Student+Reports+on+Alternative+Energies

Alternative energies are researched in order to provide a cheaper and less damaging means of energy production. Here is what we have gotten so far. These essays are that of students researched by students.

__Wind Energy (Joshua C.)__ Wind energy is when the power of wind is converted into electricity using a wind turbine. Wind energy is growing steadily even though it only produces about 1.5% of the power created each year. Wind energy is created using turbines, which are generators. The wind turns the blade on the turbine which in turn turns the generator, creating electricity. However, the energy created is only about half of the voltage needed to go through high voltage lines. Hence, the energy is sent to a transformer, where it is boosted up to a high voltage. One of the positive things about wind energy is that if you own your own small turbine, you can sell the surplus energy to your utility company. This not only gives you the energy needed to run everything, but it also gives you some extra money. Wind energy is not all that good, however. Because wind speed is not constant, the average amount of energy produced on a wind farm in a year is far less than that of a normal generator. Unlike normal power plants, wind energy is completely reliant on the wind. Normal power plants, like coal and nuclear plants, can produce all the time because the only factors that may affect normal power plants are the cost of fuel, maintenance, and sometimes weather. The energy created by wind varies often because the wind speed and direction changes. Thus, the amount of energy created on a wind farm can change day-to-day and even hour-to-hour. Because of the un-balanced amount of energy produced, it is hard for power companies to rely completely on wind energy. However, the wind energy created on days when the wind speed is high and constant can be stored for future use. Sometimes, the wind energy created is not sufficient enough to provide for the demand of energy. In hot places, like the southwestern United States, wind speed could be low on hot days, which would not be able to provide for the amount of energy needed for air-conditioners. One idea to create more reliable wind energy is to connect ten or more wind farms together. This would provide for about 33 to 47% of the wind energy that is produced to be reliable. In many areas, the wind energy produced is higher in the winter and lower in the summer. In turn, solar energy is higher in the summer than in the winter, providing for an even balance of energy. [|www.canadiangeographic.ca] Text: Wikipedia; __Wind Power;__ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power Photograph: Wikipedia; __Wind Power;__ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power

__ Wind Turbines (Stephanie F.) __ People use wind for many purposes, such as sailing or flying kites. Wind holds kinetic energy, and when this energy is harvested it can even be used to generate electricity. Wind turbines convert kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical power. This mechanical power can be used for grinding grain or pumping water, or it can be converted into electricity by a generator. There are two different kinds of wind turbines: vertical axis and horizontal axis. So, how does a wind turbine work? Wind turns the blades of the turbine, which spins a shaft and connects to a generator. There are some advantages of using wind turbines. For one, wind is a free and renewable resource, unlike burning fossil fuels. This also creates a lower amount of pollution that comes from burning fuels. Also, you can build one yourself. You can build a smaller version of a wind turbine to generate power for your own home. Along with the advantages, however, are some disadvantages. Wind turbines can be loud, and many of them would be required to generate enough power for the number of households that need electricity. The biggest disadvantage of using wind energy is that it is never constant. The power generated by the turbines all depends on the power of the wind, which varies constantly. Info from: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_how.html http://ezinearticles.com/?pros-and-cons-of-wind-turbines&id=1477746



**__ Wind Power __** By Elizabeth D. Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. The use of wind power has caused many debates over the years between environmentalists. Today’s’ wind power industry began in 1979 with the production of turbines by Danish companies. Wind power has many advantages and disadvantages. Usage, Cost, environment affects and others contribute to the development of more wind power. Towards the end of 2008, wind power was producing only about 1.5% of worldwide electricity use. The usage is growing rapidly though and has doubled between 2005 and 2008. Most energy stored in wind can be found at high altitudes where continuous wind speeds occur.. The total amount of extractable power available from the wind is more than the present human power usage. So much power is generated by higher speeded wind, much energy can arrive in short bursts. Half of the energy available can arrive in just 15% of the wind turbines operating. The consequence is that wind energy from a certain turbine or wind farm doesn’t have a constant output. Making wind power more constant requires various existing technologies and methods to be extended, to link widely distributed wind power. Electricity generated by a wind farm is normally fed into the national electric power transmission network. Wind speed isn’t constant so a wind farm’s annual energy production is never as much as the total amount of the generator ratings multiplied by the total hours in a year. According to a 2007 Stanford University study published in the journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, “Wind farms can allow an average of 33% of the total energy produced to be used as a reliable, base load electrical power, as long as minimum criteria are met for wind speed and turbine height.” Electricity generated from wind power can be highly variable at several different times; from hour to hour, daily and seasonally. On seasonal timescales, solar energy peaks in the summer, whereas in many areas wind energy is lower in the summer and higher in the winter. The intermittencies of wind and solar power tend to cancel each other to an extent. Wind power has a low cost and a high proportion of capital cost. In 2004, wind energy cost one-fifth of what it did in the 1980s. Some expected that downward trend to continue as larger turbines are produced. Since the cost of producing wind energy is mainly construction, and there are no fuel costs the average cost of wind energy per unit of production depends of the few key assumptions, like cost of the capital and years of service. If external costs are taken into account, wind energy can be competitive in more cases, because costs have generally decreased due to technology development. Wind energy is among the least costly forms of electrical production. Danger to birds is often the main complaint against wind turbines. Studies show that the number of birds killed by wind turbines is lower compared to the number that die as a result of our activities, including traffic, hunting, power lines, high-rise buildings, and especially the environmental impacts of using non-clean power sources. For the human neighbors the noise created by the turbines is often a nuisance. Some people claim that the noise, which puts out both audible and inaudible frequencies, makes them sick and not just from the lack of sleep.  Work: [] Picture: []

=That should be plenty of information for your casual researcher on wind energy. Fell free to follow any of the included links for further information. Here are other types of energy= __David__ ** __Nuclear power plant__. Http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://worldwide-energy.net/users/imgroot/nuclearpower.jpg&imgrefurl=http://worldwide-energy.net/nuclear-energy/&usg=__fGkl5jd9-xQJKaj5yUPrCJpPH-   Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei via controlled nuclear reactions. The most common method in use today is through nuclear fission, though other methods include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay. The use of nuclear energy is fairly popular. In 2007, about 14% of the world's electricity was generated by nuclear power. 6.3% of the world's energy has been provided by nuclear power since 2005. Operating in 31 countries (mainly the US, Japan, and France) the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) reported that there are 439 nuclear power reactors in use around the globe. The generation of nuclear power emits fairly low amounts of carbon dioxide. Meaning that the nuclear power plants contribution to global warming is relatively small. Also, the technology needed to create nuclear energy is readily available. Plus, it is easy to generate a lot of electrical energy in one power plant. One bad thing about nuclear power is the radioactive waste that it produces. According to the United States Environmental Protection agency, nuclear waste is extremely dangerous and has to be carefully looked after for a minimum of 10,000 years. Another bad thing, which I really didn't know, is that nuclear power plants and nuclear waste are big targets for terrorist attacks. That sort of attack would have terrible affects on the whole world. Uranium is used as a power source for nuclear energy. Uranium is very scare. Scientists believe that uranium supplies will only last for the next thirty to sixty years. Meaning that nuclear energy is not a renewable resource and it will not last forever. __
 * __ Nuclear Energy __ **

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Daniel S. Nuclear Energy __ An effective alternative source of energy is nuclear power. Many of other countries have already taken the initiative and converted much of their power source to nuclear energy. France is an example of this is that they receive roughly 77% of their electricity from nuclear power energy from 59 reactors throughout the country. The United States currently has 104 reactors but they only produce about 19% of our energy needs. A benefit of nuclear energy is the fact that its one of the cheapest possible energy sources; the price being only $1.76 per kilowatt-hour. With our oil and coal problems this would be an excellent choice, as it is relatively easy to get, which is why it is being used by France. Nuclear energy is also very environmental friendly because instead of giving off CO2, it produces water vapor. One of the downfalls of nuclear energy is the possibility of nuclear fallout. Even though it is extremely uncommon, it is still possible for the reactors to overheat among other instabilities. Another downfall is that nuclear reactors use large amounts of water to produce the energy they do. However, the water is recycled, not just used up. Fern Tidal energy is a clean, cheap, and easy to access form of energy that uses the simple rise and fall of the tides. They also are very predictable making them a fairly reliable source. Fossil fuels are limited, expensive, and cause pollution which is leading to global warming. A clean source of energy like tides is going to be essential if humans want to stick around on our earth. We must resist our addiction to things like gas; they will only make things worse. Tides are caused by the suns and moons gravitational pull on the earth. Earth’s rotation also helps create tides. When the tides go up and down, they turn turbines. This is similar to what wind does. The turbines then produce electricity which is distributed throughout the local areas. There are different ways to use the tides. You can use a tidal fence that forces water through it which turns turbines; you can also have a barrage tidal plant which is a dam that forces water through it and spins a generator. The last common way is to use tidal turbines which are basically underwater wind turbines. The tides turn them and they produce electricity. Fossil fuels are getting to be extremely expensive as we begin to use up more and more of our supplies. Tidal turbines are cheaper over time. The only downsides of tidal energy are that occasionally fish can get injured or killed if the turbines aren’t made with them in mind. The turbines also change the sediment levels by concentrating them or lowering them and they change the salinity of the water it is located in. I believe that tidal energy is a great solution to the energy crises. It is easily harnessed, cheap, low maintenance, and clean. They produce a lot of energy and the tides are easy to predict. It will definitely be a large solution, not the only solution necessary, but a very reliable one.
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Wave Power Jacob Smith Wave power is also a very possible renewable energy source. Wave energy is the energy collected from the wave’s immense power. Waves have some much power if we could harness that completely we would have much renewable energy. There are many types of wave turbines. The first is an oscillating water column. This type of turbine is usually on shore. The wave rushes into a chamber and the water pushes air out of a small hole in the top of the chamber. The air turns a generator making electricity. Another type is the attenuators. These run parallel to the waves out in the ocean. When the waves rock it moves hydraulic pistons inside of the turbine creating electricity. [] The last time of generator that I will mention is the generator buoy. This type of wave turbine is exactly like a buoy. It sits out in the ocean and rocks up and down on a line. An electric coil inside of the buoy moves around a magnet. When the coil moves around the magnet voltage is induced and electricity is made. There are many more different types of wave turbines and many more being tested. Not all wave turbines are kink-proof and have problems. Some of the wave turbines I have mentioned are still being tested and are prototypes. Some good things about wave turbines are the ocean is indefinitely making waves making it very reliable. Also the waves have immense power that if harnessed can be very powerful. Some bad things about the wave turbines are that the turbines cost much money, and are hard to maintenance on because they are out in the ocean. Some of them are also not as reliable because they are still prototypes.