Your Questions About Green Living

The Expert answers:

Solar Cell – Makes energy from the sun’s photons forcing electrons out of a cell’s silicon core.

Solar Panel – Uses the sun’s energy to heat water; the steam produced makes a turbine turn to generate electricity.

Wind Power – The power of the wind turns a turbine, which uses a generator to generate electricity.

Hydroelectric – The power of massive amounts of water being released in a place (usually a dam) creates huge amounts of electricity. Countries such as Norway are powered almost 100% by Hydroelectric power.

Geothermal – Pipes underground full of water are heated up by volcanic activity underneath the earth crust. The steam created again makes a turbine turn… And you know what happens after.

Biomass – burning specific sources such as wood or animal/human feces releases vast amounts of energy. – Note that burning feces releases methane, a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming. Hence, identity as a renewable source of energy is debatable.

Tidal – The power of the waves generates electricity much like hydroelectric power.

Nuclear Power – Uranium atoms are split in a nuclear reactor in a reaction which is called nuclear fission. Countries such as France are powered almost entirely by this. It has no direct effect on the environment, however it produces large amounts of radioactive waste. Most people consider Nuclear power as being renewable, however it must be brought up that the supplies of Uranium and Plutonium will eventually run out.

All these sources of energy are renewable, as the source they come from will never finish. A lot of these also create hardly any waste and require few maintenance, hence they are plausible alternatives to the polluting manner of generating electricity mostly used today (namely coal powered power stations).

The Expert answers:

An inexhaustible resource would be one we cant use up, like solar radiation, the wind, wave energy. No matter how much we use them, they will always be available (until of course, something happens to the Sun).

A renewable resource is one, that through natural process, and/or careful management, can renew, replenish or recycle itself, like freshwater, or forests/trees. If we manage our fresh water resources, it will always be available; if we replant as we cut down, a forest could last forever while still providing wood for furniture, paper etc.

We as humans can’t really mess up the inexhaustible resources, but we can be poor managers and locally exhaust renewable resources.

Hope this helps

The Expert answers:

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight[2], wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished). Renewable energy technologies include solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity, micro hydro, biomass and biofuels.

Http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/whatsenergy.html

Non-renewable energy is energy taken from “finite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too expensive or too environmentally damaging to retrieve”, [1] as opposed to renewable energy sources, which “are naturally replenished in a relatively short period of time.” [2]

Fossil fuels:
Coal exists as a mined solid.
Petroleum is a liquid, and forms the basis for heating oil, diesel fuel, and gasoline.
Natural gas is commonly also referred to just as gas. It is mostly methane, and most of the additional material is removed before use as a fuel.
Nuclear energy fuel for fission is mined as Uranium ore, see Renewable energy#Nuclear power.

Goodluck! Sometimes I agree science is BORING!

The Expert answers:

Renewable energy sources can be replenished in a short period of time. Inexhaustible is not exhaustible; incapable of being depleted: an inexhaustible supply.

Five renewable sources used most often are:
biomass – including wood and wood waste, municipal solid waste, landfill and biogas, ethanol, and biodiesel
water (hydropower)
geothermal
wind
solar

Inexhaustible:
Tidal power
wind power
Fusion plasma power being tested

The Expert answers:

Biomass
Solar
wind
Geothermal