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Find out how to cut your electric bill down AND go green at the same time!
http://tinyurl.com/6setong
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Alternative energy research has led to the development of state of the art alternative energy
sources for the home. One of the advantages of using alternative energy is that it is a renewable
resource whereas our supply of coal and other fossil fuels is depleting. This advantage of
renewable energy and alternative energies has many companies and people looking for different
ways to power up.
Sometimes called renewable resources, alternative energy does not need fossil fuel or even the
splitting of the atom to be produced. It is called renewable because the sources of it are constantly
being produced. It does not cause the pollution that oil and gas cause. This kind of energy is not
really new. What is new is that we now categorize these forms of energy as alternative energy.
The forms that alternative energy may take are fuel cells, geothermal energy, wind power,
biomass, hydroelectric energy, solar energy and water energy such as wave and tidal energy.
*Fuel cells as a type of alternative energy is usually associated with electric cars, or hybrid cars.
Electrochemical devices produce power through a chemical reaction. The primary benefit of fuel
cells technology is that power is produced without the production of harmful pollutants. They are
still very expensive to produce, however.
*Geothermal energy can be a powerful source of energy. It is ideal for small scale use to heat
houses, businesses and small industry. On a larger scale, geothermal plants extract the heat from
the earth and use it to create steam to power turbine engines.
*Wind turbines produce energy using the same principal as windmills. Blades are moved by the
wind, and a shaft attached to the blades rotate a generator that produces energy. This energy is
stored in batteries. Wind is, of course required to run this type of alternative energy, so the more
wind you have the better it will work. Sites where there is a lot of wind, such as open farmland are
good for wind turbines, or other locations that cannot be reached by powerlines.
*Biomass is organic material that can be converted to fuel. There are many types, such as animal
waste, crops and grains, wood and other byproducts from mills and forests as well as from aquatic
plants. One type uses the matter to burn to produce steam power; another type transforms the
matter into a gas or liquid.
*Solar energy is probably the most well known form of alternate energy. It is the safe and efficient
use of the heat from the sun to form energy.
*Energy from water. Hydroelectric energy is the energy produced by dams. The movement of the
water causes turbines to generate power instantaneously. The initial cost of a dam is very high,
but after that the power is free. Tidal energy works on the same concept as dams. The turbines
are put directly in the water and the motion of the tides over them powers the turbines. Wave
energy uses the motion of the waves in the same way.
As alternative energy research continues, more alternative energy sources will be found. Perhaps
one day we will heat our homes by transforming our refuse into a usable source of energy.
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Find out how to cut your electric bill down AND go green at the same time!
http://tinyurl.com/6setong
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