Renewable Energy a Hot Environmental Topic
Unless you have been living in a box for the past ten years or so, you have
no-doubt heard about renewable energy. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, the
concept of solar, wind, water and geothermal power should. At no other time in
our history has the concept of renewable energy been more important. Today, we
are living in a society that is desperate for healthy and economical
alternatives to coal and foreign oil.
Renewable energy has been around for centuries. Wood was responsible for
supplying up to 90% of the energy we now rely on foreign oil for. Renewable
fuels have been in the news lately, as fossil fuels that were once cheap to use,
have soared out of control. Yet still, there is opposition. While most people
agree that renewable energy is good for the environment, the reality is that it
is not good for big business, namely the oil companies. So, what can you do
about it? Why not try and start small, in the corner of your world? If everyone
started at home, making small changes, change would be inevitable. Let’s look at
just some of the self-sustaining types of renewable energy that has been or is
being developed today.
Solar Electricity
When it comes to renewable energy, there is nothing more useful or more
available than the sun. If you think about it, the sun is available from sunrise
to sunset everyday (with the exception of an eclipse) and produces an
unimaginable amount of energy each and every day. What solar collectors do is
change the sun’s energy from radiation to useable forms of energy such as heat
or electricity. Solar cells in particular, are used to convert the sun’s energy
into electricity. If you have ever owned a solar calculator you will know what
it is. Nowadays, when technology is so far advanced, solar cells have been taken
to a new level. There are recreational vehicles, cell phones and even cars.
Solar Heat
How do you get heat from light? Solar heating systems rely on bright light, a
surface or liquid that can absorb the light and a storage device for the
resulting heat. A greenhouse is a good example of this technique. As the topic
of renewable energy heats up, new inventions for utilizing solar heat are always
coming to the forefront. Solar heat is the cheapest and by far the most
practical forms of renewable energy in the world. Just some of the practical
uses are water heaters, ovens and cookers, and home heating.
Wind Energy
Wind energy has been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Wind used to
be the only way a ship could get across an ocean. Likewise, it was the first
method of pumping water and grains before modern technology. Today, wind energy
is being used as a clean source of electricity around the world. Wind farms, as
they are often called, can provide enough electricity for thousands of homes at
a time. If you are unfamiliar with how they work, the simplicity of it might
make you wonder why it has taken so long for us to utilize it. In order for a
wind turbine to create electricity, the shaft of the turbine is connected to an
electrical generator and the gearbox inside that generator converts the energy
of the spinning turbine shaft into electricity.
Water Power
Water power has been used for hundreds of years. The earliest machines were
waterwheels, which back then, provided power for grain mills and lumber cutting.
Hydroelectricity, as it is called on a larger scale, produces over 60% of the
electricity in Canada today. That is impressive. Unfortunately, in the United
States we have come nowhere close to the 60% mark; we are still getting our feet
wet on a larger scale.
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