GREEN ENERGY Max Blankenship Hailey Welch Ben French Cam Wilson

Can the United States afford to make to make the change to GREEN ENERGY in todays society?

SOLAR ENERGY COSTS VS. ELECTRIC, OIL & NATURAL GAS

“The U.S. solar market faces both challenges and opportunities; the industry is working to scale up the production of solar technology, and drive down manufacturing and installation costs.” Pros Cleanest/Most Abundant renewable energy Variety of uses: Electric, Providing light, heating homes & water Power plants could be constructed on site, or can be constructed off the solar base, and still store power Cons Initial investment too costly Switching to this type of power would actually put electric companies down, decreasing our countries GDP. Storing solar power is more difficult, and would be the constant cost of switching to solar power.

BIOFUELS Corn Ethanol Would drive food prices up 40% of US corn crop only makes 1/20 of needed fuel Algal oil Companies already created cars that run on algal oil Algae can be farmed in fresh and saltwater More energy per acre than any other form of biofuels Photosynthesis Most efficient method of turning sun’s power into usable energy Fossil fuels originate from photosynthesis

HYDROELECTRIC Disadvantages Include: Disturb Habitats with Flood Plain Can cause issues with agriculture Possible breach of dam Expensive to build Droughts could affect generation Advantages Include: Cheap generation costs Clean – no generation emissions Constant Power Recreation Modular Installations Renewable resource Safe

HYDROELECTRIC

CAPE WIND PROJECT $2.5 billion needed to build- lack of private sector investment High maintenance costs Energy cost twice as much as fossil fuels Environmental concerns MORE R&D NEEDED

HYDROHYHYDROGEN FUEL CELLS Pros Cons made from water, only by- product is water, technology isn't developed Can power homes & vehicles technology requires platinum, massively expensive to make fuel cells

someone needs to find a replacement for platinum in the fuel cells (catalyst) & prices for fuel cells need to drop in order for it to be better than batteries for storing energy HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS IN CONCLUSION

OUTLOOKOUTLOUTLOOOUTLOOK ON ECONOMY With enough investment, green energy could replace fossil fuels as our primary source of energy. With current infrastructure, it would be too expensive to make the switch, society is not ready for a green economy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY BI sound/mGJnw0PbCdfzZHtITxq1aN/story.html energyinformative.org/hydroelectric-energy-pros-and-cons Strahan, David, New Scientist, , 11/29/2008, Vol. 199, Issue Mayfield, S. (2013). The Green Revolution 2.0: the potential of algae for the production of biofuels and bioproducts1. Genome, 56(10), doi: /gen