The best alternative energy source

[Turian3]

After watching the dreadful oil spill down in the gulf and seeing the enviromental devastation it has caused, I began to wonder what exactly is the best energy source for our planet to utilize. Each energy source has its pros and cons however which one do you believe should become more mainstream. Its fairly obvious oil supplies around the world are stretched thin, and nations like China and India are starting to get there standerd of living closer to that of the United States. This is not a sustainable situation and I belive the majority of the industrial world should switch over to something more sustainable like a hydrogen fuel cell economy instead of a petroleum based one. However I am looking forward to discussing other options for an oil free world.

[ub3rman123]

Cold fusion FTW!

[ginnyfizz]

Solar panels. Yes, they work even in England, I have seen them in action heating a very large medieval church building to great effect, such that the church are selling excess electricity back to the national grid. AND you cannot tell that they are there unless you go up on the roof, they have zero visual impact and no harmful effects. I am NOT a fan of wind turbines or tidal barrages as they have massive effects on animal and bird life and habitat.

[Retribution]

Nuclear Energy. Plants are getting shut down around the U.S., so it's starting to become a less used source.

 

After that, solar energy.

[overload1977]

wind turbines are the way to go in the England.

 

UK official the windy country in the world :sweat:

[Turian3]

Nuclear Energy. Plants are getting shut down around the U.S., so it's starting to become a less used source.

 

After that, solar energy.

 

I agree the that Nuclear Energy produces a lot of energy, but I am very concerned about the waste that will be around for thousands of years. Until a technological breakthrough occurs Nuclear will continue to be slightly unsafe and a possible terrorist target. As for solar energy I'm all for that however the efficency of solar cells should be improved as right now I believe they are only 10% 15%, however I am pretty sure the efficency could be improved.

[ginnyfizz]

wind turbines are the way to go in the England.

 

UK official the windy country in the world :sweat:

 

It IS a windy country, but wind turbines are monstrously inefficient (no one likes to admit it, but they often don't generate enough electricity to make a cup of tea and in England, that's SERIOUS) and hideous as well as dangerous. I've been put in hospital because my horse thought one was a dragon. They also do a very good job of mashing up the landscape, mashing up passing birds, upsetting livestock, and they hum. Tunelessly.

 

I have seen solar panels in action as I said, and the ones I have seen have been surprisingly efficient, not just that church I mentioned, but in domestic usage too.

 

Come to think of it, yes, nuclear power has to be considered. Could the problem of the waste be solved by concentrating on breeder reactors, perhaps?

[Coous]

Solar panels. Yes, they work even in England, I have seen them in action heating a very large medieval church building to great effect, such that the church are selling excess electricity back to the national grid. AND you cannot tell that they are there unless you go up on the roof, they have zero visual impact and no harmful effects. I am NOT a fan of wind turbines or tidal barrages as they have massive effects on animal and bird life and habitat.

 

There really is no perfect energy source,and solar is no exception on top of them being expensive to install. I was also told that they aren't permanent either because they "degrade" and become toxic down the road and so you just end up with something hazardous and expensive to replace. I've also read that in making solar panels you're also producing toxic byproducts that must also be dumped or taken care of.

 

I prefer wind energy myself,because I think in the long run it's cleaner.

 

As great as all these alternatives are they have their cons that can make them just as bad as the other energy sources in other ways,it's really going to come down to either picking our poison or just use all three.

 

Also what about thermal energy,I was watching this show awhile back and I remember this whole tech university in SW U.S(I think that's where)was powered by nothing but thermal energy from the ground sounded pretty neat.

[Surenas]

If wind turbines were indeed as inefficient as it is said above I wonder why almost every farmer in Danmark, Northern Germany, Holland and Belgium has at least one if not many...

 

First look around then talking.

[Vindekarr]

Ok, I normaly wouldnt get involved in these debates but since Im an ex mechanic I think I can add a little technical framework for the trasnport side o things.

 

First, solar: Solar doesnt necessarily mean panels, solar panels are OK for domestic use in places like africa gulf coast USA, spain and australia, bgut they have far too little efficiency to be a mainstream powersource. And for those who think solar cars are the future, let me pose you this: a car, the example Im going to use is a pontiac G-8 because its in the middle for every stat. A petrol powered car weight about 2.2 tons on average, its comfortable, has a long range per fuel stop, and can drive all day and all night, driving them can be relaxing and even outright enjoyable. Now, for a solar car to work you need to shed weight, you could probably shed 1.1 ton from a G-8 sized saloon, but that would make it such a painful ride that you simply couldnt make long journies in it, and in the process, you'd lose the rear seats and the trunk. Whats more, 1.1 tons is still waaaay to heavy for a solar car, so really, to make a solar car, you've got to throw away everything that makes a car a car. I actualy drove one of these once and I can tell they are AWEFUL, you are essentialy locked in a tiny swelteringly hot bubble, that is barely bigger than a sleeping bag, in INTENSE heat with no air conditioning, with no seat padding or even suspension.

 

For industrial applications this is out aswell, solar panels would need to be arranged in gargantuan fields to produce enough poer for a city the resulting deforestation outweighs the benefit, so panels are virtualy out for anything more than house by house use. fortunaelty another possibility exists, heliostat powerstations use a ring of mirrors to blast high intensity sunlight unto a large exposed pipe, which contains water, the water is heated into steam, which then powers a traditional power plant generator. These arent too practical for coutnries like britain and canada that dont get much sun, but if you have year long baking heat and constant sunshine, these arent a bad idea at all, in that they produce a good amount of poower for almost no direct emissions, though making them takes a lot of open space.

 

Hydrogen and Hydrazine. For automotive use, these are the dream. For a long time now, hybred cars hae existed that use an electric motor for city use, and a petrol engine for long distance high speed travel, reducing emissions. Fully electric cars such as the british Gee-Whiz have been around even longer, but theres a key thing missing about them that the designers dont seem to understand. You see with a normal sized car, its freedom, you can go pretty much anywhere with it, when you want to, it has myriad uses; even slow passenger cars can be coerced or easily modified into performance vehicles for a fun trackday then rebuilt into a work car for the week. Aside from the arrogant name, you dont get that with cars like the gee whiz, it has a top speed of about 50 mph, no trunk, only 2 cramped seats, and cannot possibly be used for recreation or a pleasure cruise. but worst of all, traditional electric cars, though their owners snap them up in the hundreds thinking they are doing the world a favour, actualy do about as much environmental harm in their lifetime as a performance oriented petrol car, you see, a petrol car, once its old and no longer worth keeping on the road, can be broken down into its various parts, melted down, and completely recycled with no permanent need to dump chemicles, a gee whiz leaves a battery containing toxic chemicles and acids, a plastic hulk that cant be recycled, aswell as a much shorter operating lifespan(some petrol cars are still working as new nearly a hundred years after being build, a gee whizh would be lucky to last a decade)

 

Seeing this, a solution needs to be found that offers the benefits of both types. Petrol powered cars give a great deal of fun to a lot of people, myself included, but do unnacceptable environmental damage. electric cars do no direct greenhouse emmission, but cause significant damage post use, and lack the fun factor, range, and efficiency of petrol, a hybred is out because they are the problems of both, so what now? One idea is hydrogen power, this can be made very easily simply by splitting water into its veryious parts: to do that all you need is a big electric current. The advantage of hydrogen cars is that they use a tub of hydrogen as a battery, called a fuel cell, to power a very powerful electric motor. The biggest advantage to a hydrogen car, besides the ease of making them, besides the technical simplicity and besides the total lack of emmisions or toxic by products, is its power: a hydrogen fuelcell car weighs slightly less than an ordinary car, but has about the same amount of power, making them slightly faster, they drive the same too, and from the outside, even look the same. The only problem is going to be distribution. hydrogen is extremly easy to make, but you need a powerstation to make it, and a corporation willing to put aside oil. this is hydrogen's biggest failling: car makers already make a fwew hydrogen models, but its just a matter of getting the hydrogen to power them, this is where we need energy corps to come in and fund this, as without hydrogen to refuel them, they have the same weaknesses as a petrol car.

 

hope that wasnt too long winded, but thats my opinion on part of the matter.

 

edit: wind turbines do work, but they lack they power for large scale work: they do fine powering a dynamo on a farm, hell, australian farmer have been using em for decades for that, but the problem is, are you willing to cover the entire planet in wind turbines? Im not, there are much better ways to get power, I for one think neuclear fusion is the way to go. fission could work aswell, but as some of you have rightfully stated, fission is a potentialy very dangerous idea, and a perfect target for insurgants