Power source
Power Source
Daniel Rochelle
Com/156
10/4/2013
Jason MacLeod
Power Source
Can you believe there are 7.1 billion people on this earth. In the United States the average household uses 940 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month. Right now, solar power is producing .7% of the world’s energy. That may not seem like much compared to nuclear power which is producing 13% of the world’s energy. Currently in the United States alone solar power is producing .11% of the energy consumed and nuclear is producing 19%. Those are low numbers compared to the 68% which is generated from fossil fuels. The growing concern with global warming and our dependence on foreign fossil fuels is leading to a different concern besides just our cars and daily commuting. With the concern of future energy, solar and nuclear power both affect the environment differently, can be affordable, and can be the future of clean energy.
“Different energy sources take different amounts of land to make it a practical part of meeting the everyday demands of electricity customers” (Entergy, 2013, A Comparison: Land use by energy source). The average nuclear power plant takes 200-400 acres to generate 1,000-megawatts. While to make the same amount of power with solar panels or a solar park it would take 54,000 acres. At the same time this is a huge difference in land use the nuclear plant is running 24 hours a day seven days a week, the solar park can only produce power when the sun is out hence this is why it takes so much more land to produce the same amount of energy. With the solar panels need for sun to produce electricity they need to be in open areas and sunny places. Rooftops are excellent locations for solar panels, the draw back with this is that they do not contribute to the power grid but they do help take the building they are supplying with power off the grid. There are solar farms and these farms are powering the main building and the rest of the power is sent back to the
Daniel Rochelle
Com/156
10/4/2013
Jason MacLeod
Power Source
Can you believe there are 7.1 billion people on this earth. In the United States the average household uses 940 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month. Right now, solar power is producing .7% of the world’s energy. That may not seem like much compared to nuclear power which is producing 13% of the world’s energy. Currently in the United States alone solar power is producing .11% of the energy consumed and nuclear is producing 19%. Those are low numbers compared to the 68% which is generated from fossil fuels. The growing concern with global warming and our dependence on foreign fossil fuels is leading to a different concern besides just our cars and daily commuting. With the concern of future energy, solar and nuclear power both affect the environment differently, can be affordable, and can be the future of clean energy.
“Different energy sources take different amounts of land to make it a practical part of meeting the everyday demands of electricity customers” (Entergy, 2013, A Comparison: Land use by energy source). The average nuclear power plant takes 200-400 acres to generate 1,000-megawatts. While to make the same amount of power with solar panels or a solar park it would take 54,000 acres. At the same time this is a huge difference in land use the nuclear plant is running 24 hours a day seven days a week, the solar park can only produce power when the sun is out hence this is why it takes so much more land to produce the same amount of energy. With the solar panels need for sun to produce electricity they need to be in open areas and sunny places. Rooftops are excellent locations for solar panels, the draw back with this is that they do not contribute to the power grid but they do help take the building they are supplying with power off the grid. There are solar farms and these farms are powering the main building and the rest of the power is sent back to the
References: Gaylen Davenport (2013). Is a Solar energy boom coming soon, The Week Retrieved from http://www.worldwideenergy.com/tag/solar-energy/ Michael Mendelsohn (2012). Where did all the solar go? Calculating total U.S. solar energy Production, National Renewable energy laboratory. Retrieved from http://financere.nrel.gov/finance/content/calculating-total-us-solar-energy-production-behind-the-meter-utility-scale/ Trey Granger (2010) Retrieved from http://earth911.com/news/2010/02/09/as-solar-power-adcances-disposal-will-become-an-issue/ John Funk (2010) EDF Energy (2013). Measuring energy’s contribution to climate change, EDF Energy Retrieved from http://www.edfenergy.com/energyfuture/the-energy-gap-climate-change Entergy (2013). A Comparison: Land use by energy source – Nuclear, Wind and Solar, Entergy PDF Retrieved from http://www.entergy-arkansas.com/content/news/docs/AR_Nuclear_One_Land_Use.pdf World Nuclear Association (2012). Radioactive Waste Management, World_nuclear.org Retrieved from http://www.world-nuclear.org/