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JOHN WILEY AND SONS

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TOM KULESA, MEDIA EDITOR LINDA R. BERG VISUALIZING ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE CHAPTER 18: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

ALTERNATIVE_ENERGY.MP3 5 MINUTES

[00:00:05.00] Lets see. per hour. The winds we have here now are about 15 miles Not not too strong, just barely enough to get

the wind turbines running.

[00:00:14.00] When the wind picks up at the foot of the Rockies, there are those who believe they can hear the future.

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[00:00:20.00] I think the past perception was that wind energy was nice, but not a real solution. That perception is changing. I

see wind energy getting more and more competitive.

[00:00:33.00] At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, making alternative power sources competitive with fossil fuels has been a mission since the energy crisis of the 1970s. Scientists create solar cells far more efficient than those currently available to homeowners. They believe the market

for this technology is about to come of age.

[00:00:53.00] Recent polls have shown that about 75 percent of the population would favor the use of solar power, clean power, and would like to see more of it happening.

[00:01:03.00] But solar power has been around for some time. And while

people say they like the idea, incorporating it into their daily lives has always seemed like a promise to be fulfilled just a little further in the future.

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[00:01:15.00] Sometimes, you know, you worry that they think that this is only a fringe. But its not. Photovoltaic solar

electricity is becoming a technology that is becoming cost effective for us as consumers in the United States.

[00:01:28.00] Recent events have people giving solar power another look.

[00:01:32.00] When your electricity doesnt come on in California, you start looking very, very quickly.

[00:01:39.00] Some people have been doing more than just looking. it was installed, this was believed to be the largest residential solar electric system in the United States. is so efficient that the homeowner is actually selling electricity back to the power company. It When

[00:01:53.00]

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I also feel good because Ive always been committed about the environment and doing something. as individuals to do things. [00:02:02.00] But individuals can do only so much. Researchers here say And we have to start

for renewable energy to really make a difference, it has to be on a large scale.

[00:02:11.00] This is a solar concentrator. The mirrors focus the suns

rays into a narrow beam, which turns an engine and provides electricity. Tough to get in the backyard, sure, but a

power company could probably find a place for it.

[00:02:25.00] There hasnt been any great sense of urgency for finding energy alternatives. For decades, low gas prices have kept But a jump in gas

Americans in their cars, usually alone.

prices often spotlights the search for something else to keep all those cars going.

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[00:02:40.00] Whats in there now is a material that looks like straw or and its actually the material that farmers just leave sitting on the ground after they go through and they harvest corn. Were trying to get farmers to collect this

material so that we can run it through conversion technology to make new liquid fuels.

[00:02:56.00] Since the energy crisis of the 70s, many farmers have been turning food into fuel, using grains like corn to create ethanol. But now the emphasis in making fuel is moving

away from the grain itself, to the stalks and stubble left on the ground after the harvest.

[00:03:11.00] The cellulose thats in here that actually is made up of sugars is something that they can turn into ethanol in the

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same way that theyre currently taking their corn grain and having it turned into fuel-grade ethanol.

[00:03:22.00] The National Renewable Energy Lab has a plant that converts harvest leftovers and just about anything else into fuel. [00:03:28.00] What are some of these other materials here? have we got? What else

[00:03:30.00] Well, some of these, like this, for example, is a wood material.

[00:03:36.00] Just woodchips.

[00:03:37.00] Yeah.

[00:03:37.00] Basically.

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[00:03:42.00] Proving that renewable technology is viable remains a struggle, at least in America. Wind turbines were

pioneered in the United States, but countries in Europe use them to supply more meaningful amounts of power.

[00:03:55.00] The cost of energy in the United States is so low, compared to Europe, that our industry has had a harder time competing with fossil fuels.

[00:04:08.00] The fear that the current energy situation could become a crisis has increased the urgency for finding reliable alternatives to fossil fuels. future may be now. For renewable energy, the

[00:04:26.00] END

ELAINE FARRIS TRANSCRIBED 10/13/08 760-248-2070