Alternative Energy : Refuelling The World

Energy is such a thing that everyone in this world thrives for. Who has it boast of it and who doesn’t have bows for it? Many conflicts within nations have triggered in order to capture the potential energy sources. Can’t it all stop? My mind asked me and my knowledge said yes it will stop soon.

Troubled by the soaring oil prices and depleting sources of fossil fuel, all countries have started looking for alternatives to conventional energy source. “Alternative Energy” is the keyword for today’s national policy maker who doesn’t want to bow down to countries for the fear of oil. Alternative energy in many ways supports any nation’s requirement for energy as also provides many alternatives within itself for future developments.

Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without any undesirable consequences of the replaced fuels.

Some of the benefits of having alternative energy source other than conventional source of energy: -

1. These are pollution free and don’t have any side effect on human.

2. Being renewal sources of energy, there is no fear of it getting depleted due to excessive use.

3. Ubiquitousness of these energy sources makes it convenient to use everywhere irrespective of its ground configuration. It obliviously cuts down on the cost of transportation.

4. Being easy to harness in a pollution free manner it decentralises the control of energy sources to each country. Thus reducing many conflicts on energy source issue.

5. Don’t add on to green house gasses or any sort of pollutant particles.

So, without wasting much time on now let’s see what are the potential alternative sources of energy available worldwide:-

1. SOLAR ENERGY: - Solar Energy, radiation produced by nuclear fusion reactions deep in the Sun’s core. Solar energy travels to Earth through space in discrete packets of energy called photons. A Photon is defined as a packet or quantum of a wave-like fluctuations in electric and magnetic fields travelling through free space or a material medium.

On the side of Earth facing the Sun, a square kilometre at the outer edge of our atmosphere receives 1,400 megawatts of solar power every minute. This data shows how much energy is there all around us waiting to be harnessed.

Application of solar energy

a) Electricity generation through “Photo – Electric Cell” alias “Solar Cell”

b) Solar Lamps and Lights – These are powered by “Solar Cells” in the day time to store electricity, which are used in night as lamps.

c) Water Heating – Immersion type water heaters can be used in the building to save electricity or fuel on heating of water. These heaters operate by solar cells.

d) Light in Buildings – Enormous amount of electricity can be saved in the buildings which are designed to allow maximum Solar Light inside the building. This helps cut down the electricity consumption by approx 25%.

e) Solar Cookers – These are “solar panels” which are used for cooking purpose.

Advantages of solar energy

a) Clean and non-polluting.

b) Renewable source of energy thus promise enduring supply of power.

c) The use is completely hazard free and eco friendly.

d) Can be easily integrated with other innovative sources of energy.

e) The solar energy is omnipresent and maximum available in worlds most poor counties.

Drawbacks of solar energy

a) Area to power generation ratio is very low (i.e. Solar panels take very large

area on set up comparatively to power generation).

b) Availability depends upon weather condition and time of day.

c) High cost of production for industrial/commercial use.

WIND ENERGY: - Wind energy is defined as the “power generated by harnessing the wind, usually by windmills”. In scientific terms, wind energy is the "force" of winds blowing across the earth’s surface.

Wind is caused by uneven heating on the earth’s surface. The equator region receives more heat than say, Antarctica. That heat tries to move from hotter to colder regions. Wind energy was first harvested centuries ago, when early windmills were used to power millstones, pumps, and forges.

An efficient windmill can produce approximately 175 watts per square meter of propeller-blade area at a height of 25m.

Application of Wind Energy

a) Wind mill – these are high rising fans which converts the rotation of wind mill blades into mechanical energy for desired work.

b) Electricity generation.

c) Conveyor system.

d) Water pumping system.

e) Air Conditioning system – Specially architected buildings with proper circulation of air through aluminium tubes helps maintaining a constant 20⁰-25⁰ temp inside. Thus reducing the electricity consumption by 35%.

Advantages of Wind Energy

a) Simple mechanism and friendly operation.

b) Unlike Solar Panels these are easy to assemble and operate. These also take lesser space for installation.

c) Clean and non-polluting source of energy.

d) Renewable source of energy thus promise enduring supply of power.

e) The use is completely hazard free and eco friendly.

Drawbacks of Wind Energy

a) Power generation depends on atmospheric conditions.

b) Affects the bird population. Birds and other flying creatures have trouble seeing the turbines. Although special colouring patterns and slower moving blades have reduced this problem but still the effectpersists.

c) Wind farms generate noise in quiet, rural sites. Construction companies tried to solve this by moving the turbines offshore (in the middle of a lake or a river).

TIDAL ENERGY: - Tides are basically big bulges of water created by the gravity of the sun and the moon. These bulges move around our planet, back and forth, creating currents and causing water levels to rise and drop. Since we know where the moon is at all times, we can predict the rise or fall of water levels and at which location it occurs. Usually it takes about twelve hours for water to rise and twelve hours to fall.

We can take advantage of this rise/fall phenomenon by harnessing renewable energy from it. By installing barrages (small damns), we can generate electricity from passing water by using turbines. Because the rise/fall phenomenon is always there, tidal power is a clean, non-polluting, renewable source of energy.

Application of tidal energy

a) Generation of electricity by installing turbines.

Advantages of tidal energy

a) Efficiency. Tidal turbines are up to 80% efficient in converting tidal energy to usable electricity. This is much higher than solar or wind energy generators.

b) Constant sources of energy irrespective of atmospheric condition, weather or time of day.

c) Economical - Comparatively low maintenance cost than other alternative energy sources.

d) Renewable sources of energy - Tidal energy will not run out very soon (something like 2 billion years, when all of the oceans will boil, because our planet's orbit will get too close to the sun).

e) Soil conservation – barrages and dams at the ocean banks will prevent coast line erosion.

Drawbacks of tidal energy

a) Endangers marine life – the turbines and barrages setup very often harms the marine ecosystem and prevents aquatic animals from coming near to sea coast.

b) Environmental Damage - There is considerable effect on the ecosystem. The exchange of water volume between a basin and the sea is reduced; this leads to the potential for increased pollution, because pollution is left accumulating in the basin. Also, because the exchange of volume is reduced, salinity of the basin decreases and sediment accumulation increases. Basically, anything we place in the water can and does affect the ecosystem.

c) Corrosion of metallic parts due to saline water.

UNDERWATER TIDAL ENERGY – these are basically windmills placed under water which functions by the underwater current. This is highly efficient source of energy which is an integration of tidal and wind energy.

Advantage of underwater tidal energy

a) Space efficient – no consumption of over ground space which enables it to be installed in a wide area.

b) Power efficient – power conversion efficiency is as close to 80%.

c) No effect over ground in term of sound or space.

Drawbacks of underwater tidal energy

a) Endangers marine ecosystem.

b) Encroachment into aquatic space.

c) Maintenance difficult.

d) Environmental impact still to be accessed.

GEO THERMAL ENERGY – this is the type of energy we receive from the core of earth which holds hot molten Magma / Lava. The heat that escapes out from the earth crust is made to convert water into steam, which is further used to rotate turbine for generation of electricity. By this means we can cut down on the use of fossil fuel to heat water for steam.

Advantages o Geothermal Energy

a) High temperature increases the efficiency of heating process.

b) Abundant availability.

c) Renewable source of energy.

Drawbacks of underwater tidal energy

a) It can be unsafe if not handled cautiously.

b) Complex mechanism required to tap the heat.

c) Heavy cost burden makes it uneconomical.

NUCLEAR ENERGY – We all know about the effect of nuclear bombs those were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The huge energy is produced due to the fission reaction taking place due to the collision of two “nuclear particles”. This collision triggers a chain reaction generating astronomical amount of energy. Other process can be fission reaction which takes place in sun. But this Fusion Reaction till date has not been experimented due to the amount of energy it releases.

Advantages of Nuclear Energy

a) Highly efficient in comparison to all other source of energy.

b) Highly economical and productive.

c) Require small area to be setup in comparison to amount of energy generated.

d) Clean fuel and without any pollution.

e) Almost renewable source of energy.

Drawbacks of Nuclear Energy

a) Extremely hazardous in case of a slightest mechanical failure.

b) Production of nuclear waste is the biggest problem in the production. There is no place in the world where these waste can be disposed.

c) Radiation produced harms the workers in the nuclear facility.

d) The enriched uranium is available with few selected countries.

BIO – DIESEL: - This is the vegetable oil extract of Xatropha Plant deed. These are the additives to the petroleum product which increase the volume of fuel without affecting the property of it.

Biodiesel is produced from domestically grown renewable products. It can be used in diesel engines. It has an 80% reduced CO2 emission and 100% less sulphur dioxide compared to oil-based diesel fuel.

Advantage of Bio Diesel

a) Xatropha grows in arid region and helps to increase the water level of that area.

b) These additives reduce amount of pollution caused by petroleum products.

c) These are an excellent alternative to the petroleum products. i.e. petrol and diesel.

Conclusion - A better appreciation of alternative energy sources will no doubt be a catalyst for better alternatives in the future regarding the natural environment and for all other sorts of worldwide situations dealing with power.

Once we network jointly as communities and subsequently as thoughtful, creative groups globally, we will then have a much greater likelihood that alternate power resources will grow to be a hot trend, as a result resulting in a better environment in which to live.

So folks,

Let there be light......................