What about alternative energy sources. Prospects for the use of alternative energy sources

On the threshold of the 21st century, people increasingly began to think about what will become the basis of their existence in the new era. People have gone from the first fire to nuclear power plants, but energy has been and remains the main component of human life.

There are "traditional" types of alternative energy: the energy of the Sun and wind, sea waves and hot springs, tides. Based on these natural resources, power plants were created: wind, tidal, geothermal, solar.

Now, more than ever, the question arose about what the future of the planet will be in terms of energy. What awaits humanity - energy hunger or energy abundance? There are more and more articles about the energy crisis in newspapers and various magazines. Because of oil, wars arise, states flourish and become poorer, governments are replaced. Reports about the launch of new installations or about new inventions in the field of energy began to be attributed to the category of newspaper sensations. Gigantic energy programs are being developed, the implementation of which will require enormous efforts and huge material outlays.

If at the end of the 19th century energy played, in general, an auxiliary and insignificant role in the world balance, then already in 1930 about 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were produced in the world. Over time - gigantic numbers, huge growth rates! And still there will be little energy - the demand for it is growing even faster.

Therefore, now all scientists of the world are faced with the problem of finding and developing new alternative energy sources. This paper will consider the classification of alternative energy sources, ways to find new types of fuel and the experience of Russia and other foreign countries in the invention and use of energy-saving resources.

1. Alternative energy sources

Alternative energy sources include the energy of the Sun, earth, wind, air, nuclear and bioenergy.

solar energy

The Sun is the center of our system of 8 planets (not counting the smaller ones, such as Pluto, Ceres, etc.), is the primary and main source of energy in our system of planets. Being a large thermonuclear reactor, releasing an enormous amount of energy, it warms the Earth, sets in motion the upper atmosphere, ocean currents and rivers. Under the influence of sunlight and thanks to photosynthesis, about one quadrillion tons of plants grow on our planet, which in turn give life to 10 trillion tons of animal organisms. Thanks to the joint work of the Sun, water and air, over millions of years, hydrocarbon reserves have been accumulated on the earth - coal, oil, gas, etc., which we are now actively using.

To meet the needs of mankind in energy resources, today, it is required to burn about ten billion tons of hydrocarbon fuel per year. It is believed that there are about six trillion tons of various hydrocarbons on the earth. If we take the energy supplied to our planet by the Sun in a year and convert it into hydrocarbon fuel that we burn, we will get about one hundred trillion tons, which is ten thousand times more than the amount of energy resources we need.

Even a hundredth of the energy that comes from the Sun to the Earth in one year is enough to provide the needs of mankind with energy for several centuries, and if we can take this percentage, then this would solve many problems with energy generation for many centuries to come. How to take this much-needed percentage of solar energy in theory is clear, the matter remains with more advanced energy conversion technologies. Among renewable energy sources, solar radiation is the most promising in terms of resources, prevalence, availability and environmental friendliness.

At the beginning of the 20th century, many scientists around the world seriously thought about the use of solar energy. Our compatriot, the founder of theoretical astronautics K.E. Tsiolkovsky, in the second part of his book: "Investigations of world spaces with reactive devices", wrote the following: "Reactive devices will conquer boundless spaces for people and give solar energy two billion times greater than that which mankind has on Earth."

Albert Einstein, the founder of the world-famous theory of relativity, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921 for explaining the laws of the external photoelectric effect. In 1905, his work was published, in which, based on Planck's hypothesis, Einstein described exactly how and in what quantities light quanta knock out electrons from metal. For the first time, Soviet physicists succeeded in putting this hypothesis into practice in the 1930s under the guidance of the famous academician A.F. Ioffe.

At the Physicotechnical Institute, the first sulfide-thallium photocells were developed and created, however, the efficiency of these elements did not reach 1%.

Later, in 1954, American scientists Pearson, Fuller and Chapin patented the first element with an efficiency of about 6%. In the 70s, the efficiency of solar photovoltaic cells approached 10%, but their production was quite expensive and economically unjustified, therefore, the use of solar cells was mainly limited to astronautics. For the production of elements, silicon (Si, silicon) of high purity and special quality was required, in comparison with the cost of combusted hydrocarbons, silicon processing was seen as expensive and unjustified, although this element of the periodic table is found in abundance on the beaches in the form of sand (SiO 2). As a result, research on the development of technologies in the field of solar energy has been cut in funding or completely curtailed.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the efficiency of solar panels could be increased to 20%. It is easy to guess why humanity has retreated from the development of solar energy. In the middle of the last century, our civilization unraveled the mystery of nuclear energy, and all the forces of science were thrown into the search for new ways to enrich uranium and create more advanced nuclear reactors, to the detriment of technologies for producing silicon and developing new types of solar cells.

However, it all looks a little strange, given the fact that more advanced technologies for obtaining silicon have long existed. Back in 1974, Siemens (Germany) developed a technology for producing silicon using a carbothermal cycle, which reduced the cost of the process by an order of magnitude. However, this technology no longer requires ordinary sand, but the so-called extra-pure quartz, the reserves of which are the largest in our country, which is undoubtedly beneficial for Russia, because the available reserves are enough for everyone.

Solar panels as a form of using solar energy

The sun is the most powerful source of energy in our solar system. The pressure in its inner part is about 100 billion atmospheres, and the temperature reaches 16 million degrees. Only one two billionth of all radiation reaches the Earth. But even this small part exceeds in power all terrestrial sources of energy (including the energy of the earth's core). The use of solar energy has become common today, and solar panels are gaining more and more popularity.
The first solar panels were used in 1957 in space exploration. They were installed on the satellite to convert solar energy into electrical energy, which was necessary for the operation of the satellite. When creating solar cells, semiconductor materials are used, usually silicon.

The principle of operation of solar cells is based on the photoelectric effect - the conversion of light energy into electricity. When solar energy hits an inhomogeneous semiconductor (inhomogeneity can be achieved in various ways, for example, by doping), nonequilibrium charge carriers of both types are created in it. When this system is connected to an external circuit, electrons can be “collected”, respectively, creating an electric current. There are many effects that negatively affect the amount of current received (for example, partial reflection of the sun's rays or their scattering), so research work to create the most suitable material is very relevant today.
Solar panels are large-area modules that are assembled from individual elements. These elements are usually small plates (whose dimensions are on average 130 × 130 mm), with contacts soldered to them.
This type of energy is absolutely environmentally friendly, since there are no toxic and dangerous emissions into the atmosphere, they do not pollute water or soil, they do not even have dangerous radiation. In addition, it is a very reliable source of alternative energy - according to scientists, the sun will shine for several million more years. In addition, solar energy is absolutely free. Another thing, of course, is that the creation of the solar cell itself is a rather expensive procedure.

But this issue also has a downside. While the energy of the sun is free and vast, it is fickle. The operation of solar panels is highly dependent on the weather. In cloudy weather, the amount of electricity generated drops significantly, and at night it stops altogether. Trying to somehow cope with this, scientists have developed all kinds of batteries. But when such huge solar stations are loaded, the batteries do not last more than an hour. Therefore, the use of solar panels is possible only in conjunction with a stable source of electricity.
Solar panels are common in tropical and subtropical regions. The number of sunny days in the countries of these regions is maximum, therefore, the amount of electricity generated is also maximum.

Solar energy can be used not only by large companies, but also by owners of private houses. For example, in Germany, solar panels are installed on the roofs of houses, which allows owners to save about 50% of all electricity costs. Given that the cost of electricity in this country is quite high. On sunny days, the amount of recycled energy can exceed what is needed. In Germany, for example, the state buys these surpluses from private individuals and resells the purchased electricity at night at a lower price, which stimulates the population's interest in installing solar panels.
In the most cloudless regions, entire solar power plants (HEES) are being built. The principle of their operation is somewhat different from solar panels. These solar installations concentrate solar energy and use it to drive turbines, heat engines, etc. An example is the solar tower in Spain. Many mirrors direct the sun's rays to its upper part, heating the water there to 250 degrees. This is beneficial in many ways.
Another advantage of solar panels is their mobility. A small element in bright sunlight can generate enough electricity to, for example, charge a cell phone or a low-power laptop.

earth energy

Planet Earth is the most amazing and mysterious object that has been exciting the minds of people for many centuries. She gives life, sharing heat, water, food, and takes it away, collapsing with hurricanes, earthquakes, floods or volcanic eruptions. To survive, a person needs energy and he takes it by stealing the bowels of our planet: he extracts tons of oil, coal, cuts down forests, etc. Despite the fact that our planet is very rich, its reserves are still not unlimited. This problem has been disturbing the minds of heads of state and scientists for more than a year - new sources of alternative energy are constantly being sought.

One of the possible solutions to this pressing problem has become geothermal energy, that is, the use of the internal heat of the earth and turning it into electricity.

The approximate temperature of the earth's core is 5000°C, and the pressure there reaches 361 GPa. Such incredibly high values ​​are achieved due to the radioactivity of the nucleus. It heats nearby rock layers, thereby creating hot streams the size of continents. They slowly rise from the depths of the earth's interior, forcing the continents to move, provoking volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

As you move away from the core, the temperature constantly decreases, but the heat during volcanic eruptions suggests that even the “low” temperature for the core is simply colossal. The thermal energy of the earth is huge, but the catch is that modern technologies do not yet allow using it, if not completely, then at least half.

In a sense, the earth's core can be considered a perpetual motion machine: there is strong pressure (and it will always be due to gravity), which means there is high temperature and atomic reactions. But so far, neither technology nor materials have been created that could withstand such harsh conditions and allow access to the core. Today we can use the heat of the near-surface layers, the temperature of which is incomparable with thousands of degrees, but it is quite sufficient for its beneficial use.
There are several ways to use geothermal energy. For example, you can use hot groundwater to heat residential buildings, various enterprises or institutions. But of greater interest is the use of thermal energy to convert it into electricity.

Geothermal energy is distinguished by the form in which it breaks out of the ground:

• "Dry steam" . This is steam escaping from the ground without droplets of water and impurities. It is very convenient to use it to rotate turbines that produce electrical energy. And the condensed water, as a rule, remains quite clean and can be returned back to the ground or even to nearby bodies of water.
• "Wet steam" . It is a mixture of water and steam. In this case, the task is somewhat more complicated, since you first have to separate the steam from the water, and only then use it. Water drops can damage turbines.
• "System with a binary cycle" . Hot water comes out of the ground. Using this water, isobutane is converted into a gaseous state. And then use isobutane steam to rotate the turbines. This water can be used for direct space heating - district heating.

The disadvantage of such installations is that they are geographically tied to areas of geothermal activity, which are located quite unevenly on the surface of the earth. In Russia, geothermal energy sources are located in Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin - economically underdeveloped regions. Since they have a poorly developed infrastructure, they are sparsely populated, have a difficult terrain and high seismic activity, these areas are economically unprofitable for the creation of thermal stations there. But this cannot become a limitation of the thermal energy of our planet.
In the mid-19th century, British physicist William Thomson laid the foundation for heat pump technology. The principle of its operation can be explained schematically in the form of three closed circuits.

The so-called coolant circulates in the external circuit, which absorbs the heat of the environment. Typically, this circuit is a pipeline that is as close as possible to an external heat source (soil, river, sea, etc.) with circulating antifreeze (antifreeze liquid).

In the second circuit, a substance circulates, which evaporates due to the heat of the substance of the first circuit, and condenses, giving off heat to the substance of the last third circuit. The second circuit uses a refrigerant (substance with a low evaporation temperature) as the evaporating medium. A condenser, an evaporator and devices that change the pressure of the refrigerant are built into the same circuit. The third circuit is the heating element that transfers heat to the premises.
There is another project that converts the heat of the earth's crust into electricity. This project was developed by scientists from one of the national laboratories of the US Department of Energy. The technology consists in drilling two shallow wells with a depth of about four kilometers, which reach hard rock. Further, the rocks are crushed with the help of underground explosions, increasing the depth of the well. One of the wells is filled with water, where it heats up to 176 degrees. Despite the fact that the temperature is relatively low, it is quite enough to heat the premises and generate electricity. Then, water rises through another well (they try to locate it at a considerable distance from the first one) and enters the power plant.

The advantage of this method is its independence from the geothermal activity of the area - it is suitable for installation almost everywhere.
For quite a long time, the minds of scientists have been excited by another type of Earth energy - the energy of the magnetic field. To date, not a single real-life project has been created. But the huge potential of the magnetic field is constantly pushing for the invention of newer and more cunning devices. One of which is the Tesla electric car. The principle of operation of this device remained a mystery to everyone.

Nikola Tesla replaced a conventional car's gasoline engine with a standard 80hp AC electric motor that had no visible external power source. The car could reach speeds up to 150 km / h. According to the scientist himself, the machine worked thanks to “the ether that is around us!”. Modern researchers believe that the physicist used the energy of the magnetic field of our planet in his generator. He could tune his high frequency AC circuit to a resonant frequency of 7.5 Hz. But these are just guesses.
Such alternative sources of energy as thermal or magnetic will soon become not fantasies or hypotheses, but a necessity. Well, due to their advantages: high environmental friendliness, independence from location and weather or climatic conditions, low production costs and, of course, inexhaustibility, these energy sources are becoming very promising.

Wind energy Form start

Air is wind, one of the alternative energy sources on our planet.

Modernity defines wind as a stream of air moving along the earth's surface at a speed of over 0.6 m/s. It occurs due to the uneven distribution of atmospheric pressure, which is constantly changing, shifting huge layers of air from a high pressure zone to a low one. In ancient times, there was not a single idea about all these cunning definitions, but this did not prevent ancient people from learning how to use wind energy for their own purposes.

Even before our era, skilled Egyptians crossed the Nile on the first sailing boats. As a result, this was the first step in the development of sailing. The Vikings were no less inventive. Their combat sailing ships, driven by strong gusts of wind, surpassed all ships in Western Europe in speed and lightness, instilling fear and horror in the local population. The creation of the first windmills in the 12th century led to the birth of the first baked bread, without which it is impossible to imagine any modern table.

The use of wind energy has found great application in Holland. This country is often flooded because it is below sea level, and the use of wind energy in the 14th century to pump water from the fields made it one of the richest countries at that time. Subsequently, other European countries began to use such an alternative energy source to achieve the opposite effect - supplying water to dry fields.

By the 19th century, windmills had already become commonplace for people. By 1900 there were more than 2,000 windmills in Denmark alone. And the creation of the first windmill, which converts wind into electricity, was the beginning of a new round in the history of modern energy - wind energy.

Wind power has become very promising because wind is a renewable source of energy. The development of this energy industry is very active: by 2008, the total installed capacity of all wind turbines was 120 gigawatts. Since the power of the wind generator depends on the area of ​​the generator blades, there is a tendency to increase their size, and these structures cannot be called mills - now they are turbines.

This type of energy has become widespread in the United States. By the middle of the 20th century, several hundred thousand turbines had been built there. Over time, wind farms have become very common in windy California, and throughout the states, and after the passage of a law requiring utilities to buy excess electricity obtained from wind from ordinary citizens, this area has become attractive and financially.

The environmental aspect of wind energy is important. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, by 2050 this industry will help reduce annual carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions by 1.5 billion tons. Turbines occupy a very small area of ​​the wind farm (about 1%), therefore, the rest of the area is open for agriculture. This is of great importance in small densely populated countries.
The importance of wind power increased in 1973, when OPEC imposed an embargo on oil production and began to track its amount annually. The cost of oil has increased many times, forcing states to study and develop alternative energy sources. Every year the cost of wind power technology decreases, increasing the share of wind energy in the total volume. To date, this contribution worldwide is only 2%, but this figure is growing every minute.

water energy

Water is the source of life on earth. This is one of the most unique and amazing phenomena on our planet, which has many unique properties, the use of which can be very beneficial and useful for humans.

Water energy is one of the first sources of energy that people have learned to use for their own purposes. So the principle of operation of the first river mills is simple and at the same time ingenious: a moving stream of water rotates the wheel, converting the kinetic energy of water into the mechanical work of the wheel. In fact, all modern hydroelectric power plants operate in the same way, with only one important addition: the mechanical energy of the wheel is then converted into electrical energy.

The energy of water can be roughly divided into three types according to its form in which it is transformed:

1. Ebb and flow energy . The ebb phenomenon is very interesting and for a long time it could not be explained in any way. Large massive (and of course close to the Earth) space objects, such as the Moon or the Sun, by the action of their gravity lead to an uneven distribution of water in the ocean, creating "humps" of water. Due to the rotation of the earth, these “humps” begin to move and move towards the shores. But due to the same rotation of the Earth, the position of the ocean relative to the Moon changes, thereby reducing the effect of gravity.

During high tide, special reservoirs located on the coastline are filled. Reservoirs are formed thanks to dams. At low tide, the water begins its reverse movement, which is used to rotate turbines and convert energy. It is important that the height difference between high and low tide be as large as possible, otherwise such a station simply cannot justify itself. Therefore, tidal power plants are usually created in narrow places where the height of the tides reaches at least 10 m. For example, a tidal station in France at the mouth of the Rance River.

But such stations also have their disadvantages: the creation of a dam leads to an increase in the amplitude of the tides from the ocean, and this entails flooding the land with salt water. As a result - a change in the flora and fauna of the biological system, and not for the best.
2. Energy of sea waves. Despite the fact that the nature of this energy is very similar to the energy of ebbs and flows, it is still customary to single it out as a separate branch. This type of energy has a rather high specific power (the approximate power of ocean waves reaches 15 kW/m). If the wave height is about two meters, then this value can increase to 80 kW/m. It is not possible to convert all the wave energy into electrical energy, but still the conversion coefficient is quite high - 85%.
To date, the use of sea wave energy is not particularly common due to a number of difficulties that arise when creating installations. So far, this area is only at the stage of experimental research.
3. hydroelectric power plants . This type of energy has become available to humans thanks to the joint "work" of the three elements: water, air and, of course, the sun. The sun evaporates water from the surface of lakes, seas and oceans, forming clouds. The wind moves gaseous water to elevated areas, where it condenses and, falling as precipitation, begins to flow back to its original sources. On the way of these streams, hydroelectric power plants are placed, which intercept the energy of falling water and convert it into electricity. The power generated by the station depends on the height of the water fall, so dams began to be created at the hydroelectric power station. They also allow you to adjust the amount of flow. The creation of such a huge structure is very expensive, but the hydroelectric power station fully pays for itself due to the inexhaustibility of the resource used and free access to it.
This type of energy, by analogy with the rest, has both pluses and minuses. Just as in the case of using the energy of the tides, the creation of a hydroelectric power station leads to the flooding of a large area and causing irreparable damage to the local fauna. But even taking into account this circumstance, we can talk about the high environmental friendliness of HPPs: they cause only local damage, without polluting the Earth's atmosphere. In an attempt to reduce the damage caused by the stations, more and more new methods of their operation are being developed, and the design of the turbines themselves is constantly being improved.

One of the proposed methods was the "pumping" of batteries. Water that has passed through the turbines does not flow further, but accumulates in large reservoirs. When the load on the hydroelectric power station becomes minimal, the stored water is pumped back up due to the energy of a nuclear or thermal station and everything repeats. This method wins both in terms of environmental and economic indicators.
Another interesting area for the use of water energy came up with experts from the Atomic Energy Commission in Grenoble, France. They suggest using the energy of the falling rain. Each falling drop, falling on the piezoceramic element, affects it physically, which leads to the appearance of an electric potential. Further, the electrical charge is modified (just as in microphones, the electrical signal is converted into oscillations).

Due to the variety of its forms, water has a truly enormous energy potential. To date, hydropower is already highly developed and accounts for 25% of the world's electricity production, and given the pace of its development, we can safely say that it is a very promising area.

Atomic Energy Form start

At the end of the 20th century, the problem of finding alternative energy sources became very relevant. Despite the fact that our planet is truly rich in natural resources such as oil, coal, timber, etc., all these riches are exhaustible. Therefore, we have to look for more and more new and perfect sources of energy.

For a long time, mankind has found one way or another to solve the issue of alternative energy sources, but the real breakthrough in the history of energy was the emergence of nuclear energy.

Nuclear theory has come a long way in development before people learned how to use it for their own purposes. It all started back in 1896, when A. Becquerel registered invisible rays emitted by uranium ore, and which had a great penetrating power. Later this phenomenon was called radioactivity.

The history of the development of nuclear energy contains several dozen outstanding names, including Soviet physicists. The final stage of development can be called 1939 - when Yu.B. Khariton and Ya.B. Zeldovich theoretically showed the possibility of implementing a chain reaction of fission of uranium-235 nuclei. Further development of nuclear power went by leaps and bounds. According to the most rough estimates, the energy that is released during the fission of 1 kg of uranium can be compared with the energy that is obtained by burning 2,500,000 kg of coal.

During the Second World War, all research was redirected to the military field. The first example of nuclear energy that man was able to demonstrate to the whole world was the atomic bomb, then the hydrogen bomb.

Only years later did the scientific community turn its attention to more peaceful areas where the use of nuclear energy could become really useful. Thus began the dawn of the youngest field of energy. Nuclear power plants (NPPs) began to appear, and the world's first NPP was built in the city of Obninsk, Kaluga Region.

Today, there are several hundred nuclear power plants around the world. The development of nuclear energy has been incredibly fast. In less than 100 years, she was able to achieve an ultra-high level of technological development. The amount of energy that is released during the fission of uranium or plutonium nuclei is incomparably large - this made it possible to create large industrial-type nuclear power plants.

This energy is obtained as a result of a chain reaction of nuclear fission of some radioactive elements. Usually uranium-235 or plutonium is used. Nuclear fission begins when a neutron enters it - an elementary particle that has no charge, but has a relatively large mass (0.14% more than the mass of a proton). As a result, fission fragments and new neutrons are formed, which have high kinetic energy, which in turn is actively converted into heat.
This type of energy is produced not only at nuclear power plants. It is also used on nuclear submarines and nuclear icebreakers.
Nuclear power plants need fuel to function properly. As a rule, it is uranium. This element is widely distributed in nature, but is difficult to access. In nature, there are no deposits of uranium (such as oil), it is, as it were, "smeared" over the entire earth's crust. The richest uranium ores, which are very rare, contain up to 10% pure uranium. Uranium is commonly found in uranium-bearing minerals as an isomorphic replacement element. But with all this, the total amount of uranium on the planet is grandiosely large. Perhaps in the near future, the latest technologies will increase the percentage of uranium production.

Such a powerful source of energy, and therefore strength, cannot but cause concern. There is constant debate about its reliability and safety. It is difficult to assess what damage nuclear energy does to the environment. However, if tomorrow our planet ran out of all the reserves of traditional energy sources, then nuclear energy, perhaps, would become the only area that could really replace it. Its benefits cannot be denied, but the possible consequences should not be forgotten either.

Bioenergy

There is a lot of confusion associated with the concept of bioenergy.

By definition, bioenergy is a branch of alternative energy, that is, energy that is considered renewable. The amount of energy consumed by all mankind per year is simply enormous. Therefore, the question arises of whether at least some resource can be restored according to the rate of its consumption.

Bioenergy is a combination of a whole range of alternative energy sources. This spectrum is united by one general concept of biomass. In fact, this is the result of the vital activity of all living organisms on our planet.

Annually, the growth of biomass on the planet reaches 130 billion tons of dry matter. This corresponds to 660,000 TWh per year, while the global public needs only 15,000 TWh per year.
Today, more than 99% of car owners use fuel made from oil. And every day the number of cars on the roads is growing. Petroleum fuel is hardly renewable. The amount of oil is inexorably decreasing every year, which leads to an increase in its price. And since the economy of many countries is only developing, then, despite the increase in prices, the demand for oil will still grow. A vicious circle, the way out of which can be biofuels.
For a long time, biofuels were considered uncompetitive, because they were inferior to fossil fuels both in terms of power produced and in terms of the complexity of implementation. But ever-evolving technology has helped solve these problems. Biofuels come in different types:

• liquid: methanol, ethanol, biodiesel;
• gaseous: hydrogen, liquefied petroleum gas (propane-butane fractions);
• solid: firewood, coal, straw.

The newly created liquid biofuel is distinguished by its environmental friendliness and availability, but it also has another important advantage. The transition to liquid biofuels will not require significant changes in the structure of engines and equipment. The biofuel itself is a raw material obtained from the processing, as a rule, of rape seeds, soybeans, sugarcane stalks or corn. Many more directions are being developed for the production of fossil fuels (for example, from cellulose).

Natural gas, hydrogen and similar raw materials cannot be classified as renewable sources, so they can be considered, to a certain extent, a half measure when switching to biofuels. In addition, there are many difficulties associated with the introduction of such technology. For example, a hydrogen engine could become a very promising representative of its "family", but for the normal functioning of the car, it would be necessary to fix the whole tank on the roof of the car, which is not very convenient. And in a compressed state, hydrogen is very explosive.

The latest inventions in the field of nanotechnology came to the rescue - a project is being developed to create nanocapsules for storing hydrogen and other explosive gases. Each nanocapsule (modified nanotube) will be filled with a certain number of gas molecules and “corked” with fullerene, which will allow the gas to be divided into portions, making it safe.

The situation with biodiesel fuel is much simpler. Biodiesel is vegetable oil interesterified with methanol (sometimes ethanol or isopropyl alcohol can be used). The reaction usually takes place at normal pressure and a temperature of 60 °C. Vegetable oils are obtained from a variety of representatives of the flora (more than 20 items), but Rapeseed remains the leader. It is an oily plant that is easy to grow in agricultural conditions.
But the benefits of bioenergy do not end there. In addition to the fact that it answers the pressing questions of our time about the search for alternative energy sources and its environmental friendliness, it is important to note the material aspect.

Oil imports have a strong impact on the country's budget, given the constant increase in its price. And biofuels, on the contrary, are getting cheaper every day. Hence, it can be argued that the savings in the transition to biofuels can be very significant.

In February 2006, the European Union adopted the document “Strategy for Biofuels”, which describes the market, legislative and research potential to increase the use of biofuels. Even if today the percentage of biofuels in the global fuel energy does not even reach one percent, with so many advantages, the situation should change dramatically in the near future.

2. Problems of energy saving in Russia and abroad, ways to solve them

A truly epoch-making event for Russia following the results of 2009 is the adoption of the Federal Law “On Energy Saving and Increasing Energy Efficiency”. Over the past few years, his draft has withstood more than one edition, and heated debates around certain provisions of this document have acquired a national scale, spilling over beyond the professional community and circles close to the legislature.

The energy consumption of Russian citizens is not accidental. First of all, it is due to historical and climatic factors. Another weighty indicator is the underdevelopment of legislation in comparison with the vast legislative experience of developed countries. In Russia, lawmaking in the field of energy conservation has just begun, the initiative at the commission on modernization and technological development of the economy on September 30, 2009 was taken by President Dmitry Medvedev. And on November 11, 2009, the State Duma adopted in the third reading the federal law "On Energy Saving and Increasing Energy Efficiency".

In its action, it will cover everyone and everyone, since the adoption of the Tax Code, the State Duma has not considered a bill that affects the life of literally every citizen and the production of every company on such a large scale. From the point of view of the state, these are extremely important steps. The ultimate goal of the event is fuel economy.

Energy consumption in Russia reaches almost 1 billion tons of reference fuel. According to the Russian Ministry of Energy, if energy intensity were reduced to the European level, our consumption would drop to 650 million tons of standard fuel.

Consider energy-saving light bulbs and passive houses as the most important energy-saving areas.

Energy saving light bulbs

An ordinary incandescent lamp, which has been used everywhere for more than a hundred years for lighting, heats well and shines poorly. Its luminous efficacy (that is, the number of lumens emitted per unit of power consumed) is extremely low. The argument in favor of alternative lamps is, by and large, one - they give the same amount of light with less energy consumption and a longer service life.

However, Dmitry Medvedev's position on the idea of ​​replacing incandescent lamps with energy-efficient ones received a very ambiguous reflection in the subsequent actions of officials.

From January 1, 2011, the purchase of any incandescent lamps for state and municipal needs and the turnover of incandescent lamps from 100 W and above are prohibited. Further, the bill declares that from January 1, 2013, a ban may be introduced for 75-watt light bulbs, and from January 1, 2014, and 25-watt ones. The masterpiece “lamps of 75 and 25 watts may be banned, or maybe not” does not allow enterprises to form their investment programs even in the smallest approximation. It is possible to increase the import of compact fluorescent lamps overnight, but in order to organize production, one must, after all, have an exact plan for some, at least somewhat decent, period. It can be predicted with confidence that with this approach, it will be extremely difficult for Russian business to invest in new production.

The law adopted in this edition will lead to an obvious fever in the lighting market, an increase in the import of cheap compact fluorescent lamps and the spread of imaginary phobias associated with the harmfulness and toxicity of these lamps.

The adopted law requires from all of us a total transition to instrumental accounting of produced, transmitted and consumed energy resources. Because before you save something, you need to know how much you have consumed.

Two years are given to the population for the total equipping of their property with meters - apartments, offices, warehouses, factory premises. Payment for installation and replacement of the meter is the responsibility of consumers. The law "On Energy Saving" will directly affect the pocket of citizens. In addition to light bulbs, you will have to spend at least on energy, gas, water and heat meters.

Accounting for electricity, natural gas, heat and water is a technically and economically solvable problem that has well-established standard solutions. However, paradoxically, the existing regulatory framework now prevents the population from switching to accounting for resources by the meter. This is especially evident in water accounting. By installing the meter now, the citizen may receive increased costs instead of cost savings. Until the moment when every single resident of the house does the same, the one who installed the meter will multiply the readings of his device by a coefficient depending on the number of registered in the house, water losses, consumption for general house needs, established standards for water consumption for residents who do not have meters, as well as taking into account actual consumption.

To get rid of this wildness, when expenses largely depend not on consumption, but on the number of neighbors registered in the house and the frequency of their water procedures, it is not enough to pass a law on energy saving and energy efficiency. It will be necessary to carefully and in detail rewrite the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 23, 2006 No. 307 "On the procedure for providing public services to citizens."

The next step to reduce the consumption of heat, water and electricity is a list of activities that citizens must carry out themselves. While the list in nature does not exist. The list itself and the principles of its implementation will be established by the government of the Russian Federation. It will be approved by the regional authorities. Every five years, the requirements for the energy efficiency of buildings, and, consequently, for the seriousness of the measures taken, will become tougher.

These activities will include not only the replacement of light bulbs. Probably, there will be something to replace Soviet windows with modern double-glazed windows. By and large, this is all that is available to a single citizen in a single apartment or office. Measures related to the insulation and energy saving of the whole house are possible. Ideally, a competent management company will be able to conclude an energy service contract that will allow residents to pay for facade insulation in installments, due to savings from reduced heat consumption. Instead of standard technical solutions and financial and legal mechanisms for improving the existing housing stock, the law relies on the lively creativity of the masses and housing departments.

Unfortunately, the bill practically does not notice the fundamental difference between new construction and already built buildings. In the field of new construction, the "light bulb" method of banning, for example, cold concrete and encouraging warm, porous bricks may well work. Among the five main principles for creating a warm and bright house are mainly those that have been used by builders since ancient times: good thermal insulation of walls, roofs and foundations, the correct orientation of windows to the cardinal points and the reduction of heat loss through windows.

A working, effective law on energy saving should consist of many structures that will arouse interest in improving energy efficiency among hundreds and thousands of market entities. The Russian draft law contains only their beginnings. We list the incentive measures available in the law.

An enterprise will now be able to receive an investment tax credit (deferred payment of income tax or regional tax for a period of one to five years) if it improves the energy efficiency of the production of goods, performance of work, and provision of services.

For generation objects, more stringent criteria are presented. The creation of an electric or thermal generation facility with an efficiency of more than 57% or using renewable energy sources gives rise to a tax credit of up to 30% of the cost of purchased equipment. The Russian government is obliged to include other objects and technologies with high energy efficiency in this still short list.

Our lagging behind in energy efficiency means that we must, without wasting time looking for a way, use the experience of other countries. In support of the G8 action plan, which includes Russia, and on behalf of the leaders of the G8 countries, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has prepared a special 586-page report “Prospects for energy technologies: scenarios and development strategies until 2050”. The IEA believes that energy efficiency is of paramount importance for meeting the challenges of safe and clean energy, climate change and sustainable development. In its report, the agency cited many technologies required for this, already developed or close to commercialization. So, new buildings can be 70% more energy efficient, new lighting systems 30-60% more economical, heat loss through modern windows is three times less (all this is compared to typical Western technologies, and not typical Russian).

Without bothering to integrate more fully, mastering international experience and more detailed study of the relevant mechanisms in the Russian legislative field, the authors of the bill, apparently, relied on the effectiveness of fines. Now, for energy waste, the authorized body will be able to massively impose fines on citizens and organizations.

According to some analysts, 40% of the energy consumed in Russia can be "liberated" through simple savings. This fact means that almost half of all energy produced is wasted in our country every year, and it is not for nothing that we are given the status of one of the most energy-consuming countries in the world. The amount of wasted and wasted energy is comparable to the volume of all oil and oil products exported from Russia. Every day, we forget or are too lazy to turn off our lighting fixtures, and across the country it is already millions, if not billions of lamps.

Nevertheless, the popularity of using energy-saving lamps in our country is gaining momentum, the demand for this product is growing every day. Interest in energy-saving luminaries is caused not only by global energy saving trends, but, as practice shows, this is indeed a very practical solution for housing lighting.

How do energy-saving lamps differ from traditional incandescent lamps, and is energy saving the only excellent characteristic? Let's try to understand these questions. First, let's look at how an energy-saving lamp works.

An energy-saving lamp consists of 3 main components: a base, an electronic unit, a fluorescent lamp.

plinth- designed to connect the lamp to the lighting device.

The electronic unit- (electronic ballast: electronic ballast) ensures the start and further maintenance of the process of glowing a fluorescent lamp. Also, the Electronic unit converts the incoming voltage of 220V into the voltage necessary for the operation of the fluorescent lamp.

Fluorescent Lamp- the luminous part of the lamp itself is filled with an inert gas (argon) and mercury vapor. The inner walls of the lamp are coated with a phosphor coating.

Now let's get acquainted with the characteristics of energy-saving lamps.
Energy-saving lamps are also called Compact Fluorescent Lamps or CFLs for short.

Principle of operation they are similar to fluorescent lamps: a tube in the form of a spiral or a system of arc tubes filled with an inert gas (argon or xenon) and mercury vapor. The inner walls of the lamp are coated with a phosphor. Under the action of high voltage in the lamp, electrons move, they collide with mercury atoms, and ultraviolet radiation is formed, which, passing through the phosphor, creates a glow visible to our eye.

The execution of lamps varies, they are usually produced in the form of tubes twisted into a spiral, but also compact samples are presented in the traditional forms of a pear, candle, ball or cylinder. In the latest samples, there is no longer an electronic unit (electronic ballast), or rather, it is, it's just that the engineers managed to stick it into the base.

Luminous flux and power

Power is indicated in watts, and often the equivalent power of a conventional light bulb is also indicated, which produces an equal amount of light with an energy-saving one. For example, if 8W is written on an energy-saving lamp, then it will shine like a 40W incandescent bulb. Below are the average power values ​​and the corresponding luminous flux:
. 5W (25W) - 250 Lm;

• 8W (40W) - 400 Lm;
• 12W (60W) - 630 Lm;
• 15W (75W) - 900 Lm;
• 20W (100W) - 1200 Lm;
• 24W (120W) - 1500 Lm;
• 30W - 150W - 1900 Lm;

light temperature

This parameter will not be correctly applied to fluorescent lamps, since it is taken from the temperature of the heated filament in an incandescent lamp, while the temperature is measured in kelvins (K). The temperature of the filament of a traditional light bulb is 2700 K or 2427 C, while the light bulb shines with yellow light.
Manufacturers of fluorescent lamps adhere to the following temperature ranges:

• 2700 K - warm white, corresponds to the light from an ordinary incandescent bulb;
• 3300-3500 K - white, not a common type of CFL.
• 4000-4200 K - cold white, the lamp shines with a faint blue tint. The power of such lamps is recommended to be chosen more, since with such a light temperature a low-power lamp shines dimly.
• 6000-6500K - daytime. The glow of the lamps corresponds to high power fluorescent tubes.

Life time

Some manufacturers of very expensive energy-saving lamps give guarantees for 12,000-15,000 hours of operation of their products. Lamps of the middle price category work up to 6000-10000 hours. The most budget option has a service life of 3000-4000 hours, which sometimes does not correspond to reality.

Color rendering index

An important factor, the higher it is, the better. The minimum required value R=82. If the coefficient is lower than 82, then a foggy effect is created, the shadows from such light are not clear, the shades of white objects are sharp with greenish or blue highlights. Looking at a light bulb with a low R, you catch "bunnies" in the eyes, as from looking at welding or at the sun.

Flaws
The disadvantages include the ecological frequency, we all know very well that mercury vapor is a poison, so breaking energy-saving lamps is highly discouraged. It should also be noted that defective compact fluorescent lamps are not uncommon. As a rule, marriage is often found in the budget category of goods due to the imperfection of production technology, and a large percentage of cheap lamps die or begin to burn dimly after the first 1000 hours of operation.
Recommendations
To prolong the life of energy-saving lamps, there are certain recommendations for use that will help extend their life. As with conventional incandescent lamps, frequent switching on and off affects the life of energy-saving lamps; it is recommended to turn off the lamp after at least 5-10 minutes of operation.
Do not use energy-saving lamps with soft starters or surge protectors that are used with conventional incandescent lamps.

It is also recommended to use energy-saving lamps with an integrated soft start system, as this type of switching on will extend the service life by several thousand hours. For the first couple of minutes, the lamp will warm up, not burning at full power.
Saving
Despite the initially high price, CFL is becoming a more economical and practical solution. Let's make a small calculation of the transition from conventional incandescent lamps to energy-saving ones:
The average life of an incandescent lamp is about 1000 hours, a similar energy-saving lamp is 6000 hours. The cost of an incandescent lamp is 15 rubles, an energy-saving lamp is 120 rubles. The power of the lamps is 100 W and 20 W, respectively. Let's take the cost of electricity as 2 rubles per 1 kW/h. For 6000 hours of work, you need 6 ordinary lamps for 15 rubles, which is equal to 90 rubles. For 6000 hours of operation, 6 light bulbs of 100W will burn 600 kW / h. energy for 2 rubles, and this is equal to 1200 rubles. Total we get 90 + 1200 = 1290 rubles.

An energy-saving lamp costs 120 rubles. power is 20W, it turns out that for 6000 hours of operation it will consume 120 kW / h for 240 rubles. Total we get 120 + 240 = 360 rubles.

Costs are 3.5 times lower. In practice, this indicator can be either more or less. And draw your own conclusions.

Passive houses

In Europe, one of the main trends in the development of housing construction is the creation of passive houses. Their main advantages are minimal heating costs and a healthy microclimate.

Passive houses are a fairly new standard for residential buildings. Due to the insulation and sealing of the building envelope, heating costs are negligible and there is no need for conventional heating systems. The theme of passive houses is so popular today in Germany and Austria that we can talk about the beginning of a quiet house-building revolution. More than 16,000 such houses have been built there over the decade, with volumes growing exponentially over the past three to four years. The requirements for the efficiency of buildings in Germany are constantly tightening, it is increasingly possible to hear that in a few years passive houses may become an obligatory all-German standard. Other houses will not be built at all.

The concept of a passive house is based on a very simple effect - an autonomous space, from where heat does not escape, can be heated with just one candle. By analogy: for a thermos house that does not have heat losses, even in cold weather there will be enough human heat (the human body emits 100 kW of thermal energy per day), solar energy and energy generated by electrical appliances.

In the mid-1980s, the German engineer-physicist Wolfang Feist made mathematical calculations for a thermos house that would not have to be heated. The main result of the calculations is that such a passive house turned out to be not a mathematical phenomenon, but a very real thing. In particular, thick brick walls are not needed for effective insulation of a building - a layer of insulation less than half a meter is enough.

To test Feist's calculations, the first passive house was built in Darmstadt in 1991. A detailed study confirmed that the building actually consumes practically no heat. The experimental house turned out to be only 25% more expensive than a conventional building, which is quite acceptable for the first sample. In the mid-1980s, independently of Feist, the Russian physicist Yuri Lapin made similar calculations. However, the domestic urban planning authorities considered that this could not be possible in principle, and they did not even begin to check the idea.

Already in Dr. Feist's first passive building, five basic principles of the passive house were formulated. The first principle is good thermal insulation of all parts of the building. To insulate walls, roofs and foundations in the climate of the central part of Germany, highly efficient heaters with a thickness of 30-40 centimeters are sufficient, which in terms of thermal properties is equivalent to six to eight meters thick brickwork.

The second is the use of three chamber double-glazed windows with a low heat transfer rate. Third - special attention is paid to fine work with the so-called cold bridges (junctions of elements, metal parts, building corners), through which heat actively escapes. For example, metal parts are being replaced by plastic ones. Fourth - the building is sealed, and it really becomes a thermos that does not release air.

True, a problem arises here: people breathe, which means that a constant supply of fresh air is necessary. In Soviet practice, it was assumed that the ventilation of the premises occurs naturally - through the vents and slots in the windows-doors. It is clear that this approach is unacceptable for a sealed passive house, since the building will lose heat in winter. The way out was found in the artificial ventilation system with recuperators-heat exchangers. This is the fifth principle of building a passive house.

Fresh air is supplied to the building through a pipe, passes through a heat exchanger, where it takes part of the heat from the outgoing air, which has room temperature. In passive houses, the recovery rate reaches 75%, which means that the outgoing air transfers a significant part of the energy to the incoming air. In winter, the incoming air, if necessary, is additionally heated. That is, there is a heating system in the buildings, but it is airy and consumes little energy.

The result: the need for space heating is drastically reduced. The criterion for a passive house is the consumption of thermal energy - 15 kW per square meter per year. This is ten times less than ordinary German buildings built in the 1950s-1980s and 10-15 times less than Soviet houses built in the 1970s. Finally, passive European houses consume five to seven times less heat energy than modern Russian buildings. It can be calculated in another way: for heating a 30-meter room of a passive house, the energy of 30 candles is enough.

The first passive house had one more element, which was later abandoned. It tried to use the energy of the earth. The air intake was placed at some distance from the building, and fresh air first went through an underground pipe. Passing underground, where even in severe frosts the temperature remains positive, the air warmed up. The system worked, but after calculations and experiments, they decided to abandon this element - it was too expensive.

This rejection is significant. The essence of a passive house is its efficiency. The Germans constantly tested ideas in practice, various ways of saving and producing energy were compared at their price per 1 kW - as a result, those principles of "passive house" technology were adopted that give the maximum financial effect. Thus, calculations by the Passive House Institute showed that it is more efficient to invest in energy saving than in its production, that in Germany, when building a house from scratch, it is more profitable to invest in passive house systems than, for example, in installing solar panels.

It was precisely the considerations of economy that forced the Germans to stop at the basic indicator of heating costs of 15 kW per meter per year. In principle, this indicator can be reduced, but the calculations of the Institute of Passive Houses have shown that it is at 15 kW that, purely mathematically, an extremum is reached in terms of the “effect / cost” indicator. If you try to reduce the cost of heat to zero, the cost of construction and the complexity of the system increase dramatically.

Today, many eco-houses are being built in the world, including quite exotic ones. They use unusual materials, solar panels, windmills and so on. There is a standard for houses of the so-called zero consumption, when the buildings are completely autonomous, they provide themselves with energy. Against the backdrop of beautiful pictures and bright concepts, passive houses may seem rather dry. But the simplicity of passive houses is thought out: all insufficiently practical elements are deleted from the system with an unwavering hand. At the same time, the system is open, the owner, of course, can add any additional element to his house.

And it is precisely this efficiency that has driven the success of passive houses in the market. If ten years ago dozens of such buildings were built a year, then in the last three to five years, thousands of houses have been built annually. The lion's share of passive houses is built in Germany and Austria. In Vienna, already 20% of new buildings are built in this way. The construction of a huge municipal district for 200,000 residential "passive" units has begun. In recent years, more and more passive houses appear in Denmark and France, prototypes have been created in Spain and Turkey.

Special materials are being developed for energy-efficient houses: for example, glass with variable transparency and roof tiles with photovoltaic cells. Research projects are under way to adapt the passive house system to countries with different climates.

A passive house can accurately determine the cardinal directions. Large panoramic windows face south. The windows to the north are much smaller. However, you can use the house as a compass only taking into account the climate of the country. Large windows to the south reflect the situation in Germany, where you want to catch more solar energy. Energy-efficient homes in Southern Europe, on the other hand, will face north to keep out excess heat.

Windows are always a matter of compromise. On the one hand, light and solar energy enter the rooms through them, and on the other hand, heat losses are high in them, which can be radically reduced only by inserting very expensive double-glazed windows. In each case, the size of windows and their parameters for heat and light transmission are calculated by architects based on the construction budget.

In general, in terms of architecture, passive houses practically do not differ from ordinary ones, everything is interesting inside. Such a house has a separate room for engineering equipment, usually in the basement. A lot of pipes with air and water are packed either in rubber casings or in insulation with foil - the Germans are resolutely struggling with heat losses. A heat exchanger a little larger than a refrigerator is placed in the corner. Places for several filters are mounted in the pipe with incoming air - like in a car. Filters are changed periodically, which guarantees clean air in the house.

In each passive house, a small box hangs on the wall - the climate control panel. Most often there are two regulators: the first sets the temperature, the second regulates the rate of supply of clean air. So there are several provisions on the box such as “home alone” (at least 300 liters of air per hour), “together”, “party”.

At cost, a passive house is somewhat more expensive than a conventional one. In such a house there is no boiler and heating system - this is a cheapening moment; but there are costs for additional insulation, sealing, recuperation, and so on. However, 20 years of technology development have not been in vain: the cost of a passive house has dropped sharply. If the first passive house of Dr. Feist was 25% more expensive than a conventional building, today the excess is only 5-10%. However, it is hardly worth expecting further radical cost reduction. German passive house architects fight for fractions of a percent, saving on the length of pipes or playing the correct orientation of the building to the cardinal points.

Additional investments in the "passive house" system pay off on average in seven to ten years due to lower payments for heat.

Conclusions. Increasing pollution of the environment, violation of the thermal balance of the atmosphere gradually lead to global climate change. The lack of energy and limited fuel resources with increasing severity show the inevitability of the transition to the use of non-traditional, alternative energy sources. They are environmentally friendly and renewable, based on the energy of the Sun and the Earth, water and air.

The role of energy in the maintenance and further development of civilization is indisputable. Today, research is being actively carried out on all possible renewable energy sources. In some cases, the results even look very optimistic and allow us to hope for certain

Changes.

Energy is not only one of the most commonly discussed concepts today; in addition to its main physical content, it has numerous economic, technical, political and other aspects.
Mankind needs energy, and the need for it is increasing every year. At the same time, the reserves of traditional types of natural fuel (oil, coal, gas, etc.) are exhaustible. The stocks of nuclear fuel - uranium and thorium - are also finite.

There are two ways left: austerity in the use of energy resources and the use of non-traditional renewable energy sources.

Bibliography

1. Balanchevadze V. I., Baranovsky A. I. Ed. A. F. Dyakova. Energy today and tomorrow. - M.: Energoatomizdat, 1990.
2. Berner M., Ryabov E. Change the light bulb - help the Motherland // Expert, December 21-31, 2009. - No. 49-50.
3. Information on energy saving and energy efficiency improvement: problems, solutions, best practices // Energy saving and water treatment, 2010. - No. 1 (63).
4. Kirillin V. A. Energy. The main problems: in questions and answers. - M.: Knowledge, 1990.
5. Non-traditional energy sources. - M.: Knowledge, 1982.
6. Shchukin A. Energy of candles, man and earth // Expert, October 5-11, 2009. - No. 38.
7. Energy resources of the world. Ed. P.S. Neporozhny, V.I. Popkov. - M.: Energoatomizdat, 1995.
8. http://www.energy-source.ru/
9. http://www.energija.ru/
10. http://solar-battery.narod.ru/
11. http://dom-en.ru/

Even schoolchildren know that the reserves of oil, gas and coal are not endless. Energy prices are constantly rising, forcing payers to sigh heavily and think about increasing their own income. Despite the achievements of civilization, outside the cities there are many places where gas is not supplied, and in some places there is not even electricity. Where there is such an opportunity, the cost of installation of the system sometimes absolutely does not correspond to the income level of the population. It is not surprising that do-it-yourself alternative energy today is of interest to both the owners of large and small country houses, and the townspeople.

The whole world around us is full of energy, which is contained not only in the bowels of the earth. Even at school, in geography lessons, we learned that it is possible to use the energy of wind, sun, tides, falling water, the earth's core and other similar energy carriers on a scale of entire countries and continents with high efficiency. However, it can also be used for heating a separate house.

Types of alternative energy sources

Among the options for natural sources of private energy supply, it should be noted:

• solar panels;
• solar collectors;
• heat pumps;
• wind generators;
• installations for absorbing water energy;
• biogas plants.

With enough funds, you can buy a finished model of one of these devices and order its installation. Responding to the wishes of consumers, industrialists have long mastered the manufacture of solar panels, heat pumps, etc. However, their cost remains stably high. Such devices can be made independently, saving a certain amount of money, but spending more time and effort.

Video: what natural energy can be used

The principle of operation and the use of solar panels in a private house

The physical phenomenon on which the principle of operation of this energy source is based is the photoelectric effect. Sunlight falling on its surface releases electrons, which creates an excess charge inside the panel. If you connect a battery to it, then due to lightning, a current will appear in the number of charges in the circuit.

The principle of operation of the solar battery is the photoelectric effect.

Designs capable of capturing and converting the energy of the sun are numerous, varied and constantly improving. For many craftsmen, perfecting these useful structures has become a great hobby. At thematic exhibitions, such enthusiasts willingly demonstrate many useful ideas.

To make solar panels, you need to purchase monocrystalline or polycrystalline solar cells, place them in a transparent frame, which is fixed with a strong case

Video: making a solar battery with your own hands

Ready-made batteries are placed, of course, on the sunniest side of the roof. In this case, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of adjusting the inclination of the panel. For example, during snowfalls, the panels should be placed almost vertically, otherwise the layer of snow may interfere with the operation of the batteries or even damage them.

The device and use of solar collectors

A primitive solar collector is a black metal plate placed under a thin layer of a transparent liquid. As you know from a school physics course, dark objects heat up more than light ones. This fluid moves with the help of a pump, cools the plate and heats up at the same time itself. The heated liquid circuit can be placed in a tank connected to a cold water source. By heating the water in the tank, the liquid from the collector is cooled. And then it comes back. Thus, this energy system allows you to get a constant source of hot water, and in winter also hot radiators.

There are three types of collectors that differ in device

To date, there are 3 types of such devices:

• air;
• tubular;
• flat.

Air

The air collectors consist of dark colored plates.

Air collectors are black plates covered with glass or transparent plastic. Air circulates naturally or forcedly around these plates. Warm air is used to heat rooms in the house or to dry clothes.

The advantage is the extreme simplicity of design and low cost. The only drawback is the use of forced air circulation. But you can do without it.

Tubular

The advantage of such a collector is simplicity and reliability.

Tubular collectors look like several glass tubes lined up in a row, coated on the inside with a light-absorbing material. They are connected to a common collector and fluid circulates through them. Such collectors have 2 ways of transferring the received energy: direct and indirect. The first method is used in winter. The second is used all year round. There is a variation using vacuum tubes: one is inserted into the other and a vacuum is created between them.

This isolates them from the environment and better retains the resulting heat. The advantages are simplicity and reliability. The disadvantages include the high cost of installation.

flat

To make collectors work more efficiently, engineers have proposed the use of concentrators.

The flat-plate collector is the most common type. It was he who served as an example to explain the principle of operation of these devices. The advantage of this variety is simplicity and cheapness in comparison with others. The disadvantage is a significant loss of heat than other subtypes do not suffer.

To improve the already existing solar systems, engineers proposed to use a kind of mirrors called concentrators. They allow you to raise the water temperature from the standard 120 to 200 C°. This subspecies of collectors is called concentration. This is one of the most expensive options for execution, which is undoubtedly a disadvantage.

Full instructions for manufacturing the installation of a solar collector in our next article:

Use of wind energy

If the wind is able to drive flocks of clouds, why not use its energy for other useful things? The search for an answer to this question led engineers to create a wind turbine. This device usually consists of:

• generator;
• high tower;
• blades that rotate to catch the wind;
• batteries;
• electronic control systems.

The principle of operation of a wind generator is quite simple. The blades, rotating from a strong wind, rotate the transmission shafts (in common people - the gearbox). They are connected to an alternator. The transmission and generator are located in the cradle or, in other words, the gondola. It may have a swivel mechanism. The generator is connected to the control automation and a step-up transformer. After the transformer, the voltage, which has increased its value, is given to the general power supply system.

Wind generators are suitable for areas where the wind is constantly blowing.

Since the issues of creating wind turbines have been studied for a long time, there are projects of a wide variety of designs for these devices. Models with a horizontal axis of rotation take up quite a lot of space, but wind turbines with a vertical axis of rotation are much more compact. Of course, for the effective operation of the device, a sufficiently strong wind is required.

Advantages:

• no emissions;
• autonomy;
• using one of the renewable resources;

Flaws:

• the need for constant wind;
• high initial price;
• rotational noise and electromagnetic radiation;
• occupy large areas.

The wind generator must be placed as high as possible in order for its operation to be effective. Models that have a vertical axis of rotation are more compact than those with horizontal rotation

A step-by-step guide to making a wind turbine with your own hands on our website:

Water as a source of energy

The most famous way to use water to generate electricity is, of course, hydroelectric power. But he's not the only one. There is also the energy of the tides and the energy of the currents. And now in order.

A hydroelectric power plant is a dam in which there are several locks for the controlled release of water. These locks are connected to the turbine generator blades. Flowing under pressure, water spins it, thereby generating electricity.

Flaws:

• coastal flooding;
• decrease in the number of inhabitants of the rivers;

To use the energy of water, special stations are being built.

The strength of the currents

This method of generating energy is similar to wind turbines, with the only difference being that the generator with huge blades is placed across a large sea current. Such as the Gulf Stream, for example. But it is very expensive and technically difficult. Therefore, all major projects remain on paper for the time being. However, there are small but ongoing projects demonstrating the possibilities of this type of energy.

Tidal energy

The design of the power plant, which converts this type of energy into electricity, is a huge dam located in the sea bay. It has holes through which water penetrates to the back. They are connected by a pipeline to power generators.

The tidal power plant works as follows: during high tide, the water level rises and pressure is created that can rotate the generator shaft. At the end of the tide, the inlets are closed and during low tide, which occurs after 6 hours, the outlets are opened and the process is repeated in the opposite direction.

The advantages of this method:

• cheap service;
• attraction for tourists.

Flaws:

• significant construction costs;
• harm to marine life;
• design errors can cause nearby cities to flood.

Biogas application

During the anaerobic processing of organic waste, so-called biogas is released. The result is a mixture of gases consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. The biogas generator consists of:

• sealed tank;
• auger for mixing organic waste;
• branch pipe for unloading the spent mass of waste;
• necks for filling waste and water;
• pipe through which the resulting gas flows.

Often, a waste processing tank is arranged not on the surface, but in the thickness of the soil. To prevent leakage of the resulting gas, it is made completely sealed. At the same time, it should be remembered that in the process of biogas release, the pressure in the tank is constantly increasing, so the gas must be taken from the tank regularly. In addition to biogas, as a result of processing, an excellent organic fertilizer is obtained, useful for growing plants.

Increased safety requirements are imposed on the device and operating rules of such a device, since it is dangerous to inhale biogas and it can explode. However, in a number of countries of the world, for example, in China, this method of obtaining energy is quite widespread.

Such a biogas plant can be expensive

This waste recycling product can be used as:

• raw materials for thermal power plant and cogeneration plant;
• replacement of natural gas in stoves, burners and boilers.

The strength of this type of fuel is the renewability and availability, especially in the villages, of raw materials for processing. This type of fuel also has a number of disadvantages, such as:

• emissions from incineration;
• imperfect production technology;
• the price of the apparatus for creating biogas.

The design of the biogas generator is very simple, but some care must be taken during its operation, since biogas is a combustible substance hazardous to health.

The composition and amount of biogas obtained from waste depends on the substrate. Most gas is obtained when using fat, grain, technical glycerin, fresh grass, silage, etc. Usually, a mixture of animal and vegetable waste is loaded into the tank, to which some water is added. In summer, it is recommended to increase the humidity of the mass to 94-96%, and in winter, 88-90% moisture is sufficient. The water supplied to the waste tank should be heated to 35-40 degrees, otherwise the decomposition processes will be slowed down. To keep warm, a layer of heat-insulating material is mounted on the outside of the tank.

Application of biofuel (biogas)

The operation of a heat pump is based on the inverse Carnot principle. This is a fairly large and rather complex device that collects low-grade thermal energy from the environment and converts it into high-potential energy. Most often, heat pumps are used for space heating. The device consists of:

• external circuit with coolant;
• internal circuit with coolant;
• evaporator;
• compressor;
• capacitor.

Freon is also used in the system. The external circuit of the heat pump can absorb energy from various media: earth, water, air. Labor costs for its creation depend on the type of pump and its configuration. The most difficult thing is to arrange a ground-to-water pump, in which the outer circuit is horizontally located in the thickness of the soil, since this requires large-scale earthworks. If there is a reservoir near the house, it makes sense to make a water-to-water heat pump. In this case, the outer circuit is simply lowered into the reservoir.

The heat pump converts the low-grade energy of the earth, water or air into high-grade thermal energy, which allows you to heat the building quite efficiently

The efficiency of a heat pump depends not so much on how high the ambient temperature is, but on its constancy. A properly designed and installed heat pump can provide a home with sufficient heat during the winter, even at very low water, ground or air temperatures. In the summer, heat pumps can act as an air conditioner, cooling the home.

To use such pumps, you must first perform drilling work

The advantages of these installations include:

• energy efficiency;
• fire safety;
• multifunctionality;
• long-term operation until the first overhaul.

The weaknesses of such a system are:

• high initial price in comparison with other methods of heating a building;
• requirement for the state of the power supply network;
• noisier than a classic gas boiler;
• the need for drilling.

Video: how heat pumps work

As you can see, in order to provide your home with heat and electricity, you can use solar energy, the power of wind and water. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. But nevertheless, of all the existing options, you can use a method that will be both inexpensive and effective.

Alternative energy sources- this is wind, sun, ebbs and flows, biomass, geothermal energy of the Earth.

Windmills have long been used by man as a source of energy. However, they are effective and suitable only for the small user. Unfortunately, the wind is not yet able to provide electricity in sufficient quantities. Solar and wind energy has a serious drawback - temporary instability at the very moment when it is most needed. In this regard, energy storage systems are needed so that its consumption can be possible at any time, but there is no economically mature technology for creating such systems yet.

The first wind power generators were developed back in the 90s. 19th century in Denmark, and by 1910, several hundred small installations had been built in this country. A few years later, the Danish industry received a quarter of the electricity it needed from wind generators. Their total capacity was 150-200 MW.

In 1982, 1,280 wind turbines were sold in the Chinese market, and 11,000 in 1986, bringing electricity to parts of China that had never had electricity before.

At the beginning of the XX century. in Russia there were 250 thousand peasant windmills with a capacity of up to 1 million kW. They grinded 2.5 billion poods of grain on the spot, without long-distance transportation. Unfortunately, as a result of a thoughtless attitude to natural resources in the 40s. of the last century on the territory of the former USSR, the main part of wind and water engines was destroyed, and by the 50s. they almost completely disappeared as "backward technology".

Currently, solar energy is used in some countries mainly for heating, and for energy production - on a very small scale. Meanwhile, the power of solar radiation reaching the Earth is 2 x 10 17 W, which is more than 30 thousand times higher than the current level of human energy consumption.

There are two main options for using solar energy: physical and biological. In the physical version, energy is accumulated by solar collectors, solar cells on semiconductors, or concentrated by a system of mirrors. In the biological version, solar energy is used, accumulated during photosynthesis in the organic matter of plants (usually in wood). This option is suitable for countries with relatively large forest reserves. For example, Austria plans to generate up to a third of the electricity it needs from burning wood in the coming years. For the same purpose in the UK, it is planned to reforest about 1 million hectares of land unsuitable for agricultural use. Fast-growing species are planted, such as poplar, which is cut already 3 years after planting (the height of this tree is about 4 m, the stem diameter is more than 6 cm).

The problem of using non-traditional energy sources has been particularly relevant in recent years. This is undoubtedly beneficial, although such technologies require significant costs. In February 1983, the American firm Arca Solar began operating the world's first 1 MW solar power plant. The construction of such power plants is an expensive pleasure. The construction of a solar power plant capable of providing electricity to about 10 thousand household consumers (capacity - about 10 mW) will cost $ 190 million. This is four times more than the cost of building a thermal power plant operating on solid fuels, and, accordingly, three times more than the construction of a hydroelectric power station and a nuclear power plant. Nevertheless, experts in the study of solar energy are confident that with the development of technology for using solar energy, prices for it will decrease significantly.

The future of energy is likely to lie with wind and solar energy. In 1995, India launched a program to generate energy using wind. In the USA, the capacity of wind farms is 1654 MW, in the European Union - 2534 MW, of which 1000 MW are generated in Germany. Currently, wind energy has reached the greatest development in Germany, England, Holland, Denmark, the USA (only in California there are 15 thousand wind turbines). The energy obtained from the wind can be constantly renewed. Wind farms do not pollute the environment. With the help of wind energy, it is possible to electrify the most remote corners of the globe. For example, the 1,600 inhabitants of Desirates Island in Guadeloupe benefit from electricity generated by 20 wind turbines.

What else can you get energy from without polluting the environment?

To use the energy of the tides, tidal power plants are usually built at the mouths of rivers or directly on the seashore. In a conventional port breakwater, holes are left where water flows freely. Each wave raises the water level and, consequently, the pressure of the air remaining in the holes. The air “squeezed” out through the top hole sets the turbine in motion. With the departure of the wave, a reverse movement of air occurs, which seeks to fill the vacuum, and the turbine receives a new impulse to rotate. According to experts, such power plants can use up to 45% of tidal energy.

Wave energy seems to be a rather promising form of new energy sources. For example, for every meter of wavefront surrounding Britain from the North Atlantic, there is an average of 80 kW of energy per year, or 120,000 GW. Significant losses during the processing and transmission of this energy are inevitable, and, apparently, only a third of it can enter the network. Nevertheless, the remaining volume is enough to provide the whole of Britain with electricity at the current level of consumption.

Scientists are also attracted by the use of biogas, which is a mixture of combustible gas - methane (60-70%) and non-combustible carbon dioxide. It usually contains impurities - hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen. Biogas is formed as a result of anaerobic (oxygen-free) decomposition of organic matter. This process can be observed in nature in lowland swamps. Air bubbles rising from the bottom of wetlands are biogas - methane and its derivatives.

The biogas production process can be divided into two stages. Initially, with the help of anaerobic bacteria from carbohydrates, proteins and fats, a set of organic and inorganic substances is formed: acids (butyric, propionic, acetic), hydrogen, carbon dioxide. At the second stage (alkaline or methane), methane bacteria are connected, which destroy organic acids with the release of methane, carbon dioxide and a small amount of hydrogen.

Depending on the chemical composition of the raw material, fermentation releases from 5 to 15 cubic meters of gas per cubic meter of processed organics.

Biogas can be burned to heat homes, dry grain, and be used as fuel for cars and tractors. The composition of biogas differs little from natural gas. In addition, in the process of obtaining biogas, the fermentation residue is approximately half of the organic matter. It can be briquetted and solid fuel obtained. However, from an economic point of view, this is not very rational. The rest of the fermentation is best used as fertilizer.

1 m 3 of biogas corresponds to 1 liter of liquid gas or 0.5 liters of high-quality gasoline. The production of biogas will provide technological benefits - the destruction of waste and energy benefits - cheap fuel.

In India, about 1 million cheap and simple installations are used to produce biogas, and in China there are more than 7 million of them. From an environmental point of view, biogas has huge advantages, since it can replace firewood, and therefore save forests and prevent desertification. In Europe, a number of municipal wastewater treatment plants meet their energy needs with the biogas they produce.

Another alternative source of energy is agricultural raw materials: sugar cane, sugar beets, potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, etc. Liquid fuels, in particular ethanol, are produced from it by fermentation in some countries. In Brazil, for example, vegetable matter is converted into ethyl alcohol in such quantities that the country satisfies most of its motor fuel needs. The raw material needed to mass-produce ethanol is mainly sugar cane. Sugarcane is actively involved in the process of photosynthesis and produces more energy per hectare of cultivated area than other crops. At present, its production in Brazil is 8.4 million tons, which corresponds to 5.6 million tons of the highest quality gasoline. In the United States, biochol is produced - a fuel for cars containing 10% ethanol derived from corn.

Thermal or electrical energy can be extracted from the heat of the earth's depths. Geothermal energy is economically efficient where hot waters are close to the surface of the earth's crust - in areas of active volcanic activity with numerous geysers (Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands, the islands of the Japanese archipelago). Unlike other primary energy sources, geothermal energy carriers cannot be transported over a distance exceeding several kilometers. Therefore, terrestrial heat is a typically local source of energy, and the work associated with its operation (exploration, preparation of drilling sites, drilling, well testing, fluid intake, energy production and transmission, replenishment, infrastructure development, etc.) are carried out as as a rule, on a relatively small area, taking into account local conditions.

Geothermal energy is used on a large scale in the United States, Mexico and the Philippines. The share of geothermal energy in the energy sector of the Philippines is 19%, Mexico is 4%, the United States (taking into account the use for heating "directly", i.e. without processing into electrical energy) is about 1%. The total capacity of all US geothermal power plants exceeds 2 million kW. Geothermal energy provides heat to the capital of Iceland - Reykjavik. Already in 1943, 32 wells were drilled there at a depth of 440 to 2400 m, through which water with a temperature of 60 to 130 ° C rises to the surface. Nine of these wells are still active today. In Russia, in Kamchatka, there is a geothermal power plant with a capacity of 11 MW and another one with a capacity of 200 MW is under construction.

It's no secret that the resources used by humanity today are finite, moreover, their further extraction and use can lead not only to an energy, but also to an environmental catastrophe. The resources traditionally used by mankind - coal, gas and oil - will run out in a few decades, and measures must be taken now, in our time. Of course, we can hope that we will again find some rich deposit, just as it was in the first half of the last century, but scientists are sure that such large deposits no longer exist. But in any case, even the discovery of new deposits will only delay the inevitable, it is necessary to find ways to produce alternative energy, and switch to renewable resources such as wind, sun, geothermal energy, water flow energy and others, and along with this, it is necessary to continue developing energy-saving technologies.

In this article, we will consider some of the most promising, in the opinion of modern scientists, ideas on which the energy of the future will be built.

solar stations

People have long wondered if it was possible to heat water under the sun, dry clothes and pottery before sending it to the oven, but these methods cannot be called effective. The first technical means that convert solar energy appeared in the 18th century. The French scientist J. Buffon showed an experiment in which he managed to ignite a dry tree with the help of a large concave mirror in clear weather from a distance of about 70 meters. His compatriot, the famous scientist A. Lavoisier, used lenses to concentrate the energy of the sun, and in England they created biconvex glass, which, focusing the sun's rays, melted cast iron in just a few minutes.

Naturalists conducted many experiments that proved that the sun on earth is possible. However, a solar battery that would convert solar energy into mechanical energy appeared relatively recently, in 1953. It was created by scientists from the US National Aerospace Agency. Already in 1959, a solar battery was first used to equip a space satellite.

Perhaps even then, realizing that such batteries are much more efficient in space, scientists came up with the idea of ​​​​creating space solar stations, because in an hour the sun generates as much energy as all of humanity does not consume in a year, so why not use it? What will be the solar energy of the future?

On the one hand, it seems that the use of solar energy is an ideal option. However, the cost of a huge space solar station is very high, and besides, it will be expensive to operate. Over time, when new technologies are introduced to deliver cargo into space, as well as new materials, the implementation of such a project will become possible, but for now we can only use relatively small batteries on the surface of the planet. Many will say that this is also good. Yes, it is possible in a private home, but for the energy supply of large cities, respectively, you need either a lot of solar panels, or a technology that will make them more efficient.

The economic side of the issue is also present here: any budget will suffer greatly if it is entrusted with the task of converting an entire city (or an entire country) to solar panels. It would seem that it is possible to oblige city dwellers to pay some amounts for re-equipment, but in this case they will be unhappy, because if people were ready to make such expenses, they would have done it themselves long ago: everyone has the opportunity to buy a solar battery.

There is another paradox regarding solar energy: production costs. Converting solar energy into electricity directly is not the most efficient thing. So far, no better way has been found than to use the sun's rays to heat water, which, turning into steam, in turn rotates a dynamo. In this case, the energy loss is minimal. Humanity wants to use "green" solar panels and solar stations to conserve resources on earth, but such a project would require a huge amount of the same resources, and "non-green" energy. For example, in France, a solar power plant was recently built, covering an area of ​​about two square kilometers. The cost of construction was about 110 million euros, not including operating costs. With all this, it should be borne in mind that the service life of such mechanisms is about 25 years.

Wind

Wind energy has also been used by people since antiquity, the simplest example being sailing and windmills. Windmills are still in use today, especially in areas with constant winds, such as on the coast. Scientists are constantly putting forward ideas on how to upgrade existing devices for converting wind energy, one of them is wind turbines in the form of soaring turbines. Due to the constant rotation, they could "hang" in the air at a distance of several hundred meters from the ground, where the wind is strong and constant. This would help in the electrification of rural areas where the use of standard windmills is not possible. In addition, such soaring turbines could be equipped with Internet modules, with the help of which people would be provided with access to the World Wide Web.

Tides and waves

The boom in solar and wind energy is gradually fading, and other natural energy has attracted the interest of researchers. More promising is the use of ebbs and flows. Already, about a hundred companies around the world are dealing with this issue, and there are several projects that have proven the effectiveness of this method of generating electricity. The advantage over solar energy is that the losses during the transfer of one energy to another are minimal: the tidal wave rotates a huge turbine, which generates electricity.

Project Oyster is the idea of ​​installing a hinged valve at the bottom of the ocean that will supply water to the shore, thereby spinning a simple hydroelectric turbine. Just one such installation could provide electricity to a small microdistrict.

Tidal waves are already being successfully used in Australia: in the city of Perth, desalination plants operating on this type of energy have been installed. Their work allows to provide about half a million people with fresh water. Natural energy and industry can also be combined in this branch of energy production.

The use is somewhat different from the technologies that we are used to seeing in river hydroelectric power plants. Hydroelectric power stations often harm the environment: adjacent territories are flooded, the ecosystem is destroyed, but stations operating on tidal waves are much safer in this regard.

human energy

One of the most fantastic projects on our list is the use of the energy of living people. It sounds stunning and even somewhat terrifying, but not everything is so scary. Scientists cherish the idea of ​​how to use the mechanical energy of movement. These projects are about microelectronics and nanotechnologies with low power consumption. While it sounds like a utopia, there are no real developments, but the idea is very interesting and does not leave the minds of scientists. Agree, devices that, like watches with automatic winding, will be very convenient will be charged by swiping a finger across the sensor, or by simply dangling a tablet or phone in a bag when walking. Not to mention clothes that, filled with various microdevices, could convert the energy of human movement into electricity.

At Berkeley, in Lawrence's lab, for example, scientists tried to implement the idea of ​​using viruses to pressure electricity. There are also small mechanisms powered by movement, but so far such technology has not been put on stream. Yes, the global energy crisis cannot be dealt with in this way: how many people will have to "peddle" to make the whole plant work? But as one of the measures used in combination, the theory is quite viable.

Such technologies will be especially effective in hard-to-reach places, at polar stations, in the mountains and taiga, among travelers and tourists who do not always have the opportunity to charge their gadgets, but staying in touch is important, especially if the group is in a critical situation. How much could be prevented if people always had a reliable communication device that did not depend on the "plug".

Hydrogen fuel cells

Perhaps every car owner, looking at the indicator of the amount of gasoline approaching zero, had the thought of how great it would be if the car ran on water. But now its atoms have come to the attention of scientists as real objects of energy. The fact is that the particles of hydrogen - the most common gas in the universe - contain a huge amount of energy. Moreover, the engine burns this gas with virtually no by-products, that is, we get a very environmentally friendly fuel.

Hydrogen is fueled by some modules of the ISS and shuttles, but on Earth it exists mainly in the form of compounds such as water. In the eighties in Russia there were developments of aircraft using hydrogen as fuel, these technologies were even put into practice, and experimental models proved their effectiveness. When hydrogen is separated, it moves to a special fuel cell, after which electricity can be generated directly. This is not the energy of the future, this is already a reality. Similar cars are already being produced and in fairly large batches. Honda, in order to emphasize the versatility of the energy source and the car as a whole, conducted an experiment as a result of which the car was connected to the electrical home network, but not in order to get recharged. A car can provide energy to a private house for several days, or drive almost five hundred kilometers without refueling.

The only drawback of such an energy source at the moment is the relatively high cost of such environmentally friendly cars, and, of course, a fairly small number of hydrogen stations, but their construction is already planned in many countries. For example, Germany already has a plan to install 100 filling stations by 2017.

The warmth of the earth

The transformation of thermal energy into electricity is the essence of geothermal energy. In some countries where it is difficult to use other industries, it is used quite widely. For example, in the Philippines, 27% of all electricity comes from geothermal plants, while in Iceland this figure is about 30%. The essence of this method of energy production is quite simple, the mechanism is similar to a simple steam engine. Before the alleged "lake" of magma, it is necessary to drill a well through which water is supplied. Upon contact with hot magma, water instantly turns into steam. It rises where it spins a mechanical turbine, thereby generating electricity.

The future of geothermal energy is to find large "stores" of magma. For example, in the aforementioned Iceland, they succeeded: in a fraction of a second, hot magma turned all the pumped water into steam at a temperature of about 450 degrees Celsius, which is an absolute record. Such high-pressure steam can increase the efficiency of a geothermal station by several times; this can become an impetus for the development of geothermal energy throughout the world, especially in areas saturated with volcanoes and thermal springs.

Use of nuclear waste

Nuclear energy, at one time, made a splash. So it was until people realized the danger of this energy sector. Accidents are possible, no one is immune from such cases, but they are very rare, but radioactive waste appears steadily and until recently, scientists could not solve this problem. The fact is that uranium rods, the traditional "fuel" of nuclear power plants, can only be used by 5%. After working out this small part, the entire rod is sent to the "dump".

Previously, a technology was used in which the rods were immersed in water, which slows down the neutrons, maintaining a steady reaction. Now liquid sodium has been used instead of water. This replacement makes it possible not only to use the entire volume of uranium, but also to process tens of thousands of tons of radioactive waste.

Ridding the planet of nuclear waste is important, but there is one "but" in the technology itself. Uranium is a resource, and its reserves on Earth are finite. In the event that the entire planet is transferred exclusively to energy received from nuclear power plants (for example, in the United States, nuclear power plants produce only 20% of all electricity consumed), uranium reserves will be depleted quite quickly, and this will again lead humanity to the threshold of an energy crisis, so nuclear energy , albeit modernized, only a temporary measure.

vegetable fuel

Even Henry Ford, having created his "Model T", expected that it would already run on biofuels. However, at that time, new oil fields were discovered, and the need for alternative energy sources disappeared for several decades, but now it is returning again.

Over the past fifteen years, the use of vegetable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel has increased several times over. They are used as independent sources of energy, and as additives to gasoline. Some time ago, hopes were pinned on a special millet culture, called "canola". It is completely unsuitable for human or livestock food, but it has a high oil content. From this oil they began to produce "biodiesel". But this crop will take up too much space if you try to grow it enough to provide fuel for at least part of the planet.

Now scientists are talking about the use of algae. Their oil content is about 50%, which will make it just as easy to extract the oil, and the waste can be turned into fertilizers, on the basis of which new algae will be grown. The idea is considered interesting, but its viability has not yet been proven: the publication of successful experiments in this area has not yet been published.

Thermonuclear fusion

The future energy of the world, according to modern scientists, is impossible without technology. This, at the moment, is the most promising development in which billions of dollars are already being invested.

In the energy of fission is used. It is dangerous because there is a threat of an uncontrolled reaction that will destroy the reactor and lead to the release of a huge amount of radioactive substances: perhaps everyone remembers the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Fusion reactions, as the name implies, use the energy released when atoms fuse. As a result, unlike atomic fission, no radioactive waste is produced.

The main problem is that as a result of thermonuclear fusion, a substance is formed that has such a high temperature that it can destroy the entire reactor.

The future is reality. And fantasies are inappropriate here, at the moment the construction of the reactor has already begun in France. Several billion dollars have been invested in a pilot project funded by many countries, which, in addition to the EU, include China and Japan, the USA, Russia and others. Initially, the first experiments were planned to be launched as early as 2016, but calculations showed that the budget was too small (instead of 5 billion, it took 19), and the launch was postponed for another 9 years. Perhaps in a few years we will see what thermonuclear energy is capable of.

Problems of the present and opportunities for the future

Not only scientists, but also science fiction writers, give a lot of ideas for implementing the technology of the future in energy, but everyone agrees that so far none of the proposed options can fully meet all the needs of our civilization. For example, if all cars in the United States run on biofuel, canola fields would have to cover an area equal to half the entire country, without taking into account the fact that there is not so much land suitable for agriculture in the States. Moreover, so far all methods of producing alternative energy are expensive. Perhaps every ordinary city dweller agrees that it is important to use environmentally friendly, renewable resources, but not when they are told the cost of such a transition at the moment. Scientists still have a lot of work to do in this area. New discoveries, new materials, new ideas - all this will help humanity to successfully cope with the looming resource crisis. The planets can be solved only by complex measures. In some areas, it is more convenient to use wind power generation, somewhere - solar panels, and so on. But perhaps the main factor will be the reduction of energy consumption in general and the creation of energy-saving technologies. Each person must understand that he is responsible for the planet, and each must ask himself the question: "What kind of energy do I choose for the future?" Before moving on to other resources, everyone should realize that this is really necessary. Only with an integrated approach will it be possible to solve the problem of energy consumption.

Alternative energy is non-traditional ways of obtaining, transmitting and using energy. Also known as green energy. Alternative sources are renewable resources (such as water, sunlight, wind, wave energy, geothermal sources, unconventional combustion of renewable fuels).

Based on three principles:

1. Renewability.
2. Environmental friendliness.
3. Profitability.

Alternative energy should solve several acute problems in the world: the waste of minerals and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (this happens with standard methods of energy production through gas, oil, etc.), which entails global warming, irreversible environmental change and Greenhouse effect.

Development of alternative energy

The direction is considered new, although attempts to use the energy of wind, water and the sun were made as early as the 18th century. In 1774, the first scientific work on hydraulic engineering construction was published - "Hydraulic Architecture". The author of the work is the French engineer Bernard Forest de Belidor. After the publication of the work, the development of the green direction froze for almost 50 years.

• 1846 - the first wind turbine, designer - Paul la Cour.
• 1861 - patent for the invention of a solar power plant.
• 1881 - construction of a hydroelectric power plant at Niagara Falls.
• 1913 - construction of the first geothermal station, Italian engineer Piero Ginori Conti.
• 1931 - construction of the first industrial wind station in the Crimea.
• 1957 - installation in the Netherlands of a powerful wind turbine (200 kW), connected to the state network.
• 1966 - construction of the first station generating energy based on waves (France).

A new impetus in the development of alternative energy received during the severe crisis of the 1970s. From the 90s to the beginning of the 21st century, a critical number of accidents at power plants were recorded in the world, which became an additional incentive for the development of green energy.

Alternative energy in Russia

The share of alternative energy in our country is approximately 1% (according to the Ministry of Energy). By 2020, it is planned to increase this figure to 4.5%. The development of green energy will be carried out not only by means of the Government. The Russian Federation attracts private entrepreneurs, promising a small refund (2.5 kopecks per 1 kW per hour) to those businessmen who will come to grips with alternative developments.

The potential for the development of green energy in the Russian Federation is huge:

• ocean and sea coasts, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Chukotka and other territories, due to low population and built-up areas, can be used as sources of wind energy;
• The sources of solar energy in the aggregate exceed the amount of resources that are produced by processing oil and gas - the most favorable in this respect are the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, the Far East, the North Caucasus, etc.

(The largest solar power plant in Altai, Russia)

In recent years, funding for this industry has been reduced: the bar of 333 billion rubles has dropped to 700 million. This is due to the global economic crisis and the presence of urgent problems. At the moment, alternative energy is not a priority in the Russian industry.

Alternative energy of the countries of the world

(Wind turbines in Denmark)

Hydropower is developing most dynamically (due to the availability of water resources). Wind and solar power are lagging far behind, although some countries are moving in these directions.

So, with the help of wind turbines, energy is produced (from the total):

• 28% in Denmark;
• 19% in Portugal;
• 16% in Spain;
• 15% in Ireland.

The demand for solar energy is lower than the supply: half of the sources that the producers can provide are being installed.

(Solar power plant in Germany)

TOP-5 leaders in the production of green energy (data from the vesti.ru portal):

1. USA (24.7%) - (all types of resources, sunlight is used the most).
2. Germany - 11.7% (all types of alternative resources).
3. Spain - 7.8% (wind sources).
4. China - 7.6% (all types of sources, half of them - wind energy).
5. Brazil - 5% (biofuels, solar and wind sources).

(The largest solar power plant in Spain)

One of the most difficult problems to solve is finance. It is often cheaper to use traditional energy sources than to install new equipment. One of the potentially positive solutions to this problem is a sharp rise in prices for electricity, gas, etc., in order to force people to save money and eventually switch completely to alternative sources.

Development projections vary greatly. Thus, the Wind Energy Association promises that by 2020 the share of green energy will increase to 12%, and EREC assumes that in 2030 already 35% of the world's energy consumption will be provided from renewable sources.