Alternative energy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Alternative energy is an umbrella term

Umbrella term

An umbrella term is a word that provides a superset or grouping of concepts that all fall under a single common category. Umbrella term is also called a hypernym. For example, cryptology is an umbrella term that encompasses cryptography and cryptanalysis, among other fields...

that refers to any source of usable energy

Energy

In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels.

The term "alternative" presupposes a set of undesirable energy technologies against which "alternative energies" are contrasted. As such, the list of energy technologies excluded is an indicator of which problems the alternative technologies are intended to address. Controversies regarding dominant sources of energy and their alternatives have a long history. The nature of what was regarded alternative energy sources has changed considerably over time, and today, because of the variety of energy choices and differing goals of their advocates, defining some energy types as "alternative" is highly controversial.

In a general sense in contemporary society, alternative energy is that which is produced without the undesirable consequences of the burning of fossil fuel

Fossil fuel

Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...

s, such as high carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

emissions, which is considered to be the major contributing factor of global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...

. Sometimes, this less comprehensive meaning of "alternative energy" excludes nuclear energy

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

(e.g. as defined in the Michigan Next Energy Authority Act of 2002).

Definitions

Source	Definition
Oxford Dictionary	energy fuelled in ways that do not use up natural resources or harm the environment.
Princeton WordNet	energy derived from sources that do not use up natural resources or harm the environment.
Responding to Climate Change 2007	energy derived from nontraditional sources (e.g., compressed natural gas, solar, hydroelectric, wind).
Natural Resources Defense Council	energy that is not popularly used and is usually environmentally sound, such as solar or wind energy (as opposed to fossil fuels).
Materials Management Services	Fuel sources that are other than those derived from fossil fuels. Typically used interchangeably for renewable energy Renewable energy Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from... . Examples include: wind, solar, biomass, wave and tidal energy.
Torridge Torridge Torridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Bideford. Other towns and villages in the district include Holsworthy, Great Torrington, Hartland and Westward Ho!. The Island of Lundy is administratively part of the District... District Council	Energy generated from alternatives to fossil fuel. Need not be renewable.

History

Historians of economies have studied the key transitions to alternative energies and regard the transitions as pivotal in bringing about significant economic change. Prior to shift to an alternative energy, supplies of the dominant energy type became erratic, accompanied by rapid increases in energy prices.

Coal as an alternative to wood

Historian Norman F. Cantor describes how in the late medieval period, coal was the new alternative fuel to save the society from overuse of the dominant fuel, wood:

"Europeans had lived in the midst of vast forests throughout the earlier medieval centuries. After 1250 they became so skilled at deforestation that by 1500 AD they were running short of wood for heating and cooking... By 1500 Europe was on the edge of a fuel and nutritional disaster, [from] which it was saved in the sixteenth century only by the burning of soft coal and the cultivation of potatoes and maize. "

Petroleum as an alternative to whale oil

Whale oil

Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...

was the dominant form of lubrication and fuel for lamps in the early 19th century, but the depletion of the whale stocks

History of whaling

The history of whaling is very extensive, stretching back for millennia. This article discusses the history of whaling up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986....

by mid century caused whale oil prices to skyrocket setting the stage for the adoption of petroleum which was first commercialized in Pennsylvania

Titusville, Pennsylvania

Titusville is a city in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,146 at the 2000 census. In 1859, oil was successfully drilled in Titusville, resulting in the birth of the modern oil industry.-History:...

in 1859.

Alcohol as an alternative to fossil fuels

In 1917, Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....

advocated ethanol

Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...

from corn, wheat and other foodstuffs as an alternative to coal and oil, stating that the world was in measurable distance of depleting these fuels. For Bell, the problem requiring an alternative was lack of renewability of orthodox energy sources. Since the 1970s, Brazil has had an ethanol fuel program

Ethanol fuel in Brazil

Brazil is the world's second largest producer of ethanol fuel and the world's largest exporter. Together, Brazil and the United States lead the industrial production of ethanol fuel, accounting together for 87.8% of the world's production in 2010. In 2010 Brazil produced 26.2 billion litres Brazil...

which has allowed the country to become the world's second largest producer of ethanol

Ethanol

(after the United States) and the world's largest exporter. Brazil’s ethanol fuel program uses modern equipment and cheap sugar cane as feedstock, and the residual cane-waste (bagasse

Bagasse

Bagasse is the fibrous matter that remains after sugarcane or sorghum stalks are crushed to extract their juice. It is currently used as a biofuel and as a renewable resource in the manufacture of pulp and paper products and building materials....

) is used to process heat and power. There are no longer light vehicles in Brazil running on pure gasoline. By the end of 2008 there were 35,000 filling stations throughout Brazil with at least one ethanol pump.

Cellulosic ethanol

Cellulosic ethanol

Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants.It is a type of biofuel produced from lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants. Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin...

can be produced from a diverse array of feedstocks, and involves the use of the whole crop. This new approach should increase yields and reduce the carbon footprint

Carbon footprint

A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...

because the amount of energy-intensive fertilizers and fungicides will remain the same, for a higher output of usable material. As of 2008, there are nine commercial cellulosic ethanol plants

Cellulosic ethanol commercialization

Cellulosic ethanol commercialization is the process of building an industry out of methods of turning cellulose-containing organic matter into fuel...

which are either operating, or under construction, in the United States.

Second-generation biofuels technologies are able to manufacture biofuels from inedible biomass and could hence prevent conversion of food into fuel." As of July 2010, there is one commercial second-generation (2G) ethanol plant Inbicon Biomass Refinery, which is operating in Denmark.

Coal gasification as an alternative to petroleum

In the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

's administration advocated coal gasification

Coal gasification

Coal gasification is the process of producing coal gas, a type of syngas–a mixture of carbon monoxide , hydrogen , carbon dioxide and water vapour –from coal...

as an alternative to expensive imported oil. The program, including the Synthetic Fuels Corporation

Synthetic Fuels Corporation

The Synthetic Fuels Corporation was a U.S. government-funded corporation established in 1980 by the Synthetic Fuels Corporation Act to create a financial bridge for the development and construction of commercial synthetic fuel manufacturing plants that would produce alternatives to imported fossil...

was scrapped when petroleum prices plummeted in the 1980s. The carbon footprint and environmental impact of coal gasification

Coal gasification

Coal gasification is the process of producing coal gas, a type of syngas–a mixture of carbon monoxide , hydrogen , carbon dioxide and water vapour –from coal...

are both very high.

Solar energy

Solar energy is generating of electricity from the sun. It is split up into two types, thermal and electric energy.

Geothermal energy

Geothermal energy is using hot water or steam from the Earth’s interior for heating buildings or electricity generation.

Biofuel and ethanol

Biofuel

Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...

and ethanol

Ethanol

are plant-derived substitutes of gasoline for powering vehicles.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

is used as clean fuel for airplanes, spaceships, and vehicles.

Hydrogen alternative energy and nuclear energy are also frequently mentioned as the alternative sources of energy; however, they are surrounded by growing disputes on their safety for the environment, so it is still unclear how long those energy sources will remain marked as alternative and environment friendly energy sources.

Renewable energy vs non-renewable energy

Renewable energy is generated from natural resource

Natural resource

Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....

s—such as sunlight

Sunlight

Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.When the direct solar radiation is not blocked...

, wind

Wind

Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...

, rain

Rain

Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...

, tides and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished). When comparing the processes for producing energy, there remain several fundamental differences between renewable energy and fossil fuels. The process of producing oil, coal, or natural gas fuel is a difficult and demanding process that requires a great deal of complex equipment, physical and chemical processes. On the other hand, alternative energy can be widely produced with basic equipment and naturally basic processes. Wood, the most renewable and available alternative energy, burns the same amount of carbon it would emit if it degraded naturally.

Ecologically friendly alternatives

Renewable energy sources such as biomass

Biomass

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....

are sometimes regarded as an alternative to ecologically harmful fossil fuels. Renewables are not inherently alternative energies for this purpose. For example, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, once leader in use of palm oil

Palm oil

Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...

as a biofuel, has suspended all subsidies for palm oil due to the scientific evidence that their use "may sometimes create more environmental harm than fossil fuels". The Netherlands government and environmental groups are trying to trace the origins of imported palm oil, to certify which operations produce the oil in a responsible manner. Regarding biofuels from foodstuffs, the realization that converting the entire grain harvest of the US would only produce 16% of its auto fuel needs, and the decimation of Brazil's absorbing tropical rain forests to make way for biofuel production has made it clear that placing energy markets in competition with food markets results in higher food prices and insignificant or negative impact on energy issues such as global warming or dependence on foreign energy. Recently, alternatives to such undesirable sustainable fuels are being sought, such as commercially viable sources of cellulosic ethanol.

Algae fuel

Algae fuel might be an alternative to fossil fuel and uses algae as its source of natural deposits. Several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce capital and operating costs and make algae fuel production commercially viable...

is a biofuel

Biofuel

which is derived from algae. During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass. The benefits of algal biofuel are that it can be produced industrially, thereby obviating the use of arable land and food crops (such as soy, palm, and canola), and that it has a very high oil yield as compared to all other sources of biofuel.

Biomass briquettes

Biomass briquettes are a biofuel substitute to coal and charcoal. They are used to heat industrial boilers in order to produce electricity from steam. The most common use of the briquettes are in the developing world, where energy sources are not as widely available...

are being developed in the developing world as an alternative to charcoal. The technique involves the conversion of almost any plant matter into compressed briquettes that typically have about 70% the calorific value of charcoal. There are relatively few examples of large scale briquette production. One exception is in North Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where forest clearance for charcoal production is considered to be the biggest threat to Mountain Gorilla habitat. The staff of Virunga National Park

Virunga National Park

The Virunga National Park , formerly named Albert National Park, is a 7800 square km National Park that stretches from the Virunga Mountains in the South, to the Rwenzori Mountains in the North, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori...

have successfully trained and equipped over 3500 people to produce biomass briquettes, thereby replacing charcoal produced illegally inside the national park, and creating significant employment for people living in extreme poverty in conflict affected areas.

Biogas digestion

Biogas

Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...

digestion deals with harnessing the methane gas that is released when waste breaks down. This gas can be retrieved from garbage or sewage systems. Biogas digesters are used to process methane gas by having bacteria break down biomass

Biomass

in an anaerobic environment.

The methane gas that is collected and refined can be used as an energy source for various products.

Biological Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen gas is a completely clean burning fuel; its only by-product is water. It also contains relatively high amount of energy compared with other fuels due to its chemical structure.

2H₂ + O₂ → 2H₂O + High Energy

High Energy + 2H₂O → 2H₂ + O₂

This requires a high-energy input, making commercial hydrogen very inefficient. Use of a biological vector as a means to split water, and therefore produce hydrogen gas, would allow for the only energy input to be solar radiation. Biological vectors can include bacteria or more commonly algae. This process is known as biological hydrogen production

Biological hydrogen production

Biohydrogen reactors use a method of photobiological water splitting which is done in a closed photobioreactor based on the production of hydrogen by algae. Algae produce hydrogen under certain conditions. In 2000 it was discovered that if C...

. It requires the use of single celled organisms to create hydrogen gas through fermentation. Without the presence of oxygen, also known as an anaerobic environment, regular cellular respiration cannot take place and a process known as fermentation takes over. A major by-product of this process is hydrogen gas. If we could implement this on a large scale, then we could take sunlight, nutrients and water and create hydrogen gas to be used as a dense source of energy. Large-scale production has proven difficult. It was not until 1999 that we were able to even induce these anaerobic conditions by sulfur deprivation. Since the fermentation process is an evolutionary back up, turned on during stress, the cells would die after a few days. In 2000, a two-stage process was developed to take the cells in and out of anaerobic conditions and therefore keep them alive. For the last ten years, finding a way to do this on a large-scale has been the main goal of research. Careful work is being done to ensure an efficient process before large-scale production, however once a mechanism is developed, this type of production could solve our energy needs.

Floating wind farms

Floating wind farms are similar to a regular wind farm, but the difference is that they float in the middle of the ocean. Offshore wind farms can be placed in water up to 40 metres (131.2 ft) deep, whereas floating wind turbines can float in water up to 700 metres (2,296.6 ft) deep.
The advantage of having a floating wind farm is to be able to harness the winds from the open ocean. Without any obstructions such as hills, trees and buildings, winds from the open ocean can reach up to speeds twice as fast as coastal areas.

Investing in alternative energy

Over the last three years publicly traded alternative energy have been very volatile, with some 2007 returns in excess of 100%, some 2008 returns down 90% or more, and peak-to-trough returns in 2009 again over 100%. In general there are three subsegments of “alternative” energy investment: solar energy, wind energy and hybrid electric vehicles. Alternative energy sources which are renewable, free and have lower carbon emissions than what we have now are wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, and bio fuels. Each of these four segments involve very different technologies and investment concerns.

For example, photovoltaic solar energy is based on semiconductor processing and accordingly, benefits from steep cost reductions similar to those realized in the microprocessor industry (i.e., driven by larger scale, higher module efficiency, and improving processing technologies). PV solar energy is perhaps the only energy technology whose electricity generation cost could be reduced by half or more over the next 5 years. Better and more efficient manufacturing process and new technology such as advanced thin film solar cell is a good example of that helps to reduce industry cost.

The economics of solar PV electricity are highly dependent on silicon pricing and even companies whose technologies are based on other materials (e.g., First Solar) are impacted by the balance of supply and demand in the silicon market. In addition, because some companies sell completed solar cells on the open market (e.g., Q-Cells), this creates a low barrier to entry for companies that want to manufacture solar modules, which in turn can create an irrational pricing environment.

In contrast, because wind power has been harnessed for over 100 years, its underlying technology is relatively stable. Its economics are largely determined by siting (e.g., how hard the wind blows and the grid investment requirements) and the prices of steel (the largest component of a wind turbine) and select composites (used for the blades). Because current wind turbines are often in excess of 100 meters high, logistics and a global manufacturing platform are major sources of competitive advantage. These issues and others were explored in a research report by Sanford Bernstein. Some of its key conclusions are shown here.

Alternative energy in transportation

Due to steadily rising gas prices in 2008 with the US national average price per gallon of regular unleaded gas rising above $4.00 at one point, there has been a steady movement towards developing higher fuel efficiency and more alternative fuel

Alternative fuel

Alternative fuels, known as non-conventional or advanced fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels...

vehicles for consumers. In response, many smaller companies have rapidly increased research and development into radically different ways of powering consumer vehicles. Hybrid

Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional...

and battery electric vehicle

Battery electric vehicle

A battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is a type of electric vehicle that uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs. BEVs use electric motors and motor controllers instead of, or in addition to, internal combustion engines for propulsion.A battery-only electric vehicle or...

s are commercially available and are gaining wider industry and consumer acceptance worldwide.

For example, Nissan USA introduced the world's first mass-production Electric Vehicle "Nissan Leaf

Nissan Leaf

Nissan introduced its first battery electric vehicle, the Nissan Altra at the Los Angeles International Auto Show on 29 December 1997. The Altra EV was produced between 1998 and 2002, only about 200 vehicles were ever produced, and it was mainly used as a fleet vehicle for companies such as...

Making Alternative Energy Mainstream

Before alternative energy becomes main-stream there are a few crucial obstacles that it must overcome: First there must be increased understanding of how alternative energies work and why they are beneficial; secondly the availability components for these systems must increase; and lastly the pay-off time must be decreased.

For example, electric vehicle

Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle , also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion...

s (EV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle , plug-in hybrid vehicle , or plug-in hybrid is a hybrid vehicle which utilizes rechargeable batteries, or another energy storage device, that can be restored to full charge by connecting a plug to an external electric power source...

s (PHEV) are on the rise. These vehicles depend heavily on an effective charging infrastructure such as a smart grid infrastructure to be able to implement electricity as mainstream alternative energy for future transportations.

Disadvantages

There are a number of issues that would arise from switching to alternative energy. “Increasing the nation’s use of natural gas for electricity generation could result in adverse economic consequences”, especially since “natural gas currently costs about four times more than coal”. Furthermore, if there were a widespread switching to natural gas from coal the United States would become increasingly dependent on international supplies. Also, “large-scale fuel switching would require substantial investments in pipeline storage and storage capacity and new terminals to process imported natural gas”.
There is also the question of whether to convert existing coal-burning plants or to construct new ones. “Burning natural gas at an existing coal plant would require a pipeline with the ability to meet the plant’s fuel supply requirements”. It would also require “expansion of interstate and intrastate pipelines to transport increased volumes of natural gas” Overall it would be more feasible and cost-effective to construct new natural gas units than to switch coal-burning plants.

Definitions

History

Coal as an alternative to wood

Petroleum as an alternative to whale oil

Alcohol as an alternative to fossil fuels

Coal gasification as an alternative to petroleum

Solar energy

Geothermal energy

Biofuel and ethanol

Hydrogen

Renewable energy vs non-renewable energy

Ecologically friendly alternatives

Algae fuel

Biomass briquettes

Biogas digestion

Biological Hydrogen Production

Floating wind farms

Investing in alternative energy

Alternative energy in transportation

Making Alternative Energy Mainstream

Disadvantages

See also

Further reading