Alternative Energy
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The alternative energy industry is comprised of two main segments: renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power, and alternative vehicle fuels such as natural gas, electricity, and biodiesel. During the mid-2000s, both of these segments were growing worldwide as countries sought sources of energy that were both environmentally friendly and economically viable.
In March 2005, the research firm Clean Edge Inc. indicated that the market for clean energy sources would increase from $16 billion in 2004 to more than $100 billion in 2014. Following strong demand, corporate and venture capital investments in renewable energy were increasing during the mid-2000s. Annual sales hikes of 30 to 40 percent were occurring within the solar market. Likewise, a combination of government support, as well as advancements in wind turbine technology, supported growth within the wind power sector. By 2010 the nation was expected to achieve wind power generation capabilities of approximately 13,000 megawatts, according to The Kiplinger Letter. This represented four percent of the nation's anticipated power needs, or enough to supply one million homes.
Facing the long-term effects of global warming and the shorter-term consequences of extensive reliance on foreign oil supplies, U.S. automakers, researchers, environmentalists, and policy makers shared a common goal in the development of alternatives to the transportation sector's basis in gasoline and diesel fuels. Alternative fuels—including liquefied petroleum gas, methanol, ethanol, compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen, biomass, and mixtures of these with regular gasoline—gained increasing favor due to test results demonstrating their significantly more benign effects on the ozone layer and their reduction of pollutant emissions.
Nevertheless, the impact of a mass alternative fuel-based economic conversion is a sticky issue, both domestically and globally. The tenuous balance of geopolitical power and international governmental alliances is intricately tied to control over energy supplies, which has served as the backdrop to wars as well as less dramatic international tensions. On the domestic front, some of the nation's largest enterprises have staked their fortunes on traditional energy sources slated for replacement by alternative fuels.
Renewable energy sources are very efficient in that their consumption does not exceed what is produced by nature. By the mid-2000s, the market for renewable energy sources was experiencing strong growth. A March 2005 report from the energy research and publishing firm Clean Edge Inc. indicated that solar energy, fuel cells, and wind energy were expected to generate combined revenues of $16 billion in 2004 and more than $100 billion by 2014.
An established source of clean, renewable energy, hydropower works by converting the kinetic energy produced from falling water into electricity. According to the National Hydropower Association (NHA), hydropower is the United States' leading renewable energy source. It outpaces other renewable forms of energy, such as wind and solar, to account for 80 percent of all renewable electricity generation. As a percentage of total U.S. electrical generation, NHA figures reveal that hydropower is responsible for eight to 12 percent. This figure varies in different regions of the country. For example, hydropower accounts for 70 percent of all electricity generation in the Pacific Northwest. Worldwide, hydropower accounts for approximately one-fifth of all electricity generation. The United States is a world leader in hydropower production, second only to Canada.
According to the NHA, more than half of the nation's non-federal hydroelectric capacity will undergo the federal licensing process by 2017. Re-licensing is an expensive and lengthy process, taking eight to 10 years, and is expected to impact U.S. hydroelectric production capacity.
Long the darling of renewable energy supporters, solar energy had yet to become a mainstay of the U.S. energy system by the mid-2000s. However, volatile energy markets in the early 2000s, coupled with increasingly pronounced environmental concerns among a growing segment of the population, made for a sunny long-term outlook for solar. With production costs inching downward and efficiencies rapidly improving, many observers expected the long-awaited solar energy boom was just around the corner.
The untapped energy potential of the sun is enormous. For instance, scientists surmised that a single day's worth of sunlight, if properly harnessed and converted, could supply the entire energy needs of the United States for two years, and that the daily dose of solar energy outpaced that of the world's entire fossil fuel energy by a ratio of 1,000 to one.
Solar energy is harnessed by photovoltaic (PV) systems (see essay on Photovoltaic Systems), which act as the mediator between the sun and the desired energy by converting sunlight directly to electricity. Research and development in the closing years of the twentieth century pushed the technology within the grasp of those wishing to market it to a mass audience in the consumer and industrial worlds. PV systems were finding increasing employment in households, automobiles, and remote power systems, and for telecommunications, lighting systems, and a range of other applications.
Though solar power was among the most hotly anticipated of all renewable energy sources, by the turn of the twenty-first century, the sun accounted for only about one percent of all the renewable energy consumed in the United States. Clean Edge forecast the market for photovoltaic systems to rise from $7.2 billion in 2004 to $39.2 billion in 2014.
Wind power involves the generation of power using windmills of various sizes and types. Although wind power is used to provide energy for individual homes, it also is harnessed using enormous "wind farms" as well as large, utility-scale wind turbines. Single giant windmills capable of providing electricity to several thousand homes were operating as of 2001 in some areas of the United States. During the mid-2000s, wind power projects were receiving increased attention nationwide, but especially in areas of California where the state had instructed utilities to obtain more power from renewable sources. The market for wind power is expected to increase from $8 billion in 2004 to $48.1 billion in 2014, according to Clean Edge.
In the alternative fuels sector, a number of energy sources were being used to power vehicles instead of gasoline by the mid-2000s. Electricity was used to power automobiles, vans, pickup trucks, motorcycles, buses, and forklifts. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), electric vehicles fall into one of three categories: batteries, hybrids, and fuel cells. As the EAI explains, "A battery-powered EV uses the electricity from onboard rechargeable batteries to run an electric motor, which turns the vehicle's wheels. A hybrid electric vehicle has two sources of motive energy. For example, it may use a lean burn gasoline engine in combination with batteries. A fuel cell vehicle uses electricity from fuel cells instead of batteries. A fuel cell operates like a battery in that it converts chemical energy directly into electricity."
Hydrogen was a leading experimental vehicle fuel in the mid-2000s. It is created from hydrogen-rich materials such as water, renewable fuels, biomass, and fossil fuels. Potential hydrogen sources include natural gas, methanol, ethanol, petroleum, landfill waste, and coal. According to the EIA, high production costs and storage issues have been roadblocks to the mass adoption of hydrogen as an alternative fuel.
Two forms of natural gas are used as alternative vehicle fuels. Compressed natural gas (CNG) is used in light and medium-duty vehicles, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) is primarily used in heavy-duty vehicles as a diesel alternative.
Also known as propane, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a byproduct of petroleum refining and natural gas processing. It is comprised of a mixture that contains 2.5 percent butane and higher hydrocarbons, at least 90 percent propane, and a balance of ethane and propylene. Propane is stored in liquid form, but is converted back to a gas before being burned by a vehicle's engine.
Ethanol is a liquid alcohol fuel made from corn. In addition to agricultural crops, it can be produced from agriculture and forestry waste, municipal waste, and wastepaper. According to the EIA, "As an alternative fuel, ethanol is most typically used as a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, known as E85, which is appropriate for light-duty vehicles. Another less common ethanol/gasoline combination is a 95/5 percent blend called E95."
Methanol also is a liquid alcohol fuel. However, it is produced from natural gas, coal, and carbon-rich sources like seaweed, garbage, and waste wood. Methanol is largely used in light-duty, flexible-fuel vehicles that operate on gasoline, methanol, or a combination of each fuel type. M85, a mixture consisting of 85 percent methanol and 15 percent gasoline, is the most common mixture of this fuel type.
According to the National Biodiesel Board, biodiesel is a clean burning alternative fuel that is made from domestic, renewable resources such as soybeans. It contains no petroleum, can be...
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