Alternative energy sources - Overview

Alternative energy sources are sometimes also called renewable energy sources, which is not entirely true because there are some energy sources that are alternative but not renewable energy sources, like for instance nuclear energy. Alternative energy source is basically every energy source that is not based on fossil fuel consumption. Though world still heavily relies on fossil fuels to satisfy total energy demand renewable energy sector is becoming more and more powerful, and many energy experts predict that future belong to renewables. This article will provide overview of currently available alternative energy sources. In future, number of available energy sources could be far greater but current number isn't bad either.

Alternative energy overview:
     1. Introduction
     2. Solar power
     3. Wind power
     4. Biomass/Biofuel
     5. Nuclear energy
     6. Ocean and Earth Power
     7. Conclusion

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Why go for geothermal energy?

When it comes down to renewable energy, most people think only of wind turbines, and solar panels, because most people think how solar and wind power are the two only renewable energy sources. But this is far from truth, there is also geothermal energy that can be quite useful energy source but many people know very little about this energy source. Maybe this has to do with the fact that oil companies want us to think of solar and wind power as the only renewable energy sources, because solar and wind power doesn’t directly affect oil and propane use.

The golden “oil age” is far behind, going down to a strong political campaign that brought geothermal, a very important renewable energy source, well up front. The new administration gave its full blessing to geothermal energy in form of substantial tax credits enabling just about everyone to take advantage of geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy map of United States. Click on picture for full size.

There are some already claiming how geothermal energy should be the first choice to reduce nation's dependence on fossil fuel. But how can the average home save a significant amount of money every year by replacing fossil fuel with geothermal? Well you are probably already familiar with fluctuations in fuel prices that have potential to go out of control in the matter of days. The cost of heating homes is no longer negligible and has become an expensive proposition, despite today’s "seemingly low" fossil fuel prices. It is really only matter of time before fossil fuel prices will go up, reaching very high levels. Just to remind you in July 2008, the price of oil doubled in less than 30 days. Who can guarantee us that this scenario won't happen once again?

Geothermal energy can provide not only 100 percent of home heating, but also air conditioning and hot water, and it require no additional use of oil, natural gas or any other fossil fuel. And the payback on geothermal is more than acceptable. If you consider the 30 percent federal tax credit, payback usually takes less than five years in new construction and somewhere around seven years for retrofits. This translates to gigantic 15 percent annual return on investment simply by installing a geothermal system, which is really a number from which many other energy sources are still far off. The logic in this whole story is quite simple, namely homeowners pay back the investment with the money they would have paid to oil or gas company. After payback, the savings continue with an average return of more than 65 percent – percentage that is likely to be even higher as fossil fuel prices are very likely to increase after recession is over.

Geothermal power technologies. Click on picture for full size.

And geothermal can be retrofitted into most existing structures. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, geothermal heat pumps are far more efficient and reliable than any fossil fuel furnace or boiler so it is really no surprise that hundreds of homes throughout the Catskills and Hudson Valley are now getting all their heating, cooling and hot water from geothermal energy. The other huge benefit is that geothermal energy can be easily adapted into most existing structures.

How to calculate cost of geothermal system needed for your household? Cost to professionally install a geothermal system is computed based on total heating load required by the specific needs of your home. Professional geothermal installers, even before sizing a system, will recommend ways to reduce energy use. For an average 3,000-square foot Colonial, that’s five years old, geothermal air heating and cooling with appropriate energy efficiency measures would cost under $38,000 and provide all heating, cooling and hot water needs. With tax credits, the out-of-pocket costs are about $26,000. This is really a bargain price when you look at the all advantages.

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CO2 can be turned into methanol

CO₂ is the biggest reason why world today faces very difficult challenge in overcoming the climate change problem caused mostly by excessive CO₂ emissions. These excessive emissions are mostly the result of fossil fuels burning because world needs energy, and energy demands keeps on growing all the time, so fossil fuels are really a necessary evil we need to satisfy our everyday needs.

Carbon dioxide, result of fossil fuels burning is hot topic around the globe, and is described by many as No.1 cause for climate change problem. Scientist believe that we should reduce our CO₂ emissions as much as possible to keep current levels of CO₂ in atmosphere and avoid the worst possible global warming scenario. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that a 60% reduction of global carbon dioxide emissions is needed if carbon dioxide concentrations are to stabilize at present-day levels. But with renewable energy sector still miles away from being competitive on global scale this is very unrealistically to expect, so therefore science is looking for new solutions - like for instance turning CO₂ into methanol or some other useful chemical compound. You think this is impossible? Not anymore, just ask the scientists at at the Singapore-based Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN).

Carbon dioxide into methanol - principle.

These scientific visionaries have made an unprecedented breakthrough in transforming carbon dioxide, a most common greenhouse gas, into methanol, a widely used form of industrial feedstock and clean-burning biofuel. Their secret is in using so called "organocatalysts", organocatalysts were used by researchers to activatee carbon dioxide in a mild and non-toxic process to produce the more useful chemical compound. This really has the potential to be one of the most important discoveries in the energy world.

At the Singapore-based Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, scientists have managed to make carbon dioxide react with a stable organocatalyst called N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) under mild conditions in dry air. As senior lab officer at IBN Siti Nurhanna Riduan said: “NHCs have shown tremendous potential for activating and fixing carbon dioxide and our work can contribute towards transforming excess carbon dioxide in the environment into useful products, such as methanol.”

To do this, scientists require a combination of silica and hydrogen – called hydrosilane – hydrosilane is then added to the NHC-activated carbon dioxide, which is transformed into methanol through the process of hydrolysis. Dr Yugen Zhang, IBN team leader and principal research scientist explained the role of hydrosilane by saying:"Hydrosilane provides hydrogen, which bonds with carbon dioxide in a reduction reaction. This carbon dioxide reduction is efficiently catalyzed by NHCs even at room temperature. Methanol can be easily obtained from the product of the carbon dioxide reaction." He also added that their previous research on NHCs has demonstrated their multiple applications as powerful antioxidants to fight degenerative diseases, and as effective catalysts to transform sugars into an alternative energy source. With this discovery they have shown that NHCs can also be applied successfully to the conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol, helping to unleash the potential of this highly abundant gas.

Similar scientific research have become very important because world seeks all available solutions to fight against global warming and climate change. It has to be said here that primary goal of IBN's research was to make the mass production of methanol more cost-effective, in the process reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released in the earth's atmosphere. As you can see there is double benefit from this scientific discovery: less CO₂ in the atmosphere and real possibility of mass methanol production.

Hopefully there will be more similar scientific discoveries in years to come because only science can save us from global warming. I mean you don't really expect politics to solve this problem, do you?

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