Solar Energy, Wind Power, Hydroelectricity

.....our mother earth.

This is what it should look like.

Where we are headed with out using alternative energy sources...

•Solar energy is a renewable resource. Although it cannot be utilized at night or on cloudy days, its availability may be generally relied upon day after day. The solar energy supply will last as long as the sun.•Oil, on the other hand, is not renewable. It takes millions of years to form. Currently, oil reserves are being depleted at a rate much quicker than more would take to develop.•Solar energy is non-polluting. Of all the advantages of solar energy over oil, this is perhaps the most important. The burning of oil releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. In addition to this, the process of obtaining it may result in damaged ecosystems through dredging or spills.

•Solar cells are long-lasting and require very little maintenance • Although solar panels and their accessories (solar lights, etc.) may be expensive to buy at the onset, money is saved in the long run. This is because energy from the sun is widely available and free. Today rising oil prices are a major frustration on many government as well as individual levels.•Solar powered lights and other solar powered products are very easy to install. This is because there are few wiring issues and little need to ever dig supporting trenches.

Disadvantages Of Solar Energy•One of the main disadvantages is the initial cost

of the equipment used to harness the suns energy. Solar energy technologies still remain a costly alternative to the use of readily available fossil fuel technologies. As the price of solar panels decreases, we are likely to see an increase in the use of solar cells to generate electricity.•A solar energy installation requires a large area for the system to be efficient in providing a source of electricity. This may be a disadvantage in areas where space is short, or expensive (such as inner cities).

Disadvantages Of Solar Energy

• Pollution can be a disadvantage to solar panels, as pollution can degrade the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. Clouds also provide the same effect, as they can reduce the energy of the suns rays. This certain disadvantage is more of an issue with older solar components, as newer designs integrate technologies to overcome the worst of these effects.•Solar energy is only useful when the sun is shining. During the night, your expensive solar equipment will be useless, however the use of solar battery chargers can help to reduce the effects of this disadvantage.•The location of solar panels can affect performance, due to possible obstructions from the surrounding buildings or landscape.

Wind power is another alternative energy source that could be used without producing by products that are harmful to nature. Like solar power, harnessing the wind is highly dependent upon weather and location. The average wind velocity of Earth is around 9 m/sec. And the power that could be produced when a windmill is facing the wind of 10 mi/hr. is around 50 watts.

The fins of a windmill rotate in a vertical plane which is perpendicular to the wind by means of a tail fin. As wind flow crosses the blades of the windmill , it is forced to rotate and can be used to generate electricity . Another type of wind power generator is the two hallow half-drum-type wind collectors. This wind collectors rotates in a single vertical axis, making device independent of the wind direction ,which may generate more electricity.

Advantages of Wind energy*Wind energy is friendly to the surrounding

environment, as no fossil fuels are burnt to generate electricity from wind energy.

*Wind turbines take up less space than the average power station. Windmills only have to occupy a few square meters for the base, this allows the land around the turbine to be used for many purposes, for example agriculture.

*Newer technologies are making the extraction of wind energy much more efficient. The wind is free, and we are able to cash in on this free source of energy.

*Wind turbines are a great resource to generate energy in remote locations, such as mountain communities and remote countryside. Wind turbines can be a range of different sizes in order to support varying population levels.

*Another advantage of wind energy is that when combined with solar electricity, this energy source is great for developed and developing countries to provide a steady, reliable supply of electricity.

Advantages of Wind energy*Wind energy is friendly to the surrounding environment,

as no fossil fuels are burnt to generate electricity from wind energy.

*Wind turbines take up less space than the average power station. Windmills only have to occupy a few square meters for the base, this allows the land around the turbine to be used for many purposes, for example agriculture.

*Newer technologies are making the extraction of wind energy much more efficient. The wind is free, and we are able to cash in on this free source of energy.

*Wind turbines are a great resource to generate energy in remote locations, such as mountain communities and remote countryside. Wind turbines can be a range of different sizes in order to support varying population levels.

*Another advantage of wind energy is that when combined with solar electricity, this energy source is great for developed and developing countries to provide a steady, reliable supply of electricity.

*The main disadvantage regarding wind power is down to the winds unreliability factor. In many areas, the winds strength is too low to support a wind turbine or wind farm, and this is where the use of solar power or geothermal power could be great alternatives.

*Wind turbines generally produce allot less electricity than the average fossil fuelled power station, requiring multiple wind turbines to be built in order to make an impact.

*Wind turbine construction can be very expensive and costly to surrounding wildlife during the build process.

*The noise pollution from commercial wind turbines is sometimes similar to a small jet engine. This is fine if you live miles away, where you will hardly notice the noise, but what if you live within a few hundred meters of a turbine? This is a major disadvantage.

*Protests and/or petitions usually confront any proposed wind farm development. People feel the countryside should be left in tact for everyone to enjoy it's beauty.

The Bangui Wind Mills were built by the North Wind Power Development Corporation to take its share in reducing the emission of harmful greenhouse gases (GHGs) causing global warming and to accelerate the rural electrification of the government.In this area, wind mostly comes from the north-east, from the sea towards the land. To optimize the full benefit of the winds, turbines are installed along the shore facing the sea effectively removing wind breaks and achieving a terrain roughness of class 0.The 'Wind Farm" as it is aptly called consist of 15 wind turbines. The turbines are on-shore and arranged in a single row spaced 326 meters apart. The turbines hub height (ground level to center of nacelle - that part holding the blades) is 70 meters high (roughly equivalent to a 23 storey building), each blade is 41 meters long (just 9 meters shy of a Olympic sized pool) giving a rotor diameter of 82 meters and a wind swept area of 5,281 square meters.

1. Using this type of energy to generate electricity is not dependent upon the price of uranium, oil, or other types of fuel. This makes electricity costs lower and more stable, one of its most significant advantages. 2. The pollution created by hydroelectric energy generation is quite minimal. There is some pollution involved in initially constructing the power stations, but this is true of all power plants. It also does not produce radioactive waste or involve the environmental impact of fuel being transported to it.3. It doesn't require many employees to run a hydroelectric station. According to wikipedia.org, most plants of this type are largely automated. This is another one of the advantages which help keep the cost of hydroelectricity low.4. Hydroelectric power stations can be set up in almost any size, depending upon the river or stream used to operate them; big enough to power a single home, factory, small town, or large city.5. Another of its advantages is that hydroelectric is a renewable form of energy, like wind and solar; it does not rely upon finite resources like natural gas or coal to generate power.6. Hydroelectric stations can operate for many years after they are built. Wikipedia.org states that a number of operational hydro stations were constructed fifty to one-hundred years ago; in contrast to this, IAEA.org indicates that the "design life" of nuclear power plants is generally thirty to forty years.7. Small hydro electricity generation systems sometimes offer more economic advantages for home owners than solar power, and tend to last longer than solar panels do.

1) Disrupts the aquatic ecosystems: The dams developed across the rivers can disturb the aquatic life and lead to their large scale destruction. There are chances that the fishes and other water animals may enter the penstock and ultimately the power generation turbines where they may get crashed. The dams can also disturb the mating seasons and mating areas of the water animals.In some cases the water animals have to swim against the water stream during breeding seasons, in such cases the dams create hindrances on their paths. Such animals can also get trapped in the turbines and loose lives on large scale.2) Disruption in the surrounding areas: The plant and animal life around the rivers thrives due to continuous fresh flowing water in the river. Due to construction of the dams lots of areas have to be cleared that disrupt the plant and animal life. In many cases even a number of trees have to be cut that destroys not only the plant life but also the animals dependent on them. Even changing the course of flow of water in the river due to construction of dam disrupts the plants and animals life.3) Requires large areas: The construction of dam, the power generation unit and the transformers and their connection to the national grid acquires large areas of the forest. The larger the land acquired for the dam, more is the disturbance to the natural ecosystem in the surrounding forest areas.

7) Site specific: The hydroelectric power plants cannot be constructed at any locations. They can be constructed only in places where abundant quantity of water is available at sufficient height and throughout the year. A number of other safety parameters also have to be considered. Construction of the dams at inappropriate locations can cause human casualties. An example of the inappropriate locations is of the Vajont Dam in Italy, where almost 2000 people died, in the year 1963.8) Effects on environment: Though the hydroelectric power plants do not require any fuel, don’t produce greenhouse gases and they don’t create pollution directly, it does have a number of detrimental effects on the environment. The construction activity of the dam itself disturbs the environment to a great scale. When the course of water is changed the surrounding areas may get flooded disturbing natural flora and fauna. Human beings living in these areas also get displaced. The large quantities of water collected due to the floods also emit lots of greenhouses gases like carbon dioxide. Thus though the hydroelectric power plants don’t generate greenhouse gases directly, they generate it indirectly. Over several years, a number of vehicles coming to the construction site for loading and unloading materials also emit greenhouse gases that directly affect the sensitive plants and animal life found in forests.9. Safety of the dams: The safety of the dams is very crucial as it can affect lives of millions people. In this age when the terrorists attacks are increasing there are greater concerns for the safety of the large dams.

Magat Dam in Ramon, Isabela used to be the largest dam in the Philippines back when it was built in 1983. The controversial San Roque Dam (featured previously) has since eclipsed it in both structural and reservoir size in 2004. Magat Dam generates 360 megawatts of electricity (with a water head of 81 meters high) and supplies irrigation water for approximately 85,000 hectares of farmland in Isabela and surrounding areas.The dam was constructed at a cost of 6.5 billion pesos and consists of 3.1 kilo meters of rock-fill construction. The dam and its watershed is managed by the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), while the National Power Corporation (NPC) managed the hydroelectric plant, before the plant was turned over to SN Aboitiz Power Inc. in April 2007 as part of the privatization of power plants under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001. Like the San Roque Dam, Magat Dam had its share of controversies, issues, and problems. For one, the reservoir inundated the traditional lands of the Ifugao tribes. Second, the useful lifespan of the dam was shortened from 50 years to around 35 years because of increased sedimentation in the reservoir (aggravated by the massive 1990 Luzon earthquake) and damage to the dam itself. Finally, Magat River, which is the river dammed, forms the boundary between the provinces of Ifugao and Isabela. Well, you can correctly guess that there’s a dispute between Ifugao and Isabela regarding with the dam: Ifugao is contesting the tax proceeds from the privatization of the hydroelectric plant and the compromise reached was that the two provinces would share equally in the tax revenue.Magat Dam is also one of the prominent tourist spots in Isabela. The Magat Dam Tourism Complex promotes ecotourism with various water sports activities in the Magat Dam reservoir.