By David Sandberg, Conor Lowther, Marc O’Rourke Alternative resource 1 By David Sandberg, Conor Lowther, Marc O’Rourke

Wind energy A true challenge with wind energy is to be economically competitive with oil, coal, and natural gas, when producing electricity. Wind energy is a cost efficient, conventional source of energy. Wind power is measured in Watts. Wind farms can be built on land and sea. Wind energy is starting to be used around the world (mostly Europe and North America).

Geothermal Energy Thermal Energy is generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal Energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. At the core of the Earth thermal energy is created by radioactive decay and temperatures may reach over 5000 degrees F. The high temperature and pressure creates magma the magma heats water and rock on the crust of the earth at times up to 370 degrees Celsius or 700 degrees Fahrenheit In the beginning geothermal energy was used for hot baths but it is now used for generating energy

Hydroelectric Energy Hydro-electric Power is made by moving water. Hydroelectric Power has been in use for thousands of years. Ancient Romans used it to grind grains. Today we use Hydroelectric Power for electricity. In order to harness the Hydroelectric Power a dam is needed to control the water. Engineers can control how much energy is created. The Booneville Dam has twenty turbines and it creates more than a million Watts of energy. That is enough energy to power thousands of homes and businesses.

Wind Turbines One disadvantage to wind power is you can’t have a lot of them close together because too many turbines blocks the wind for its neighbors. Another disadvantage is if they spin too fast they may break. The taller the turbine is the stronger the wind is. Typically modern turbines range in size from 660 kilowatts to over 3 megawatts of capacity.

Wind Turbines

Geothermal Turbines Worldwide about 10715 megawatts of geothermal power is used in twenty four countries. Geothermal energy is very eco friendly In 2010, the USA led the world in geothermal electricity production with 3,086 MW of installed capacity from 77 power plants .The largest group of geothermal power plants in the world is located at The Geysers, a geothermal field in California.

Geothermal Turbines

Hydroelectric Turbines Water is channeled through the tunnels of the dam. The water flowing through the dam tunnels causes the turbines to turn therefore making the generators move. When the generators move it creates electricity.

Hydroelectric Turbines

Resources http://www.windenergyamerica.com/faqs.html http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/tech/geothermal-energy