Alt. Energy Resources

• Alternative energy sources are sources of energy like solar power, wind power, geothermal energy, hydroelectric energy, biomass, and hydrogen. These are non-polluting, renewable resources that represent an alternative to traditional fossil fuel sources.
• Types of Alternative Energy Resources

  Solar power is a renewable form of energy harvested from the sun for the purpose of producing electricity or thermal energy (heat).
• Brief History of Solar Energy

  It all began with Edmond Becquerel, a young physicist working in France, who in 1839 observed and discovered the photovoltaic effect— a process that produces a voltage or electric current when exposed to light or radiant energy.
• Types of Alternative Energy Resources

  Thermal Energy Refers to the heat input to a boiler in a power plant in order to generate electricity. In other contexts, it can be a measure of the output—such as the radiant heat given off by the Sun. For power plants, the thermal power input is measured in megawatts thermal (MWt).
• History of Thermal power

  It was first discovered in 1847 by English physicist and mathematician James Prescott Joule, after whom the unit of energy and Joule's Law are named. Joule came across thermal energy when experimenting with mechanical energy conversion.
• Types of Alternative Energy Resources

  Wind power or wind energy is a form of renewable energy that harnesses the power of the wind to generate electricity. It involves using wind turbines to convert the turning motion of blades, pushed by moving air (kinetic energy) into electrical energy (electricity).
• Brief History of Wind power

  1st century AD: For the first time in known history, a wind-driven wheel is used to power a machine. A Greek engineer, Heron of Alexandria, creates this windwheel. By 7th to 9th century: Windwheels are used for practical purposes in the Sistan region of Iran, near Afghanistan.
• Types of Alternative Energy

  Hydropower, or hydroelectric power, is a renewable source of energy that generates power by using a dam or diversion structure to alter the natural flow of a river or other body of water.
• Brief History of Hydro

  1849: Invention of the Francis turbine. 1882: The world's first

  hydropower plant begins

  operations in Appleton, Wisconsin, on the Fox River.

  1887: The first hydroelectric plant opens in the West, in San Bernadino, California.

  1907: Hydropower accounts for 15 percent of U.S. electrical generation.
• Types of Alternative Energy

  Tidal energy is a form of power produced by the natural rise and fall of tides caused by the gravitational interaction between Earth, the sun, and the moon. Tidal currents with sufficient energy for harvesting occur when water passes through a constriction, causing the water to move faster.
• History of Tidal

  People in Europe first used tidal energy to operate grain mills more than 1,000 years ago. Incoming tidewater was retained in storage ponds and the outgoing tidal movement was used to turn waterwheels to mill grain.
• Types of Alternative Energy

  Wave power, electrical energy generated by harnessing the up-and-down motion of ocean waves. Wave power is typically produced by floating turbine platforms or buoys that rise and fall with the swells.
• History of Wave energy

  The idea of harnessing wave energy dates back to the late 1800s, with early inventors filing patents for wave-powered devices. French inventor Pierre-Simon Girard filed one of the earliest known patents in 1799, proposing a concept for using wave energy to pump water for irrigation.
• Types of Alternative Energy

  Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations.
• History of Geothermal Energy

  Geothermal energy is one of the oldest types of power used by humans. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest direct use of geothermal power occurred at least 10,000 years ago in North America, where indigenous peoples were drawn to hot springs for both spiritual and practical reasons.
• Types of Alternative Energy

  Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricultural, domestic or industrial biowaste.
• History of Biofuel

  Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine in 1897, experimented with using vegetable oil as fuel in his engines. The fuel made from vegetable oils and animal fats that we call biodiesel today is named after him because it is mostly used in diesel engines (as is petroleum diesel fuel).
• Types of Alternative Energy

  An electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy obtained from an external source into electrical energy as the output. It is important to understand that a generator does not actually 'create' electrical energy.
• History of Generator

  In the 1860s, AC and DC generators were invented. By the 1870s, the AC and DC generators were produced to run an outdoor lighting system called a Jablochkoff Candle. By 1879, Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb. Edison also invented a DC generator which was first installed in New York City in 1882.
• Central Receiver System

  consists of a huge array of computer – controlled mirrors called heliostats

  track the Sun and focus sunlight on a central collection tower.
• Solar Thermal Plant

  collects the Sun’s energy and pumps water to the receiver where thermal energy heats the water to form steam.
• Photovoltaic (PV) Cells or Solar Cells

  Solar cell is a transparent panel containing semiconductive material

  with a thickness ranging from less than that of human hair to a sheet of paper.
• Two categories of Solar Cell device

  • The concentration system – uses direct sunlight and lenses or curved mirrors to focus radiation onto highly efficient solar cells.
  • Flat – plate system - utilize the whole incident solar radiation,

  including diffused solar rays.
• Solar Cookers

  focus and concentrate light to cook food and even pasteurize drinks.
• Three (3) methods of hydropower

  • Small-scale methods involves a low dam with no reservoir.
  • The large-scale method involves a high dam built across a large river to create a reservoir.
  • The pumped-storage method uses recycle water instead of free-flowing water.