Alternative Energy Sources

I pretty much agree with Jeffry.

Except with the comments about solar manufacturing producing pollution. While that is undoubtedly true, why single out solar? Pretty much everything we make has some environmental impact.
Wind turbines too. Carbon fiber blades must have some impact in their manufacturing for instance.

Solar thermal power plants may have less impact in their manufacture than PV. It's basically glass and steel, with a generator of some type.
(turbine, stirling engine for example)

At any rate, both wind and solar have small impacts over the life of them, providing completely clean energy once they are installed.

They both have advantage of being able to be built in relatively short times, compared with coal or nuclear plants.

Mass production of plug in hybrid cars in the U.S. would save lots of oil. They are more marketable than pure electrics, because they have no range limitation. The average American driver would get overall mileage of 100 mpg. Recharging at night for $1 of electricity.

Plug in Partners - advocacy group for PHEVs
http://www.pluginpartners.org/

"Charging the battery each night would cost less than $1.00 at current rates. PHEVs outfitted with a battery pack providing a 40-mile electric range could power, using the all-electric mode, more than 60% of the total annual miles traveled by the average American driver. That means tens of millions of motorists could make their daily commute using little, if any, gasoline. "

"PHEVs would result in significant fuel savings for most motorists. The initial cost of the plug-in vehicle, however, would be more than a conventional car or one of the existing mass-produced hybrids. However, a 2004 study by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) found that plug-in hybrids can achieve life cycle costs parity with conventional gasoline vehicles – meaning that over the life of the car the cost will be equal or less despite the initial higher cost. The study calculated gasoline price as $1.75/gallon."

So at $4 a gallon which we will see soon, how much would you save?

Using the grid to charge cars at night is already cleaner than burning gasoline. As we make the grid cleaner, PHEVs and EVs will make more and more sense.

Good ideas here:
http://www.setamericafree.org/blueprint.pdf
A Blueprint For U.S. Energy Security

and here:
Scientific American A Solar Grand Plan
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan

and here:Green Wombat several stories about solar thermal power plants in California etc.
http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/

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The cost of wind-generated electric power has dropped substantially since the first modern turbines were installed in the 1980's. By 2004, according to some sources, the price in the United States was lower than the cost of fuel-generated electric power, even without taking externalities into account.[1][2][3] At this time, wind energy was reported to cost one-fifth as much as it did in the 1980s, and some expected that downward trend to continue as larger multi-megawatt turbines are mass-produced.[4] However, in the U.S., installation costs have increased significantly over the past couple of years, and according to the major U.S. wind industry trade group, now average over 1600 U.S. dollars per kilowatt[5], compared to $1200/kW just a few years ago. A British Wind Energy Association report gives an average generation cost of onshore wind power of around 3.2 pence per kilowatt hour.[6] Wind power is growing quickly, at about 38% in 2003,[7] up from 25% growth in 2002. In the United States, as of 2003, wind power was the fastest growing form of electricity generation on a percentage basis.[8]

Most major forms of electric generation are capital intensive, meaning that they require substantial investments at project inception, and low ongoing costs (generally for fuel and maintenance). This is particularly true for wind and hydropower, which have fuel costs close to zero and relatively low maintenance costs; in economic terms, wind power has an extremely low marginal cost and a high proportion of up-front costs. The "cost" of wind energy per unit of production is generally based on average cost per unit, which incorporates the cost of construction, borrowed funds, return to investors (including cost of risk), estimated annual production, and other components. Since these costs are averaged over the projected useful life of the equipment, which may be in excess of twenty years, cost estimates per unit of generation are highly dependent on these assumptions. Figures for cost of wind energy per unit of production cited in various studies can therefore differ substantially.

Estimates for cost of production use similar methodologies for other sources of electricity generation. Existing generation capacity represents sunk costs, and the decision to continue production will depend on marginal costs going forward, not estimated average costs at project inception. For example, the estimated cost of new wind power capacity may be lower than that for "new coal" (estimated average costs for new generation capacity) but higher than for "old coal" (marginal cost of production for existing capacity). Therefore, the choice to increase wind capacity by building new facilities will depend on more complex factors than cost estimates, including the profile of existing generation capacity.

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besides the few killings of migratory birds

Pros : to satisfy the global energy demand, some people like the rotary movement (VERY DEBATABLE), cheap energy if it is located in the right place.

Cons: Electricity output may not be stable (due to wind conditions) but could be solved by newer more efficient electronics, some people don't like the rotary movement, might cause disruption in the national grid but with new electronics this is not a big issue

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Or, instead of using solar heat, why not use the heat from volcanos, or underground lava streams to create electricity? Would it be possible? I've often wondered this.

Those energy sources are already being used to some degree. Geothermal energy is being used more and more to heat houses in cold climates. If you have ever been on a sailboat in the Gulf Stream you know the power of that ocean current. The Labrador current is another very strong one. We are in the early stages of uses these forms of energy,but they will be used more and more in the future. At present, the technology is still in the developmental stage and quite expensive.

I hope this helps.

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what happens if you make too much electricity, does the power co. say thank you, or does it depend on the power co

Technically, you’ll need the appropriate equipment to convert the power generated by your windmill to 240 VAC in the same phase as your line power. Practically, you need to know if your local electric utility allows “net metering” or not.

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i have taken out a dishwashers motor and threw the rest away. i clipped the wires off (from the body) that were connected to it for incase i needed them. the moter looks similar like the one on this youtube video at (timer) 1:07 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6vN9SM6J5k. mines doesnt have the silver case around it for i thiiiink i took it off.

It can’t be turned into a generator, without alot of work. You’d need to strip the copper wire out and rewind it into different coils and add magnets and a whole bunch of other stuff. Not worth the trouble unless you’re just gonna watch TV instead.

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Wind - gives turbine energy by turning windmills which produce electricity, sun -produces solar energy and water produces - hydro energy.

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generating electricity with a wind turbine .please can you describe how a turning blade can be connected up to produce electricity.
no silly answers please, all reasonable answers are welcomed.

As the wind force spins the blades in a circle inside there are rings of special earth magnets and copper wire coiled up in a spool. The magnets rotate around the spool of wire forcing positive charge then negative charge in turn creating what i remember to be DC electricity that travels along the wires into a transformer to 110 ac or what every you need it to be.

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Useful wind blows an average of perhaps 6 hours a day at the most and often at the low end of velocity required. Solar power is a joke at 50 times the cost of coal power.

Solar power is not as expensive as you think. It is if you are building one in your back yard though. You need strong beliefs to justify that. The only reason you are considering solar and wind is because you can have them in the back yard. The amount of power from them is a bit disappointing though.

In temperate zones you may be better off putting your money into geothermal cooling/heating if you have a back yard. This is quite simple, and not all that expensive. See the link below.

The solar airconditioner with absorption chillers has been on and off again, but it just needs someone to start making them at house sized units. There are German ones with 30000, 60,000 BTUs. The solar panels are like super efficient hot water ones.

Think of your own coal burning generator in the back yard to compare with a home solar system. Coal doesn’t look so good then. It is partly economies of scale that make coal cheaper. Additionally the finance for capitalisation may be over 40 years, and may be low interest as well.

Cheaper types of panel are becoming available (so we are often told) maybe as little as 1/20 the price. It seems that the cheaper technology is sold to power corporations at the moment, those building PV solar systems. That’s why they are not available, the production hasn’t caught up. I guess manufacturers are reticent to build up capacity too quickly because there are competing technologies that may be the final choice for consumers - early days therefore.

Other solar systems use heat, and are more suitable for centralised systems, but the capital costs are lower.

Wind power is about the same capital cost as diesel generators (call it $1M per megawatt) from memory. The penetration (ratio of power actually generated compared with generation capacity) is considered very good with 30%. There are plenty of places with this, but if you don’t have much wind up around 18km/h forget wind. It starts at around 12km/h (like 50kW from a 2MW machine).

Variability is the issue with sun and wind, but they apparently complement each other at least partly and in some areas. Less sun more wind.

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You are to determine a location and set up a home for solar and wind electricity.
1.) The home is 1500 square feet on one story. Determine the typical load requirement for a single family dwelling
2.) select a site (flat land enclosed by woods)
3.) minimal utility power is to be used and allowed for in your setup which includes a contingency plan for no sunlight
4.) explain your reasoning in all selection criteria
* include estimated cost of equipment and labor

1) You have to figure it out. If it's in Hawaii, you probably don't need heat, and can get by without A/C, too. In other places, more would be typical.

2) Your choice!

3) Since utilities are allowed, just to be minimized, I'd go with grid-tied solar electricity. The panels can generate 100% of average usage over time (unless this is Alaska or something). The grid is assumed to be reliable, but if there are doubts, I would go with a gas-powered generator for emergencies before I went with batteries to store electricity. The cost and upkeep of batteries would not be worth it unless they were going to be used all the time - typically, and off-grid arrangement.

Our house is 1900 square feet, single story. You can look at my profile and find out web page, with details on how much our system cost, which provides essentially 100% of our electrical needs. The link is called "Our Solar Panel Project" on that page. But we have gas heat. And prices have come down since we had ours installed, so you need to research current pricing.

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