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Energy |
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Students! Thinking about your future?
Click here for a special
section of our site made just for you. Tons of career
and homework resources.. |
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The Future of Energy
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Renewable
Energy Sources
Most renewable
energy comes either directly or indirectly from the sun.
Solar energy can be used directly for heating and
lighting, for generating electricity and a variety of
commercial and industrial uses.
The sun's heat also drives the winds, whose energy is
captured with wind turbines. Rain or snow flowing downhill
into rivers or streams can be captured using hydropower.
The organic matter that
makes up plants is known as biomass. Biomass can be used
to produce electricity, transportation fuels, or
chemicals. The use of biomass for any of these purposes is
called biomass energy.
Hydrogen also can be found in many organic compounds, as
well as water. It's the most abundant element on the
Earth. But it doesn't occur naturally as a gas. It's
always combined with other elements, such as with oxygen
to make water. Once separated from another element,
hydrogen can be burned as a fuel or converted into
electricity.
 Geothermal energy taps the Earth's internal heat for a
variety
of uses. And the energy of the ocean's tides comes from
the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun upon the
Earth.
In fact, ocean energy comes from a number of sources. In
addition to tidal energy, there's the energy of the
ocean's waves, which are driven by both the tides and the
winds. The sun also warms the surface of the ocean more
than the ocean depths, creating a temperature difference
that can be used as an energy source. All these forms of
ocean energy can be used to produce electricity.
National
Renewal Energy Laboratory
 Hot Rocks
and Cool Waters
Clean and reusable,
geothermal and lake-source cooling are two alternative
sources of energy.
Lake source cooling, also
known as deep source cooling utilizes the frigid waters of
lakes to cool nearby buildings.
Geothermal energy is energy
derived from the natural heat of the earth. Geothermal
energy is usable for a wide range of temperatures from
room temperature to well over 300° F.
Here are some online
articles that can help you learn more about the future of
these alternative energy sources.
How Lake Source Cooling Works
Tapping deep
water for cooling
What is Geothermal Energy?
How
is electricity generated using geothermal energy?
Geothermal Energy Myths
Hydrogen Fuel Cells
In the near future,
hydrogen fuel cells promise to change our lives. These fuel
cells will power our vehicles, homes and offices more
efficiently and will be less harmful to the environment
than traditional energy sources. Fuel cells using pure
hydrogen do not emit any air pollutants or greenhouse
gases.
Hydrogen fuel
Micro-Generator Feeds On Good Vibrations
A sugar-cube-sized electric
generator that feeds on environmental vibrations has been
developed. It could power swarms of wireless sensors or
even medical implants, researchers
claim.
Micro-Generator
Breakthrough In Solar Farm Technology
 By
mimicking the antics of a child using a magnifying glass
to burn a leaf or a camper to start a fire, IBM scientists
are using a large lens to concentrate the Sun’s power,
capturing a record 230 watts onto a centimeter square
solar cell, in a technology known as concentrator
photovoltaics, or CPV. That energy is then converted into
70 watts of usable electrical power, about five times the
electrical power density generated by typical cells using
CPV technology in solar farms.
IBM Concentrator photovoltaics
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Fusion
Confusion?
Lately, it seems you can't
swing a catalyst without hitting something
called FUSION. Cars, candy bars, soft drinks, even razor
blades are named after it. Probably to give you the
impression that what's inside is high energy. (I still
haven't figured out
what fusion has to do with shaving).
My
girlfriend used the word recently during a discussion we
were having in front of the local theatre. She suggested that we see a romantic comedy. I countered
with a film about a family of crazed killers. She said something about boundaries
and followed it with, "Hey, it's not
fusion". The next thing I know, I'm sitting in a
center loge seat watching a movie I think was entitled "Tender Magnolias".
I decided
that before our next date, I would learn more about fusion
and exactly how it relates to movie selection.
What is
fusion? Fusion is the same process by which the sun
creates energy, by combining the nuclei of light elements
(deuterium and tritium), to form a heavier element
(helium). The process of fusing these elements results in
the release of large amounts of energy which can be
captured and used to generate heat and eventually
electricity.
“By the time our
young children reach middle age, fusion may begin to
deliver energy independence and energy abundance to all
nations rich and poor”. -
U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham
Fusion fuel is essentially
sea water. Each gallon of water, if burned in a fusion
reactor, would produce as much energy as 300 gallons of
gasoline. In addition to using abundant water as it's
fuel, fusion is a clean energy source. Because fusion does
not "burn" fuel as normal electric generation plants,
there is no pollution. Fusion is much safer than nuclear
fission, which splits heavy elements like uranium into
smaller atoms. Although fusion does produce a small amount
of radioactivity, the radioactive byproducts are short
lived, and decay into harmless substances in a few months.
Moreover, a fusion reactor has very little fuel in the
reactor at any one time. There is no way for a fusion
generation plant to go supercritical or "meltdown" like a
fission plant.
To achieve nuclear fusion,
a plasma must be heated to extremely high temperatures
at least one hundred million (100,000,000) degrees
Celsius. This plasma can't be confined by the walls of any
container. Not because the walls would be melted, but that
they are so much colder, the walls cool the plasma and
prevent fusion. The trick is to contain the hot plasma
without actually touching it. The most common way to
confine the hot plasma is to use strong magnetic fields.
If the obstacles to this
technology can be overcome, fusion energy offers the
prospect of a long-term, safe, environmentally friendly
energy option.
Was my girlfriend impressed
with my fresh fever for fusion? Not really. But as
her eyes glazed over from the mere mention of deuterium, I
had no trouble slipping her into a sci-fi action flick.
Here are
some online sources that can help you heat up your next date.
JET - Nuclear fusion research facility
Fusion: An Alternative Energy Source
Introduction to Fusion
Burning Plasma: The Future of Fusion Energy
How
Fusion Reactions Work
Lettuce Be Green
Researchers have coaxed common bacteria to produce
hydrogen in a new, efficient way
microbial fuel cells
Turning
Plastic Back To Oil
Global
Resource Corporation has developed an energy conversion
process that can produce oil and vast amounts of
combustible gas from recycled plastics.
Gas from recycled plastics
Energy Links
People Power
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