green can take advantage of lower velocity currents than most tidal technologies (less than 2.5 meters per second), according to Minesto, the company that makes the kites. Minesto hopes to field a 3-megawatt array in 2015.
The pilot involves a scaled-down version of Deep Green; the full-size versions have wingspans of between eight and fourteen meters. The eight-meter carbon fiber kite [PDF] has a rated power of 120 kilowatts at a tidal flow of 1.3 meters per second. The version with a 14-meter wingspan has a rated power of 850 kilowatts at 1.7 meters per second.
Minesto claims it will be able to compete on cost—not only with other renewable energy technologies, but also with conventional energy sources.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qCDRj8TE9Y#t=103
