Safest Form of Energy

Safest Form of Energy for the Future
Natural resources are materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain. Human life is dependent on natural resources, so there is a concern that we may eventually run out of them. There are many alternative energy sources that could be used as a substitute to natural resources in the future. There are many different types of alternative sources of energy to choose from, but in my opinion there are three that would be best suited for use in the future. The three that I find majorly important are wind power, solar power, and hydropower. All three alternative energy sources could be very useful to use in the future, but they all also have negative sides to them and that is why all three, instead of just one, are the best to use in the future.
One alternative source of energy that could be used in the future is wind power. It is a clean source of energy that does not put off any air, land, or water pollution. Wind power is a renewable energy, and can be substituted for all other electrical sources along with slowing down the use of our natural resources. It is also cheaper to build compared to the other types of power plants (Solway 19). Windmills are machines that convert the winds movement into the power to move machinery (Solway 19). Wind farms are a place where windmills are closely spaced together in one location in order to produce electric energy to supply a utility grid (Pellerin). A single wind farm can contain anywhere from hundreds to thousands of wind turbines, and a large farm can generate hundreds of megawatts of electricity (Goodman 34). One type of windmill is a wind turbine. Wind turbines make electricity and can produce electricity at competitive costs with fossil fuels (Smith 19). They have to be spaced out and carefully placed because of their massive size (Goodman 35). The blades on a wind turbine can be as large as 110 yards, with towers that can get as high as a 25-story building (Goodman 34). Although there are many positive things about wind power, there is also a negative side. Not only do wind turbines take up a lot of space, but they are usually placed on hills and many people complain about how they corrupt the natural landscape. They are also very noisy for the people who live around them. Another downside to wind power is that wind does not always blow at a constant speed, so in order for them to work properly all the time, they would have to be placed in a location that receives a lot of wind (Stolway 20). A second alternative source of energy is solar power. Solar energy is the direct use of sunlight to produce heat or electric power. It is a very adaptable source of energy and can be used either on a large or small scale. Although solar energy is a more expensive source of power than fossil fuels are, solar technology is improving rapidly (Bryan). Research on how the energy from solar power can be used commercially will be done, said Professor Paul Meredith from the University of Queensland. The sun is responsible, both directly and indirectly, for almost all of the Earth’s energy sources. There are many different ways to use the sun as a power source. Some of these include solar farms, solar cells, power towers, and solar ponds. Solar farms contain rows of solar cells on large, flat panels that are tilted towards the sun (Richards 15). A solar cell is a device that uses Photovoltaic cells, or PV cells. The PV cells soak up the energy from the sunlight and turn it into electricity. Although solar cells are expensive to make, they are very useful. Not only can they be combined into solar panels, but they could also be used to power small devices (Stolway 24). A power tower is another type of solar station. This type of solar station is surrounded by thousands of mirrors that direct the sunlight into a container of liquid that is located at the top of the tower (Richards 17). The last type of power station is a solar pond. The sun warms up the pond water, and the saltiest water consumes it. This water then sinks to the bottom of the pond where it stays. A black lining on the bottom of the pond is what absorbs the heat, and a cover can also be placed over the pond to keep the heat in (Richards 14). Like wind power, solar power also has a negative side to it. Without the sun, this source of power will not work. That means that no energy can be produced at night, and very little is able to be produced on cloudy days. Cloudy weather can block the sun’s energy (Solway 25). The third source of alternative energy is hydropower. Hydropower is a clean and renewable energy source. There is no fuel used in this process, so no carbon dioxide is produced and put into the air. Hydropower is also very efficient. Ninety percent of the energy from water can be made into electricity (Stolway 16). Most hydroelectricity plants are located next to dams. The moving water going down the dams turns the turbine. When the turbine is turned, it also turns a generator which creates the electricity (Stolway 14). With about 45,000 large dams around the world, hydroelectric plants help to produce twenty percent of the world’s electricity (Stolway 15). The negative side to hydropower is that it affects the people and wildlife around the hydroelectric plants. When dams are built, large areas of land are flooded, which causes people and wildlife to lose their homes. These dams also affect the river wildlife (Stolway 16, 17). In my opinion, these three alternative sources of energy are the best and safest forms of energy for use in the future. Wind power, solar power, and hydro-power are all renewable sources of energy that give many different options in the way they were and are suitable for our future needs.