Alternative Energy

Everyday, the world produces carbon dioxide that is released to the earth’s atmosphere and which will still be there in one hundred years time.

This increased content of Carbon Dioxide increases the warmth of our planet and is the main cause of the so called “Global Warming Effect”. One answer to global warming is to replace and retrofit current technologies with alternatives that have comparable or better performance, but do not emit carbon dioxide.

We call this Alternate energy.

By 2050, one-third of the world's energy will need to come from solar, wind, and other renewable resources. Who says? British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell, two of the world's largest oil companies. Climate change, population growth, and fossil fuel depletion mean that renewables will need to play a bigger role in the future than they do today.

Alternative energy refers to energy sources that have no undesired consequences such for example fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Alternative energy sources are renewable and are thought to be "free" energy sources. They all have lower carbon emissions, compared to conventional energy sources. These include Biomass Energy, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Geothermal Energy, Hydroelectric Energy sources. Combined with the use of recycling, the use of clean alternative energies such as the home use of solar power systems will help ensure man's survival into the 21st century and beyond by this helping the use of home security.

Alternative energy can also refers to the different and subtle energies of the Universe.The awareness and study of these energies, which are similar to electrical energies that science knows can result in amazing curative and healing energies.

Solar Power

From an environmental perspective, solar power is the best thing going. A 1.5 kilowatt PV system will keep more than 110,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, out of the atmosphere over the next 25 years. The same solar system will also prevent the need to burn 60,000 pounds of coal. With solar, there's no acid rain, no urban smog, no pollution of any kind.

Mankind has been crazy to have not bothered to harness the sun's energy until now. Think about this. Go outside on a sunny day. The light falling on your face left the Sun just 8 minutes go. In that 8 minutes it traveled 93 million miles. Those photons are hauling and when they strike your PV module you can convert that motion to electricity. As technology, photovoltaics are not as glitzy as that new sport utility vehicle the television tells us to crave. But in many ways PV is a much more elegant and sophisticated technology.

Today's solar panels are bombproof and often come with a 25 year warranty or more. Your solar panels may outlive you. They are also modular—you can start with a small system and expand it over time. Solar panels are light (weighing about 20 pounds), so if you move you can take the system with you.

Grid interactive systems and net metering

Some utilities object to net metering. Usually the issue isn't money, but control. They don't want your juice on their wires or they don't want to set a precedent that could come back to haunt them. There are some distributed generation technologies coming down the pike that utilities definitely won't want to net meter, including fuel cells and 50 kw microturbines the size of beer kegs. However in the USA and Australia electricity suppliers are becomg more supportive of solar enegy buy back schemes.

Solar advocates delight in bashing utilities. But for all its faults, the industry has strung an amazing amount of wire. Rarely is an American or an Australian, or a European more than 50 feet from an electrical outlet. It's an everyday miracle we take for granted. From an engineering perspective, the grid is a tremendous resource. A grid-tied PV system will be more efficient, arguably greener, and certainly cheaper than a backwoods one. More efficient because the inverter can track the modules "maximum power curve" rather than the lower voltage needed to recharge batteries. Arguably greener because you don't need batteries, which contain caustic chemicals, emit sulfurous gases, and eventually wear out. And much cheaper because, with the grid as backup, you don't have to buy batteries, charge controller, control panel or generator.Right there, you've knocked up to $5,000 off a typical stand-alone system. Getting the price down is critical, because no one on the grid needs PV, at least not in the same way an off-grid homeowner needs it. We've already got juice. It may be from a nuke, it may be from a coal plant, it may be hydro (or "embodied salmon"), but it's there. To sell grid-connected PV systems you've got to get the price down and then help prospective customers understand that solar is to coal as a croissant is to a Twinkie. On a gut level, many people already grasp the key difference between fossil fuels and renewable energy. One is stealing from our kids, the other isn't.

The current cost of solar panels means that grid-interactive systems do not pay for themselves in terms of the cost saving when compared with electricity from the grid. In spite of this, many people with grid connected houses are choosing to install grid-interactive solar systems, as they do not create any greenhouse gases when generating electricity, unlike coal-fired power plants. Numerous studies have demonstrated that the equivalent amount of electricity used to make a solar panel is generated by the panel within the first two years of operation, hence a solar panel will repay its greenhouse gas "debt" within this time.

Wind Power

Societies have taken advantage of wind power for thousands of years. The first known use was in 5000 BC when people used sails to navigate the Nile River. Persians had already been using windmills for 400 years by 900 AD in order to pump water and grind grain. Windmills may have even been developed in China before 1 AD, but the earliest written documentation comes from 1219. Cretans were using "literally hundreds of sail-rotor windmills [to] pump water for crops and livestock."

Today, people are realizing that wind power "is one of the most promising new energy sources" that can serve as an alternative to fossil fuel-generated electricity. The cost of wind has dropped by 15% with each doubling of installed capacity worldwide, and capacity has doubled three times during the 1990s and 2000's.As of 1999, global wind energy capacity topped 10,000 megawatts, which is approximately 16 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. That's enough to serve over 5 cities the size of Miami, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Five Miamis may not seem significant, but if we make the predicted strides in the near future, wind power could be one of our main sources of electricity. Is your utility company offering your family the best rates?

Though wind energy is now more affordable, more available, and pollution-free, it does have some drawbacks. Wind power suffers from the same lack of energy density as direct solar radiation. The fact that it is a "very diffuse source" means that "large numbers of wind generators (and thus large land areas) are required to produce useful amounts of heat or electricity." But wind turbines cannot be erected everywhere simply because many places are not windy enough for suitable power generation. When an appropriate place is found, building and maintaining a wind farm can be costly. It "is a highly capital-intensive technology." If the interest rates charged for manufacturing equipment and constructing a plant are high, then a consumer will have to pay more for that energy. "One study found that if wind plants were financed on the same terms as gas plants, their cost would drop by nearly 40%." Fortunately, the more facilities built, the cheaper wind energy is.

But there is increasing energy being put in finding many other alternative sources of power and making them viable, such as geothermal and wave energy and biomass.

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20 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO CONSERVE ENERGY

Whenever you save energy, you not only save money, you also reduce the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas. Less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary contributor to global warming, and other pollutants.

You do not have to do without to achieve these savings. There is now an energy efficient alternative for almost every kind of appliance or light fixture. That means that consumers have a real choice and the power to change their energy use on a revolutionary scale.

The average American produces about 40,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Together, we use nearly a million dollars worth of energy every minute, night and day, every day of the year. By exercising even a few of the following steps, you can cut your annual emissions by thousands of pounds and your energy bills by a significant amount!

Home appliances

Turn your refrigerator down. Refrigerators account for about 20% of Household electricity use. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator temperature as close to 37 degrees and your freezer as close to 3 degrees as possible. Make sure that its energy saver switch is turned on. Also, check the gaskets around your refrigerator/freezer doors to make sure they are clean and sealed tightly.



Set your clothes washer to the warm or cold water setting, not hot. Switching from hot to warm for two loads per week can save nearly 500 pounds of CO2 per year if you have an electric water heater, or 150 pounds for a gas heater.



Make sure your dishwasher is full when you run it and use the energy saving setting, if available, to allow the dishes to air dry. You can also turn off the drying cycle manually. Not using heat in the drying cycle can save 20 percent of your dishwasher's total electricity use.



Turn down your water heater thermostat. Thermostats are often set to 140 degrees F when 120 is usually fine. Each 10 degree reduction saves 600 pounds of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 440 pounds for a gas heater. If every household turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO2 emissions - the same amount emitted by the entire nations of Kuwait or Libya.



Select the most energy-efficient models when you replace your old appliances. Look for the Energy Star Label - your assurance that the product saves energy and prevents pollution. Buy the product that is sized to your typical needs - not the biggest one available. Front loading washing machines will usually cut hot water use by 60 to 70% compared to typical machines. Replacing a typical 1973 refrigerator with a new energy-efficient model, saves 1.4 tons of CO2 per year. Investing in a solar water heater can save 4.9 tons of CO2 annually.


Home Heating and Cooling


Be careful not to overheat or overcool rooms. In the winter, set your thermostat at 68 degrees in daytime, and 55 degrees at night. In the summer, keep it at 78. Lowering your thermostat just two degrees during winter saves 6 percent of heating-related CO2 emissions. That's a reduction of 420 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home.



Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Energy is lost when air conditioners and hot-air furnaces have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5 percent of the energy used. That could save 175 pounds of CO2 per year.


Small investments that pay off


Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights. Although they cost more initially, they save money in the long run by using only 1/4 the energy of an ordinary incandescent bulb and lasting 8-12 times longer. They provide an equivalent amount of bright, attractive light. Only 10% of the energy consumed by a normal light bulb generates light. The rest just makes the bulb hot. If every American household replaced one of its standard light bulbs with an energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb, we would save the same amount of energy as a large nuclear power plant produces in one year. In a typical home, one compact fluorescent bulb can save 260 pounds of CO2 per year.



Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket, which costs just $10 to $20. It can save 1100 lbs. of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 220 pounds for a gas heater.





Use less hot water by installing low-flow shower heads. They cost just $10 to $20 each, deliver an invigorating shower, and save 300 pounds of CO2 per year for electrically heated water, or 80 pounds for gas-heated water.





Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.


Getting around

Whenever possible, walk, bike, car pool, or use mass transit. Every gallon of gasoline you save avoids 22 pounds of CO2 emissions. If your car gets 25 miles per gallon, for example, and you reduce your annual driving from 12,000 to 10,000 miles, you'll save 1800 pounds of CO2.





When you next buy a car, choose one that gets good mileage. If your new car gets 40 miles per gallon instead of 25, and you drive 10,000 miles per year, you'll reduce your annual CO2 emissions by 3,300 pounds.


Reduce, reuse, recycle


Reduce the amount of waste you produce by buying minimally packaged goods, choosing reusable products over disposable ones, and recycling. For every pound of waste you eliminate or recycle, you save energy and reduce emissions of CO2 by at least 1 pound. Cutting down your garbage by half of one large trash bag per week saves at least 1100 pounds of CO2 per year. Making products with recycled materials, instead of from scratch with raw materials, uses 30 to 55% less for paper products, 33% less for glass, and a whopping 90% less for aluminum.





If your car has an air conditioner, make sure its coolant is recovered and recycled whenever you have it serviced. In the United States, leakage from auto air conditioners is the largest single source of emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which damage the ozone layer as well as add to global warming. The CFCs from one auto air conditioner can add the equivalent of 4800 pounds of CO2 emissions per year.


Home Improvements.

When you plan major home improvements, consider some of these energy saving investments. They save money in the long run, and their CO2 savings can often be measured in tons per year.


Insulate your walls and ceilings. This can save 20 to 30 percent of home heating bills and reduce CO2 emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds per year. If you live in a colder climate, consider superinsulating. That can save 5.5 tons of CO2 per year for gas-heated homes, 8.8 tons per year for oil heat, or 23 tons per year for electric heat. (If you have electric heat, you might also consider switching to more efficient gas or oil.)





Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, double-glazed windows saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.



Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)



Business and community


Work with your employer to implement these http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifand other energy-efficiency and waste-reduction measures in your office or workplace. Form or join local citizens' groups and work with local government officials to see that these measures are taken in schools and public buildings.





Keep track of the environmental voting records of candidates for office. Stay abreast of environmental issues on both local and national levels, and write or call your elected officials to express your concerns about energy efficiency and global warming.

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अफ्नो घर बाट उर्जा घटाउ

उर्जा घटाउन को लागि पहिलो प्रयास अफ्नो हुनु पर्दछ यस को लागि धेरै ज्ञान को आवस्यकता नि पर्दैन धेरै पैसा लगानी नि गर्नु पर्दैन साथै धेरै मेहेनत नि गर्नु पर्दैन तल केहि उपाए हरु छन् उर्जा को खपत जसले उर्जा को खपत घटाउन धेरै मद्दत गर्छ

१. सके सम्मान CFL ( सी एफ एल ) चिम प्रयोग गरौ, र बत्ति जब चाहिदैन तब बत्ति निभाउने गरौ

२. बिधुतिय समान ( Electric Goods) जस्तै कम्प्युटर , Micro Oven, TV आदि नचलाउने बेला मा बन्द गरौ , र सके सम्मन प्रयोग नगर्ने बेला मा plug झिकेर राखौ किनकि ति समान हरु ले प्रयोग नभए पनि बत्ति खाइ राखेको हुन्छ

३. पानि को प्रयोग सहि ढंग ले गरौ , तातो पनि को प्रयोग थोरै गरौ

4. पेट्रोल आदि पदार्थ को प्रयोग थोरै गरौ , अफ्नो सवारी साधन हरु सधै सहि दङ्ग ले राखौ

५. अत्यन्त जरुरि नभए सम्मान कुनै कुरा प्रिन्ट नगरौ किन कि १ केजी कागत उत्पादन गर्न २०० लितर पानी को प्रयोग हुन्छ