The Top 3 Alternative Energy Sources
Author: Derek Marsh

As each year pass, more and more people come into the world.
Sometimes it seems as if the worlds natural sources are no
longer enough to accommodate each and everyone. Scientists have
a solution for this possible impending problem they came up with
alternative energy sources.

1. Hydrogen

Slowly but surely, the hydrogen powered car is becoming popular
nowadays. Even celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio promote the
use of this earth-friendly contraption. Hydrogens energy is
perpetual in motion because it is an energy carrier. Its pretty
much like a battery.

Most electricity comes from fossil fuels that are found in
plants. But if you get hydrogen using fossil fuels and stack up
on the energy source, then you are utilizing renewable energy,
making hydrogen from water via electrolysis. Picture this the
wind is blowing and 4 units of its energy amounts to 1 unit of
hydrogen energy.

Of course, these problems result from treating hydrogen as an
alternate energy source:

its very seasonal

there is a lot of moisture and it requires to be stored before
it dries up from the surrounding gases

limited supply of hydrogen

hydrogen energy is not enough to accumulate the need of normal
products

stripping of biomass has a side effect to the soil

But there is actually a good reason to why people turn to
hydrogen energy. It prevents global warming that is resulted
from fossil fuels. Natural gas energy releases nitrogen oxides
and that is harmful to the atmosphere.

2. Solar

We dont have to look too far in giving an example of a
contraption that uses solar energy. A solar calculator just
needs light in order for it to function.

As for a bigger example of how solar energy is utilized, we
look at the forms of solar energy that has become a source of
alternate energy. Biomass is the fuels derived from wood and
dry crop wastes. As we all know, the main component of the
photosynthesis process is the sun. Because of this, biomass
remains to be the largest form of alternate energy available in
the US.

Then theres wind power that is also the cheapest source of
solar energy. The variety on the pressure between areas that is
created by solar energy results to wind effects. Turbines then
generate electricity in mountainous regions such as Southern
Wyoming. Here the average wind speed is 21 miles per hour.

Solar energy is similar to nuclear energy as recent studies
show. Example is the power tower wherein a collection of solar
energy forms this large field of mirrors that convert it to
heat when it reaches a high temperature. This is an efficient
generation of electricity.

Realistically, the sun doesnt shine the whole day. It also has
to set. So the solution to the question of What do you do when
the sun goes down? is the construction of an auxiliary system
that stores energy when the sun is nowhere to be seen. Heres
where nature comes into play. The ocean is a natural reserve of
solar power and thru thermal energy can be the auxiliary system
after the sun has set.

Example, in Wyoming, their auxiliary system holds back water at
a hydroelectric plant and generates energy whenever the wind
blows. Ran by turbines, this is a solar-powered energy that
continues to work even at night time.

3. Nuclear

For commercially produced energy, businessmen turn to nuclear
power. It is released from nucleus. This is the reaction thru
the solar fusion where atomic particles are fused together. It
is also derived from fission wherein binding forces break and
form an atoms nucleus.

French physicist Henri Becquerel accidentally discovered
nuclear energy in 1896. He found photographic plates in uranium
compounds that behave like that of X-ray when exposed under
sunlight.

Nuclear power comes from the combination of thorium, plutonium
or uranium or the combination of hydrogen into helium.
Nowadays, the basic energy fact is that atoms of uranium
produce fission of 10 million times the energy produced by the
combustion of atom from carbon. Nuclear power plants use
uranium that has been enriched. What comes to mind is the plant
owned by Mr. Smithers in The Simpsons.

Nuclear power generates about 34% of US electricity. Expansion
of nuclear power naturally affects the politicking of a
country. Studies show that developed nations are high in
nuclear energy as opposed to those of the developing nations
whose nuclear energy is close to non-existent.


About The Author: For more great energy source related articles
and resources check out http://commoditycenter.info