Fuel Alternatives and Energy Sources

Fuel Alternatives, the 20th century has built itself mostly around energy produced from nonrenewable sources with harmful emissions, presently much of the world uses oil/gas and nuclear power, and (a renewable source) hydroelectric for power production. In the 1970s, the price of fossil fuels, rose considerably inspiring governments to seek more oil, this solved the problem temporarily now in 21st Century, with the cost of fossil fuels rising higher still, it has sent many of the larger oil companies scurrying to the oil sands project in Alberta. Where there is a plentiful yet hard to get to supply of energy in the form of Bitumen, however with the high carbon emissions from this project. It is hardly a viable option environmentally, with the the high cost of oil and our realization that its carbon emissions cause global warming, this drives consumers and inventors towards renewable energy resources, many areas are being investigated. Fuel Alternative solutions include

* Hydrogen
* Wind
* Garbage
* Geothermal
* Solar
* Tidal

Hydrogen water power is mostly being considered in vehicles, contrary to earlier research it is possible to harness the power of water in various ways, one being separating hydrogen and oxygen atoms and putting them back together to produce energy, this has already been put in action and used in successfully in engines. The Oceans power is being harnessed, by various companies investigating different methods of doing so, some by using turbines that look like large propellers, others have survivable aquabouys floating on the surface, using the up and down wave motion of the to drive turbines and generate power is then sent to a central grid. In tropical areas near the equator the surface of the ocean's water becomes heated, an innovative group of engineers have designed a method of harnessing this heat energy into power using a generator on a floating platform and some very large pipes, to make electricity when the water cools its sent back to the ocean to heat up again, always being recycled. Geothermal heat, is that which dwells deep beneath the earth's service for this method of energy conversion, deep holes are drilled in five or 6000 feet into the earth where it connects with thermally heated water, natural pressure brings his water through the pipe to the station that converts it into power, then sends the water back, to be reheated.

Solar power is one we are all familiar with, having been around for many years, its application is becoming more prevalent as the photovoltaic panels are more efficient. These days wind power from giant wind turbine farms goes to producing electricity, rather and powering a mechanical grinding mill, its then sent to a central collecting station, now there are personal wind turbines around perfect for places where bylaws allow. Wind turbines have been in place, especially in Europe for at the least 25 years.

Another method of energy conversion has been devised, collecting methane from deteriorating garbage, that can be turned into energy, then it can be used in all kinds of applications. With all these energy-saving, energy collecting devices, and reusable resources, the future can be less reliant upon fossil fuels. Energy efficient homes will become a normal necessity as populations increase demand for energy increases, with the demand for food, It is foreseeable that one day, each home can provide its own power, be fuel and water efficient, running with very low carbon emissions algae powered vehicles, solar heated water and wind/sun powered electricity, all running in harmony, what a shame, we wait for conditions to become practically critical in order to implement them.

The old-style electric power stations are an inefficient use of fossil fuels as an extraordinary amount of energy is simply wasted, the cooling towers blow away heat/power that could be harnessed in fact, over two thirds of the energy that is put into them is wasted.

In thermodynamic terms you can run an engine on heat if you have a warm reservoir and a cold reservoir, a heat engine is simply a very conventional system where boiling a working fluid that is then run through a turbine, the turbine is connected to a generator and it makes electricity, after it runs through the turbine, it gets in touch with the cold water and it condenses back to liquid. It's very simple conceptually and it uses the fact that heated liquid flows to cold to run this engine."One of the by-products of the condensation is fresh water, if the system is open-cycle, meaning the working fluid is seawater. In a closed-cycle system, which typically uses ammonia as the working fluid, fresh water is not produced, but the size of the turbine can be significantly smaller, reducing capital costs.

Fuel Alternatives one day will not be so alternative.

By J Barton