While both the demand for energy and energy prices continue to increase, nonrenewable sources of energy, particularly fossil fuels, are decreasing. These factors, coupled with the effects of pollution and global warming, are driving consumers and industry to call for a better solution to the world's energy needs.

Some suggest that the solution might be found by making innovative technological improvements to an existing source of energy- nuclear power. Currently, nuclear power supplies 16 percent of the world's energy.

Unlike coal, natural gas, or oil-all nonrenewable and subject to price volatility-nuclear power plants are fueled by uranium, a relatively abundant element that occurs naturally in the earth's crust. Plus, nuclear energy is the world's largest source of emission-free energy. Nuclear power plants produce no controlled air pollut-ants or greenhouse gases.

One of the latest developments in the production of nuclear energy comes from Westinghouse Electric Company. It has introduced what's been described as the safest and most economical nuclear power plant available in the worldwide commercial marketplace-the AP1000. It's the first reactor of its class to receive Design Certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Based on 20 years of research and development, the reactor builds on the proven technology of major components used in current Westinghouse-designed plants. These components include steam generators, digital instrumentation and controls, fuel, reactor coolant pumps and integrated engineering-and have years of reliable operating experience.

Using this established technology as a jumping-off point, the innovative design of the reactor is said to offer distinct advantages over other reactors-including unequaled safety, economic competitiveness and improved and more efficient operations.

The AP1000's innovative approach to safety reduces the need for human intervention and the potential for human error. Its simplified construction design can lead to significant savings in plant costs and an accelerated construction schedule.

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Wind is one of the cleanest, if not cleanest, renewable energy sources available to us. What most people don’t know is it is also the fastest growing energy sector.

Wind is an indirect version of solar power. Different surfaces on the Earth react differently to being hit by sunlight, particular in regards to heat. As sunlight heats up surfaces, they warm up at different rates. The surround air also warms up at different rates, fertilizing the wind process. Temperatures over a body of water like a lake will always be cooler than temperatures over rocky ground. Hot air rises and cool air rushes into fill such voids. As this process occurs, the rushing air manifests as wind and an incredibly cheap and clean energy source.

The fact that wind is a naturally occurring event makes it a great energy source. Consider the following:

1. Wind is a renewable energy source because it will exist as long as sunlight beats down on us.
 
2. Wind has been used by man as an energy source ever since we’ve sailed boats.

3. The first windmills were used to turn wheels to grind grain in Iran.

4. American colonist used windmills to move water, grind grain and cut wood.

5. Wind energy harnessed by windmills was a dominant source of energy in rural America in the 1920s.

6. In modern times, California is the biggest user of wind power and produces twice as much electricity as any other state.

7. Modern windmills actually come in two forms, vertical and horizontal models.

8. Horizontal windmills are the stereotypical version that comes to your mind when the word is mentioned.

9. Vertical mills look like upside down egg beaters, but are hypnotic when they spin.

10. Unlike traditional utilities, most energy produced by wind is done by private businesses and sold to utilities through an electric grid hookup.

11. Wind power in the U.S. generates a whopping 17 billion kilowatts per year, more than enough to provide all electrical needs for the city of Chicago.

12. More than 30 states have wind farms generating and supplying electricity to utility companies.

13. California, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wyoming are the dominant forces in producing energy from wind.

14. The biggest energy producer from wind is Germany, which is also dominant in solar power production.

For many, these wind findings will be a surprise. The sole fact that there is enough power produced by wind energy to handle a city the size of Chicago is pretty impressive. As we move into the 21st century, new technology is heading in the direction of creating wind energy platforms for individual residences.

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Research is shedding new light on an unexpected source of energy for heating homes and generating electricity-the sun.

The sun-directly or indirectly-is the primary source for most forms of energy found on Earth. Solar energy is clean, abundant and renewable.

Though we think of solar power as a new discovery, ancient civilizations found innovative ways to use solar energy. Among them, the Greeks, Romans and Chinese all developed ways to use solar warmth for their homes, including using southern exposures to maximize solar heating and making use of solar lighting.

Now, thanks to innovative technologies, it's possible to capture this energy, concentrate it, store it and convert it into electricity.

Sunlight is converted into electricity using solar cells. Solar cells are also called photovoltaic cells, or "PV cells" for short. PV cells were first developed in the 1950s for use in American space satellites. Today, they are used for power needs ranging from telecommunications to rural electrification. PV cells can be found on items we use daily, such as calculators, flashlights, radios, landscape lighting and children's toys.

Portable PV units are also available for emergency and disaster use, such as keeping cell phones and small appliances charged when the user is away from the grid or during blackouts.

Consumers can harness the power of the sun for themselves more easily than ever. Solar panels you see on buildings and homes have been available on the market for decades. New systems-which incorporate solar into roofing shingles-are now aesthetically pleasing, efficient and durable.

2006 ushers in new tax credits for solar energy technologies and consumers may also be eligible for state rebates.

For more information, consult with a tax professional, contact the Internal Revenue Service at www.irs.gov, or check out www.doe.gov for the latest in tax credit information.

Sunlight isn't only used to generate electricity. It is also used to heat water, which can be used to warm homes and businesses. Solar-powered radiant heating systems run some industrial processes and drive turbines to generate electricity. Many solar thermal technologies have been used in homes for decades and can last more than 20 years.

Experts believe that solar energy technologies can benefit this nation in many ways. They have the potential to help diversify this country's energy supply, reduce the dependence on imported fuels, improve air quality, offset greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate the economy by helping to create jobs in the manufacturing and installation of solar energy systems.

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One of the consistent problems with solar platforms has been the inefficient conversion of sunlight to electricity. New technology and strategies are dealing with this issue.

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Traditional power generating plants work by using a fuel, often fossil, to heat a liquid until it expands or turns into a gas. The pressure or gas than rotates a turbine, which cranks up a generator and produces the massive amounts of electricity we all take for granted. This is a time tested method and is used in coal, nuclear, hydropower and most major power sources. The concept is now being transferred to solar platforms in an effort to get more bang for the buck out of these clean energy platforms.

The problem with solar is sunlight is converted to energy at a rate of 10 to 15 percent efficiency, a truly uninspiring number. Put in sports terms, the best batter in baseball would have a batting average of 150, a quarterback would complete 1.5 of his attempted throws and Michael Jordan would have missed 9 out of every 10 dunks. The numbers simply aren’t pretty.

The problem with solar power is the base construct of solar cells. Various forms of silicon are used to convert sunlight into energy. The material is simply inefficient and improvements are slow and incremental. The situation is similar to trying to turn a moped into a high performance racing bike. You don’t have much to work with. Given the limitations of silicon, solar producers are trying new strategies.

One of the major new strategies is to use the sun as a direct heating component to produce power. Instead of trying to directly convert the sunlight with silicon wafers, producers are trying to use reflective panels to focus it onto a specific spot. This spot then contains a pipe or pool of liquid. The concentrated focus of the sun heats the liquid up and the traditional turbine to generator to electricity strategy is undertaken. If you’ve ever sat in a car in traffic on a summer day without air conditioning, you’ll understand the concept.

Generating energy from the sun on a large scale has always been a bit of a head scratcher. Early returns on the concentrated energy strategy, however, have been extremely positive. Major fields are being used in Germany and the future appears…bright.

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As we strive to find alternative energy resources, many potential solutions are on the table. Biomass energy is one such solution or is it?

Biomass energy is unique in that it has existed in primitive forms since the early days of mankind. Burning wood in a cave is a form of biomass energy, which is simply the conversion of an organic material in a manner that produces heat. For example, a fire converts the organic wood into heat. Therein, however, lays the problem.

Global warming is a much debated issue with everyone having a strong opinion and no one seemingly willing to listen to the other side. Whatever your view on this subject, what is clear is we are producing an absolute ton of carbon-based gases in our modern civilization. This is a key issue since the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is a key factor in climate regulation on our planet.

To understand the problems of biomass as an energy form, one has to understand the biomass cycle that occurs on the planet. Simplified, the biomass cycle regulates the amount of carbon in our atmosphere. The biomass, primarily in the form of plants, uses carbon to grow and the biosphere effectively acts as a sponge for carbon. This sponge effect, however, has limits. As with a sponge in your kitchen, the biomass can only suck up so much carbon at one time. When there is too much carbon in the atmosphere or we shrink our “sponge” with deforestation and such, we run the risk of overwhelming the atmosphere with carbon gases. If our atmosphere has excessive carbon, heat is trapped and all hell begins to break loose. From a practical standpoint, this means our relatively mild climate on Earth will start becoming more chaotic. After the most recent hurricane season, that definitely is not a good thing.

Taking the biomass cycle into consideration, the negatives of all biomass energy production are that they create more carbon gases. A caveman sitting next to a fire in a cave is using biomass energy to produce heat, but the black smoke is a very nasty carbon pollutant. In modern terms, biomass energy doesn’t really resolve the amount of carbon we are putting into the atmosphere. Yet, there is an argument on the other side of the biomass coin.

Proponents of biomass argue it is a better energy source than fossil fuels. The basis of this argument is that plants [biomass] have taken in much smaller amounts of carbon gases over a shorter period of time than fossil fuels. Thus, burning them is a carbon neutral situation. The problem, of course, is that even if this concept is correct, we are not cutting down our carbon emissions. At this point in time, we need to be reducing carbon gasses, not maintaining our current output.

It is undisputable biomass has its problems. It is a better alternative than fossil fuels, but how much so?

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As we look to alternative energy sources for our power hungry world, geothermal energy is getting attention. Here is a brief overview of geothermal energy.

Overview of Geothermal Energy

There are many different types of energy available to power our world. For years, people have used the power of burning fossil fuels, such as coal (also used to produce steam power) to create energy. In recent times, there has been a shift to using renewable resources to create the energy we need. These resources include hydroelectric power, solar power, wind power, biomass energy and geothermal energy. While many people know about the first four of these resources, geothermal energy is less well-known.

The word geothermal comes from two Greek words, “geo” and “therme”. These words mean “earth” and “heat”, which pretty much describes what geothermal energy is. Geothermal energy is energy that comes from the heat of the Earth, deep underground. The Earth's core, where chemical reactions create massive amounts of heat, is 4,000 miles below the Earth's surface. In this core, temperatures can reach up to 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and this extreme heat can be used to produce energy.

While these are the basics of geothermal energy, there are many other parts in the process to make this sort of energy usable. We can't tap directly into the Earth's core to receive this heat, for many reasons. So instead, people must create systems that harness the residual heat that is in the magma (molten rock) under the Earth's crust. This heat is able to be used by tapping into the water reservoirs that are within the magma – these water stores can reach up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Think of Old Faithful in Yellowstone.

A well can be drilled down into the superheated water contained within the Earth's magma -  the geothermal reservoir. Once these geothermal reservoirs are tapped into, the heated water and steam can rise to the surface, and be used to power geothermal power plants as well as in smaller scale projects for personal household use. When used in geothermal power plants, the steam from the heated underground water is often used to power turbines, which then generate energy which can be harnessed as electricity.

By using the Earth's own heat and water, energy can be created that can be used on a small or large scale. This renewable resource (you can't deplete the Earth's heat!) is also cleaner and safer than many other types of energy, making it a great type of ecologically sound energy source.

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With renewable energy all the rage these days and fossil fuel costs soaring, solar energy is in the news. Here are some thoughts about solar as a viable energy platform.

Overview of Solar As An Energy Platform

Energy is an important topic that is on many peoples minds these days. With the rising costs of fuel and electric power, many households and individuals are considering alternative power sources. Solar is one of the more cost effective and biologically sound alternatives available.

One of the most interesting aspects of solar energy is how little of the energy production on the planet comes from the harnessing of the energy of the sun. In fact, only 0.1 percent of the power used today comes from converting sunlight into electrical current. It would be possible, however, to obtain enough power to run all of the worlds energy needs using solar energy. If more people were willing and able to install solar collectors on their homes and even their cars when technology gets to that point, solar energy could more than cover the Earth's power needs for transportation and housing.

Another of the interesting aspects about solar energy is how much solar energy is worth, or to put it another way, how much money you can save using solar energy. If you have a roof that is 1000 sq ft large, and you install solar panels on this roof, you could conceivably save as much as $6,460 dollars a year over the cost of oil heating.  Unfortunately, the cost of installing the hardware needed to obtain the amount of power to save this money would be between $20,000 to $50,000; cost prohibitive to most home owners. These costs, however, are offset by tax incentives, rebates and net metering concepts in most states. While the upfront cost can be prohibitive, the savings over the life of the product are many times the initial burden.

One of the major hopes for reducing the cost of solar is found in Asia. Specifically, China is facing up to the fact it has massive pollution problems and is investigating renewable energy solutions. Working with American architects and developers, China is building entire communities that are made and powered by recyclable resources. Homes are made out of straw bales and powered with solar and geothermal heating. Given the sheer size of China and its population, the vicious pollution problem has spurred development in the renewable fields. With such a massive focus, it is hoped that the Chinese will develop more efficient, but less costly versions of solar energy for use around the world.

When considering solar as a platform, the most important aspect to keep in mind is that we have barely tapped it as a resource. If we can make systems that are more efficient and cheaper, the future of solar will be bright.

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Hi-tech ways to capture enough sunlight per day every day to power everything in a home or business hasn't been discovered yet. The current cost of solar panels can run into thousands of pounds, which would require the panels to produce electricity for years without maintenance in order to see a return on investment.

Many people use solar panels, which can be placed on a side of a roof to attract sunlight during the day to heat a small number of rooms and water. Solar panels can be purchased at a number of locations throughout the UK, as well as online. Panels do a great job of helping families and businesses to conserve energy. Hopefully, solar panels will become a part of daily life, in order to prevent the disappearance of natural resources and to maintain energy conservation. In the recent 2006 Budget announcement by Gorden Brown, millions of pounds have been allocated to helping homes and businesses take advantage of renewable energy and the benefits that it brings. This is a welcoming strategy by the government. More and more homes are also attaching mini-wind turbines to their homes to boost the electricity generated by solar panels, British Gas (Centrica) have recently been looking for volunteers to pilot this with.

Developing countries with sunny climates such as Africa are the perfect place to take advantage of this renewable energy especially in rural areas that are not connected to the national grid for electricity. There needs to be a commitment from the G8 and other government around the world in providing funds to achieve this.

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More and more British households are spending a higher percentage of their income on energy costs.  According to Tony Lodge of the Bow Group, research shows that the number of households categorised as being in fuel poverty is expected to have almost doubled in the past four years, up from 2 million to over 4 million. Then there is severe fuel poverty, which refers to spending more than 15% of total household income on fuel.

Using the UK Government’s own fuel poverty criteria and set against recent energy price rises it can be calculated that an extra 2 million households have become victims of fuel poverty over this period.

Last winter, more than 25,000 people over the age of 65 died as a result of cold related illnesses. This was way in excess of other European countries with more severe climates than Britain.  22% of older people living in fuel poverty have gone without gas or electricity in order to make ends meet.

After the 2005 series of energy price rises had hit British households, Energywatch said: “With no immediate end in sight to energy price rises the effect will be increased levels of debt, fuel poverty and the possibility of disconnection.”

So with the latest round of gas and electricity increases, fuel poverty becomes an even more crucial problem and challenge, particularly for the elderly and low paid. It is estimated that approximately half of people in fuel poverty are of pensionable age and that considerably more than half of vulnerable households in are pensioner households.

AT GREATER RISK
Fuel poverty amongst older people is a particularly serious problem not only because they are at greater risk from the cold, but also because they are more likely to spend time within their home.  In fact, households containing people aged 65 and over spend more than 80% of their time at home, whilst this figure rises to over 90% for those aged 85 and more.  

Help the Aged estimate that between 20,000 and 50,000 people die each winter because their homes are cold.  For this reason alone, the urgency of tackling fuel poverty deserves a high priority from Government.

Indeed, the Government was officially committed to ending fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010.  However, it is increasingly accepted that this target will not be met and it seems highly unlikely that the Government’s other target of eradicating all fuel poverty in the UK by 2016-18 also will not be achieved!  

INTRINSICALLY LINKED
Energy policy and fuel poverty are intrinsically linked.  A balanced energy policy which should include new nuclear power stations, clean coal stations alongside gas and some renewable capacity can play a key role is stabilising electricity costs.  

Through this route strategies aimed at reducing fuel poverty can function in the knowledge that a large area of fuel cost – electricity - will be far less volatile than, say, in the recent past.  Other strategies boost support for better home design and insulation to improve heat conservation while other energy efficiency measures for households are sadly lacking.

An energy policy that strives to reduce energy costs is available.  It represents a strategy which can significantly reduce fuel poverty and provide a better degree of certainty for the energy generators and customers alike.  

Meanwhile the Government risks placing Britain at the mercy of being over-dependent on gas for its electricity generation and all of the implications this represents on grounds of higher bills and the inevitable social problems that would inevitably follow.

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t a time of record-high energy prices and increased attention to global warming, nearly everyone is looking for ways to save energy, save money on utility bills, and help to protect the environment.

Here are simple actions you can take this Earth Day, and all year round, recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

1. Look for products that have earned the Energy Star® for energy efficiency. Energy Star-qualified products prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy efficiency criteria. The Energy Star label comes on more than just appliances-look for the government-backed symbol on electronics, lighting, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, room and central air conditioners, and many other products.

2. Replace your five most frequently used lights, or the bulbs in them, with energy-efficient, compact fluorescent models that have earned the Energy Star. This action alone will save you $60 a year.

3. Cool your home smartly-Get your cooling system ready for summer by cleaning or replacing air filters, and having a contractor do a preseason checkup in the spring. Proper maintenance keeps your system running at peak performance and can help you save energy dollars this summer.

4. Seal up your home-Adequate insulation and home sealing can help you save on cooling bills and improve your home's overall comfort when it's hot outside.

5. Share these tips with friends and family. Help spread the word that energy efficiency is good for our homes and the environment.

Most people don't realize that the average household can be responsible for nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the average car. These simple steps will help you save energy and money, while also contributing to a better environment for your family and community.

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