Alternative Energy

 

Solar Energy

Solar Energy comes from the sun.
When the sun shines, it can warm water, heat the house, and it can even produce electricity to run different electric house appliances.
In order to use the energy of sun
, people put solar panels on the roof of their house.
Solar panels can produce electricity or heat water.

The amazing thing about solar energy is that it is free of charge, and it is renewable.

Wind Energy

Wind energy is used to produce electricity.
Wind turbines are built in the areas, where strong wind blows. When many wind machines are built near one another, it is called wind farm.

A wind turbine consists of a tower with the blades and a generator on top of it. When the wind blows, it rotates the blades. When blades spin around, electricity is produced in the device, called a generator.

To catch a lot of wind, the towers are built very high. Wind energy is renewable.

Geothermal Energy

Planet Earth is very hot and contains a lot of hot water and steam deep down beneath its surface.

Volcanoes are best examples of how hot our planet is in its centre.
In places where hot water is close to the Earth’s surface, people drill special wells and use that hot water for warming their houses.



After that water is sent back into the Earth, so that no water is wasted.
Geothermal energy is also a free and renewable source of energy.

Biofuel

Biofuel is the modern alternative source of energy, which was invented to substitute petrol, used in all the cars, trucks, and motorcycles around the globe.

Petrol is bad news for the air because when it is burned in the car engine; a lot of harmful substances are released into the air:

- nitrogen, water vapour, and carbon dioxide (these are not toxic or noxious - although carbon dioxide is generally recognized as a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming).

A relatively small part of combustion gas is undesirable noxious or toxic substances, such as carbon monoxide from incomplete combustion,




hydrocarbons from unburnt fuel, nitrogen oxides from excessive combustion temperatures, Ozone, and particulate matter (mostly soot).

Biofuel energy is not that harmful and can be produced from certain plants, grown specifically for that purpose. The fuel, which is produced from plants, is called ethanol and it is suitable for most of the vehicles on the roads. Some biofuel can even be produced from vegetable oil, after it has been used in the kitchen for preparing meals e.g. chips. Such fuel is called biodiesel.

Solar and wind energy, geothermal energy and biofuel are the major examples of the alternative energy sources. They are renewable and safe for humans and for the atmosphere of the Earth, so in the future the use of these forms of energy will become more wide-spread.