Wind Energy: Cataclysmic, And Power Generation

With each passing year, man-made climate shifting continues its almost irreversible changes. Only a few years ago, we saw CO2 concentrations refusing to fall below 400 parts per million. In the years to come, humanity may see the end of the deep ocean conveyor-belt system that keeps temperatures relatively stable around the earth. Extinctions are becoming more and more common due to the cataclysmic change we started in the industrial revolution. One thing is clear, our impact on the globe is astronomical, and power generation is a major contributor to these problems. We are using century old energy production technology to keep up with today’s consumption. If we continue the way we are headed, the last extinction we will see is our own. Due …show more content…
PV (photovoltaic) solar panels get their energy from sunlight, using nothing more than a property of physics (the photovoltaic property) and sheets of semiconductors (SEIA). Energy from the sun excites electrons and causes them to “free themselves” and run through a circuit, powering electronic devices along their way (SEIA). Wind energy is generated in a close fashion to how fossil fuel power plants gather their energy. In coal fired plants, large fires cause the expansion of air. This causes a turbine to spin and generate energy. In the unmistakable pinwheel design of a wind turbine, air rushes through the blades of the turbine, causing it to spin and generate energy. The only difference is that wind energy does not require coal in order to make the air drive the turbine. It technically operates off of the sun too, because sunlight creates the convection currents that cause wind to expand and create a …show more content…
Photovoltaic energy has come a long way since its inception, and it will keep becoming more viable with its continued adoption. According to Bloomberg, solar prices have gone down significantly since 1977, and are projected to continue to decline well past the price of coal and oil per kilowatt hour (Randall). When solar energy is cheaper than coal, solar will be put in ubiquitously, because it will be cheaper for the consumer to finance solar panels than to pay an electricity bill. Not only is the price dropping, but the efficiency is increasing. As solar panels become more heavily adopted, the technology developing them becomes more refined. The first solar panels were designed with an eight percent efficiency rating, whereas panels created today have efficiencies hovering around 30 to 35 percent (Rowley). 30-35 percent may not seem incredible, but it is a four fold increase in energy production. Every year PV cells become less expensive and more efficient. Combined, these yearly improvements in price and efficiency will make photovoltaic cells a fantastic contender to kick fossil fuels off of their high