Fisher1

Sage Fisher
Erin Rogers
U of U Writing 1010
October 4, 2015
Power

Everything has energy, but harnessing that energy is easier said than done. Throughout
history humans have relied on energy to heat their homes and light the way when it's dark with
fire. We have begun to use energy for everything, since some things that we did by hand before
are now done by machines. All of these things we use take energy, and we consume more energy
than ever before. It is in our best interests to know what the most effective way for harnessing
energy is, and solar power comes out on top. intro paragraph is so good now 10 out of 10
Solar power is the one big exception in the ways of producing energy. It doesn't need to
use kinetic energy if you are using photovoltaic cells. A photovoltaic cell is a sandwich of a
positive and a negative silicone sheet, making the space in between them charged so when the
sun knocks electrons free, it siphons them off to power what you need (livescience.com). It
seems too good to be true: just place one down and it makes energy from the sun. The downside
of solar panels is that they are quite expensive and only work during the time the sun can hit it. If
you have the money to get your house hooked up to solar panels, it could save lots of money in
the long run. For those with not a lot of money but lots of empty space you could make a solar
power plant. A solar power plant is a whole bunch of mirrors set up to follow the sun and direct it
at a black barrel of holding water. This then heats the water up and makes steam to turn a turbine
(Solarpedia). A person who?? combined the two types into concentrated solar panels you
probably dont need the quotes using curved mirrors to aim all the light at one small solar panel.

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Unfortunately, the cost of the photovoltaic cell and the space the steam method takes has made it
so that only 0.4% of America's energy comes from solar power (institute for energy research).
Coal, oil, and other fossil fuels use the heat they put off to spin a turbine. This type of
energy production is well known to most, because of how common it is. A study in 20 why is this
space here 15 shows that 67.2 % of our electrical energy comes from fossil fuels (institute for
energy research). This may make it seem that it is an amazing source of energy, but the power
plants are mostly a product of the industrial revolution. Fossil fuel power plants were the best
choice back then because of how easy they were compared to other sources. It is easier to
upgrade an already existing coal power plant into another form of fossil fuel plant than it is to
turn it into a wind or solar plant. They are also big because they can be put almost anywhere. But
that doesn't make up for the fact that it is the least environmentally friendly energy source, with
its high amounts of carbon dioxide that it puts out.
Hydroelectric power is a different story, because it may be environmentally friendly
compared to fossil fuels, but it is clearly harder to find a good place for it. It requires a large
amount of water like a river or a dammed up lake (energy.gov). This is probably a big factor in
why it isn't used as much, and it only makes 6.3% of america's power (institute for energy
research). Also many of the large lakes or rivers that can do such things are not close to the cities
that need it. But if you look past its downfalls, it is a cheap environmentally friendly way of
making energy. Some people have tried to find ways of getting past these downfalls by
implementing smaller turbines in water pipes that already exist, harnessing some power that was
ignored. Another strange way of overcoming it's downfalls is a creation that uses the motion of
waves to make energy helping coastal cities (rt.com). These have been effective but it still won't
help places that aren't near large moving bodies of water.

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On to a much larger but more controversial power source, we have nuclear power. Iit
works by using chemical reactions to heat up water to make steam to spin a turbine. It doesn't
have the dangerous emissions that the fossil fuels suffer from, but it can be seen as much more
dangerous to the environment. Each year, enormous quantities of radioactive waste are created
during the nuclear fuel process, including 2,000 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste
(PSR.org). Nuclear power accounts for 19.5% of Aamerica's electrical energy (institute for
energy research). It is also 49% more efficient for it's cost compared to fossil fuel plants. These
nuclear plants can produce way more energy much faster than any other source, but it comes
with a great risk. If something goes wrong it can melt down, irradiating the area around it, and
the waste has to be buried in the ground because that is the only safe way of disposing of it. This
might sound not that bad, but the risk of a meltdown spewing radioactive dust everywhere, is too
high, and the impact from that will last a long time, causing most people to disagree with
it(psr.org).
Wind power is a much less scary way of producing power. Yyou put some big wind
turbines in a windy area and they make power by spinning, what could be bad about that. wWell,
it has some of the same problems that hydroelectric power has., Iit needs a good area that will
provide the energy needed. Tthis leads to only 4.4 % of Aamerica's energy comes from wind
power (institute for energy research). Wind power also has the problem of we can not make the
wind blow, some times it will have plenty or even a surplus of wind, but other times it will be too
slow to spin the turbines. Most wind power plants are placed in areas that are usually windy like
the base of a canyon or next to the ocean but we still can't control the wind (aweo.org). The
inability to create a steady flow of energy all the time from wind farms is why it's not used so
much.

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Some sources are clearly better in some way and worse in others, but solar energy is the
most well rounded. It may be costly, but with proper care it can very easily make the money
back. Ssolar energy is a new field of energy production and could get even more efficient in the
future. For today's energy demands and solar panels being 20 % efficient, it would take only
191,817 square miles of solar panels to power the world (techinsider). That may seem like a big
area, but that is for all of the world's energy needs, it is well worth it. Tthat could easily be put on
roofs. and compared to the world's 5,502,532,127,000,000 square feet of space, including the
ocean (answers.com) that is nothing. Solar power doesn't have any of the environmental
problems the others face. it can be easily placed on roofs. Solar panels will pay for themselves in
7 to 15 years (pureenergies.com), and solar panel prices will begin to drop with more companies
making them. put another sentence here that is concludey

Work cited
Answers. Answers Corporation. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_square_footage_of_the_world>.

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Dhar, Michael. "How Do Solar Panels Work?" LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 16 Dec. 2013.
Web. 16 Nov. 2015. <http://www.livescience.com/41995-how-do-solar-panels-work.html>.

Harrington, Rebecca. "Here's How Much of the World Would Need to Be Covered in Solar
Panels to Power Earth." Tech Insider. 24 Sept. 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.techinsider.io/map-shows-solar-panels-to-power-the-earth-2015-9>.
"Policy Area - IER." IER. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
<http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/topics/policy//>.

"Project." Solaripedia. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

<http://www.solaripedia.com/13/31/solar_one_and_two_(now_defunct).html>.

Rosenbloom, Eric. "A Problem With Wind Power." A Problem With Wind Power. Web. 16 Nov.
2015. <http://www.aweo.org/problemwithwind.html>.

"Support PSR!" Dirty, Dangerous and Expensive: The Truth About Nuclear Power. Web. 16
Nov. 2015. <http://www.psr.org/resources/nuclear-power-factsheet.html?
referrer=https://www.google.com/>.
"Top 10 Solar Myths - Pure Energies." Pure Energies USA. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
<http://pureenergies.com/us/home-solar/solar-basics/solar-myths/>.

"Types of Hydropower Plants." Types of Hydropower Plants. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

<http://energy.gov/eere/water/types-hydropower-plants>.

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"World First Commercial Wave Power Station Switched on in Australia." RT English. Web. 16
Nov. 2015. <https://www.rt.com/news/233491-wave-energy-station-australia/>.