Alternative energy source, technology, or energy storage method Assignment

Alternative qualification source, technology, or energy storage manner - Assignment ExampleApart from the environmental impact, the other major concern with fossil fuels is their limited capacity. Fossil fuels run the risk of becoming extinct with the cast at which it is being utilized. It is for these reasons that the need for a sustainable, alternate energy resource has become a necessity.Renewable energy has been defined by Lund (2009), as the energy that is produced by natural resources-such as sunlight, wind, rain, waves, tides, and geothermal heat-that atomic number 18 naturally replenished within a time span of a few years. This energy kingdom encompasses all those energy systems that convert natural resources into useful energy for instance wind, wave, tidal, hydropower, biomass, biofuel and solar energy.For centuries plants have been harnessing solar energy to process their energy needs by means of photosynthesis. The earth receives 174 petaWatts (PW) of solar radiatio n in the upper atmosphere (A.I. & N, 2011). The thought of harnessing the suns energy to power man-made devices was first commercially co-ordinated in 1958. Space exploration equipments such as satellites and space stations were powered by solar energy. Since then, the technology of harnessing solar energy has progressed.Currently in that respect are two major methods of acquiring solar energy. The first is direct heating which involves concentrating the solar rays onto a specific target to heat it. solar urine heaters utilize direct heating. However, there are two significant techniques involved in direct heating which are solar ponds and flat plate collectors (Pimentel, 2008).Solar ponds are artificially constructed ponds in which solar energy may be stored by allowing temperature rise on the bottom layer of the liquid and preventing convection currents from developing. There are multiple methods in which convection currents can be halted. The most suitable, however, is the add ition and maintenance of salt concentration gradient. The