1. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

2. What is solar energy?
Utilizing solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity
Pros (+): Free. Needs no fuel, produces no waste or pollution, safe
Cons (-): Large panels are expensive, needs a mostly sunny climate, energy has to be stored

3. SOLAR ENERGY

4. North Carolina Solar House
The North Carolina Solar House is a house on the campus of N.C. State University in Raleigh, NC. This house is run almost entirely off of solar energy.
Click on the “Virtual Tour” link (during slideshow) to open a virtual tour of the NCSU Solar House. After opening the page, you can click “enter home” and can take a tour of the home. Click on the “more” tab at the top of the page in order to see how the home uses
Daily Tar Heel article on a solar farm in Hillsborough:
More info on Hillsborough solar farm:
Additional article on NC Solar:
More resources:

5. What is wind energy?
Pros(+): Free, needs no fuel, produces no waste or pollution
Cons(-): Doesn’t work without wind, can be noisy, may kill birds
Using turbines to convert wind power into electrical or mechanical energy.

6. What is tidal energy?
Water powered generators transform it into electrical or mechanical energy.
Pros (+): Free, needs no fuel, produces no waste, can create a large amount of energy
Cons (-): Needs strong and consistent waves, can be noisy, equipment must withstand rough weather

7. TIDAL STREAM ENERGY

8. What is geothermal energy?
Pros (+): Needs little or no fuel, little impact on the environment
Cons (-): Dangerous gases can come up from underground, can’t built power plants everywhere
Steam is collected and used to drive a turbine (generator)

9. What is hydroelectric energy?
Kinetic energy of falling water is converted into electrical energy
Pros (+): Very reliable, water can be stored in dams for future use
Cons (-): Expensive to build dams, causes upstream flooding

10. What are biofuels?
Use fuels derived from living or dead biological organisms
Pros (+): Reduces no waste materials, fuels tend to be cheap
Cons (-): When burned they create greenhouse gases

11. BIOFUEL