Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Energy Justification Document
Energy Justification Document
Wind Power Wind turbines convert the ● Good for the ● Deadly/harmful to
kinetic energy in the wind environment birds
into mechanical power.This ● Renewable ● Wind is unpredictable
is done by using a large wind ● Cost effective and cannot be
turbine usually consisting of ● Profit for controlled
propellers; the turbine can be landowners ● Not cheap like other
connected to a generator to ● Use of modern energy sources
generate electricity, or the technology ● Take the beauty out of
wind used as mechanical ● Huge the landscape
power to perform tasks such potential/ ● Turbines can be quite
as pumping water or grinding growth rates loud
grain. As the wind passes the ● Low costs ● Impact on local
turbines it moves the blades, ● Abundant weather and
which spins the shaft. domestic temperatures
supply
● Power is free
● Can be used
almost
anywhere
Hydro Power “Hydropower plants capture -The most used -Environmental consequences
the energy of falling water to renewable energy
generate electricity. A source in the world -Expensive Initial Cost
turbine converts the kinetic
energy of falling water into -Reliable -May lead to Droughts
mechanical energy. Then a
generator converts the -Safe -Limited Reservoirs
mechanical energy from the
turbine into electrical - Low cost of -Carbon dioxide and methane
energy.” -Wisconsin Valley maintenance and emission
Improvement Company operation
- Risk of floods and
- Can last 50-100 relocation due to strong water
years, due to the fact currents released from the
that they are built for dam
long-term use
-Ecosystem damage due to
-Can help remote interruptions of natural water
areas grow flow, and draining of water
economically
- Risk of dam failure due to
Recreation high levels of water, natural
disasters, or construction
errors
Disrupts recreation
Biomass/Biofuel “Biofuels are combustive fuels ● Bio-based fuel ● Need to be grown under
Group 2 made from recently harvested with essentially controlled temperature
plants. They work much like carbon neutral conditions
fossil fuels: they burn when combustion ● Requires a considerable
ignited, releasing energy that ● Drop in amount of land and
can be converted to motion in a replacement for water
car, or heat for a house. Biofuel petroleum- ● Cold flow issues with
can be sourced from a number based liquid algal biofuel
of different crops, as well as fuels ● Fertilizer production is
excess plant matter from other carbon dependent
industries.”
● Inherently ● Relatively high upfront
renewable capital costs
Heat boils water to create ● Absorbs carbon ● Not clear yet what the
steam, steam and heat rises dioxide as it ultimate cost per gallon
pushing on a turbine, creating a grows will be. Presently too
current and electricity. ● Both waste high.
CO2 and
wastewater can
be used as Link=https://www.triplepundit.c
nutrients om/special/energy-options-pros-
● Higher energy and-cons/algae-based-biofuel-
per-acre than pros-cons/
other biofuels
Nuclear power/ Nuclear power plants obtain the ● Clean Energy ● Nuclear Waste
Uranium heat needed to produce steam Source ● People can be affected
through a physical process. This ● Energy in the event of a
process, called fission, entails Efficient meltdown or plant
the splitting of atoms of ● Low cost to failure
uranium in a nuclear reactor.
run ● Limited uranium
The uranium fuel consists of
small, hard ceramic pellets that ● More resources
are packaged into long, vertical proficient than ● Japan Crisis
tubes. Bundles of this fuel are other energy ● High cost to create
inserted into the reactor. This sources ● Non- renewable
steam is used to spin a turbine
which uses motion to create
energy.
Why build a
house without
electricity?
1. How much energy
do humans use? In
what
forms?
Average Average
% of
Rate: Rate: %
State U.S. Rank
November November up/down
avg.
2017 2016
of sun’s energy):
Climate change is a real problem that if not addressed can lead to the declination of our planet. A
conclusion from scientific investigations of the causes of climate change show over 95% of the
experiments showed the high probability that humans’ actions over the past 50 years have influenced
climate change(Nasa). These actions include aren’t limited industrial smoke stacks, nuclear waste, and
green gas emissions. A NASA informational article stated the fact, “The panel also concluded there's a
better than 95 percent probability that human-produced greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide,
methane and nitrous oxide have caused much of the observed increase in Earth's temperatures over the
past 50 years.” Some greenhouse gases include methane and carbon dioxide. They help retain the heat of
the planet. The gases absorb heat from the earth surface and hold it in with the greenhouse effect. Climate
change is when there is an unnatural balance of gases in the atmosphere. They can affect the climate of
the earth. Climate change is caused when there are changes in average conditions over many years. How
climate change works is humans release gases into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels or other
activities. This creates and unbalanced amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and it will affect
the climate.
shrunk in size, the ice over the ocean and lakes is breaking up earlier and earlier, the lifestyles
and habitats of countless animals and plants have changed, and the trees are all coming into
bloom earlier. The effects of climate change are likely to be quite significant, and will definitely
get worse over time. Some of these effects will probably include a temperature increase of about
2.5 - 10 degrees Fahrenheit over a century, which will impact different regions in different ways,
some in good ways, but most in bad ways, in total, increasing the net cost of annual living.
Another effect will be the increase of a “frost-free” period, or time without snow, due to the
increase of heat-trapping gas emissions. Places of low elevation may be in danger due to rising
sea levels from the melting solar caps, by 2100, it is projected that the sea level will increase by
1-4 feet. Heavy rainfall events will increase in number as well, however the time between them
https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/