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[|Earth To America]

National Energy Distribution so as to depreciate the dependency on Fossil Fuels and the creation of Greenhouse gasses

Since the arrival of Al Gore's Nobel Prize winning, //Inconvenient Truth//, global warming has been at the forefront of the Presidential administrations agenda and has helped the public decide on the new president. The issue has been the amount of green house gases which are emitted by cars, companies, and other power plants. These green house gases prevent UV rays from escaping the atmosphere, redirecting them back towards the earth’s surface. This creates higher temperatures and produces more harmful rays. Fossil Fuels are among one of the most harmful contributors to global warming. Fortunately the dependency on fossil fuels can be replaced by a national distribution of renewable energy resources. The United States is made up of many diverse states all with different needs and resources. For this reason, there is no one renewable energy source that will be able to sufficiently supply the entire country with clean power. However proper distribution of these sources can make clean power a viable option. For example areas with large amounts of sun can use solar power where this may not work in a place were fog and clouds dominate the sky such as Washington State. Although this is the largest issue to tackle, other issues include the transportation of the energy that is created, and finally the cost and environmental impact of implementing these new energy sources. Webster’s dictionary defines global warming as “an increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse effect resulting especially from pollution.” This definition does not go into great detail of any aspect of global warming. The definition does not even classify this increase in earth’s temperature as a good or bad thing. It is a bad thing. Global warming effects every living organism on earth in some manner or another. [Increasing global temperature will cause [|sea levels to rise] and will change the amount and pattern of [|precipitation], probably including expansion of subtropical [|deserts]. [|[7]] The continuing retreat of [|glaciers], [|permafrost] and [|sea ice] is expected, with the [|Arctic region] being particularly affected. Other likely effects include shrinkage of the [|Amazon rainforest] and [|Boreal forests], increases in the intensity of [|extreme weather] events, [|species extinctions] and changes in [|agricultural yields].] – (Wikipedia – global warming) The Webster’s definition says the cause can be attributed to the greenhouse effect, usually as a resultant of pollution. In order to go into more detail about the effect of greenhouse gasses, I have included a video. This video, although a little satirical can be informative, Al Gore even included it in his Nobel Prize winning movie.

[|None Like it Hot]

I hope you enjoyed the video but I also hope you understand the importance of doing everything in our power to stop contributing to global warming. And as you know the large ice cube is not an option. In summation of the video, “[greenhouse gasses] are gases which allow direct sunlight (relative shortwave energy) to reach the Earth's surface unimpeded. As the shortwave energy (that in the visible and ultraviolet portion of the spectra) heats the surface, longer-wave (infrared) energy (heat) is reradiated to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases absorb this energy, thereby allowing less heat to escape back to space, and 'trapping' it in the lower atmosphere.” – NOAA. Since the industrial revolution, both the naturally occurring and man-made greenhouse gasses have become more abundant. “While gases such as carbon dioxide occur naturally in the atmosphere, through our interference with the carbon cycle (through burning forest lands, or mining and burning coal), we artificially move carbon from solid storage to its gaseous state, thereby increasing atmospheric concentrations.” – NOAA. I will not go into great detail about each greenhouse gas but I do think it is worth mentioning them here so incase they are mentioned later by their individual names you will be able to identify them. The most common greenhouse gasses are; water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, troposphere Ozone, Nitrous Oxide, and Carbon Monoxide.

So now that we know what the greenhouse gasses are, what effect they have on the global temperature, we must look at how to reduce the man-made greenhouse gasses. Most of these greenhouse gasses are produced as a by product of creating and using energy from power plants that run on fossil fuels. By replacing these fossil fuels with an alternative, clean, and hopefully renewable energy source we have decreased our carbon footprint. I will describe some of the most realistic renewable energy sources to give you some idea of what is involved in each. Solar Power
 * Solar power** is the conversion of sunlight into electricity. This can be done using two different methods. Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of sunlight into energy. Concentrating solar power focuses the suns power in order to boil water which can be used to provide different forms of energy.
 * Photovoltaics**-a solar cells converts light from the sun into energy using the photoelectric effect. the photoelectric effect is when electrons are emitted from matter after the absorption of energy from electromagnetic radiation. this was first developed in the eighteen eighties by a man named Fritts. It is most commonly known for its use in solar powered calculators.
 * Concentrating solar power**-uses lenses to focus light into a high intensity high heat beam. Because a high area of sunlight is funneled down into a small beam, that beam has enough heat to act as a heat source for conventional power plants.
 * A Study of Very Large Solar Desert Systems with the Requirements and Benefits to those Nations Having high Solar Irradiation Potential**, found if you were to Cover four percent of the world's desert area with photovoltaics could supply the entire worlds supply of electricity could be created. The Gobi Desert alone could supply almost all of the world's total energy demand**.**
 * Renewed Interest-** after the oil embargo in the early seventies and the energy crisis in ninteen seventy-nine, the world realized that technology needed to be developed to move away from complete dependance on one limited resource. Efforts included incentive programs such as the Federal Photovoltaic utilization program and the Sunshine program in Japan. Yet despite these years of advancements in technology, falling oil prices severely limited the demand for solar technology once again. Once the oil supply came into question in the late Nineteen nineties again, renewed interest took place and has not stopped since. In an attempt to find an alternative renewable source of energy and to eliminate global warming production has grown an average of forty percent per year since two thousand. To give an example of the effectiveness of this power, Nellis airforce base is receiving photovoltaic power for two cents a kWh while its receiving grid power for about nine cents a kWh

~ Name of PV power plant ~ Country ~ DC Peak Power (MW) ~ GW·h /year ~ Capacity factor ~ Notes
 * World's largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants**

Wind- Wind mills are no longer only found on postcards of Holland. Granted the new wind mills which are being built to generate power look a lot more modern. Generally white in color, almost robotic, the look very industrial. Wind turbines convert wind energy into a usable form. This is a clean form of creating energy.

Thermal