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This week I would like to open up a discussion about alternative energy power. This is something that has been on my mind since I saw the solar panel that TXU placed out behind our school this summer. And we'll be getting to that in the coming weeks.
Now, I'm not a tree-hugging, fossil-fuel shunning, paper-recycling environmentalist. I do, however, have a lot of respect for those who support the ecology cause and can do that in a non-contradictory manner. For instance, don't be yelling at me about not having a paper recycling bin in my room that is in the school that you drove to in your fossil-fuel burning SUV. Just don't go there. Kinda like being vegan and wearing leather shoes, ya know?
But I do believe we need to be exploring alternative energy for many reasons, and not just those reasons based on ecology. Do I think we'll run out of oil and gas soon? Not in our lifetime. Do I think we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? You bet, so that we can stop sending my students to war over it. But that's another blog for another time.
This week I want you to look at some alternative energy sites. There's some cool stuff coming in the energy arena. In West Texas they already have windmill farms with these HUGE windmills that we occasionally pass while they are being trucked down I-20. They take up an entire 18-wheeler bed and look like something from outer space.
And how about the guys who invented cold fusion in the 80's only to have all the other energy scientists say they basically must have been lying about it because it couldn't be duplicated?
So here are some sites relating to alternative energy. Go explore these websites, don't just go to the page my links point to. Come back and speak intelligently about one of the alternative energies that are available.
By the way, I hope to have a couple of guest bloggers during the next few weeks. One will be our very own Mr. Johnson and hopefully the other will be a representative from TXU. Please feel free to ask them any questions and let's have some real discussion. Check back in often.
Talk to me . . .
http://home.utah.edu/~ptt25660/tran.html
http://www.altenergy.org/new_energy/new_energy.html
http://www.altenergy.org/renewables/geothermal.html
http://www.altenergy.org/new_energy/cold_fusion.html
http://www.altenergy.org/new_energy/magnetics_and_gravitics.html
http://www.infinitepower.org/projects.htm
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_how.html
http://www.txu.com/residential/Solar_Academy4.htm
http://www.dailysentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/10/15/solar_panel_101509.html
108 comments:
I have one small question, just how exactly does the soloar pannel, and the windmill convert sun and wind power into energy that we can use?
How exactly does a solar panel work?? I think concept of it is really cool, but i was just wondering how EXACTLY does it convert solar energy into usable electricity?
Mr. Johnson and/or Mr. Chen, would either of you mind explaining to me exactly how these solar panels gather energy from the sun and convert it into the energy we use? I'm confused about the process and extremely curious to know about the process...
Where are these Solar Panels made?
When were the first solar panels created?
Who came up with the idea of using energy from the sun for our personal use?
As a member of Ecology Club and and active avocate for more environmentally concious America, I certainly think that any new source of Energy that leaves a smaller carbon footprint is beneficial. We discused, however, that the $60,000 solar panel that was installed in the backyard of NHS can constantly power one microwave. While I understand that the solar panel is more of an educational tool than one for actual energy conservation, I am slightly unsure of its purpose. This shows students that the preservation of energy is expensive and essentially frivolous. My question is: What's the point of a $60,000 piece of machinery that can continually power just a single microwave?
AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Alternative Energy Resources!!!!!
like Mrs. L, i have not been known to hug trees(the trunk of the tree was too wide for me to give it a full hug anyway)but i'm all up for living on an earth that will continue to sustain us, THANK YOU
^^
As of right now, what is the most efficient 'alternative' source of energy?
Which is the least efficient?
Why?
i want to know if you can put the wind turbones in the city?
I never really cared for the pollution that is caused from fossil fuels. But then again, I have never really looked into this a lot. But I know that in a Reader's Digest from a few years back, it stated that acid rain has destroyed many creeks and small lakes/ponds. Not to mention that as Mrs. L has said being dependent on foreign companies to ship us our fuel, is a big handicap against us. I wouldn't mind having better and cleaner energy that had less harmful effects on the environment. On that note what exactly are the effects on the environment from these contraptions?
exactly how much good is the solar pannel doing that was recently put in our school...i was once told it only gave enough energy to power a microwave,if thats the case, why did we spend so much money on it?
How is cold fusion possible?? my friend Jim says that it's impossibe and I want to prove to him that it is.
can anyone explain to me how solar panels convert sunlight into electicity?
Hi, I was just wondering if cold fusion could be explained, and why solar energy is so inefficient.
I was really interested in Cold Fusion, I looked it up and it turned out it wasn't that they couldn't just recreate it, but they admited that it was a hoax.
However, many people think it is still really out there, and are trying diligently to create it.
I totally see myself disconvering this in the future!....:P
2 Questions: 1-How do solar panels, windmills, and hydrolic dams make electricity?
2- Why cant we, with all our wonderful technology and atomic knowledge, cant we duplicate the cold fusion experiment?
Wow it is amazing to see all those little tiny gizmoes and gadgets in the ginormous windmill. Also how a huge spinning fan can power so much. I love the shiny blue rectangle!!!!!! ooooooooohhhh......
mama. :) But is it powerful? hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
i think alternite energy is the way to go so we wont be paying much for the energy we use now. natural energy is gud because it wont run out anytime soon
No, for Russaw N u can't put wind turbones in the city cuz all the high rise building would block the wind from blowing unless u rise the turbone to a level which is towering over all the skyscraper. :-) no 1 ever told me bout it I just used common sense. lol
Oh, I love the idea of Magnetics and Gravitics!! Seriously, energy coming from outta nowhere!! That's awesome!!!. Well, I'm just saying. Then everyone won't have to worry about wherer all the energy is coming from. Yay for Magnetics and Gravitics~
The whole thing about the Biomass productions also sounds like a genius idea to me. Turning waste into energy? Love it so far or. Or it can be a bad thing too.
Alternative energy is great and all, but were going to stay dependent of fossil fuels for a long time to come. It's great to see all of these enviormentaly friendly energy sources though, like solar, geothermal, and wind.
The Wind Power Project (American National Wind Power) seems interesting and its shaped funny. I think its nice that the wind farm generates sufficient electricity to meet the demand of over 20,000 households.
Lessining our dependence on fossil fuels is essential to preserving the world we live in. Wind Power is one of the oldest forms of energy and "one of the most promising new energy sources that can serve as an alternate to fossil fuel-generated electricity."
I beleive that wind power is not used enough or to its full potential as of right now. Today's technology can further the use of wind power IF we utilize it, and could by 2010 power about 10 million American homes, and "prevent 100 million metric tons of CO 2 emmisions every year."
We need to use the technology we have to its full potential, and further projects such as this (that are vital to life as we know it) instead of using it to make useless crap that serves no real purpose at all.
P.S. Info. came from: http://www.altenergy.org/renewables/wind.html
I think that the solar and wind powered alternative energy soures are the best soureces. There should be more solar paneled felds and more wind mills in country areas to supply cities with energy.
I'm not sure if anyone shares my views over this topic but does no one else feel like we are approaching this energy crisis at too rapid of a pace. Some of the tech that we require to tap into geothermal energy is still not up to date. Same thing with the wind powered turbines. They don't produce substantial amounts of energy to power an entire city. I'm feeling a bit iffy about all of this because I can only imagine that we may get the same result as if we were still mining fossil fuels. With the new structures being built each year and the constant need to change our environment to suit us, I feel like we are trying to fully exploit every possible forms of energy. In the end we may end up in a worse predicament than we are now. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, I'm just trying to keep an open mind to the repercussions of our actions.
All of the ideas were great i like the COLD FUSION and GEOTHERMAL ENERGY... but i really don't understand how it works...
one things thats true is when the world come to a end which global warming and ending of natural resources is occuring, u know who to blame. obviously, "The Americans" unless we starts to buy hybrid vehicles and stop driving big inefficient SUV and diesel pickup trucks or converting to European life style I think this would slow down all these problems
I really like the solar panel thingy i wish all electrical power ran on solar power tht would be awsome no more bills to pay do u know what i mean.
i think that having windmill's to convert energy is really cool and a great way of alternative energy
I am a little confused on how a solar panel works but i think the efforts and measures people are going to to make energy is pretty cool. The wind turbines look very useful i mean wind providing electricty is just awesome. And our solar panel is nice and all but they didn't pick the best place for it. It's in shade most of the time so we aren't really getting much power from it so it's point of being there is....
Although all of the alternate energy sources are beneficial to the enviornment, I am a fan of wind power. the only expense is the giant turbines that have to be transported to the site. But one problem that many areas have is the fact that there isnt enough wind to generate enough power to last very long.
Many people don't think before they purchase the need to harness diffrent forms of energy. In certain areas people will place solar panels in areas that recieve sunlight, but are shaded by trees more than being hit by solar rays.
West Texas is a great area to place wind turbines to harness wind energy. there are nice large open fields in which you can place the turbines, and because of their compactability you can place many of them close to gether to take advantage of the large wind sourse.
*wins the award for longest comment in 2nd period :)*
We've been using oil for our cars and fossil fuels and all that jazz since the beginning of time. I think one of the major problems in finding "alternative solutions" is the fact that it would take an IMMENSE effort to convert EVERY GAS STATION IN THE US to use this. It would take months...thousands of people would have to work together. Yes, for a greater cause, but...c'mon, we live in the south. We know what kind of people own gas stations. (Not to say all of them are like that), but I can totally see some weird guy saying like "I ain't gonna convert; it's my gas, my store...blahblahblah I'll get my shotgun."
Yea. Unless the president says that they're all absolutely 100% required to convert, there will be some who refuse. Even if he did, the problem still remains that it would take a large effort to convert. My question is, we're finding all of this alternative things for electricity, what about the oil? Would we use those electric cars? If so, what would "gas stations" turn into? A place to "charge" your car?
I am all for this because I know it is for the greater good and healthiness of our environment. I don't go around hugging trees and chaining myself to soon-to-be-construction sites, but I hate it when people litter, I hate it when I see large trucks polluting that aweful smog stuff, I hate it when people don't recycle, and I hate it that we're slowly destroying our world. It just takes a bit of effort to appreciate our world. :)
I am all for anything that advances the human race and is safe for the environment. We should all know that the Earth has a limited "carrying capacity" and every day we get closer to that dangerous mark. Personally, I find hydroelectricity and wind energy the most interesting and usable. They both come from natural sources (wind and water duh) and are renewable. They may take some money to get up and going bu the theoretical yield of energy (and other important benefits) would far outweigh the initial costs. I especially find the idea of using tides in appropriate regions to power plants very cool. I always knew tides should be used for something cooler than fishing. So there we go. Anything that rids us of the dependency on fossil fuels, though, would be great.
The wind turbines have never been a strange thing to me, after living around them for 4 years its hard to be surprised. I was never quite sure what to think of the large alien machines. Knowing their weird shapes help us save energy is amazing.
here we go again with the enery conservation crisis topic every year this same subject reares its head and every year its the same ol' comments........ Im all for the saving the earth and humans program (thats what i call it) but sum thing are not possible (YET) for us to use. I mean it would be nice to use alternate ways of using a saving electricity but sumtimes thing don't work like you think it will such as the solar, geothermal, and wind powered energy all are very good ideas but its hard to harnest something that cannont be constantly used there are drawbacks like the solar power we cannot have solar power with no sun out all the time, geothermal we are not the city of alantis it make no sense to have to use something we can't even get to because a ton of water is in the way, and as for wind power Doesn't it require electricity to power those things the object is to save power not use to power a gigantic wind mill that we cannot use if the wind isint blowing. IF ANYTHING I STATED IS WRONG FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME. OR COMMENT OF YOU JUST WANT OR HAVE TO.
I pretty much have the same question as a few other people but I was told it only had enough energy to power 10 light bulbs? And the spot its sitting in apparently isnt very good? I just want to know what the point of it being there is :)
The location of the solar panel is retarded..the trees cause shade on it for a lot of the day. And on top of that it can barely power a few 100watt lightbulbs...Waste of TXU's money if you ask me.
I never knew NHS had a solar panel...Im going to have to check that out.
Im extremely worried about the earth and how we are destoying it, and i'm happy that we have alot of different energy sources that will not harm the earth or us. We need to find another source though. One that is cheaper and easier to access and is more plentiful.
p.s. we have a solar panel for no reason, it does work that well from what i hear
I am a big fan of all types of renewable and "green" energy, but I have always been rather interested in hydro and wind energy. Hydro energy uses the potential energy from water to create electrical energy when that water begins to move. Also, wind energy uses winds up to 50 mph to turn a gears which then creates energy. I don't why it is these two that I like, but it makes me happy to know that my family uses green wind energy in our house, our energy company being "Green Mountain Energy."
I dont know wat a solar panel iz kina embarrassing hope im not tha only 1?But i do lyk tha name it sounds kool and i knw it does sum important and interesting
i think that the solar and wind powered alternative energy resources are good, but i have a question. how does the solar panel works?????
i really like this one because this isnt the first time i heard about this solar pannel. the solar pannel is very cool to look at. i know how the solar pannel works but i just really dont know if it really works its suppose to stop the sun from shinning but i just really dont see that working but i still think the pannel is very cool the solar pannel converts energy into usable electricity
Seeing as 1/3 of the energy from the sun is lost in our earths atmosphere or reflected back into space, I would like to know if it is possible to harness the suns energy out in space and deliver it back to earth to be used as a power supply.
Oh I forgot to mention that according to Mr. Johnson, the solar panel that was installed in front of the NHS campus does nothing because there is constantly a shadow cast over it...soooo yeah, we're doing a lot to help the world...NOT
I was wondering if anyone could actually explain what Cold Fusion is because I'm still confused on that topic. On the other hand, I think hydroelectricity and wind power are great alternative energy sources. By using sources that are available all the time (water and air), there is never a chance of running out, and we save nonrenewable energy, which ultimately helps the environment. Even though it might be more expensive to build and run, in the long run, we will benefit from building dams and wind mills by producing electricity, lowering power costs, and ultimately helping the environment repair itself from all the harmful things we have done to it in the past.
COOL....thats very generous that our school was chossen to receive the donated solar pannel...and everthying but how does it actually work and turn into energy that we can use????Im glad im not the only one asking this question so I dont feel as stupid...but I really don't know...
Interesting that you chose to throw wind turbines in there, because while I was in Mr. Odom's keyboarding class (Thanks by the way for saving me from that monotonous typing hell), I was typing random news articles. One was about turbines... but not in the positive way. The tree huggers are at the verge of a civil war because of these "death traps" of alternative resource! Kind of funny and ironic if you ask me. The delima is that the birds are running into the fanblades and getting chopped up into little bitty birdy bits (like my dog when I was was 10... cept those were chicken fan blades and he was just a little slower than the other dogs). Here's the link for one of the articles if you wanna check it out
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-04-windmills-usat_x.htm
i just dont really understand how it works. but i am happy that we have other energy options that want harm us
what is the big picture behind all this solar stuff and why it would be so important but how would it help us
Alternate Energy Rocks! Wind turbines are pretty inovative, but lets try and find more practical alternatives to gas, oil, and other fossil fuels...
I'm really looking forward to when we have less dependency on fossile fuels. I'm not much of the environmentalist but I do care about this beautiful planet we're living on. Finding cleaner burning fuels for plants and vehicles will make a huge difference in the world. (The O-Zone layer, health issues in cities, ect.)
When the polar ice caps melt y'all are all gona see what Ole' Cassidy was sayin'!! Ha!!
Electric cars are a great idea and product but they're all so ugly I wouldn't ever want to drive one. So until they make something resembling a Chrystler 300 that runs on electricity I'm going to stick with the....Chrystler 300!! HAHA!!
I think the use of solar panels for personal use would be cool but a while ago when i first heard about them, i also heard that they don't always work. like if a huge cloud comes around it would cause the panel to not work. Is this true still or have they been fixed to overcome this problem?
I am not a tree hugger but i do think that all these things they are coming up with will really help the earth.
I wish that we could get our house hooked up to a solar panel to help the earth and it just looks pretty cool.
So I only have one questions:
About how much would it cost to hook a house up to a solar panel and how hard would it be?
solar pannel energy would be kool because on a hot sunny day you go into a house and its really hot you would want to turn the A/C on and that would waste alot of electricity... and solar pannel would be a great idea
i'm really not sure how the solar panels work but i do know that they're very popular. my aunts have their roofs covered with them because they live out in the country where there aren't very many power lines. i wonder how they capture the sunlight? are they not as efficient because of the way they work? the wind mills and hydroelectric dams work pretty well because they run turbines hooked up to generators. if more places put these sources to use, maybe we can help the environment.
i wonder what are the most abbundent resources in the world, so mankind can take every last bit from existence and use it all up on energy that people may not even use and/or if they do, it would be for the most idiotic things that we humans can apply.
it's freakin' amazing that the world didn't die out yet.
I have a couple of questions :-/
Exactly how does a solar panel work?
What are the solar panels made of?
8-{
Can everybody afford them?
Can they be dangerous in case of a fire???? D:
*I think that it is really cool, but confused on how it works. If we didn't have it the earth would look all dark and not lit up like it should be, so thats why we need the windmill.*
yay! energy via solar, wind and water! it's cool and all, but i don't think i would use this stuff for permanet use until i've tried it before and can tell for myself that it's as good as the electricity i use, becuase i've used solar stuff and its not nearly as good.
I really do hope we will drop using oil and other earth based resources prior to being environmentally disruptive and turn to using reusible resources such as solar pannels, hydroelectricity, windpower and any other earth friendly resource. AS Msr. L stated i am also not a tree hugger but i do care about the earth. as ive seen on the web site and allso on tv there is so much energy the son makes but we can only harness a minusceul amount of it but hopefully we can develoup better solar pannels in the future (which is right around the corner hopefull :) )
I was reading about cold fusion. I didn't think that it was possible though. Cold fusion is kind of an oxymoron; fusion requires heat, so how can fusion be cold?
I want to know how much the solar panel, like the one outside, can power. Is it enough to run the entire school or just a small room??
i used to live in iowa,and up there,they had wind terbines almost everywhere you looked,and they were HUGE.I even saw pieces of them being carried on 18 wheelers to be put together.
BUT what im wondering,is how is the wind energy converted through this?
i really don't know what to say about this blog but i love being on earth
sorry mrs. l
how much energy can a wind turbin put out for a whole town.
Ha ha, it must be the month for the solar pannel.... Last week, my brother came to NHS with the rest of the science club in order to talk abnout the solar pannel. I can wait till we start to do work with it.
In eighth grade I had to learn about windmills. I like the whole thing about going green and all. The windmills are a great thing and they are also a bad thing. Think about it, once we go green with our windmills, then the bird population would be really low. A lot of birds would be extinct. You know how birds are stupid! So my question is when we put the wind mills will there be a whole thing about SAVE THE BIRDS?
i think the wind powered energy is a great idea..and mrs. L had tol us that weve seen the blades are those huge things they carry on 18 wheelers...and ive seen em but if just one of those blades is that big how big is the actual wind turbine?? idk but i bet those things must be tall because in one of the pictures a tree looks like an ant beside the wind turbine
By the way Russaw, it depends really on how big and what type of wind turbine it is in order to tell how much energy is produced... But I do know that an average wind turbine has the capacity of 1.8 megawatts each...
its cool how our school contributes to helping the environment by decreasing the pollution. by instaling the solar panel in our school we hvae reduced the amount of carbon dioxide we use by 21 lbs. the amount a car produces in a day!!! that is awesome.
The El Paso Solar Pond is an amazing way to collect energy. They could be put into many neighborhoods.
Watts on school, is a good idea. Just think how many schools their are in Texas, and then in the whole United States. Its almost too many to comprehend. This program is putting solar power into schools. This could cut down on cost and save resources. (I don't really know for sure about the whole "its cheper" thing, but I thought it sounded impressive :)
Also, two words: WIND POWER. This is a great way to use energy. On our summerly road trips to the north west we pass them all the time in Whyoming and Colorado (and maybe Utah too). Has anyone ever been to Whyoming. There just hours and hours of nothing, literally, there is nothing but dirt along the side of the road (and if your luck maybe a dry and dead bush!) This is the perfect location for windmills that take up so much space .
I used to live in Pennsylvania and would see alot of the wind turbines, but never knew what was the use of them, hahaha. Overall, I just think that its amazing how we're coming with great alternatives to save energy
If the solar panel we ordered is mostly for learning and not even to use for the energy why did we have to get that big of one and worth so much i mean..The desks are breaking [kelsea knows what im talking about] ,and the books are torn up almost none in the class have covers. BUT, if we were using it for energy i would be intrested to see how it works.
The wind powered windmill has many advantages for the farmers of america. It allows them to use utilities without having to use power. They actually look really advanced and futuristic, so farmers are still up to date in technology and do not have to pay as much.
Alternative technology is definately the way to go these days since we are running out of natural resources.
sorry ms. L...i forgot to put 6th period..but at least i can post a comment now! :)
oh yeah && my birthday is tommorrow so yeahh :) nov 13th :)
Sydnee . . . bitter much? LOL. I think you answered your own question. It's really more about the education than it is about the *actual* energy conservation.
Neontay I think that's a great question. I've noticed that every picture I see of those windmill farms they are way off out in nowhereland.
Katie M . . . I believe the effects on the environment from the alternative energy sources is very minimal.
Shelbie . . . we didn't spend any money on it. It's donated by TXU as part of an education grant.
Sydney . . . let me just bust out here and explain cold fusion. Would you like that in 40 words or less? LOL. Talk to Daniel C. He's going to discover it for real!
Sarah . . . thank you for citing your source.
Cesar . . . we have been approaching this energy crisis since the 70's. It's only going to get worse. Scoot over, I'll sit over here with ya in the pessimist section. LOL
Morgan . . . carrying capacity. Ohhhhh. Dillards words.
Amayo . . . I don't believe the wind turbines require electricity to operate. That seems like it would be counter-productive.
Chance . . . please tell us how you *really* feel.
Josh . . . you're welcome. And I will check out that article, but I find it funny that now we've got a PETA problem instead of a tree-hugger problem.
JP . . . there's one out back and we're gonna go look at it.
Shanika . . . good question. Hopefully we can get it answered.
And here's my question: does that thing move? Does it follow the direction of the sun's travel?
well considering it doesnt provide us with really any help and it is covered with shade in parts of the day i see it as pointless...couldnt they have donated us cash?haha
I'm still not completely sure how cold fusion is possible but I enjoy the concept and wish I really knew what it was.
I thought it was really interesting that there were such things as solar ponds. I'd heard of parabolic troughs and silicon panels, but I'd never heard of these before. How efficient are solar ponds in converting solar energy to electricity, when compared to the other two?
well im no tree hugger either but this can affect the bills we pay too and idk about yall but id love to pay less then what is being payed now and conserve energy i think solar power is awesome and would love to learn more about it
Ok so the solar panal will be helpful in educational purposes mostly, maybe, just maybe i'll help out with the electrical bill a little, except during second period when trees cast shadows over it. Other than that, I wonder if cold fusion will ever be possible... well I might just find a way to make it possible, or i'll just not do it, which ever takes less work.
Ok so the solar panal will be helpful in educational purposes mostly, maybe, just maybe i'll help out with the electrical bill a little, except during second period when trees cast shadows over it. Other than that, I wonder if cold fusion will ever be possible... well I might just find a way to make it possible, or i'll just not do it, which ever takes less work.
What are solar panels made of? sorry, thats all i could think of.
i like the idea of the solar pond it looks cool and it looks interesting.
Personally I think that the solar panels are a great advancement, however when they first become popular and everyone begins to get them, they will cost a lot of money. However, I guess I like the idea of having panels that power your home and car and everything. Still I would have a hard time adjusting to not have to fill up my mom's car everytime she is running low on gas.
I agree, the solar pond looks interesting and usefull.
doesn't the soloar pannel work by the sun? i think it does and thats how i think we have a way of getting electricity. isn't it easier to use that instead of something else?
I think there is alot of cool technology out there for us to use but we need to integrate it more and not rely on fosil fuels alone
The solar panel consists of solar cells that are made from wafers of treated silicon. One side is dosed with phosphorous, which has extra electrons, and one side is dosed with the chemical boron, which wants electrons. The photons from the sun strike the phosphorous side which knocks the free electrons loose and through the silicon wafer to the boron side. Now the boron has extra electrons. When you add a "load", a device that uses electricity, the electrons travel from the boron side to your load and back to the phosphorous side to start the loop all over again.
The technology behind solar cells was first introduced by a French physicist named Antoine Cesar Becquerel, in Rome, in 1939. But the first solar cell was invented by Charles Fritts in 1883, who used gold and selenium instead of the materials we use today. The silicon solar cell was invented in 1941 by Russell Ohl.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_solar_cells
The solar panel in NHS was not $60,000. The price was lower. The solar panel is one of many across Texas and the US. While the price of solar is high now, prices for solar panels are coming down while electricity prices are increasing. There is a time when solar will become equal to buying electricity from a Retail Electric Provider. We as Texans should understand how to make informed decisions regarding where they buy their power and how their decision impact the community they live in.
The most efficient alternative energy source depends on where you live. Along the coast, wind will be better than solar. In Odessa, both are great! If you live near hot springs, then geothermal makes most sense.
If the question is which source converts the most potential energy into electricity, then it would be hydro.
Morrison-K. Which contraptions are you referring to? Solar panels?
Russaw, N. Your question about windmills in the city depends on the city. Each city government organization have different rules on what you can put on buildings. There's a lot of new technologies that integrate small windmills into the building architecture but most are in test mode. El Centro College in Dallas has a small test windmill for example.
Johansson, Shelbie. The system at NHS is small but is the same size as the other systems TXU Energy is putting around Texas. By the time we're finished, we'll have 40 kW of solar panels around the state. That's enough solar panels to offset usage in 4 homes. Best of all, you can use the information provided online to learn about Texas solar potential in real time. That's the real benefit.
Sydney Purser. Solar Energy is not inefficient but the process we use to convert solar energy into electricity is. The reason is, the solar cells only work with a certain light frequency and other frequencies are not converted. That means a lot of solar energy's potential is wasted.
Windmills and hydropower work on the same principle of electromagnetism. The wind and the water turn a big magnet inside of another magnet. That creates electricity. Solar is different as it's photons knocking loose some electrons to create a flow of electrons.
Anderson, a. Solar and wind are intermittent. They require power plants to back them up in case the wind doesn't blow or the sun isn't shining. Solar and wind can supplement basic generation from coal, natural gas, and nuclear but not complete replace it. It is part of the overall solution because anything we can use less of is a good thing. The best solution for our energy problem is to use less. Turn lights out when your not in the room. Unplug your chargers when not in use. Go outside and play more instead of play video games all day. It's these little things that will have the strongest and long lasting impact. It also requires no back up power plants!
i don't like the windmill because i saw a vedio were the windmill was goin crazy and then the blades just came off and it exploded making it a very very dangerous thing to be around. and solar power is great and it will create more jobs because they will need people to go and clean them like every week because a solar power is not going to work if the panels are covered in dirt or other things and another thing is that ther has to be alot of solar pannels because my physics teacher from last year showed us an expirament were he had a solar pannel and tried to light a light bulb and it barely did the job proving that we will need alot of solar power pannels in order to make a city work. but if thers no other choice in the future then i guesse we can live w/ it.
I was really confused about all this solar stuff. until i looked at some of the websites and now i understand it better. but one thing i still dont get, is how long does it take to make a solar panel?
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