Benefits and alternative resources to fossil fuels

One major advantage with the use of renewable energy is that as it is renewable it is therefore sustainable and so will never run out.

Renewable energy facilities generally require less maintenance than traditional generators. Their fuel being derived from natural and available resources reduces the costs of operation.

Even more importantly, renewable energy produces little or no waste products such as carbon dioxide or other chemical pollutants, so has minimal impact on the environment.

Renewable energy projects can also bring economic benefits to many regional areas, as most projects are located away from large urban centres and suburbs of the capital cities. These economic benefits may be from the increased use of local services as well as tourism whic can help improve local economy's. 

Solar: is a great resource for engery as is an easy resource that the earth provides without causing harmful damages to our planet, it is essentially eco friendly 

The major disadvantages of solar energy are:

• our inability to control or predict how much solar energy arrives on the earth's surface at any place and,
• our technology to date requires that a large surface is required for collection of useful amounts of solar energy.

Hydroelectric: Hydropower is fueled by water, so it's a clean fuel source, meaning it won't pollute the air like power plants that burn fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas. Hydroelectric power is a domestic source of energy, allowing each state to produce their own energy without being reliant on international fuel sources.

The major disadvantages of hydroelectric Energy: 

Like all power plants, hydroelectric plants are very expensive to build, and must be built to a very high standard. The high cost means that plants must operate for a long time to become profitable. The creation of dams can also create flooding of land, which means natural envrionment and the natural habitat of animals, and even people, may be destroyed.

Sources: http://www.solarschools.net/resources/stuff/solar_energy.aspx

https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/benefits-hydropower

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~dama0023/hydroelectric.html

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Energy

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Energy

Wind:
A positive side to wind turbines is that there facilities require less maintenance than generators that rely on fossil fuel. Even more importantly, renewable energy produces little or no waste products such as carbon dioxide or other chemical pollutants. Some of the negatives include the strength of the wind is not always constant so wind turbines do not produce the same amount of electricity all the time. There will be some times when they produce no electricity at all. Also Wind turbines can be noisy and disturbing people in the country where there is the best supply of wind.
Hydroelectric:
Hydropower is fueled by water, so it's a clean source of electricity. Hydropower also relies on the water cycle, which is driven by the sun, thus it's a renewable power source.Hydropower plants can be impacted by drought. When water is not available, the hydropower plants can't produce electricity. Hydroelectric can impact water quality and flow.
Biomass:
Biomass is always available and can be produced as a renewable resource.Growing Biomass crops produce oxygen and use up carbon dioxide that's already in the atmosphere from fossil fuels.The use of waste materials as biomass reduce landfill disposal and makes more space for everything else.
Nuclear:
This technology is Already available, it does not have to be developed first. It is possible to generate a high amount of electrical energy in one single plant. The downsides include finding uranium which is rare. Also if there was a meltdown it would would be devastating to the surrounding areas rendering them radioactive for the next 100 years.
Solar:
Solar is by far the best environmental choice for it has no repercussions to the environment all it does is just harness the suns energy. Also it does not require anything to get started like wind turbines which need a little bit of energy to start. The only downside are that it does not produce as much energy as some of the other methods. They also need lots of land because to be effective there must be many of them collecting energy.

Alternative Sources of Energy to Fossil Fuels

Alternative Sources of Energy to Fossil Fuels

Wind: Wind power is the conversion of wind into electricity. Wind turbines convert kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. 

Benefits:

1) Wind energy is a clean fuel source. Wind energy doesn't pollute the air like power plants that rely on combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas. Wind turbines don't produce atmospheric emissions that increase health problems like asthma or create acid rain or greenhouse gases.

2) Wind power does not use water, unlike conventional electricity sources. Producing nuclear, coal, or gas-fired power uses water for cooling. Water is becoming a scarce resource all over the country. Wind power uses zero water in its energy generation.

3) Wind power is cost-effective. It is one of the lowest-cost renewable energy technologies available today, with power prices offered by newly built wind farms averaging 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the wind resource and the particular project’s financing. Even without government subsidies, wind power is a low-cost fuel in many areas of the country.

Challenges:

1) Good wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the electricity is needed. Transmission lines must be built to bring the electricity from the wind farm to the city. 

2) Turbines might cause noise and change the viewshed. Although wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment and communities compared to conventional power plants, concern exists over the sound sometimes produced by the turbine blades and visual impacts to the landscape.

3) Wind turbines don't produce consistent energy.

Wind Turbines

Hydroelectricity: Hydroelectric power is electricity generated by hydropower. Water is needed to run a hydroelectric power-generating unit. The water is held behind a dam, forming an artificial lake, or reservoir. The force of the water being released from the reservoir through the dam spins the blades of a giant turbine, which generates electricity

Benefits:

Hydroelectricity does not "use" water, all of the water is returned to its source of origin. Hydroelectric power can be created 24/7 indefinitely assuming that the body of water it is utilizing never runs dry. It is also another absolutely clean source of energy. The power plants, once in place, do not create any waste byproducts in their conversion. Dams constructed can also shut their gates and conserve the water for use when power is in higher demand.

Challenges:

Like all power plants, hydroelectric plants are very expensive to build, and must be built to a very high standard. The high cost means that plants must operate for a long time to become profitable. The creation of dams can also create flooding of land, which means natural environment and the natural habitat of animals, and even people, may be destroyed.

The building of dams for hydroelectric power can also cause a lot of water access problems. The creation of a dam in one location may mean that those down river no longer have control of water flow. This can create controversy in places where neighboring countries share a water supply.

The Akasombo Dam (Volta River - Southeastern Ghana)

Biomass/Biofuels: The term biofuels refers to a wide range of fuels which are in some way derived from biomass, organic matter. In today's society they are gaining increased public and scientific attention due to rising gas and oil prices.

Benefits:

Biofuels are a renewable energy source in that they are created from plants that can be regrown each year. Biofuels also do not require many changes(if any) in cars and other places of use to be utilized. Some consider the use of biofuels as carbon neutral since the carbon produced when burning them is offset by the carbon consumed by the plants they came from. In the United States, biofuels can help reduce the dependence on foreign oils, which fluctuate in price rapidly.

Challenges:

While some consider their use "carbon neutral," the machinery required to farm the plants for biofuels does create carbon emissions, this machinery is also typically not powered by biofuels. 

Biofuels Life Cycle

Nuclear Power: Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat, which in nuclear power plants, is used to heat water and fuel steam powered generators of electricity. 

Benefits: 

Nuclear power plants also produce no greenhouse gas emissions after they are up and running. The running costs of nuclear plants are also very low due to the fact that a very small amount of uranium produces a very large amount of energy. If the cost of uranium were to doubled, operating costs of a nuclear power plant would only increase by about 7%. A single truck of uranium can produce as much energy as 1000 trucks of coal. Nuclear wastes have been stored safely underground for decades now.

Challenges:

A nuclear power plant undergoing a meltdown would make the land many miles surrounding the plant uninhabitable for several decades.

Besides the obvious direct dangers, nuclear fuel also requires machinery to mine and transport which ultimately means that nuclear power does produce some greenhouse gases. Nuclear power plants are also very expensive to build.

Nuclear wastes also take a very long time to degrade depending on the elemental isotope. Scientists argue that we cannot simply place nuclear waste in the ground and forget about it.

Nuclear Reactor

Solar Power: Solar power is the the conversion of the energy from the sun to usable electricity. Photovoltaic (PV) cells covert sunlight to direct current (DC) electricity. The inverter converts DC into alternating current (AC) electricity. The electrical panel sends power to your lights and appliances. The utility meter measures the energy you draw and feed back to the grid. 

Benefits:

Solar energy is a resource that is not only sustainable for energy consumption, it is indefinitely renewable (at least until the sun runs out in billions of years). 

Solar panels also require little maintenance. After installation and optimization they are very reliable due to the fact that they actively create electricity in just a few millimeters and do not require any type of mechanical parts that can fail. Solar panels are also a silent producer of energy, a necessity if dealing with picky neighbors. The federal government has also introduced generous tax credits for individuals and companies that invest in solar and other clean energy systems.

Challenges:

Solar power panels are expensive. 

The primary disadvantage of solar power is that it obviously cannot be created during the night. The power generated is also reduced during times of cloud cover. 

Even todays most efficient solar cells only convert just over 20% of the suns rays to electricity. 

Solar panels used to generate solar energy

Natural Gas: Natural Gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0-20% of other hydrocarbons.

Benefits: 

A major plus of natural gas is that it can be efficiently and safely stored. Like petroleum, it is a fossil fuel in the thermogenic sense, however it is considered to be more environmentally friendly due to its low emissions after burning 

It emits 60-90% less smog-producing pollutants than petroleum after burning. 

Challenges: 

Like other fossil fuels, natural gas still does create greenhouse gas emissions. In the sense of large scale use, gas from landfills would not be able to meet demand, and it would therefore be relying on the non-renewable forms of gas.

Natural gas is highly volatile and can be dangerous is handled or transported carelessly. 

Wind

As I researched wind as a source of energy many things popped up. There were a couple ups and downs just as there is to any source of energy. Wind can power windmills and thus create electricity. The cons of this is that windmills can be very big in size and be an "eye-sore" in a way. They also are not good for birds, as many bird seem to fly into them and die. Also wind is unconsistent, thus if there is no wind, no energy is being made, but there are several pros to windmills. It is powered by wind and doesn't effect out atmosphere. They actually can produce a decent amount of energy and is rather a renewable source of electricity as there will almost always be wind, so it'd be hard to run out like petroleum oil. Wind is a great source of energy.

advantages and challenges of solar energy

solar energy has many different advantages and challenges. some advantages are there are no harmful byproducts, there is power in distant locations, and the energy can be stored. Solar energy is one of the cleanest known sources of energy. Remote places in the world that aren't connected to the power grid are able to receive solar energy because the sun shines everywhere. The energy can be stored and even see during the night when the sun is not out. Some challenges of solar energy are the cost, space,  location, and storage. Solar panels are extremely expensive to manufacture, and the repair and cleaning them is alot of money. solar panels take up a lot of space so there are difficult to use in urban areas. depending on where in the world you are, solar energy may be used more or less because of how long and strongly the sun shines in that particular location. solar energy cannot be transported over long distances.

Benefits and Disadvantages of Electric Resources

Wind Benefits: Natural, no energy is used or wasted, non polluting.  Disadvantages: You need only wind and sometimes there is none so you will have no power when the wind isn't blowing.
Hydroelectric Benefits: Natural with water, won't pollute the air, each state can use its own energy with this source and not rely on other states or areas for power.  Disadvantages:  It is expensive, there will be droughts, and environmental consequences.
Biomass: benefits include that it is always available and can be produced as a renewable resource.  Disadvantages: agricultural wastes will not be available if the basic crop is no longer grown,additional work is needed like harvesting plants.
Nuclear advantages:  Reduces the amount of energy generated from fossil fuels,Less use of fossil fuels meaning lowering greenhouse gas.  Disadvantages:  Radioactive waste is extremely bad for the environment.
Solar: advantages it does not use energy just the natural energy which is the sun which is very good for the environment.  Disadvantages is that if there is no sun that day or less sun you will be out of power for the day much like the wind you need a constant in order to have a constant energy source.
Other "coal" advantages is that it is abundant and not expensive.  Disadvantages is that by burning it it releases harmful waste into the environment, and even acid rain in some regions.  

How to Reduce Global Warming

How to Reduce Global Warming

Global warming is becoming a world wide problem, and although it may not drastically affect us now, it could be very negatively impactful on our future generations. 

To avoid disadvantaging our future generations, here are 4 ways to help reduce global warming:

1. Reduce fossil fuel use. 

Burning fossil fuels increases the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. There are two ways to reduce fossil fuel use: Use less energy, or use alternative, nonpolluting energy sources like solar and wind power.

2. Plant Trees 

Because carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas, planting trees and other plants can slow or stop global warming. Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. They use carbon to build their own tissues and return some of it to the soil in a process called sequestration. Deforestation of rain forests is a large contributor to global warming and CO2 emissions, but planting new trees, even in your own backyard, can help to offset this.

3. Reduce Waste
The production of garbage contributes to global warming both directly and indirectly. Decomposing waste in landfills produces methane and other greenhouse gases. Waste also requires energy to manufacture in the first place. Reducing your consumption patterns and reusing items whenever possible minimizes your carbon footprint, since fewer new items need to be made. Recycling metal, plastic, glass and paper lowers greenhouse gas emissions, since recycled items take far less energy to manufacture than items produced from scratch.

4. Conserve Water

Cities consume significant amounts of energy when purifying and distributing water, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Saving water reduces the amount of energy used. At home, turn off water immediately whenever you're not using it, and repair or replace leaky faucets and toilets.