Daily Archives: May 15, 2022

Solar Power & Its Applications

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Solar energy is a commonly referenced form of alternative energy in the conversation regarding the rising global temperatures and the consequences of human impact on our world. The sun is both a highly relevant and accessible form of alternative power, and solar panels, especially as of late, have begun to crop up, and many people have made the choice to install them into their own homes as a form of energy production and usage. According to the site Sustainable Energy – without the hot air, the raw power produced by sunshine on a clear day is ~ 1000 watts per square meter of land facing the sun, not ordinary land area. Because of the tilt of the Earth’s axis (~23.5 degrees), the calculations of sun that is able to be utilized in the form of solar energy needs to be accounted for. This leaves about 60% of viable solar power left over at the equator that is available to be used as an energy source when taking into account the tilt of the Earth’s axis. In the UK, sunshine is available for ~34% of the daylight hours, and the average intensity during more mild seasons is ~32%. Solar energy is more or less feasible in terms of a long-term energy source in that it is always available, but based on the changing seasons, particularly in temperate countries like the United Kingdom and the United States and Canada, the intensity levels and amount of power that can be drawn from the sun is highly variable and largely dependent upon the current season. Summarily, the average intensity per unit of land area in the UK is 100 watts per square meter. Additionally, four potential uses of solar energy include solar thermal energy, solar photovoltaic energy, solar biomass, and food in the form of solar biomass which would subsequently be consumed by humans and other animals. In terms of vitality and relevance, solar thermal energy is useful insofar as that it produces low-grade energy, and can produce heat, but this heat cannot be transmitted to the electricity grid, and is therefore wasted should it not be needed. Wind turbines are a more reliable source in this regard. Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy panels convert sunlight into electricity at an efficiency rate of ~10%. Expensive panels operate at a rate of about ~20%. With high-grade technology and proper installation, the best PV panels operate at an efficiency rate of ~60%, which is not bad. Solar biomass also provides an alternative solution and food source in the sense that we can grow specific plants and dispose of them in a power station that will turn the waste/by-products of human consumption into electricity, heat, or both. We can also grow and harvest plants that can be then transformed into fuels like ethanol and diesel fuel for engines and the like, this providing another substantial, and ethical, alternative form of fuel for transportation. In short, solar energy is both viable and readily accessible, and I think it is defiantly a form of energy worth considering.

Sources cited:

http://www.withouthotair.com/

Wind energy

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Wind energy uses wind turbines to harness energy to convert it into electricity. Wind energy does not rely on fossil fuels to power wind turbines, therefore being beneficial at not contributing to climate change. It is one of the cleanest forms of energy, though not completely perfect. The biggest disadvantage of these wind turbines is that they are not extremely reliable due to wind energy not being consistent. It is difficult to predict the amount of energy wind can produce on a given day, therefore the amount of energy may vary based on the windy conditions. In terms of the economic impacts of wind energy, this kind of energy is fairly expensive. Wind turbines are very big and therefore a massive investment to install on a large scale. Commercial level application is also difficult because of the logistics of where to build turbines. Usually they are built in a rural area, but then underground lines needs to be installed to send power to more populated areas. In the long run, wind turbines are extremely effective once they are built and as technology continues to improve it will get even more functional and require less maintenance.

Works cited:

https://justenergy.com/blog/wind-energy-pros-and-cons/

Impact of “Meatless Monday”

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I asked my friends how many days a week they eat a meal that includes meat. I wanted to ask this question because I’ve been a vegetarian for about 10 years, so it was interesting to compare the impact my friends’ eating habits to mine. A lot of initiatives have done research that shows eating vegetarian for just one day a week can reduce the impact that the meat industry has on global warming. For example, the Meatless Monday campaign states that eating less meat “can help reduce the incidence of chronic preventable diseases, preserve precious land and water resources, and combat climate change.” As you can see in the column chart above, Laura and Keerthi have the most sustainable impact with only 5 non-vegetarian meals per week.

 

About Meatless Monday

Harvesting the Power of the Sun’s Rays

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In the Last 10 years, the availability of solar power has increased due to the decrease in installation costs. In 2010, the price of installation in the U.S. was 4,731 dollars per kilowatt. In 2020, the price fell all the way down to 883 dollars per kilowatt. Making the installation process cheaper means that this sort of energy will be available to more people of varying economic classes. If we continue to make headway in refining certain solar panels and harvesting solar energy through water heating and plant-based solar extractions, we could reach commercial-level application sooner than we may think. When asked about solar power in an interview with Mathias Döpfner, Elon Musk predicted that our future civilizations are going to be primarily solar-powered. He continued by saying that the only problem would be finding an efficient way of storing excess solar energy on days when the weather would pose an issue. As we continue to make technological advancements in this field, the idea of solar panel farms will become more of a possibility. This alternative source of energy will soon grow to challenge the big fossil fuel giants one day. Some may see this as a threat but if we truly hope to make a dent in the climate change issue, we must progress with solar power.

 

https://www.ans.org/news/article-3812/elon-musk-shutting-down-nuclear-plants-is-total-madness/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/809796/global-solar-power-installation-cost-per-kilowatt/

 

Solar Saves Hard Earned Money

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One innovative idea that has been growing in popularity all over the world is the use of solar panels. Solar panels offer a variety of ways to help people’s lives financially and protect the environment, a key of sustainability. Solar is a natural resource and the human population should take advantage of renewable energy sources. The use of solar panels creates zero pollution and zero greenhouse gasses to be emitted into the atmosphere. With solar energy, there is an increase in moving away from importing and exporting oil and fossil fuels that harm the environment. Then in regards to financially, solar panels are a future return on one’s investment. Although they can be expensive to install, eventually there will be a return on investment to the point where some households even create a surplus of energy. This will minimize electricity bills in the future for many people. With the use of solar panels, people can receive the electricity to power their homes and more importantly shift toward electric vehicles. If the sun is paying for the electric vehicle batteries, people will save money on their homes and cars. How can anyone be against saving money while also saving the environment? In the future there will be minimized costs of installing solar panels which will benefit all classes of people.

References:

https://news.energysage.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-solar-energy/

Is Wind Energy the Future?

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In recent years there have been many discussions and efforts to switch away from fossil-fuel based methods to alternative and renewable sources of energy.  One such example of renewable energy that has become a topic of discussion among others, is wind energy.  There is hope for wind energy to become a main form of energy use in the near and somewhat distant future.  Based on the EPA’s Wind Vision Report, wind can become a viable source of energy in every state in America by 2050.  Wind energy is already available in nationwide and this infrastructure makes it possible to dramatically expand the usage of wind energy in the coming years.  In 2013, wind energy already reduced the emission of air pollutants by 250,000 metric tons and if widespread wind energy systems are used throughout the country, the Wind Vision Report estimates that greenhouse gases could be reduced by 12.3 gigatonnes by 2050.  This wind energy format is not only great for the environment but for the public as well, with local communities estimated to be able to collect additional tax revenue totally 3.2 billion annually from land lease and property tax payments by 2050.  The switch however would not be cheap with job losses expected to occur and infrastructure needing creation.  The Wall Street Journal estimates that it would cost 7.8 to 13.9 trillion over the course of the next 30 years.  This isn’t just for wind but for all forms of renewable energy.  The upside however is immense, with the change to renewable energy, our forms of energy will no longer depend on finite reserves of fossil-fuels.  The price of renewable energy is also slowly decreasing as they become more widespread.  Wind energy is roughly $20/MWh compared to coal’s $102/MWh and renewable energy sources can only help the economy with increased jobs in renewable energy sectors and lower prices for goods and energy in the future.  Renewable energy and wind energy in particular will take time to switch to of course, but the benefits of doing so far outweigh the negatives during the process of the switch or not switching at all.

 

Works Cited:

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/wind-vision#:~:text=The%20Wind%20Vision%20Report%20shows,and%20supporting%20services%20by%202050.

https://www.inspirecleanenergy.com/blog/clean-energy-101/cost-of-renewable-energy

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-s-is-turning-green-what-will-this-climate-plan-cost-and-who-will-pay-11634997601#:~:text=The%20biggest%20and%20most%20measurable,energy%20researchers%20at%20Princeton%20University.

 

 

 

Geothermal Sustainability. Advantages and Disadvantages

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Geothermal energy has become more popular in the past few decades as scientists race to find more sustainable forms of energy to fix the climate crisis. Countries like Iceland have been able to use their abundance of geothermal energy in order to power a large portion of their country. One of the many problems of other forms of energy like Solar power and wind power is that the amount of energy produced is based on the weather. You don’t get any power for wind turbines if there is no wind. And for solar power, you never get any power at night. This is one of the benefits of geothermal energy. There is essentially a limitless supply of energy in the earth’s core, however, it is not always coming out at the same rate. Financially, however, geothermal is quite effective. It is a large supply of energy that is just waiting to be harnessed. Perhaps one day we will figure out a way to harness geothermal energy more effectively, and it could be a better way of sustaining our planet.

 

Works Cited:

http://www.withouthotair.com/

 

Tidal Power, the future of energy!

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As the threat of climate change grows each year, the need to harness renewable energy sources becomes more and more important. There has been much focus on harnessing wind and solar energy, but a lack of focus on the possibilities created by the ocean. Recent research explores the many ways to harness energy from the ocean, and its potential to be a reliable source of electrical energy that has the capacity to power thousands of households (Bahaj 2011). The unique dependability of tidal power is due to the Earth’s stable tide schedules; this is unlike wind and solar power generation, which is powered by unpredictable sources (Mackie et al. 2021). Tidal power farms have the potential to harness over 500 MW of energy, yet the scientific world has only just begun to research these large-scale projects (Yang et al. 2021). This lack of research is likely due to the need for the development of new technologies and proper funding to understand how these projects could be implemented on a more global scale. As of right now, many tidal power stations are battling ocean bed erosion caused by the strong flow of the turbine (Kim et al. 2021). With more research and development of technologies, the ecological and environmental damages can be limited, and in the end so much better than burning fossil fuels.  Currently, there are only a handful of large-scale farms, namely La Rance Tidal Power Station in France and Shihwa Tidal Power Plant in South Korea. In the South Korean plant, it has the capacity to power around 500,000 households along with having many positive environmental effects on the artificial lake in which it is based, such as reducing the levels of carbon dioxide in the water and revitalizing marine life in the surrounding area (Park and Lee 2021). Since the majority of our earth is covered in water, tidal energy once developed could be a reliable source of energy without using fossil fuels. 

 

Bahaj, A. S. (2011). Generating electricity from the oceans. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15(7), 3399-3416.
Kim, J. W., Woo, S. B., Song, J. I., & Kwon, H. K. (2022). An observational study of hydrodynamic impact on water mass transport due to tidal power generation. Science of The Total Environment, 807, 151013.
Yang, Z., Ren, Z., Li, Z., Xu, Y., Li, H., Li, W., & Hu, X. (2022). A comprehensive analysis method for levelized cost of energy in tidal current power generation farms. Renewable Energy, 182, 982-991.

Wind Energy!

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There are many forms of non fossil-fuel based energy. But, for this post I will be specifically looking at wind energy. In order to understand wind energy, it is important to first understand wind. When the sun unevenly heats the Earth, that is when wind is created. Wind can then be used to create energy. Knowing this, wind energy is sustainable energy. It will continue to be a sustainable source of energy for as long as the sun continues to shine. Wind energy is caught by the giant windmills, called wind turbines, that tower over 100 feet in the air. Sometimes, the wind turbines work by themselves or they can also be connected to power grids or a solar cell system. When there is a decent amount of wind turbines clustered together it is called a wind plant, however only a handful of electricity providers use these wind plants to provide power for their customers.

Across the United States, there are 41 states have wind plants which have developed more than 100,000 jobs for American citizens. In fact, a wind turbine technician is one of the fastest growing jobs in America. It’s important to note that the wind industry is still growing and is nowhere near its peak. The most common use of wind turbines that are stand alone is to pump water. However, farmers could also use standalone wind turbines, as well as homeowners. When it comes to wind power, it is cost effective as it only costs “1–2 cents per kilowatt-hour after the production tax credit” (energy.gov). Lastly, the newly developing wind industry equals annual investments of over 10 billion dollars into the United States economy. This shows the promise and potential that the wind industry, as well as wind energy has.

Works Cited:
https://www.nrel.gov/research/re-wind.html

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/wind-energy-basics

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy