Solarized Life

The Planet Earth has been powered by the sun since the first bacteria developed billions of years ago. It has supplied us with light, heat, solace and much of the essiential elements needed for Life. It effects our weather, wind currents, tides and riverflows. By using inspired innovation we can create new and more effective ways to utilize the power of Solar, Wind and Hydro.

There has been an enourmous amount of scientific research done on cleaner energy across the globe. We hope that you learn something you did not know about Solar, Wind and Hydro power and that that knowledge is the motivation behind switching to a more Solarized Life.

Solar Power

There are two main types of solar energy: solar thermal energy and solar photovoltaic. Solar thermal energy is very popular for small-scale consumers such as homeowners and small businesses. This method uses equipment such as a solar collector or even something as simple as a skylight. Solar photovoltaic energy is a very promising source of energy. It harnesses the power of the most abundant source available to us, the Sun, using photovoltaic cells. Solar Powered cars utilize these cells, and a future fancy is a vast array of these PV cells sent into orbit (Boyle, pg. 125).

Solar energy has many benefits; it is completely clean and environmentally friendly, it is relatively inexpensive to collect, and it is the single most abundant energy source on this planet. The obvious downside is that it is based on the availability and strength of direct sunlight. In many areas, solar energy is one of the most promising alternatives.

Wind Energy

Wind energy is one of the oldest forms of power production on the planet. For thousands of years, windmills have been used to provide energy for pumping water or milling grain. Modern wind turbines are being developed to utilize wind strength to it’s maximum. There have been many successful designs from screened turbines, to cup-type wind machines, to a combination of both (Boyle, pg. 278-9).

Like solar power, wind energy has many benefits; it is extremely clean, fairly inexpensive after the initial installation of the turbine, and plentiful in certain areas and altitudes. It also has its drawbacks as the energy collected is completely based on the strength of the wind. These wind turbines also pose a hazard to flying creatures unable to dodge the blades. Despite these few cons, wind energy is also a promising alternative to fossil fuels.

Hydro-power

Probably the most utilized alternative energy source today is hydropower. Since this power supply is actually on the grid and produces a decent amount of energy, many people tend to consider it separately from the other alternative energy sources. This form harnesses the vast power of a flowing river to turn the turbines responsible for capturing the energy (Boyle, pg. 184-6).

Hydropower, was at one point, thought to be completely environmentally friendly. It didn’t take long, however, to see major changes in the ecosphere around the dams, such as flooding and depletion in fish populations. Aside from this tragic loss of life, hydropower is completely dependant on the flow of water and availability of rivers. On the other hand, it does not spew any harmful emissions into our environment and it is relatively inexpensive. Due to these pros, hydropower is a widely used alternative energy source around the globe.

Wave Power

There is a vast amount of power within the waves and currents of the ocean. Capturing the full extent of the wave power produced by the various oceans and seas is proving to be a difficult task. Many nations have begun work on developing a turbine array that could utilize the whole of a wave’s energy without damaging the equipment. So far, some companies across the globe have developed small prototypes that can survive the rough open water, but nothing on the massive scale desired (Boyle, pg. 315, 323-5).

Wave power is capable of being a very inexpensive and abundant supply of energy. However, it will take a great deal of funding to bring the technology up to where it would meet the consumption demand of the populace. If the obstacles can be overcome, ocean waves could become one of our greatest sources of power.

Tidal Energy

As with wave energy, tidal energy is based on the massive amount of energy in our planet’s oceans and seas. Built across suitable estuaries, tidal barrages capture the energy from the ebb and flow of the tide. The kinetic energy produced by the turn of the turbines is captured and used to run a generator, which produces electricity. Once again, this usage of one of the most powerful forces on our planet, has great potential as an alternative energy source (Boyle, pg. 230-42).

Although the ocean has an unlimited supply of tidal energy, there are limited places where this source could be implemented. Also, the technology needs quite a bit more funding in order to realistically meet the needs of a demanding populace. Even with the location problem, tidal energy could provide power to neighboring communities for miles away.