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Renewable energy -alternative energy sources (alternative resources (Solar…
Renewable energy -alternative energy sources
energy efficiency and energy conservation
Energy efficiency is a measure of how much useful work we can get from each unit of energy we use. (improving energy efficiency means more energy goes into the form we need)
energy efficiency concerns unavoidable loss that happens as a result of inefficient technology and systems.
energy conversion: means reducing or eliminating the unnecessary wasting of energy. ex. if you ride your bike instead of your car on your way to school
energy conversion generally concerns aviodable loss that happens as a result of carelessness or ignorance
Roughly 84% of all commercial energy used in the United Sates is wasted
Reasons for energy waste: internal combustion engine, nuclear, coal, and natural gas power plants, huge data centers
Ways to improve our energy-efficiency: reduce, reuse, recycle, electric and hybrid vehicles, insulate buildings for more efficient heating and cooling
power plants and industry
industries: all facilities and equipments used to produce, process, or assemble good.
Ways for industry to save money and fuel: more energy-efficient variable speed electric motors, recycling materials such as steel or metal, implementing energy-efficiency in offices, cogeneration: to produce two useful forms of energy
Upgrade electrical grid to smart grid
electricity is delivered from power plants and other electricity producers to consumers through a network of transmission and distribution lines called an electrical grid.
transportation
Fuel economy of a vehicle is a measure of how many miles you can travel on average, for every gallon of gasoline that you use
U.S. Congress established CAFE to improve the average fuel economy of new cars and light trucks, vans, and sport utility vehicles
New energy-efficient vehicles: gasoline-electric hybrid cars, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, all-electric vehicle that runs on battery only
Redicing the weight of a vehicle is another way to improve fuel efficiency
buildings
biggest energy costs in the home are: heating, cooling, electronic and appliances
Home insulation: homes require insulation to isolate the inside from the outside, and prevent- heat escaping, heat entering
to save energy and money: use insulated windows, seal gaps around the window frame, insulate the building roof and walls
save energy and money by: heating interior spaces more efficiently, heat water more efficiently, use energy-efficient appliances, use energy efficient computers, lighting and using standby mode
Energy Star is a voluntary program launched by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Helps save money and protect the environment through superior energy efficiency,
Green architecture helps us make a transition to more energy efficient, resource efficient, and money-saving building over the next few decades
Consumers and their car usage
How can people use less gasoline: incentivize people to buy cars that use less gasoline- give consumers tax breaks or other economic incentives, raise taxes on gasoline, improve mass transit systems, build bicycle-only routes and areas
Consumers buy so much gasoline because the true price of gasoline is not included in the cost, there is a number of hidden gasoline costs not included in the price of gasoline
alternative resources
solar energy:
A building that has enough access to sunlight can get all or most of its heat through a passive solar heating system, such system absorbs and store heat from the sun directly within a well-insulated, airtight stucture
An active solar heating system captures energy from the sun by pumping a heat absorbing fluid such as water or an antifreeze solution through special collectors, usually mounted on a roof or on special racks that face the sun
We can use indirect solar energy to help cool building (mainly wind), blocking the sun with shades of trees, window awnings, or shades, a light-colored roof can reflect up to 90% of the sun's heat, geothermal pups can pump coo;l air from underground into a building during summer to cool it
Solar cells for electricity:
Photovoltaic cells: convert solar energy directly into electrical energy
Advantages: solar cells emit no greenhouse gases or pollutants, contain no toxic materials, easy to use, low-maintenance
Disadvantages: low energy efficiency, can't produce electricity at night and storing energy in large batteries for use at night and on cloudy days is expensive
Electricity of solar cells is increasing exponentially
Wind power: wind is air in motion, land near the earth's Equator absorbs more solar energy than does land near its Poles.
wind turbines and farms: -wind turbines can be 60 stories tall and have 70 meter long blades, height exposes them to stronger and more constant winds found at higher altitudes -groups of wind turbines called wind farms can transmit electrical energy to electrical grids, wind farms can operate both on land and at sea, but offshore wind farms are usually better option
wind power has been the world's second fastest growing source of electricity after solar cells.
can be a potential to produce 40 times the world's current use for electricity
Geothermal
Geothermal energy: is heat stored in soil, underground rocks, and fluids in the Earth's mantle
geothermal heat pump system: can heat and cool a house almost anywhere in the world.
Its the most energy efficient reliable, environmental clean, and cost effective way to heat or cool a space
Hydrothermal reservoirs can be used for mass heating, or generating electricity
Biodigesters:
is fed on organic material, which is broken down by a bacteria in an oxygen-free environment produce biogas and other solids that are mainly used as fertilizer.
Biomass: energy can be produced by burning the solid biomass or organic matter found in plants or plant-related material. The most common way of producing heat for cooking,( burning wood, crop waste, cow dung, etc.) but not the most common way to of producing electricity.
Solid biomass fuels include wood, wood wastes, and agricultural wastes such as sugarcane stalks, rice husks, and coorncobs
Biomass can also be converted into liquid biofuels use in motor vehicles, the two most common are ethanol=produced by plants and plant wastes, biodiesel=producd by vegetable oil
but still biofuels are terrible ideas!: emit greenhouse gases, requires huge amounts of water
Hydropower
any technology that uses the kinetic energy of flowing and falling water to produce electricity. Dams use potential/kinetic energy from flowing rivers, dams and floating turbines use energy from tidal flows
uses tides and waves to produce electricity
Hydrogen:
is the simplest and most abundant chemical element in the universe, hydrogen gas could be the fuel of the future using hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity for building and powering cars