Interesting Facts About Solar and Wind Energy

Green energy has been the buzz for the past five years because of numerous reports citing that humanity's effect on the planet has caused unsustainable long-term living conditions. Global warming because of greenhouse gasses, the eventual depletion of drinkable water supply and deforestation of the largest producers of oxygen on our planet are realities that the coming generation will need to figure out before any of them actually come about. Renewable energy is their and our best solution as sustainable power generation must be established to halt the progressive mining for fossil fuels. Solar power, wind power and hydro power are some proposed answers to the questions plaguing our collective mind, "how are we going to get through this?" and "what can I do to help?"

Renewable energy in the form of wind power is a vastly unexplored resource with huge potential. From a single 1.8 megawatt (MW) turbine operating to harvest wind power in a logical location, four million seven-hundred thousand kilowatt hours (kwH) could be supplied according to statistics from Strathclyde University. This is enough power for roughly one-thousand, four person homes. In Germany, successful wind power harvesting has been tested with turbines as large as 5 MW; a wind catcher capable of over twice the yield quoted by Strathclyde. It's clear that wind power's yield is a renewable energy source capable of replacing fuel sources like coal and natural gas burning. Green energy takes other forms of sustainable power generation as well.

Perhaps the most commonly cited and most unused green energy source is our solar system's sun. Borrowing from the photosynthesis process of plants, our current solar technology has been integrated into applications as tiny as portable charging devices for small electronics and literally as large as farm fields of solar panels that sit, basking in the sun, generating us energy. Recent cellphone technology has made use of solar power as well with a Chinese manufacturer equipping their new model with a self-sustaining power generation source on the back of the phone. A single solar cell, no larger than five by three inches is capable of recharging the device in a mere two and a half hours of direct sunlight.

For those of a mathematical bent, according to scientists this formula details the amount of renewable energy the sun provides the Earth:

"3.8 x 10^33 ergs/sec or 3.8 x 10^26 watts of power, an amount of energy each second equal to 3.8 x 10^26 joules. In one hour, or 3600 seconds, [the Sun] produces 1.4 x 10^31 Joules of energy or 3.8 x 10^23 kilowatt-hours."

Thanks go to astronomy cafe for the equation.

This formula explains that the sun's sustainable power generation is such a vast source of green energy, in one hour, it could have supplied the power needs for the entire human race, since their emergence on the planet. Renewable energy arrives from the sun every second at some location on the planet. Green energy is not "weak" by any means and solar is not "impractical" as some skeptics may claim. A better and sustainable power generation source aside from our sun is nearly impossible to engineer.

In short, the options available to sustain ourselves through green powered technology are not limited. By no means are human beings reliant on crude oil and natural gas. Our world tycoons may be driven by power and greed to utilize such inefficient means of energy, though we as a race are not limited by them. To preserve a future for our future generations, the day is today to begin a worldwide effort towards a greener tomorrow.

Liz Westminster is an author with a keen interest in all environmental matters, she passionately believes that the time is here when we need to seriously attempt change in how we deplete the planet's natural resources. With no wish to become a Luddite or technologically retarded in anyway she is continually investigating sensible ways to change our reliance on fossil fuels and oil dependency. When it comes to green energy she believes every one of us should take responsibility for our own environment and encourage businesses to do the same by practicing responsible consumerism, if we only support environmentally aware businesses, more of them will become environmentally aware in an effort to gain our business.

Resources used in this article:
Wind Farm Planning specialists H & H Bowe Chartered Surveyors.
Build Your Own Home with green energy built in at build-houses.com.