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Energy
Advantages and Disadvantages of Alternative Energy Sources
| Term | What and Where | Advantages | Disadvantages | How it works |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geothermal | This energy is in the form of steam from heat and water that comes from deep inside the Earth. | releases much less CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere and is sustainable as the water is re-injected into the Earth. | It is more expensive because drilling the well is very expensive and doesn't always work. | Hot water comes up from the mantle and then they use the steam to spin a generator. |
| Photovoltaic | This energy is created by our sun when hydrogen and helium atoms are stuck together creating sunlight. The light travels to earth as radiation. | This energy helps you get clean silent electricity while the sun is up. | The collectors are expensive to build and to get installed and they do make pollution while being made. | The sun shines on the cells which give off electrons knocked loose by the photons which make up sunlight. |
| Fuel Cell | Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe but it is bonded to other atoms. | There are no harmful pollutants and there is a great abundance of hydrogen that can be used to make fuel which can be pumped into cars like gas. | This energy source is very expensive because it contains platinum to make the hydrogen break into electrons and protons. | Atoms of hydrogen are broken apart into protons and electrons and the electrons are used to power a circuit. |
| Tidal | Gravity from the moon pulls the water in the ocean. | Causes no toxic pollution and it takes place in the ocean and doesn't make CO2. | Generators are noisy and they do not look nice. It is expensive and experimental. | Water flows through a turbine that is connected to a set of gears that spin a coil of wire inside a magnetic field. |
| Wave | This energy comes from the wind blowing over the surface of the water. | This has the potential to produce almost all our energy needs near the coast by concentrating wind power. | These generators make some noise and look ugly along our coasts. | Water enters the chamber and forces air out a hole in the top and it spins a turbine. |
| Biofuel | Organic material made from plants and animal fats and contains stored energy from the sun. | less pollution because they work inside the natural carbon cycle. | using food crops to make fuel takes food from us and it takes energy to harvest and process the fuel. | made from plant oils and from fermenting the sugar that plants produce. |
Created by:
qmstech
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