Robinson.Rodrigues.wiki.spring.2011

﻿The world is suffering from a depleting amount of fossil fuels which keep our world going around per say. Without fossil fuels, some of the most basic things like electricity, heat, food, and water would become hard to find or obtain. Fossil fuels are used to generate heat and electricity, which in turn provide the rest of the world the means to produce a product and to live. Now, fossil fuels are being depleted at an exponential rate and unless something is done, we are going to run out of energy. We are consuming so much energy everyday to power our cars, heat buildings, and to power our homes and businesses. We currently cannot just replace fossil fuels because our economy is not prepared for such a drastic change. Oil is our primary resource for energy and until laws start to be implemented and more funding is put toward renewable energies, change is far down the road. Presently, there are a few means of producing renewable energy, which are things like hydro, solar, wind, and hydrogen power. Currently the United States relys on many fossil fuels and hardly any renewable resources to supply energy to the public. We are still dependent on the supply of oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power. Although some of these fuels are efficient, such as nuclear power, they still cause some form of pollution, whether it be thermal pollution or carbon emissions. Even more dangerous is the threat of a nuclear meltdown, in which case nuclear radiation would cause an area around 25 or more square miles to be uninhabbitable. This is why it is more important now than ever to start funding the research of more cost effective and practical renewable energys. 

Some renewable sources have been around for some time now and we are starting to put wind, solar, hydro, and hyrdogen power to use. All of these systems are being used in today’s society but it is still on such a small scale that it can only be utilized for small, localized areas such as a personal home, a school, or a small town. It would be difficult to turn our society into a green society which ran off of renewable energies because the oil companies have become so enveloped in our society that without them at this point in time our economy would shut down. It is going to take some time for society to become 100% green and to put fossil fuels behind us. Presently we are working toward that and there are many new ideas and technologies being developed. Hydrogen for example is an extremely volatile gas and it is easy to produce. When you combine hydrogen and oxygen together and ignite the two, a chemical reaction take place where water and enormous amounts of heat are produced. Hydrogen can be produced by a process called electrolysis. This is where you take an electrical current and you force it through water. When the electrons flow from the cathode to the anode, hydrogen collects near the cathode and oxygen near the anode. The problem with this is that hydrogen is very explosive and difficult to store and it requires energy to make hydrogen. However today we have some renewable energies such as wind and solar and we can use this free energy to create hydrogen via electrolysis. If we can create hydrogen on a large scale then it can be used to create steam in a boiler for example. That steam could then be used to heat a building, or power steam driven pumps. It would defeat the purpose to produce electricity from hydrogen because it takes electricity to make it. In other words, if we have a wind turbine that produces electricity, then why would we use that turbine to produce hydrogen, to power a steam turbine connected to a generator. That would be an efficiency lose because we are changing states from electricity, to chemical energy, to thermal energy, and then back to electricity and in-between each one of those changes of state, we lose energy and our efficiency goes down. It would defeat the purpose to produce electricity from electricity.  A hydrogen economy is just not practical now because it costs more money to make hydrogen than it does to make electricity. Wind however is a very powerful source and you can feel wind almost everywhere you go. Wind is a great source that we can use to convert it into usable energy and this usable eneregy is called wind power.

Wind turbines are a big aid with today’s high energy demands. A wind turbine has a set of blades and when wind passes through these blades, the blades spin. The blades, which are just like an airplane wing, are connected to a rotor which spins with the blades. The rotor is connected to a shaft that will also spin with the rotor and the blades. At the end of the shaft there is a type of bull gear that turns with the shaft and that bull gear spins a smaller gear called a pinion. When you have the bigger bull gear connected to the shaft it helps to create a lot more power from less spins. With one spin of the bigger gear you can spin the smaller gear multiple times and that smaller gear is connected to another shaft that drives an electric generator. A generator works by spinning a magnate on the inside of a copper coil, and by sspinning the magnate insdide of the coil you create a magnetic flux, which in turn produces electricity. The generator produces Alternating current or AC electricity that we then can use in our homes and buildings. The best part is that wind power is mainly free to operate except for preventative maintenance to the generator and bearings and other pieces of the turbine. If we had a series of wind turbines and or solar panels, we could use the electricity produced by the turbines and solar panels to then create hydrogen. As stated before, we can use that hydrogen to mainly heat a building or use that steam in a small system involving steam pumps to move a liquid or gas from one point to another. Hydrogen is extremely dangerous and it could be the main reason why society does not use it as a main energy source. Wind however, is safe and renewable, and we are making wind farms to produce a lot of electricity. Remember that a wind turbine only opperates if their is a constant flow of wind through the turbine blades. Without wind, their is no electricity, which in this case, is essential if we want to create hydrogen without emitting carbon into the atmosphere. The best part about hydrogen is that when we burn it, the only product of the reaction is water. The water is perfectly pure to drink. Also, when we dissociate hydrogen from water, we are also dissociating oxygen. That oxygen can be used for many purposes, for example, we could fill oxygen bottles for things like welding or even for patients in hospitals. Hydrogen can have its place in society because not only can it be used as a way of producing heat, we can also use it as a fuel cell.  Fuel cells are simliar to batteries in that they are a temporary source of power unless their is something charging it. The main differance is that a battery loses voltage with normal use because the reactants are used as electrical current is drawn. A fuel is differant in that its reactants are constantly replenished. The reactants constantly flow through the battery, generating electrical current while they undergo a redox reaction. the most common fuel cell utilizes the reaction between oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen flows past the anode and undergoes oxidation which causes hydrogen to lose electrons. At the same time oxygen passes through the cathode and undergoes reduction which causes oxygen to gain electrons. This transfer of electrons creates an electrical current which can power electrical motors on some of the new fuel cell vehichles being put into production. Currently the United States relies on many fossil fuels and hardly any renewable resources to supply energy to the public. We are still dependent on the supply of oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power. Although some of these fuels are efficient, such as nuclear power, they still cause some form of pollution, whether it be thermal pollution or carbon emissions. Even more dangerous is the threat of a nuclear meltdown, in which case nuclear radiation would cause an area around 25 or more square miles to be uninhabitable. This is why it is more important now than ever to start funding the research of more cost effective and practical renewable energies. some renewable sources have been around for some time now and we are starting to put wind, solar, hydro, and hydrogen power to use.

All of these systems are being used in today’s society but it is still on such a small scale that it can only be utilized for small, localized areas such as a personal home, a school, or a small town. It would be difficult to turn our society into a green society which ran off of renewable energies because the oil companies have become so enveloped in our society that without them at this point in time our economy would shut down. It is going to take some time for society to become 100% green and to put fossil fuels behind us. Presently we are working toward that and there are many new ideas and technologies being developed. Hydrogen for example is an extremely volatile gas and it is easy to produce. When you combine hydrogen and oxygen together and ignite the two, a chemical reaction take place where water and enormous amounts of heat are produced. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">According to this pie chart, we use 29 percent of our energy on transportation. This includes our cars and trucks, Trains, airplanes, and ships. If we were to at least change the way we produce electricity and even make cars and trucks very fuel efficient, then we could cut down on our carbon footprint, and on the way, possibly implement more and more renewable energies. Producing electricicity requires a lot of fossil fuels which are becoming depleted more and more every day. Presently, changing from an oil, coal, and natural gas based society for energy is not going to happen. in the mean time, we can atleast the electricity more efficiently. A big consumer for electrical energy is lights. Every day, more and more efficient light bulbs are coming out and they last longer. It's a win, win situation. These new fluorescent are more energy efficient, brighter, and they last longer, not to mention they are also about the same price if not cheaper than your standard light bulb. In the long run they can also save the consumer money.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">If the way the untied states uses its energy can be at least more efficient for the time being, we can minimize our carbon footprint and lessen the impact on the environment. Further more, in order for us to virtually eliminate our carbon footprint, wind, solar, hydro, and hydrogen energies are going to begin to apear more and more in society. For example, a major wind farm is being put off of the coast of cape cod, Massachusetts. They are in the process of making 130 wind turbines to produce a total of 468 megawatts of power for the cape and the islands. They are expecting that on average they will be able to produce 170 megawatts of power, which is about 75 percent of the average demand for the cape and the islands. The average demand is about 230 megawatts. The power of wind and the sun are virtually limitless. There will always be wind and sun and its important that we take advantage of the free power available to us. Another key reason to why we should jump on renewable energies is that we are creating a lot of heat which has caused the earths average temperature to increase. ([|www.capewind.org]) The earths average temperature is heating up mainly due to our carbon dioxide emissions being so high as well as methane gas emissions being high. Carbon Dioxide is heavy and what happens is that when we burn fossil fuels we emit Co2. Co2 hold immense amounts of heat and traps that heat in the earth. the earth will naturally hold some heat but also reflect heat back into the atmosphere and space. However, with the high amounts of Co2 we are emitting into the air, we are trapping some of that heat which in turn, heats up the earth causing global climate change. Methane is similar to Co2 in that it traps heat into the earth but instead it traps nearly four times as much. global climate change has increased drastically over the last several decades and change needs to start now.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">This is also called global warming. Global warming is a big deal because of things like the arctic ice caps melting at a very fast rate causing a global rise in the oceans tides. They are estimating that within the next century that the tide will rise 5 feet on average causing the loss of land along the coast.

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<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">This picture shows the change of state of the ice to liquid in places like the arctic. Ice is melting at such a fast pace that scientists fear that we have passed the point of no return and that we will not be able to fix the damage we have done. Scientists are predicting that within the next 20 to 30 years, that we will no longer see ice caps during the summer months up in the arctic. They will be completley melted during the summer months which means a global rise in temperatures and a rise in tides around the world.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Their is an infintie list of why we need to change our focus towards research and put renewable energies to use. Our economy, and the lifestyles of future generations depend on it. Wind, hydrogen, and solar will all have their places in the world and if we can virtually elimiate our fossil fuel usage, the united nations predicts that by 2050, 77% of the world power will be based upon the production of power from renewable sources.

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Solar power can be considered another solution to the big problem involving the depletion of fossil fuels and lack of sources for energy. The sun gives off lots of heat and light, and they can be used for many different applications. Some things we can use the sun's heat and light for are water heaters, space heating/cooling, water treatment, and electric generation.The sunlight given off by the sun can be used to produce electricity. The electricity produced by sunlight is called solar power. There are two different ways produce solar power from the sunlight: Photovoltaic(PV) systems and Concentrated Solar Power systems.

Photovoltaic systems produce solar power by utilizing what is called the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect is the use of a type of radiation, which in most cases is the sun, to cause a flow of electrons between electrical conductors. This photovoltaic effect is used in what is called a solar cell. A solar cell has a certain material called a semi-conductor and when the sunlight hits the semi-conductor some electrons are released and are allowed to flow freely. This flow of electrons is usually directed to one of two electrodes where the power produced can be used to power something else. A concentrated solar power system is can be used to produce useful electricity. This electricity, or solar power, created from the solar cells are what is called DC electricity. When this DC current is made it would have to go through which is called an inverter, which will convert the DC current into AC current. The reason you would want to convert the DC current into AC current is because most of the power that is used in buildings, homes, and other things is in AC.

A concentrated solar power system takes the sunlight and, through a series of mirrors and lenses, concentrates the sunlight into a smaller beam, which is then used to heat something up. Usually this concentrated beam will be used to heat a container of water to produce steam that can then be used to produce mechanical energy by the use of a turbine that drives an electric generator.

The problem that we havve to deal with when creating all of this energy from sun is somehow storing it somewhere, because you dont want to create the power and just end up having it be wasted. Usually when we have a power source like solar power we wont actually use all of the power right away so a smart thing to do would be to store the energy first and then just go use the energy from where it is being stored. Also, lots of modern technology requires a constant supply of energy, which would require the storage of energy and a constant availability of energy at all times. When using solar power, it is very difficult to produce power and have it available at all times, because solar power relies on taking energy from the sun, but the sun is not always available. At night, on cloudy days, and during storms ar all times where it would be tough to receive energy from the sun to produce solar power, but you will still need to have power available for the things that require energy and that is where storing energy will come into play.


 * "Thermal mass systems can store solar energy in the form of heat at domestically useful temperatures for daily or seasonal thermal store seasonal durations. Thermal storage systems generally use readily available materials with high specific heat capacities such as water, earth and stone. Well-designed systems can lower peak demand, shift time-of-use to off-peak off-peak hours and reduce overall heating and cooling requirements.**


 * Off-grid PV systems have traditionally used rechargeable batteries to store excess electricity. With grid-tied systems, excess electricity can be sent to the transmission Grid-tied electrical system grid. Net metering programs give these systems a credit for the electricity they deliver to the grid. This credit offsets electricity provided from the grid when the system cannot meet demand, effectively using the grid as a storage mechanism.**


 * Pumped-storage hydroelectricity stores energy in the form of water pumped when energy is available from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation one. The energy is recovered when demand is high by releasing the water to run through a hydroelectric power generator."**
 * (www.solar-estimate.org)**

I feel like the most popular and useful way to store energy for later usage would be the usage of rechargeable batteries. rechargeable batteries would be great because they would work almost like the batteries in cars except they wouldnt be charged by an alternator they would be charged by a solar panel, or a solar cell. What makes rechageable batteries so good is the fact that they will always be available for use because they will have a charge and they will always be allowed to charge which makes them so great.

Rechargeable batteries could be used on many different objects that require energy. They can be very useful on little necessities that do not require too much power like streetlights /other lighting, and many other things. Just by making a lot of small things that require energy run off of their own power from a rechargeable battery charged by solar energy, we can cut down on a significant amount of power usage, and all the bit counts.

We can also use the sun as a way of actually heating, cooling and ventilating our homes. A leading consumption of fossil fuel can be considered the usage of heating oil to heat homes when it is cold. So if we find a way to heat our homes from a renewable source then that will instantly cut down a large portion of our dependency on fossil fuels. Also, the following statistic shows that heating homes and buildings uses a lot of energy: "In the United States, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for 30% (4.65 EJ) of the energy used in commercial buildings and nearly 50% (10.1 EJ) of the energy used in residential buildings" (www.solar-estimate.org). By utilising the sun, which is a renewable resource, to heat homes and other buildings that will help reduce a large amount of energy needed from fossil fuel use. One way you can heat a home using solar power is by using a solar air heater. The solar air heater uses the heat produced by the sun to heat air that is then blown into the home or building.

Another way that you can heat a home without the burning of fossil fuel is by using what is called a geothermal pump. A geothermal heat pump takes water from a big well that is drilled into the ground. The water is heated by the earth and gets pumped into the building to be used to heat the buildings. The water can heat the building by using radiant floors, which is done by pumping the hot water through pipes that are snaked along the ground under the buildings flooring. The water can also heat the home by being run through pipes that usually run along the lower parts of the walls, which are known as radiators. This process of using hot water to heat a home can be used the opposite way to actually cool a building. You can use the water in the well, which is kept cooler by the earth when it is hot out, to cool the building by pumping the water into the building and using fans to blow air past the cool water in the pipes. When the air is blown across the cooler pipe the air will be cooled and it will work just like an air conditioner. The only two things that will require energy will be the pump and the fans, and that is where the renewable energy sources will come into play. You could use solar panels, or wind turbines, or some other renewable energy source to run those things and you will not need any energy from another source.

Another way to use solar power in order to save energy is by using it as a water heater. You can use it as a water heater for either hot water for everyday use, for a pool, or also for heating. We would heat the water by installing, what is called a solar hot water system. "Solar hot water systems use sunlight to heat water. In low geographical latitudes (below 40 degrees) from 60 to 70% of the domestic hot water use with temperatures up to 60 °C can be provided by solar heating systems" (www.solar-estimate.org). As seen in this image, there would be a piping system that runs through a big set of solar collectors. In the piping system there would be a fluid like glycol, which is a fluid used as a coolant and heat exchanger. Its has a low freezing point, which is what you need so that during the winter you don't have liquids freezing in the piping, which will cause many problems. Also, glycol has a low specific heat, which means its is easier for glycol to absorb heat and release heat. So when glycol is pumped, by a glycol pump ran by a photovoltaic panel or also known as a solar cell, through the solar collectors it quickly absorbs the heat that is taken from the sun and is then pumped through a heat exchanger where the heat held by the glycol will be easily released into the water. The heat exchanger is piped together with a water tank where it holds both the solar heated water and the cold water being received. The hot water will rise to the top where there will be a pipe that drains into another standard tank that will hold the heated water. the hot water can then be pumped into a building or something else for many different uses. The hot water can be pumped into a building for regular use of hot water.

Instead of pumping the water into a standard holding tank, you can actually go straight from the first tank and pump the hot water to another heat exchange. From the second heat ecxhange you can pump the water back into the first tank as the cold water supply. By doing this you have created a closed loop system where you do not need an outside source of water; you can just reuse the water that is already in the system. But before you pump the cooler water back into the system you would need some sort of strainer or filter in order to protect the pump and the water depending on the use. You can use a closed loop system on something like a pool or radiant heating, which was described earlier.

Another aspect of our our life that accounts for a large consumption of fossil fuels is transportation. If we can find a way to cut down on the ussage of fuel on transportation then we can really reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. One way we can cut way down on the usage of fuel on our transportation is by converting as many of the vehicles used for transportation from fuel burning vehicles to solar powered vehicles. Also, we dont actually have to convert then from fully fuel burning vehicles to fully energy ran vehicles, we can just convert them into hybrids which would also help the amount of fuel dependency.

Public transportation would be a very important aspect to consider when trying to cut down on the dependency of fossil fuels. For example, if we can focus on, say, publicly ran buses whether it be school buses or public transit buses, and try to convert them into solar powered vehicles then we can really cut down on the usage of fuel. If a vehicle was to be solar powered you would have to put many solar cells on the vehicle in order to get as much power as poossibel because vehicles require a very large amount of energy. Instead of using an excessive amount of solar cells, they have a larger and more efficient solar cell called a solar array. One of these solar arrays can produce about 2 kilowatts of power which can be compared to about 2.6 horse power. There is a lot of configuring that has to be done in order to be able to mount as many of the arrays on a vehicle as possible because vehicles are not always perfectly flat and these arrays would have to be made to fit the vehicle. I feel that buses would be a good vehicle to convert to solar power because they have a lot of outside surface area which would allow a lot more power to produced for the bus to use. One problem that we could run into is the direction that the sunlight is coming from. If the solar arrays are not being directly effected by the sunlight then they can be suffering an inefficiency. There are different ways that we can mount these arrays ranging from horizontal to adjustable, and these would have to be thought about when making these vehicles.

Another solution to this problem is that we can put that solar array in a place that is stationary like on a building, or specifically a solar panel power plant. we can use that electricity to specifically power cars. New technology has allowed society to produce very efficient power cells or batteries and we can use them in cars. Some hybrid vehichles presently use these new types of linthium polemer bases batteries and they are very efficient. They are efficient because they dont have a memory and dont wear out like a conventional lead acid battery does. What we can do is use that electricity produced and transfer it to an electrical station where battery powered cars can go and charge their vehichles for little charge. Solar power obviously relys on the availability of the sun, so in conjunction of the use of solar, wind, and hydro power can produce electricity to power these electrical car power stations and we can for once have a carbon free soultion for transportation. Similarly, we can use that electricity to heat up our houses and buildings.

All of these solutions can cut our power/ fossil fuel consumption drastically. By doing so we are helping the environment, cutting our carbon emissions and these renewable sources are a lot easier to obtain which would constitute for cheaper electricity bills for everyone. New jobs would be created for the production of wind turbines and solar panels as well as the increase of the building and maintaining of geothermal wells. The economy would be boosted due to the increase in jobs as well as the decrease in dependency on gasoline. If people are not spending as much on gas, then they can buy things they want. By investing on things they want they are building up the economy.

Renewable energies are a win win for everyone. Initially it is going to be hard for our economy to jump from our dependency on oil to becoming dependent on green alternatives but once society make the leap its smooth sailing from there. Funding needs to be put in place and once it is, more wind farms like cape wind are going to be put in place all around the world. Most of the technology is already there, however if we can build upon the technology we already have to making even more efficient green alternatives, then we can truly have a self sustained green powered society. This is what its going to take, money, time, and the drive to become green. The time has come where we have to invest more time into these green alternatives and we cant wait any longer!!!!