Philadelphia's Current Energy Sources:
Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), headquartered in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a leading manufacturer of petroleum and
petrochemical products and operates two domestic refineries, Girard Point and
Point Breeze, and is the longest continuously operating refinery on the East
Coast, processing approximately 330,000 barrels of crude oil per day making it
the largest oil refining complex on the Eastern seaboard
As the cost of energy produced from fossil fuel rises while
the price of solar technology drops, Philadelphia is encouraging residents and
businesses to install solar panels and is planning to build a number of
large-scale solar arrays on City-owned land. The region was successful in securing two critical
investments in our energy-efficient future. The first was a $25 million pool of
retrofit finance funding awarded to the Metropolitan Caucus, a partnership of
elected officials created by Nutter from the five major southeastern counties —
Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia. This award enabled the
region to accelerate retrofit activity among the commercial and residential
building stock. The second major investment was a $200 million smart grid grant
awarded to PECO, the region’s electric utility, that financed upgrades for
critical system infrastructure as well as the installation of smart meters so
that consumers can better understand how to manage their energy use.
Alternative Energy Sources:
Solar Power
From an environmental perspective, solar
power is the best thing going. A 1.5 kilowatt PV system will keep more than
110,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, out of the
atmosphere over the next 25 years. The same solar system will also prevent the
need to burn 60,000 pounds of coal. With solar, there's no acid rain, no urban
smog, no pollution of any kind.The current cost of solar panels means that
grid-interactive systems do not pay for themselves in terms of the cost saving
when compared with electricity from the grid. In spite of this, many people
with grid connected houses are choosing to install grid-interactive solar
systems, as they do not create any greenhouse gases when generating
electricity, unlike coal-fired power plants. Numerous studies have demonstrated
that the equivalent amount of electricity used to make a solar panel is
generated by the panel within the first two years of operation, hence a solar
panel will repay its greenhouse gas "debt" within this time.
Geothermal Energy
Energy from the Earth - What
could be more natural or plentiful? The source of geothermal power is the heat
contained inside the Earth; heat so intense that it creates molten magma. There
are a few different types of geothermal energy that can be tapped. "Some
geothermal systems are formed when hot magma near the surface (1,500 to 10,000
meters deep) directly heats groundwater." The heat generated from these
hot spots flows outward toward the surface, manifesting as volcanoes, geysers,
and hot springs . Naturally-occurring hot water and steam can be tapped by
energy conversion technology to generate electricity or to produce hot water
for direct use. "Other geothermal systems are formed even when no magma is
nearby as magma heats rocks which in turn heat deeply-circulating
groundwater." In order to maximize the energy gleaned from these so-called
"hot dry rocks," geothermal facilities will often fracture the hot
rocks and pump water into and from them in order to use the heated water to
generate electricity. The concentration of
geothermal energy at any given location must be quite high in
order to make heat extraction feasible, and not all geothermal sites are
created equally. Despite the fact that
geothermal energy is abundant renewable, and able to reduce our
dependence on imported fuels, the fact remains that fields of sufficient
quality to produce economic electricity are rare.
Another type of geothermal
energy being used commercially is Earth energy, extracted
through heat pumps. Heat contained in shallow ground is used to directly heat
or cool houses since the temperature inside the ground tends to stay at the
yearly average. Therefore, in the winter the ground is warmer than the air and
can be used to heat a building, and in the summer the ground is cooler than the
air and can act as an air conditioner. Researchers know that "no active
technology for home cooling is more efficient than the geothermal heat
pump." This technique reduces the reliance on other resources and can be
utilized anywhere, resulting in significant environmental benefits and reduced
energy costs.
Hydropower
There are several favorable features of hydropower. Anywhere
rain falls, there will be rivers. If a particular section of river has the
right terrain to form a reservoir, it may be suitable for dam construction. No
fossil fuels are required to produce the electricity, and the earth's
hydrologic cycle naturally replenishes the "fuel" supply. Therefore
no pollution is released into the atmosphere and no waste that requires special
containment is produced. Since "water is a naturally recurring domestic
product and is not subject to the whims of foreign suppliers," there is no
worry of unstable prices, transportation issues, production strikes, or other
national security issues. Hydropower is very convenient because it can respond
quickly to fluctuations in demand. A dam's gates can be opened or closed on
command, depending on daily use or gradual economic growth in the community.
The production of hydroelectricity is often slowed in the nighttime when people
use less energy. When a facility is functioning, no water is wasted or released
in an altered state; it simply returns unharmed to continue the hydrologic
cycle. The reservoir of water resulting from dam construction, which is
essentially stored energy, can support fisheries and preserves, and provide
various forms of water-based recreation for locals and tourists. Land owned by
the hydroelectric company is often open to the public for hiking, hunting, and
skiing. Therefore, "hydropower reservoirs contribute to local economies. A
study of one medium-sized hydropower project in Wisconsin showed that the
recreational value to residents and visitors exceeded $6.5 million
annually." Not to mention the economic stimulation provided by employment. Hydroelectric power is also very efficient and inexpensive. "Modern
hydro turbines can convert as much as 90% of the available energy into
electricity. The best fossil fuel plants are only about 50% efficient. In the
US , hydropower is produced for an average of 0.7 cents per kilowatt-hour
(kWh). This is about one-third the cost of using fossil fuel or nuclear and
one-sixth the cost of using natural gas," as long as the costs for
removing the dam and the silt it traps are not included. Efficiency could be
further increased by refurbishing hydroelectric equipment. An improvement of
only 1% would supply electricity to an additional 300,000 households. Hydropower has become "the leading source of renewable
energy. It provides more than 97% of all electricity generated by renewable
sources worldwide. Other sources including solar, geothermal, wind, and biomass
account for less than 3% of renewable electricity production." In the US ,
81% of the electricity produced by renewable sources comes from hydropower.
"Worldwide, about 20% of all electricity is generated by hydropower."
Some regions depend on it more than others. For example, 75% of the electricity
produced in New Zealand and over 99% of the electricity produced in Norway come
from hydropower. The use of hydropower "prevents the burning of 22
billion gallons of oil or 120 million tons of coal each year." In other
words, "the carbon emissions avoided by the nation's hydroelectric
industry are the equivalent of an additional 67 million passenger cars on the
road 50 percent more than there are currently." The advantages of
hydropower are therefore convincing, but there are some serious drawbacks that
are causing people to reconsider its overall benefit.
Wind Power:
Today, people are realizing that
wind power "is one of the most promising new energy sources" that can
serve as an alternative to fossil fuel-generated electricity. The cost of wind
has dropped by 15% with each doubling of installed capacity worldwide, and
capacity has doubled three times during the 1990s and 2000's.As of 1999, global
wind energy capacity topped 10,000 megawatts, which is approximately 16 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity. That's enough to serve over 5 cities the size of
Miami, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Five Miamis may not
seem significant, but if we make the predicted strides in the near future, wind
power could be one of our main sources of electricity. Is your utility company
offering your family the best rates? Though wind energy is now
more affordable, more available, and pollution-free, it does
have some drawbacks. Wind power suffers from the same lack of energy density as
direct solar radiation. The fact that it is a "very diffuse source"
means that "large numbers of wind generators (and thus large land areas)
are required to produce useful amounts of heat or electricity." But wind
turbines cannot be erected everywhere simply because many places are not windy
enough for suitable power generation. When an appropriate place is found,
building and maintaining a wind farm can be costly. It "is a highly
capital-intensive technology." If the interest rates charged for
manufacturing equipment and constructing a plant are high, then a consumer will
have to pay more for that energy. "One study found that if wind plants
were financed on the same terms as gas plants, their cost would drop by nearly
40%." Fortunately, the more facilities built, the cheaper wind energy is.
Biomass Energy
The term "biomass" refers to organic matter that has stored energy through the process of photosynthesis. It exists in one form as plants and may be transferred through the food chain to animals' bodies and their wastes, all of which can be converted for everyday human use through processes such as combustion, which releases the carbon dioxide stored in the plant material. Many of the biomass fuels used today come in the form of wood products, dried vegetation, crop residues, and aquatic plants. Biomass has become one of the most commonly used renewable sources of energy in the last two decades, second only to hydropower in the generation of electricity. It is such a widely utilized source of energy, probably due to its low cost and indigenous nature, that it accounts for almost 15% of the world's total energy supply and as much as 35% in developing countries, mostly for cooking and heating.Radiant Energy:
This natural energy can perform the same wonders as ordinary electricity at less than 1% of the cost. It does not behave exactly like electricity, however, which has contributed to the scientific community’s misunderstanding of it. The Methernitha Community in Switzerland currently has 5 or 6 working models of fuelless, self-running devices that tap this energy. Nikola Tesla’s magnifying transmitter, T. Henry Moray’s radiant energy device, Edwin Gray’s EMA motor, and Paul Baumann’s Testatika machine all run on radiant energy. This natural energy form can be gathered directly from the environment or extracted from ordinary electricity by the method called fractionation. One of the earliest wireless telephones to be based on radiant energy was invented by Nikola Tesla. The device used transmitters and receivers whose resonances were tuned to the same frequency, allowing communication between them. In 1916, he recounted an experiment he had done in 1896. He recalled that “Whenever I received the effects of a transmitter, one of the simplest ways [to detect the wireless transmissions] was to apply a magnetic field to currents generated in a conductor, and when I did so, the low frequency gave audible notes.”
Biofuels – these are fuels that are made from plants or animals. It can include methane from wood, wood chippings, and animal wastes. Biofuels are used to heat homes, to power machines, and for cooking.
Natural gas – it is a fossil fuel but does not generate carbon dioxide, which happens to be the chief greenhouse gas. Thus natural gas is a better option. It can be created by various organisms, and is also found in areas which have fossil fuels.
Nuclear energy – this is created though atoms. Either by merging or splitting atoms, energy is created. Though it produces a large amount of power, it has certain hazards.
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