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Energy can be put into two broad categories Renewable energy and none renewable energy. Renewable energy sources can be reused continually as they are abundantly found in nature. All of them are non-polluting but devices used to collect the energy may impact the environment adversely. They are free but producing storage equipment or converting them into another form of energy may be costly.
The examples of using renewable energy are The Solar Panel which is an assembly of solar cells. The solar cells convert solar energy into electrical energy. The solar panels are very expensive even though they cost nothing to run. They are installed in places which must have sunlight. The efficiency is 10-20% the environmental impact is it needs very large areas, 40km² is needed to produce to produce the equivalent power of one modern power station. Does not cause pollution but there are environmental concerns about the production of storing devices.
The Wind Turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of the wind into kinetic energy of turbines. The turbines turn to generate electricity but they work only when there is wind. The efficiency is 30-40%. The environmental impacts are needs many large turbines to generate electricity which can be noisy and unsightly. Turbines may endanger birds and bats.
Hydroelectric Power Plant is when electricity is generated when water in an uphill reservoir flows downhill. The gravitational potential energy of the water changes to kinetic energy of the flowing water which drives the turbines to generate electricity. The efficiency is more than 90%. The environmental impact is Floods large area and affects the ecology of the area, May cause drought downstream if not managed properly, does not cause ai...
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...rbines in Port Elizabeth are used to create kinetic and the turbines are strong enough to power a small town. The Coelga Wind Farm was the first wind farm built in South Africa which was built in the Eastern Cape; due to the success of the wind farm many more were built. The problem with wind turbines is they can't be used in a place such as Gauteng, because the wind is minimal and the wind turbines can't be turned and no power can be produced.
South Africa wastes lots of money on non renewable energy sources in order to create electricity for example coal. The building of Wind Turbines, Hydroelectric power plants etc. Are costly, but once built are free as they use renewable energy sources. They do not contribute to global warming unlike nuclear power plant which is extremely bad for the air. There is also a risk of an accident such as the Chernobyl accident.
“A wind turbine is a machine for converting the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy”. (1) The inventor of the first electric wind turbine was Clevelander Charles Brush, who ran his entire Euclid Avenue mansion off of one for 20 years, which later made the cover of Scientific American in 1888. (2) Although the use of alternate energy didn't rise a great deal afterward, this event did open the eyes for many environmentalists. Wind power is only one of our several “energy source[s] whose ‘fuel’ is free and will never be exhausted” (3) with the pros and cons not completely weighed out as to whether it will be truly beneficial or not. The two main issues regarding wind turbines are the environmental effects that they have and the cost effectiveness of building them.
In everyday life, there are things that one needs to survive. And sustainability problems arise every day. One such problem is energy loss. The world is using up a lot of energy and new ideas need to be formed to help the rest of the world and the future of the generations that are to follow, to survive. With that the problem is that people use up energy and they do not use it efficiently. Therefore scientists are needed to find ways to deal with the sustainability problem that is arising. That is where wind turbines are used to generate this energy but the actual wind-turbines are very large, loud and they kill birds, thus new designs need to be found in order to help energy usage and to bring the size and structure of the wind turbines to a smaller scale to prevent injuries to nature and the species around it.
Wind turbines can be very useful in bringing energy into your home. They are especially useful when solar panels aren't working. They take the wind speed from oceans, lakes, dugouts, or rivers and turn it into energy. To use the wind turbines most efficiently you should set up a wind power system.
Ever since recorded history, people had the ability to use wind as a source of energy. Wind power was been used to propel boats along rivers as early as 5000 B.C. At 200 B.C., China used windmills to pump water, while in Persia and the Middle East used vertical-axis windmills with woven reed sails were grinding grain. (history-wind-energy, energy.gov) Eventually, discoveries for wind energy became vast. Plethora of ideas developed. During the 11th century, the Middle Easterners used the windmills for food production. Which then allowed nomads, merchants, and crusaders to further bring back the idea back to Europe. The Dutch further improved the windmill by making it for draining lakes and marshes in rivers. Settlers took this advanced technology to the New World, and began using the windmills to pump water for farms and ranches and much more. Then eventually, to generate electricity, for homes and industries and soon to become, wind turbines.
In addition to the fact that solar, wind, and hydro power are local resources, they are also emission free resources. Emissions and pollution are a key concern with traditional power sources. The coal-fired plants that dominate U.S. energy production also produce more emissions than any other energy source. “Em...
Previous research shows that health concerns have been discovered related to wind turbines or wind power. Also environmental concerns have been reported about hydropower because it affects aquatic animals and their homes. Science Daily states that “Researchers proposed a study to optimize power generation efficiency and better control of wind farms.” Scientist are trying to create better ways to generated wind power because there is a lot of challenges when it comes to using wind power, such as the wind directions, weather, or even the atmosphere. They found that by changing the directions of the blades of the wind turbine, the power being generated would be affected by increasing the amount of...
One efficient way to acquire energy is Hydropower. Hydropower is power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water. This energy converter is harmless to the environment. Other ways will affect the atmosphere and the environment in a negative way. The most common device for hydropower is a dam. It relies on the water cycle. This is one of the oldest sources of energy.
First and foremost, unlike power plants that rely on combustion of fossil fuels, wind turbines do not produce atmospheric emissions. Strangely enough, wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the irregular heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the variations of the earth 's surface, and rotation of the earth. This wind flow, or kinetic energy, when "harvested" by modern wind turbines, can be used to generate electricity. There is an abundance of wind to meet our needs, “the potential of [the total] wind power [in the world] is… 20 times more than what the entire human population needs” (Maehlum). Currently, wind power is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy technologies available, costing between four and six cents per kilowatt-hour, depending upon the wind
Hydropower, the use of water to power machinery or produce electricity, provides the most renewable energy in the United States, and uses alternating current in most modern plants ("Hydropower…”). Hydropower relies on the water cycle and is a clean fuel source; it doesn’t pollute the environment like plants that burn fossil fuels. It is by far the most efficient way to generate electricity, being half the cost of using nuclear power, two-fifths the cost of using fossil fuels, and a quarter the cost of using natural gas ("Wind and Water…”). Also, hydropower is not subject to market fluctuations of embargos, and the average lifespan of a facility is 100 years. Hydropower also has many non-energy benefits such as water supply, flood control, navigation, irrigation, and recreation. However, it does face many environmental challenges such as impacts to aquatic habitats, aesthetic alterations of landscapes, changes to water quality, and interruptions of marine life ("Hydropower…”).
To begin with, many people do not know the basics of the modern windmill, or how much they have improved throughout the years. A wind turbine is a machine that is used to change kinetic energy into electrical energy. The windmill most likely originated in present day Iran in the A.D. 600s. By the 1990s there were about 25,000 wind turbines in the world (Ilyin 332). In 2005, the United States Wind Energy Industry installed more than 2,300 megawatts in 22 states. One megawatt can supply 225-300 houses with power (“Wind Web Tutorial,” par. 18). Areas with good wind resources have the potential to supply up to 20 percent of the electricity in the United States (Passero 173). A wind turbine generally has three blades (“Wind Web Tutorial,” par. 4). Today,...
Wind turbines are a great source of energy around the world. Wind turbines produce wind energy that can be used to power our homes. Wind turbines convert kinetic energy into mechanical power. Then this mechanical power gets generated into electricity. Wind turbines make energy by the wind turning the large blades, which spin a shaft that is connected to the large blades, which then operates the generator making electricity.
Renewable energy is a type of energy where all its resources comes from water, sunlight and waste materials. Renewable energy is environmentally friendly because non-renewable resources for example, oil is not involved. This will eliminate the emission of sulfur dioxide into the air when the oil is burned and this will reduce global warming. The two types of renewable energy that I will be mentioning in this essay are, Hydroelectric power and Solar power. Hydroelectric power is a type of energy where it relies heavily on water to produce electricity. Solar power is a type of renewable energy where it relies heavily on UV rays for it to function.
Hydroelectricity is a renewable source that can be used for years and cam be expanded in many different ways. It also can produce energy from running water without reducing its quantity and can be utilized with other renewable sources that promote energy. Hydroelectricity contributes to the storing of drinking water by collecting rain water, which can then be used for irrigation; however it can also improve the air you breathe because it doesn’t release any toxins or pollutants. For a century, hydroelectricity has made long term improvements environmentally and can continue to do so for many years to come because of how affordable this technology is. (Lamb)
With the depletion of fossil fuel resources comes speculations and debates about alternative energy sources. The world, including the Philippines, is practically dependent on a dwindling non-renewable source of energy. Today, experts are debating about and considering three options: Nuclear, Solar, or Wind Energy. Everyone has been accustomed to the bad image of nuclear energy as a result of the Chernobyl and Fukushima incidents above all others. The popular belief is that radiation from a nuclear meltdown is very harmful to humans and other living things—which is true—and that nuclear power plants are very dangerous and not ideal—which is not. According to Smith, et. al (n.d), all the nuclear disasters that ever occurred were caused by human error and natural disasters like tsunamis, not one because of system failure. Putting the false beliefs aside, with proper engineering and adequate maintenance by experts, a nuclear power plant is a very ideal and viable source of energy for the following reasons:
Understanding the environment would help you recognise the appropriate energy production system to use. Renewable energy is an alternative natural source to fossil fuels like sunlight, wind and geothermal heat. Wind turbines and photovoltaic panels are examples of energy production systems where the conditions of a particular environment has to be taken into account. If a building is located alongside or near