Natural sources of energy

Even though I’m Tesla’s fan, Thomas Edison had some smart moments in his life. He believed that the Sun is an inexhaustible source of energy and if he could invest his money in something, neither more or less it would be the sun. So far, the researches confirmed his story.

Since carbon dioxide is the number one enemy of air pollution, carbon and petrol as the most common pollutants used for producing energy must be replaced.

Scientists are finding the best solution over the past decades to build renewable, inexhaustible sources of energy by using what nature gave us: sun, water and the wind. I am mentioning “only” these kinds of energy (even though using only one of them is enough to supply the whole world with energy) because they are the smallest emitters of carbon dioxide.

Then come the questions -:

“Why don’t we use then these sources of energy instead of using the ones that are harmful for our planet?

Why do we pay for the electricity when there is plenty of it in the nature?

Why the government doesn’t use these sources of energy for their countries?

 –Well firstly because those projects and installations are very expensive. Secondly because they have energy as long as the sun is shining and wind is blowing. There is an issue with the excess energy and its storage. Scientists are currently working on how to store that energy for longer time to make up for time when there is no wind or the sun.

On the other side, installation of these projects is expensive, but after you install them there is an unlimited source of energy for free. So after a couple of years, depending on the amount of energy use, those installations really pay off.

Windmills produce the least carbon dioxide of all natural sources.

(photo credit : http://calclimateag.org/cap-trade-rule/cattle-windmills/)

 

If the whole amount of sunlight that falls on our planet would be used, it would be enough energy to power all households worldwide.

(Photo credit: http://www.nextg.ae/solar)

Japanese experts even have an idea of setting solar panels into space which would transfer their energy to emitters placed on earth. Skeptics say that there is a lot of unused solar energy on the planet already and that it would be an unnecessary cost placing panels in the orbit and transmitting the energy to the earth. On the other side panels in the space will absorb much more energy than the ones on the ground as the sun concentration is much more higher in space. For now, it remains only as an option.

Geothermal energy is the biggest source of energy that comes from the depths of the Earth. Unlike the energy powered by the wind and the sun, geothermal energy works continuously 24/7 without stopping.

 

(Photo credit: http://unu.edu/publications/articles/geothermal-energy-in-developing-countries-and-the-mdgs.html)

Energy is everything and energy is everywhere and there are various of unusual sources of energy that can be used as leftovers or biofuel (that will be discussed in later chapters), vibrations, solar wind. There are also some bizarre sources as  urin, sludge, jellyfish, bacterias, potatoes, cows, electric eels, etc.

Using natural source of energy at your home.

 All of these natural sources are available for private use. But the most economic one is the solar panel since the demand is big so the price started to decrease compared to the ones before. Experts are predicting even bigger price decrease of solar panels due to the new technologies and use of cheaper materials. The biggest industry of solar panels is in China and not only solar panels, but you can find various of interesting products powered by solar energy on Chinese websites as “alibaba” and “aliexpress”.

Also there are many free solar estimators online, so you can calculate the price of solar panels needed for your home. Just visit the websites of companies in your country that are installing the solar panels, most of them have those estimators online.

Useful links and sources:

http://pushpoppress.com/ourchoice/

http://energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources/renewable-energy/solar

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/solar-power/