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Tidal Power
The energy represented by tides is too dispersed in most places for it to be
useful.
The average beach tide reflects a difference of 1 meter. The commercial tidalpower electricity-generating plant requires at least a five meter difference.
This condition exists in very few places of the world. This exists at the Bay of
Fundy in Nova Scotia, near St Malo, France, in the Netherlands, and in the former
Soviet Union.
Wind Energy
Wind energy is a variant of solar energy. It is also clean and renewable
indefinitely (for at least 5 billion years or so). Wind power has been utilized for more
than 2 thousand years. Windmills currently are most widely used for pumping
ground water and for generating electricity for individual homes and farms.
Wind energy shares certain limitations with solar energy.
It is dispersed
It is spread out through the atmosphere
It is erratic
Even where average wind velocities are great, strong winds do not always blow. This
represents the same storage problem as that of the solar energy.
Winds blow both more strongly and more consistently at high altitudes. Tall
windmills, perhaps a mile high, may provide more energy with less of a storage
problem. However, tall windmills are more difficult to, build and are fare more
expensive.
The widely used GE 1.5 megawatt model of a windmill consists of 116ft blades atop
and 212-ft tower for a total of 328 ft.
The ultimate potential of wind is unclear. The blowing wind represents far more
energy than we can use, but most of it cannot be harnessed. The commercial wind
power generation of electric power involves wind farms. This is a concentration of
many windmills in a few windy places.
The Great Plains region is the most promising area for this wind farms.
About 1000 1-megawatt windmills would be required to generate as much power as
a conventional electric power plant.
Problems caused by wind farms:
Biomass
Technically, this refers to the total mass of all the organisms on earth but in
an energy context. This is a catchall for various ways of deriving energy from
organisms or from their remains.
Biomass-derived energy is ultimately solar. This is because most if the energy
sources are plant materials and plants need sunlight to grow.
Biomass fuels can also be thought of as 1 unfossilized fuel. Because they
represent fuels derived from living or recent organisms.
The possibilities for biomass-derived energy are many. The use of wood as a
fuel is increasing in popularity. It also became the primary source of heat in about
4% of households.
Sometimes, using biomass energy sources means burning waste plant
materials after a crop is harvested.
What is it for?
Alcohol as Fuel
One biomass fuel that received special attention is alcohol. It was initially
extensively developed for incorporation into gasohol.
Gasohol- it is originally created as a blend of 90% gasoline and 10% alcohol. The
alcohol content has been, historically, produced from grains such as corn. However,
when the technology improved, it has been made possible to use the nonfood parts
of plants to produce alcohol.
The higher the proportion of alcohol in the mix, the further the gasoline can
be stretched. The main problem is that the modified vehicles must have an assured
supply of their special fuel. Until the alcohol-rich cars are widely available, most cars
will not be designed to run on such special mixtures.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the use of gasohol rose. Gasohol
seemed to improve the performance of many car engines. It costs a bit more than
straight unleaded gasoline. The, several major companies appeared to phase out
gasohol. However, gasohol still exists in the form of super unleaded or super
unleaded with ethanol.
Government Policies which encourage the expanded use of alcohol/gasoline blends:
The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990- this includes provisions for reduced
vehicle emissions, and gasohol is somewhat cleaner-burning.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992- required gradual replacement of some
government, utility company, and other fleet vehicles with alternative
fuel vehicles.
- This act extends an exices-tax break ethanol-blend fuels.
Biogas
Another biomass fuel is the biogas. This could be called gas from garbage.
When broken down in the absence of oxygen, organic wastes yield a variety
of gaseous products. One of these products is methane (CH 4). Methane is the same
compound that predominates in natural gas.
Methane can also be produced from decaying manures.