Alternative Electricity Sources That You Can Use

by Denzil De Vries

There are many alternative electricity sources particularly as the effect of burning fossil fuels damages the environment. Currently in the US about 50% of all electricity is from coal, 20% from nuclear power, 18% from natural gas, 6.5% from hydroelectric, 3 from petroleum and the rest about 2.3% from renewable energy sources. In all about 8% of all electricity is from renewable energy sources such as geothermal power, biomass, solar energy and wind power. Electricity can be generated by many different methods with the most common method using a magnet moving around a conductor. You can touch two different conductors together, put two different conductors in salt water, and shine a light on two different conductors. Almost all types of electricity involve spinning a copper wire between magnets. In order to start getting the copper wire spinning with electricity energy needs to be added and this comes typically form burning fossil fuels like coal, gas and petroleum. Wind power currently only supplies a small percentage of electricity produced but it is thought that much more could be produced from wind power, thereby reducing the need to burn fossil fuels. Wind power is the best clean energy solution for electricity as is the most efficient of all possible electricity production. It is thought that the entire United States could be supplied by wind power. Solar power is transforming the sun’s energy or into electricity. This is a well-known electricity source that has been made many advances in recent years. Home solar units and commercial solar energy are becoming much more popular with any excess collected energy being fed back into the electricity grid. Most solar users find that the electricity is giving them credits for their electricity. The only large costs involved is acquiring the equipment to collect and convert the solar energy into electricity and getting this hooked yup to the electrical grid. Hydropower utilizes water pressure as it comes over a dam. Gravity and falling water turn turbines, which in turn generate electricity. The most famous example of hydroelectric power is at Niagara Falls and the famous blackout. You can use small micro-hydro generators if you have a small stream on or near your property. A substitute to running generators on petroleum of other fossil fuels is to use biodiesel. Biodiesel is a fuel that is made from animal fats and vegetable oil. Biodiesel has been around for over 100 years, since 1895, but it has not been a popular form of fuel. Currently many tankers and trucks run on biodiesel though any vehicle can be converted to running on biodiesel.