Austin Kahlow

Topical Research Paper

August 3rd, 2015

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Alternative Energy Sources

Austin Kahlow

Elementary Physics
Howard Demars

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In a world overflowing with people, green or alternative energy

is becoming more and more important. The need for alternative
energy is potentially the largest threat to mankind. As humans, we
demand a lot from our world in order for us to survive and thrive. The
most important things we need such as water, food, and transportation
all require some form of energy to be transported, processed, etc.
Throughout the near past we have relied mainly on Fossil Fuels, which
are a non-renewable source. Fossil Fuels develop over thousands of
years and we will be out of them very soon. Not only is there the issue
of renewability with Fossil fuels, they are highly destructive to our
environment because they give off huge amounts of carbon dioxide
which, in time, is polluting our atmosphere and causing the climate to
become warmer. This is where the term, Global Warming comes
from. There is however, a greater understanding and global
consciousness of this issue which has things looking up for us.
Alternative Energy Sources are being explored, studied, and discovered
more now than ever before because the demand and need to discover
them is the highest in history. Theorists suppose that with the way
we do things today, we only have about 40 years until we have
depleted all of our fossil fuels sources. We still use these fuels
currently because they are the most efficient in creating energy, they

are already the norm for our cars and transportation and huge
amounts of money and power are involved. The two main types of
alternative energy sources in use today are wind and solar, but there
are also many new ideas and processes.
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Wind energy is seen to be the next biggest up and comer for the
US and the worlds energy sources. Wind energy is based upon using
the Earths natural wind gusts to turn a blade or propeller, which
creates kinetic energy and is then attached to a rod and generator to
create electrical or mechanical energy. A household fan converts
electrical energy into mechanical or rotational energy and a wind
power generator does the opposite. Blades can be bigger than a
football field and can be multiple stories high. The biggest benefit to
wind energy is it is renewable and has virtually no ill effects or harmful
emissions. Wind Farms can be put in all kinds of places such as
plains or even in the middle of the ocean, they can be wherever there
is a consistent amount and strength of wind. In 1990, California states
that it saved 2.5 billion pounds of Carbon Dioxide and 15 million
pounds of other pollutants just from wind energy alone. A forest of 90
to 175 million trees would equate to that much air quality. It has been
stated that in the EPAs Clean Power Plan, in 2030, 27% of the United
States total energy consumption will be from alternative energies and
57% of that will come from wind energy.

Solar Energy is also a big player in the game of alternative

energy and there are lots of new technologies that solar is a part of.
What better way is there to get energy from the sun, when the sun
gives us tons of energy anyways? The three main and most common
types of solar energy are Photovoltaic (solar electric), solar heating and
cooling, and concentrating solar power (CSP). Photovoltaic works by
using a semi-conductive material, which we know as Solar Panels.
The photons from the sun strike and ionize the semi-conductive
material, which makes the
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Outer-most electrons break from their atomic bonds and these
electrons are channeled or induced to travel through an electrical
circuit, therefore creating energy. Photovoltaic was first looked at in
1839, but was not produced to for sale until 1954. Solar Energy was
looked over greatly in the past because the cost was very high to
implement. Now-days, solar power is really quite efficient and can be
applied to almost any home or business.
In addition to wind and solar energy, there are two more main
energy resources, not to mention fuel cells. These alternative energy
sources are Geo-thermal energy, and hydroelectric energy.
Geothermal energy is basically heat tapped from deep down in the
earth where the earth is very hot. Water is heated up from below, and
the steam that comes out powers an electric generator, which creates

electricity. The areas which geo-thermal energy is most useful is in

areas called, Hot Spots where the earth is seismically active, (where
volcanos are nearby.) The U.S. is the leader in use of Geo-thermal
energy and in California where most of the Geo-Thermal plants are,
supplies about 7% of Californias energy. This is still not a huge
amount. Hydro-electric energy is also a very simple system but it
requires building dams. When water is channeled by gravity through a
turbine, the turbine rotates which powers an electric generator.
Fuel Cells are possibly the most interesting form of alternative
energy and theyre also incredibly clean. Exhaust from Fuel Cells is
basically just water. Hydrogen is stripped of its electrons, which gives
it a positive charge, and then is drawn through an electrolyte fluid to a
catalyst, which speeds up the process of
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re-combining the positively charged hydrogen with outside oxygen to
create water. The electrons taken from the hydrogen initially, is
channeled through a closed electrical circuit, which produces usable
electricity. There are many types of fuel cells but overall they are very
similar.
It is indeed quite scary to think about how many people are now
so dependent on fossil fuels, and it is somewhat scary to see that even
now after we have addressed climate change and global warming, that
we still dont rely much on alternative fuel sources. Our alternative

energy sources are getting more and more efficient but it still doesnt
make up half of our energy consumption. I do believe however, that
more ideas will come about for cleaner energy sources and the ones
we have now will just keep getting better. At some point the fossil fuel
consumption has got to stop because some day, I think we will have a
greater need for it. It is great that this issue is making its way to
headlines and the younger generation will work to make things better
but it is indeed, somewhat scary.

Works Cited

WindEnergyBasics.(n.d.).RetrievedAugust4,2015,from
http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/basics/

Wind.(n.d.).RetrievedAugust4,2015,fromhttp://energy.gov/eere/renewables/wind

Goggin,M.(n.d.).Www.awea.orgwebsitereview.RetrievedAugust4,2015,from
https://www.rankwise.net/www.awea.org

Photovoltaic(SolarElectric).(n.d.).RetrievedAugust4,2015,from
http://www.seia.org/policy/solartechnology/photovoltaicsolarelectric

HowGeothermalEnergyWorks.(n.d.).RetrievedAugust4,2015,from
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/ourenergychoices/renewableenergy/how
geothermalenergyworks.html#.VcECksirwI

Hydroelectricpower:Howitworks.(n.d.).RetrievedAugust4,2015,from
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/hyhowworks.html

ABasicOverviewofFuelCellTechnology.(n.d.).RetrievedAugust4,2015,from
http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm