Week 4 Assignment Renewable Resources

.docx

School

Ashford University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

207

Subject

Electrical Engineering

Date

Jan 9, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by syluntdove

Week 4 Assignment Template Sustainable Living Guide Contributions, Part Four of Four: Sustaining our Atmosphere and Climate Your Term: Renewable Energy Why do we need energy resources, and why should they be renewable sources? We need them for the comforts they bring to our lives, like heat, travel, and power. The difference between the energy sources we use is nonrenewable and renewable sources. Nonrenewable energy sources get consumed and are limited in their availability. All forms of nonrenewable resources cause pollution to the air when burned. They upset the carbon balance by creating carbon dioxide that heats the atmosphere causing the greenhouse effect to become unbalanced (Non-Renewable Energy | National Geographic Society, n.d.). This is why using renewable resources is so important. Renewable resources do not produce emissions, carbon dioxide, or other gas pollutants. The sources come from geothermal, tidal, solar, and wind (Johnson, 2007). Solar energy has the shortest period for amassing energy with the most significant output. One hour of sunlight has enough energy to power all commercial energy consumed on the planet in a year. There are two types of solar energy passive and active; passive energy is natural light directed without machinery to light or heat a place; for example, when the shades are open and the sun comes in, cats will search out the heat spot and plop in it. Active energy is when a device is used like a solar panel made up of many photovoltaic cells, which causes the cells to emit electrons and generate an electric current. Wind energy is the fastest growing form of energy; what we refer to as windmills due to their previous use as grain mills are now known as wind turbines. The turbines convert kinetic energy into electricity. The size of the turbine varies based on the wind conditions for the area;

they weigh over 1000 tons, and to make sure that the wind does not knock them over, they are set in the ground at least thirty feet down (The Most Common Sizes of Wind Turbines, 2017). Geothermal energy is naturally created from breaks in the earth’s mantle that release pressure, causing the rock to melt and the earth’s mantle to become malleable. Due to the malleable mantle, heat can escape and rise toward the surface (Geothermal Energy, 2023). You will see hot springs or geysers in many places where this occurs. To harness geothermal resources, a binary cycle power plant is built. The two-part process uses the heat from the geofluid to transfer pressure to the second part of the process, which turns it into vapor run through a turbine where it is cooled and condensed (Binary Cycle, 2023). Depending on where a person lives will determine what type of renewable energy resource is available to supply energy or electricity to them. There are obstacles to using renewable energy. To truly utilize solar energy on a larger scale to benefit per se a whole town or city and not just a singular home, a large plot of land would be needed to create a solar farm. If no open land area is available, forestry would have to be cut down. This would disturb the ecosystem, and many animals would be displaced. Similarly, the land would need to be available to utilize wind on the same level. Due to their height, wind turbines cause the death of many birds and bats from their collision with the structure and blades (Bensel & Carbone, 2020). Although geothermal energy is a renewable source, it has dangerous circumstances as it emits gases that contribute to global warming. In general, renewable resources cost more than nonrenewable resources for most of the population on earth. They are either unable to afford it, their town or city will not convert, or they are in such a rural area that it is not even feasible. Word of mouth is the first step to taking action. When people are talking about the issues and sharing their conversations about renewable resources on public platforms, the ability for the

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version