Currently the main source of energy used in the United States is Fossil Fuels. Our overdependence on Fossil Fuels has lead to some negative changes in the Earth’s climate and physical form. Lucky, there have been new advances in technology over the past century. Various forms of renewable energy have been discovered and tested by scientist and over the past decade have become more well known to the public. The development of of these renewable energy sources give us the opportunity to change the course of our future. Using these sources are smarter, more efficient and are less harmful to the environment.
One of the biggest threats to the environment today is Fossil Fuels.. Fossil Fuels are a natural fuel made from coal or gas, formed in the …show more content…
Ancient civilizations built mills on flowing rivers to collect energy, this would power various types of machinery. What makes renewable energy so resourceful is that it uses natural parts of the environment to create it’s energy. Some of the main types of renewable energy are Solar, Geothermal, Hydropower and Wind. Solar energy absorbs the sun’s rays and transmits it into energy through the use of solar panels. Geothermal energy uses the the heat that comes off or hot rocks, which are located a few miles underground. Geothermal power plants use pumps to collect the steam that emits from hot rocks, the steam can then provide heat for water or heat for buildings. Hydropower uses moving water to generate energy. An example of this would be a dam. Water is collected by a dam, as the water flows it pushes a turbine, and as the turbine spins energy is produced. The final main source of renewable energy is wind. This is personally one of my favorites. A “Wind Farm” is an area of open land with a group of energy producing windmills. These windmills convert the kinetic energy (powered by wind) into electricity. “In wind farms, changing weather patterns, wake effects, atmospheric turbulence, etc., create a time varying wind field, leading to large power variations and gradients over a wide range of time scales. Turbulence-induced variability is mainly prevalent in a range of time scales from seconds up to 15 minutes, directly impacting fast wind farm power gradients, and thus influencing power regulation and not load following” ( De Rijcke, Driesen, Meyers 2). The one commonality between these sources of renewable energy is they all create energy without using fossil fuels and without creating greenhouse gases or toxic waste. They do not require any non-reusable resources, other than what would be needed to
One of the biggest threats to the environment today is Fossil Fuels.. Fossil Fuels are a natural fuel made from coal or gas, formed in the …show more content…
Ancient civilizations built mills on flowing rivers to collect energy, this would power various types of machinery. What makes renewable energy so resourceful is that it uses natural parts of the environment to create it’s energy. Some of the main types of renewable energy are Solar, Geothermal, Hydropower and Wind. Solar energy absorbs the sun’s rays and transmits it into energy through the use of solar panels. Geothermal energy uses the the heat that comes off or hot rocks, which are located a few miles underground. Geothermal power plants use pumps to collect the steam that emits from hot rocks, the steam can then provide heat for water or heat for buildings. Hydropower uses moving water to generate energy. An example of this would be a dam. Water is collected by a dam, as the water flows it pushes a turbine, and as the turbine spins energy is produced. The final main source of renewable energy is wind. This is personally one of my favorites. A “Wind Farm” is an area of open land with a group of energy producing windmills. These windmills convert the kinetic energy (powered by wind) into electricity. “In wind farms, changing weather patterns, wake effects, atmospheric turbulence, etc., create a time varying wind field, leading to large power variations and gradients over a wide range of time scales. Turbulence-induced variability is mainly prevalent in a range of time scales from seconds up to 15 minutes, directly impacting fast wind farm power gradients, and thus influencing power regulation and not load following” ( De Rijcke, Driesen, Meyers 2). The one commonality between these sources of renewable energy is they all create energy without using fossil fuels and without creating greenhouse gases or toxic waste. They do not require any non-reusable resources, other than what would be needed to