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Posts Tagged ‘Renewable Energy’

Did you know that the U.S. indeed has an enormous potential for developing renewable energy sources? A couple of different types of renewable energy – especially solar power. For example, we have such things as wave energy (from ocean waves), and wind energy. All these renewable sources have lots of un-tapped potential.

The western world has for over a hundred years relied mostly on such fossil energy sources as oil and coal. However, the “times they are a-changing” as Bob Dylan sang. Coal and oil have been used because they were cheap and abundant. Not to mention the convenience of using these sources of energy.

It is now evident that the Earth’s stored fossil energy reserves are running low. It gets increasingly difficult to extract them. Also, there is the looming threat called “Global Warming”.

Personally, I believe this is a real issue. It is not that hard to realize that massive amounts of carbon dioxide are released when we burn coal and oil. This originates from carbon which has been hidden in the depths of the Earth for many millions of years. Now we humans are opening a Pandora’s box by releasing tremendous quantities into the air.

The 20th century saw a dramatic rise of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere. The reason this is a concern is the “greenhouse effect” of CO2. This gas is invisible to us but reflects infrared radiation back to the surface of the Earth. Which means that as the CO2 level goes up, so will the Earth’s temperature go up also.

You will be affected in different ways depending on where you happen to live. In some parts of the world, it can lead to disastrous consequences – drought, desertification, famine. And then there is the alarming fact of rapid melting of the polar ice caps. In case this continues unabated, we will have a rise in ocean levels, likely a couple of feet. Then, coastal cities like New York would be partly submerged. And if you live in a place like the Netherlands, you’d likely find your area submerged also.

What can we do about these problems? The answer to that challenge is to stop using fossil fuels ASAP. Let us turn to renewable sources, such as solar panels – they have enormous promise. I guess you belive solar panels are way too costly? Not anymore. There is money to be saved if you set up those home solar panels with your own very hands.

If you like to be self-reliant, you should be interested in DIY home solar panels. Install them on your house, and say goodbye to those high utility bills. People in the U.S. have proven themselves to live up to even the toughest challenges. Therefore, my firm opinion is that even this challenge will be met successfully.

Technorati Tags: diy solar panels, home solar panels, Renewable Energy, solar panels for homes, Solar Power

For as long as I can remember, I have had a dream about building my own house. And not just any house. This house should be beautiful; but it should also be eco-friendly.

To be eco-friendly, or gentle on the environment, means a couple of things. The first thing in my view is to create a good environment inside the house by using sound construction materials. What you really want to avoid is getting some hazardous materials into your home. For example: formaldehyde – a very dangerous compound – is found in certain types of particle board. Formaldehyde is a gas which makes you sick, even in minute amounts.

Another important aspect is how you heat the place. Where I live, electricity used to be very cheap some years ago. Guess what – everyone figured they should use electric heating in their dwellings. As far as I understand it, this solution isn’t used much these days, as the electricity cost has increased a lot.

Same thing with oil. Back when I was a kid, I remember how everyone used oil to heat their home because it was cheap. The rising cost of oil is making this an expensive solution.

If you insulate your house better, you can beat the mounting costs of energy. Houses built during the merry days of cheap energy tend to have very flimsy insulation. People didn’t care to put money into better insulation when oil was so cheap anyway.

Things have changed nowadays. There are even cases where better insulation has reduced the energy cost by 50%. Believe it or not, there are super.insulated houses that hardly need any extra heating. So if you spend some cash upfront on insulation material you get it back in the long run.

Ideally, you’d want a solar powered house. Suppose you could turn all the sunlight which falls on your house to useful energy – then you wouldn’t need any other source. Even your car could run on that energy.

In practise, this isn’t possible today. But in laboratories, scientists have reached a more than 40% efficiency with solar cells. In other words: these cells can transform nearly one half of the sun’s light into useful electric power.

Of course, these cutting-edge solar cells are still very expensive. But solar panels with more modest efficiency are mass-produced, and getting fairly inexpensive. Nowadays a number of manufacturers are producing photovoltaic cells with up to 20 per cent efficiency, using streamlined methods like continous printing.

In case you would like to get home solar panels, there is money to be saved if you set them up yourself. Just like with most home improvement projects, doing it yourself cuts costs.

Besides the money saved, there is another nice bonus: self empowerment, ie. doing your own thing.

Once installed, solar panels for homes typically are expected to last for over 20 years. Which means that even though they cost you a chunk of cash, you can save money down the line.

Technorati Tags: home solar panels, photovoltaic cells, Renewable Energy, solar panels, solar panels for homes, Solar Power

Since I am very interested in the environment, I am going to discuss it here. The very basis of our economy is energy. Without this great flow of energy, our modern world couldn’t exist. It was coal and oil that fueled the industrial revolution.

While this has been tremendously useful, there is also a back side. Actually, these deposits of oil and coal we now use are preserved “ancient sunlight”. When we burn that ancient material, we also release all that carbon as carbon dioxide (CO2). Which means the atmosphere recieves a higher concentration of that gas.

It is no secret that while CO2 is transparent to visible light, it reflects radiation in the infrared spectrum. This means that when the CO2 level goes up, more infrared radiation is trapped near the Earth’s surface.

Science has found that during a very remote era in the Earth’s history, most life went extinct. It seems that this mass extinction was associated with a sharp increase of carbon dioxide in the air. The effect would have been a marked increase in the Earth’s temperature.

The enormous current use of coal and oil has already caused a marked increase in the content of CO2 in the air. Further, the climate is clearly getting warmer than it used to in a number of areas. Especially, the polar ice caps are melting fast now.

I feel that if we care about future generations we must take action. But what can we ordinary folks do? One thing we can do is try to minimize the use of things like coal and oil. As an alternative: let us use renewable energy.

Ultimately, most energy sources are derived from the sun. If we can collect that energy directly, we have solved a number of problems. For instance, you have heard of those solar panels.

Solar cells have been around for decades, but have been very expensive to make. Because of the cost, they haven’t been a realistic alternative. These days, this is changing and solar panels no longer have that hefty price tag. You can put home solar panels on the roof of your house, and get free energy from the sun. If you can do some installation work yourself, you end up saving money. You may even be able to cut that utility bill to zero.

Technorati Tags: diy solar panels, home solar panels, Renewable Energy, solar panels, solar panels for home

While both the demand for energy and energy prices continue to increase, nonrenewable sources of energy, particularly fossil fuels, are decreasing. These factors, coupled with the effects of pollution and global warming, are driving consumers and industry to call for a better solution to the world’s energy needs. One thing that we can do to help the situation is build solar power. It’s not as out of reach as you may think.

Some suggest that the solution might be found by making innovative technological improvements to an existing source of energy- nuclear power. The world is currently getting about 16 percent of its energy need met by nuclear power.

Unlike coal, natural gas, or oil-all nonrenewable and subject to price volatility-nuclear power plants are fueled by uranium, a relatively abundant element that occurs naturally in the earth’s crust. Plus, nuclear energy is the world’s largest source of emission-free energy. There are no air pollutants or greenhouse gases that are produced by nuclear power plants.

One of the latest developments in the production of nuclear energy comes from Westinghouse Electric Company. The AP1000 has been called the most economical and safest nuclear power plant available in the world today. It’s the first reactor of its class to receive Design Certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The reactor is built with the technology of the current Westinghouse designed plants that are based on 20 years of research and development. The steam generators, fuel, reactor coolant pumps, digital instrumentation and controls, and integrated engineering are all components that have many years of stable operating experience.

Using this established technology as a jumping-off point, the innovative design of the reactor is said to offer distinct advantages over other reactors-including unequaled safety, economic competitiveness and improved and more efficient operations.

By their innovative approach to safety, the AP1000 requires less human intervention and therefore there is less potential for human error. Its simplified construction design can lead to significant savings in plant costs and an accelerated construction schedule.

If you are looking to build solar power for your home to get away from public energy dependency, take a look at our review of a do-it-yourself build solar power kit. Start your research of the many available kits here.

Ralph Somers

Moderator of Ralph’s Green Energy Guide

Technorati Tags: build solar power, Renewable Energy

More people interested in renewable power options and there has been more focus on these renewable energy sources in the past few years. The advantages of renewable energy include lower energy costs and little to no pollutants.

More awareness is making the option of renewable energy much more popular these days. More renewable energy sources are being used than ever before.

Renewable power options like geothermal and wind energy can be descriped and renewable energy. Renewable resources are available almost everywhere. We never run out of them.

Types of renewable energy resources include hydroelelectic, tidal power, wave power, thermal gradients in ocean water, biomass, geothermal energy, solar energy, biofuels and wind energy.

Energy that is supplied by a nearly infinite energy source, such as solar or wind, is considered renewable energy. Some of the types of alternative energy include solar, geothermal, biofules and hydro. Renewable energy is manufactured energy.

Future generations of technology is defined by the ability to harness energy for renewable sources such as solar and wind. 

Alternative energy sources are being developed anyhow, as the cost of fossil fuels will stimulate these efforts. Wind, geothermal, nuclear and solar energy going to thrive.

Renewable energy options offer benefits such as lower greenhouse emissions and less harmful carbons.

Wind and geothermal, as well as solar power, are getting closer to reality. One form of renewable energy that can help meet growing energy needs is wind power.

Society has been transitioning from a focus on fossil fuels to an interest in renewable enery sources.

These incentives help in recovering initial costs many residents and businesses incur upon switching their homes and businesses from fossil fuel power to renewable power sources.

Technorati Tags: alternatived energy, Renewable Energy, renewable power