Alternative energy for a private house. Energy problem and ways to solve it. Prospects for alternative energy

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 modernize 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.

Geothermal energy and its use. Application of hydropower resources. Promising technologies of solar energy. The principle of operation of wind turbines. Energy of waves and currents. Status and prospects for the development of alternative energy in Russia.

Perm State University

Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology

Alternative energy sources

and the possibility of their application in Russia

Department of Sociology and

political science

Student: Uvarov P.A.

Group: STsG-2 course

Perm, 2009

Introduction

1 The concept and main types of alternative energy

1.1 Geothermal energy (heat of the earth)

1.2 Energy from the sun

1.3 Wind power

1.4 Energy of water

1.5 Wave energy

1.6 Current energy

2. Status and prospects for the development of alternative energy in Russia

Conclusion

List of sources used

Introduction

No wonder they say: "Energy is the bread of industry." The more developed industry and technology, the more energy they need. There is even a special concept - "advanced development of energy." This means that no industrial enterprise, no new city or even a house can be built before the source of energy that they will consume has been identified or re-created. That is why, by the amount of energy produced and used, one can fairly accurately judge the technical and economic power, or, more simply, the wealth of any state.

In nature, energy reserves are huge. It is carried by the sun's rays, winds and moving masses of water, it is stored in wood, deposits of gas, oil, and coal. The energy "sealed" in the nuclei of the atoms of matter is practically unlimited. But not all of its forms are suitable for direct use.

Over the long history of the energy industry, many technical means and methods have been accumulated for extracting energy and converting it into the forms people need. Actually, a person became a person only when he learned to receive and use thermal energy. The fire of bonfires was lit by the first people who did not yet understand its nature, but this method of converting chemical energy into thermal energy has been preserved and improved for thousands of years.

To the energy of their own muscles and fire, people added the muscular energy of animals. They invented a technique for removing chemically bound water from clay using the thermal energy of fire - pottery kilns, which produced durable ceramic products. Of course, the processes occurring at the same time, a person learned only millennia later.

Then people came up with mills - a technique for converting the energy of wind currents and wind into mechanical energy of a rotating shaft. But only with the invention of the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, the hydraulic, steam and gas turbines, the electric generator and the engine, did humanity have at its disposal sufficiently powerful technical devices. They are able to convert natural energy into its other types, convenient for use and obtaining large amounts of work. The search for new sources of energy did not end there: batteries, fuel cells, converters of solar energy into electrical energy and, already in the middle of the 20th century, nuclear reactors were invented.

The problem of providing electrical energy to many sectors of the world economy, the constantly growing needs of more than six billion people of the Earth is now becoming more and more urgent.

The basis of modern world energy is thermal and hydroelectric power plants. However, their development is constrained by a number of factors. The cost of coal, oil and gas, which power thermal plants, is growing, and the natural resources of these fuels are declining. In addition, many countries do not have their own fuel resources or lack them. In the process of generating electricity at thermal power plants, harmful substances are released into the atmosphere. Moreover, if the fuel is coal, especially brown, of little value for another type of use and with a high content of unnecessary impurities, emissions reach colossal proportions. And, finally, accidents at thermal power plants cause great damage to nature, comparable to the harm of any major fire. In the worst case, such a fire may be accompanied by an explosion with the formation of a cloud of coal dust or soot.

Hydropower resources in developed countries are used almost completely: most of the river sections suitable for hydrotechnical construction have already been developed. And what harm do hydroelectric power plants do to nature! There are no emissions into the air from the hydroelectric power station, but it causes quite a lot of harm to the aquatic environment. First of all, fish that cannot overcome the hydroelectric dams suffer. On the rivers where hydroelectric power stations are built, especially if there are several of them - the so-called cascades of hydroelectric power stations - the amount of water before and after the dams changes dramatically. Huge reservoirs overflow on the flat rivers, and the flooded lands are irretrievably lost for agriculture, forests, meadows and human settlement. As for accidents at hydroelectric power stations, in the event of a breakthrough of any hydroelectric power station, a huge wave is formed that will sweep away all the hydroelectric power stations located below the dam. But most of these dams are located near large cities with a population of several hundred thousand inhabitants.

The way out of this situation was seen in the development of nuclear energy. By the end of 1989, more than 400 nuclear power plants (NPPs) had been built and operated in the world. Today, however, nuclear power plants are no longer considered a source of cheap and environmentally friendly energy. Nuclear power plants are fueled by uranium ore, which is an expensive and difficult-to-extract raw material whose reserves are limited. In addition, the construction and operation of nuclear power plants are associated with great difficulties and costs. Only a few countries are now continuing to build new nuclear power plants. Problems of environmental pollution are a serious brake on the further development of nuclear energy. All this further complicates the attitude towards nuclear energy. Increasingly, there are calls demanding to abandon the use of nuclear fuel in general, to close all nuclear power plants and return to the production of electricity at thermal and hydroelectric power plants, as well as to use the so-called renewable - small, or "non-traditional" forms of energy generation. The latter primarily include installations and devices that use the energy of wind, water, sun, geothermal energy, as well as heat contained in water, air and earth.

1. ABOUTmain types of alternative energy

1.1 Geothermal energy (heat of the earth)

Geothermal energy - literally translated means: the earth's thermal energy. The volume of the Earth is approximately 1085 billion cubic km and all of it, with the exception of a thin layer of the earth's crust, has a very high temperature.

If we also take into account the heat capacity of the Earth's rocks, it becomes clear that geothermal heat is undoubtedly the largest source of energy currently available to man. Moreover, this is energy in its pure form, since it already exists as heat, and therefore it is not required to burn fuel or create reactors to obtain it.

In some areas, nature delivers geothermal energy to the surface in the form of steam or superheated water that boils and turns into steam as it rises to the surface. Natural steam can be directly used to generate electricity. There are also areas where geothermal waters from springs and wells can be used to heat homes and greenhouses (an island state in the north of the Atlantic Ocean - Iceland; and our Kamchatka and the Kuriles).

However, in general, especially considering the magnitude of the deep heat of the Earth, the use of geothermal energy in the world is extremely limited.

To generate electricity using geothermal steam, solid particles are separated from this steam by passing it through a separator and then sent to a turbine. The "fuel cost" of such a power plant is determined by the capital costs of production wells and the steam collection system and is relatively low. The cost of the power plant itself is also low, since the latter does not have a furnace, boiler plant and chimney. In such a convenient natural form, geothermal energy is an economically viable source of electrical energy. Unfortunately, surface outlets of natural steam or superheated (that is, with a temperature much higher than 100 o C) waters that boil with the formation of a sufficient amount of steam are rare on Earth.

The gross world potential of geothermal energy in the earth's crust at a depth of up to 10 km is estimated at 18,000 trillion. t conv. fuel, which is 1700 times more than the world's geological reserves of fossil fuels. In Russia, the resources of geothermal energy only in the upper layer of the crust, 3 km deep, amount to 180 trillion. t conv. fuel. Using only about 0.2% of this potential could cover the country's energy needs. The only question is the rational, cost-effective and environmentally sound use of these resources. It is precisely because these conditions have not yet been observed when trying to create pilot plants for the use of geothermal energy in the country that today we cannot industrially master such vast reserves of energy.

Geothermal energy is by far the oldest source of alternative energy. In 1994, there were 330 blocks of such stations in the world and the United States dominated here (168 blocks at the Geyser "fields" in the valley of geysers, Imperial Valley, etc.). She took second place. Italy, but in recent years it has been overtaken by China and Mexico. The largest share of geothermal energy used is in Latin America, but it is still just over 1%.

In Russia, Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands are promising areas in this sense. Since the 1960s, a fully automated Pauzhetskaya GeoTPP with a capacity of 11 MW has been successfully operating in Kamchatka; Kunashir. Such stations can only be competitive in areas with high selling prices for electricity, while in Kamchatka and the Kuriles it is very high due to the distance of fuel transportation and the absence of railways.

1.2 Energy of sun

The total amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface is 6.7 times the global fossil fuel resource potential. The use of only 0.5% of this reserve could completely cover the world's energy needs for millennia. On Sev. The technical potential of solar energy in Russia (2.3 billion tons of conventional fuel per year) is approximately 2 times higher than today's fuel consumption.

The total amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface in a week exceeds the energy of all the world's reserves of oil, gas, coal and uranium. And in Russia, solar energy has the greatest theoretical potential, more than 2,000 billion tons of reference fuel (toe). Despite such a large potential in the new energy program of Russia, the contribution of renewable energy sources for 2005 is determined in a very small amount - 17-21 million tons of fuel equivalent. There is a widespread belief that solar energy is exotic and its practical use is a matter of the distant future (after 2020). In this paper, I will show that this is not the case and that solar energy is a serious alternative to traditional energy at the present time.

It is known that every year the world consumes as much oil as it is formed in natural conditions in 2 million years. The gigantic rates of consumption of non-renewable energy resources at a relatively low price, which do not reflect the real total costs of society, essentially mean living on loans, credits from future generations who will not have access to energy at such a low price. Energy-saving technologies for a solar home are the most acceptable in terms of their economic efficiency. Their use will reduce energy consumption in homes up to 60%. An example of the successful application of these technologies is the 2000 Solar Roof project in Germany. In the US, solar water heaters with a total capacity of 1400 MW are installed in 1.5 million homes.

With a solar power plant (SPP) efficiency of 12%, all modern electricity consumption in Russia can be obtained from SPP with an active area of ​​about 4000 sq.m, which is 0.024% of the territory.

The most practical application in the world has received hybrid solar-fuel power plants with the following parameters: efficiency 13.9%, steam temperature 371 ° C, steam pressure 100 bar, cost of electricity generated 0.08-0.12 USD/kWh, total power in the USA 400 MW at a cost of $3/W. SES operates in peak mode at a selling price for 1 kWh of electricity in the power system: from 8 to 12 hours - 0.066 dollars and from 12 to 18 hours - 0.353 dollars. SES efficiency can be increased up to 23% - average efficiency system power plants, and the cost of electricity is reduced due to the combined generation of electricity and heat.

The main technological achievement of this project is the creation by the German company Flachglass Solartechnik GMBH of a technology for the production of a glass parabolic-cylindrical concentrator 100 m long with an aperture of 5.76 m, an optical efficiency of 81% and a service life of 30 years. With such mirror technology in Russia, it is advisable to mass-produce solar power plants in the southern regions, where there are gas pipelines or small gas deposits and direct solar radiation exceeds 50% of the total.

Fundamentally new types of solar concentrates using holography technology have been proposed by VIESKh.

Its main characteristics are the combination of the positive qualities of solar power plants with a central receiver of a modular type and the possibility of using both traditional steam heaters and silicon-based solar cells as a receiver.

One of the most promising solar energy technologies is the creation of photovoltaic stations with silicon-based solar cells, which convert direct and scattered components of solar radiation into electrical energy with an efficiency of 12-15%. Laboratory samples have an efficiency of 23%. The world production of solar cells exceeds 50 MW per year and increases annually by 30%. The current level of production of solar cells corresponds to the initial phase of their use for lighting, lifting water, telecommunications stations, powering household appliances in certain areas and in vehicles. The cost of solar cells is 2.5-3 USD/W, while the cost of electricity is 0.25-0.56 USD/kWh. Solar power systems replace kerosene lamps, candles, dry cells and batteries, and with a significant distance from the power system and low load power, diesel power generators and power lines.

1.3 Wind energy

For a very long time, seeing what destruction storms and hurricanes can bring, a person thought about whether it was possible to use wind energy.

Windmills with wings-sails made of fabric were the first to be built by the ancient Persians over 1.5 thousand years ago. In the future, windmills improved. In Europe, they not only ground flour, but also pumped out water, churned butter, as, for example, in Holland. The first electric generator was designed in Denmark in 1890. After 20 years, hundreds of similar installations were operating in the country.

Wind energy is very high. Its reserves, according to the World Meteorological Organization, amount to 170 trillion kWh per year. This energy can be obtained without polluting the environment. But the wind has two significant drawbacks: its energy is highly dispersed in space and it is unpredictable - it often changes direction, suddenly subsides even in the windiest regions of the globe, and sometimes reaches such strength that windmills break.

Construction, maintenance, repair of wind turbines operating around the clock in any weather in the open air is not cheap. A wind power plant of the same capacity as a hydroelectric power station, thermal power plant or nuclear power plant, in comparison with them, must occupy a large area. In addition, wind power plants are not harmless: they interfere with the flights of birds and insects, make noise, reflect radio waves with rotating blades, interfering with TV reception in nearby settlements.

The principle of operation of wind turbines is very simple: the blades, which rotate due to the force of the wind, transmit mechanical energy through the shaft to the electric generator. That, in turn, generates electrical energy. It turns out that wind farms work like battery-powered toy cars, only the principle of their operation is the opposite. Instead of converting electrical energy into mechanical energy, wind energy is converted into electrical current.

To obtain wind energy, different designs are used: multi-bladed "daisies"; propellers like aircraft propellers with three, two, and even one blade (then it has a counterweight weight); vertical rotors, resembling a barrel cut along and mounted on an axis; a kind of “standing on end” helicopter propeller: the outer ends of its blades are bent up and connected to each other. Vertical structures are good because they catch the wind of any direction. The rest have to turn with the wind.

In order to somehow compensate for the variability of the wind, huge "wind farms" are being built. Wind turbines there stand in rows over a vast area and work on a single network. On one side of the "farm" the wind may blow, on the other it is quiet at this time. Windmills should not be placed too close so that they do not block each other. Therefore, the farm takes up a lot of space. There are such farms in the USA, in France, in England, and in Denmark a "wind farm" was placed in the coastal shallow waters of the North Sea: there it does not interfere with anyone and the wind is more stable than on land.

To reduce dependence on the changeable direction and strength of the wind, flywheels are included in the system, partially smoothing out gusts of wind, and various kinds of batteries. Most often they are electric. But they also use air (a windmill pumps air into cylinders; leaving it, its smooth jet rotates a turbine with an electric generator) and hydraulic (water rises to a certain height by the force of the wind, and, falling down, rotates the turbine). Electrolysis batteries are also installed. The windmill produces an electric current that decomposes water into oxygen and hydrogen. They are stored in cylinders and, as necessary, burned in a fuel cell (i.e., in a chemical reactor, where fuel energy is converted into electricity) or in a gas turbine, again receiving current, but without sharp voltage fluctuations associated with the vagaries of the wind.

Now more than 30 thousand wind turbines of various capacities operate in the world. Germany receives 10% of its electricity from wind, and the wind provides 2,500 MW of electricity to the whole of Western Europe. As wind farms pay off and their designs improve, the price of overhead electricity drops. Thus, in 1993 in France, the cost of 1 kWh of electricity generated at a wind farm was 40 centimes, and by 2000 it had decreased by 1.5 times. True, the energy of the nuclear power plant costs only 12 centimes per 1 kWh.

1.4 water energy

The water level on the coasts during the day changes three times. Such fluctuations are especially noticeable in bays and mouths of rivers flowing into the sea. The ancient Greeks explained the fluctuation of the water level by the will of the ruler of the seas, Poseidon. In the XVIII century. English physicist Isaac Newton unraveled the mystery of the tides: huge masses of water in the world's oceans are set in motion by the forces of attraction of the Moon and the Sun. Every 6 hours and 12 minutes, the tide is replaced by a low tide. The maximum amplitude of the tides in different places of our planet is not the same and ranges from 4 to 20 m.

For the device of the simplest tidal power plant (PES), a pool is needed - a bay blocked by a dam or a river mouth. The dam has culverts and installed turbines. At high tide, water enters the pool. When the water levels in the basin and the sea are equal, the gates of the culverts are closed. With the onset of low tide, the water level in the sea drops, and when the pressure becomes sufficient, the turbines and the electric generators connected to it begin to work, and the water gradually leaves the pool. It is considered economically feasible to build a TPP in areas with tidal fluctuations in sea level of at least 4 m. The design capacity of a TPP depends on the nature of the tide in the area of ​​the station construction, on the volume and area of ​​the tidal basin, and on the number of turbines installed in the body of the dam.

In double-acting tidal power plants, the turbines are driven by the movement of water from the sea to the pool and back. A double-acting PES is capable of generating electricity continuously for 4-5 hours with interruptions of 1-2 hours four times a day. To increase the operation time of turbines, there are more complex schemes - with two, three and more pools, but the cost of such projects is very high.

The first tidal power plant with a capacity of 240 MW was launched in 1966 in France at the mouth of the Rance River, which flows into the English Channel, where the average tide amplitude is 8.4 m. hour of electricity. For this station, a tidal capsule unit has been developed that allows for three direct and three reverse modes of operation: as a generator, as a pump and as a culvert, which ensures efficient operation of the TPP. According to experts, the TPP on the Rance River is economically justified, the annual operating costs are lower than at hydroelectric power plants, and amount to 4% of capital investments. The power plant is part of the French energy system and is effectively used.

In 1968, on the Barents Sea, not far from Murmansk, a pilot industrial TPP with a design capacity of 800 kW was put into operation. The site of its construction - Kislaya Guba is a narrow bay 150 m wide and 450 m long. Although the capacity of the Kislogubskaya TPP is small, its construction was important for further research and design work in the field of tidal energy.

There are projects of large TPPs with a capacity of 320 MW (Kola) and 4000 MW (Mezenskaya) on the White Sea, where the tide amplitude is 7-10 m. 9 m, and in the Gizhiginskaya Bay - 12-14 m.

Work in this area is also being carried out abroad. In 1985, a TPP was put into operation in the Bay of Fundy in Canada with a capacity of 20 MW (the amplitude of the tides here is 19.6 m). China has built three small-capacity tidal power plants. In the UK, a 1,000 MW TPP project is under development at the mouth of the River Severn, where the average tide amplitude is 16.3 m

From the point of view of ecology, PES has an indisputable advantage over thermal power plants that burn oil and coal. Favorable prerequisites for a wider use of the energy of sea tides are associated with the possibility of using the recently created Gorlov pipe, which allows the construction of TPPs without dams, reducing the cost of their construction. The first damless TPPs are planned to be built in the coming years in South Korea.

1.5. Wave energy

The idea of ​​obtaining electricity from sea waves was outlined as early as 1935 by the Soviet scientist K.E. Tsiolkovsky.

The operation of wave power stations is based on the impact of waves on working bodies made in the form of floats, pendulums, blades, shells, etc. The mechanical energy of their movements with the help of electric generators is converted into electrical energy. When the buoy swings along the wave, the water level inside it changes. From this, the air comes out of it, then enters it. But the movement of air is possible only through the upper hole (such is the design of the buoy). And there is a turbine installed that always rotates in the same direction, regardless of which direction the air moves. Even rather small waves 35 cm high force the turbine to develop more than 2000 revolutions per minute. Another type of installation is something like a stationary micro-power plant. Outwardly, it looks like a box mounted on supports at a shallow depth. The waves penetrate the box and drive the turbine. And here, quite a bit of sea disturbance is enough to work. Even waves 20 cm high lit bulbs with a total power of 200 watts.

Currently, wave power plants are used to power autonomous buoys, lighthouses, and scientific instruments. Along the way, large wave stations can be used for wave protection of offshore drilling platforms, open roads, and marine farms. The industrial use of wave energy began. There are already about 400 lighthouses and navigation buoys in the world powered by wave installations. In India, the lightship of the port of Madras is powered by wave energy. In Norway, since 1985, the world's first industrial wave station with a capacity of 850 kW has been operating.

The creation of wave power plants is determined by the optimal choice of the ocean area with a stable supply of wave energy, an efficient design of the station, which has built-in devices for smoothing uneven wave conditions. It is believed that wave stations can operate effectively using a power of about 80 kW/m. The operating experience of existing installations has shown that the electricity generated by them is 2-3 times more expensive than traditional electricity, but in the future a significant reduction in its cost is expected.

In wave installations with pneumatic converters, under the action of waves, the air flow periodically changes its direction to the opposite. For these conditions, the Wells turbine was developed, the rotor of which has a rectifying effect, keeping the direction of its rotation unchanged when the direction of the air flow changes, therefore, the direction of rotation of the generator is also maintained unchanged. The turbine has found wide application in various wave power installations.

Wave power plant "Kaimei" ("Sea Light") - the most powerful operating power plant with pneumatic converters - was built in Japan in 1976. In its work it uses waves up to 6 - 10 m high. On a barge 80 m long, 12 wide m and a displacement of 500 tons, 22 air chambers are installed, open from below. Each pair of chambers is powered by one Wells turbine. The total power of the plant is 1000 kW. The first tests were carried out in 1978-1979. near the city of Tsuruoka. The energy was transferred to the shore via an underwater cable about 3 km long. In 1985, in Norway, 46 km northwest of the city of Bergen, an industrial wave station was built, consisting of two installations. The first installation on the island of Toftestallen worked on the pneumatic principle. It was a reinforced concrete chamber buried in the rock; a steel tower 12.3 mm high and 3.6 m in diameter was installed above it. The waves entering the chamber created a change in the volume of air. The resulting flow through the valve system drove a turbine and an associated 500 kW generator for an annual output of 1.2 million kW. h. Winter storm at the end of 1988, the tower of the station was destroyed. A project for a new reinforced concrete tower is being developed.

The design of the second installation consists of a cone-shaped canal in the gorge about 170 m long with concrete walls 15 m high and 55 m wide at the base, which enters the reservoir between the islands, separated from the sea by dams, and a dam with a power plant. Waves, passing through a narrowing channel, increase their height from 1.1 to 15 m and pour into the reservoir, the level of which is 3 m above sea level. From the reservoir, water passes through low-pressure hydraulic turbines with a capacity of 350 kW. The station annually produces up to 2 million kWh of electricity.

And in the UK, an original design of a wave power plant of the "mollusk" type is being developed, in which soft shells - chambers - are used as working bodies. They contain air under pressure, somewhat greater than atmospheric pressure. The chambers are compressed by the wave run-up, a closed air flow is formed from the chambers to the frame of the installation and vice versa. Wells air turbines with electric generators are installed along the flow path. Now an experimental floating plant is being created from 6 chambers, mounted on a frame 120 m long and 8 m high. The expected power is 500 kW. Further developments have shown that the arrangement of cameras in a circle gives the greatest effect. In Scotland, on Loch Ness, an installation consisting of 12 chambers and 8 turbines was tested. The theoretical power of such an installation is up to 1200 kW.

For the first time, the design of a wave raft was patented in the USSR back in 1926. In 1978, experimental models of ocean power plants were tested in the UK, based on a similar solution. The Kokkerel wave raft consists of articulated sections, the movement of which relative to each other is transmitted to pumps with electric generators. The entire structure is held in place by anchors. The three-section wave raft Kokkerela 100 m long, 50 m wide and 10 m high can provide power up to 2 thousand kW.

In the USSR, the wave raft model was tested in the 70s. at the Black Sea. It had a length of 12 m, a float width of 0.4 m. On waves 0.5 m high and 10–15 m long, the installation developed a power of 150 kW.

The project, known as the Salter Duck, is a wave energy converter. The working structure is a float ("duck"), the profile of which is calculated according to the laws of hydrodynamics. The project provides for the installation of a large number of large floats, successively mounted on a common shaft. Under the influence of waves, the floats move and return to their original position by the force of their own weight. In this case, pumps are activated inside a shaft filled with specially prepared water. Through a system of pipes of different diameters, a pressure difference is created, which sets in motion the turbines installed between the floats and raised above the sea surface. The generated electricity is transmitted through an underwater cable. For a more efficient distribution of loads on the shaft, 20 - 30 floats should be installed. In 1978, a plant model was tested, which consisted of 20 floats with a diameter of 1 m. The generated power was 10 kW. A project has been developed for a more powerful installation of 20 - 30 floats with a diameter of 15 m, mounted on a shaft, 1200 m long. The estimated capacity of the installation is 45 thousand kW. Similar systems, installed off the western coast of the British Isles, could supply the UK's electricity needs.

1.6 Current energy

The most powerful ocean currents are a potential source of energy. The current state of the art makes it possible to extract the energy of currents at a flow velocity of more than 1 m/s. In this case, the power from 1 m 2 of the cross section of the flow is about 1 kW. It seems promising to use such powerful currents as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio, carrying 83 and 55 million cubic meters per second of water at a speed of up to 2 m/s, respectively, and the Florida Current (30 million cubic meters per second, speed up to 1, 8 m/s).

For ocean energy, currents in the straits of Gibraltar, the English Channel, and the Kurils are of interest. However, the creation of ocean power plants on the energy of currents is still associated with a number of technical difficulties, primarily with the creation of large power plants that pose a threat to navigation.

The Coriolis program provides for the installation in the Strait of Florida, 30 km east of the city of Miami, of 242 turbines with two impellers with a diameter of 168 m, rotating in opposite directions. A pair of impellers is placed inside a hollow aluminum chamber that provides buoyancy to the turbine. To increase the efficiency of the wheel blades, it is supposed to be made sufficiently flexible. The entire Coriolis system with a total length of 60 km will be oriented along the main stream; its width with the arrangement of turbines in 22 rows of 11 turbines in each will be 30 km. The units are supposed to be towed to the installation site and deepened by 30 m so as not to impede navigation.

After most of the South Equatorial Current enters the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the water returns from there to the Atlantic through the Gulf of Florida. The width of the current becomes minimal - 80 km. At the same time, it accelerates its movement up to 2 m/s. When the Florida current is strengthened by the Antilles, the flow of water reaches a maximum. A force is developed that is quite sufficient to set in motion a turbine with sweeping blades, the shaft of which is connected to an electric generator. Further - the transmission of current through the underwater cable to the shore.

The material of the turbine is aluminium. Service life - 80 years. Her permanent place is underwater. Rise to the surface of the water only for preventive maintenance. Its work practically does not depend on the depth of immersion and water temperature. The blades rotate slowly and small fish are free to swim through the turbine. But the large entrance is closed with a safety net.

American engineers believe that the construction of such a structure is even cheaper than the construction of thermal power plants. There is no need to erect a building, lay roads, arrange warehouses. And the running costs are much less.

The net capacity of each turbine, taking into account operating costs and losses during transmission to shore, will be 43 MW, which will satisfy the needs of the state of Florida (USA) by 10%.

The first prototype of such a turbine with a diameter of 1.5 m was tested in the Florida Strait. A design for a turbine with an impeller 12 m in diameter and 400 kW was also developed.

2 Status and prospects for the development of alternative energy in Russia

The share of traditional fuel energy in the global energy balance will continuously decrease, and non-traditional – alternative energy based on the use of renewable energy sources will replace it. And not only its economic well-being, but also its independence, its national security depends on the pace with which this happens in a particular country.

The situation with renewable energy sources in Russia, as with almost everything in our country, can be called unique. The reserves of these sources, which can be used already at today's technical level, are enormous. Here is one of the estimates: solar radiant energy - 2300 billion TUT (tons of equivalent fuel); wind - 26.7 billion TUT, biomass - 10 billion TUT; heat of the Earth - 40,000 billion TUT; small rivers - 360 billion TUT; seas and oceans - 30 billion TUT. These sources far exceed the current level of energy consumption in Russia (1.2 billion TTU per year). However, they are used from all this unthinkable abundance, not even to say that the crumbs are microscopic quantities. As in the world as a whole, wind energy is the most developed among renewable energy sources in Russia. Back in the 1930s. in our country, several types of wind turbines with a capacity of 3-4 kW were mass-produced, but in the 1960s. their release was discontinued. In the last years of the USSR, the government again paid attention to this area, but did not have time to realize its plans. However, from 1980 to 2006 Russia has accumulated a large scientific and technical reserve (but Russia has a serious backlog in the practical use of renewable energy sources). Today, the total capacity of existing, under construction and planned for commissioning in Russia wind turbines and wind farms is 200 MW. The power of individual wind turbines manufactured by Russian enterprises ranges from 0.04 to 1000.0 kW. As an example, we will cite several developers and manufacturers of wind turbines and wind farms. In Moscow, LLC SKTB Iskra produces wind power plants M-250 with a capacity of 250W. In Dubna, Moscow region, the enterprise Gos.MKB "Rainbow" produces easily installed wind farms of 750W, 1kW and 8kW; St. Petersburg Research Institute "Electropribor" produces wind turbines up to 500 W.

In Kyiv since 1999. The research and production group WindElectric manufactures WE-1000 domestic wind power plants with a capacity of 1 kW. The group's specialists have developed a unique multi-blade, universal-speed and absolutely silent turbine of small size, which effectively uses any air flow.

Khabarovsk "Company LMV Wind Energy" produces wind farms with a capacity of 0.25 to 10 kW, the latter can be combined into systems with a capacity of up to 100 kW. Since 1993 this enterprise has developed and produced 640 WPPs. Most are installed in Siberia, the Far East, Kamchatka, Chukotka. The life of the WPP reaches 20 years in any climatic zones. The company also supplies solar panels that work in conjunction with wind farms (the power of such wind solar installations ranges from 50W to 100 kW).

In terms of wind energy resources in Russia, the most promising areas are the coast of the Arctic Ocean, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Chukotka, Yakutia, as well as the coast of the Gulf of Finland, the Black and Caspian Seas. High average annual wind speeds, low availability of centralized power grids and an abundance of unused areas in the economy make these areas almost ideal for the development of wind energy. The situation is similar with solar energy. The solar energy coming to the territory of our country per week exceeds the energy of all Russian resources of oil, coal, gas and uranium. There are interesting domestic developments in this area, but there is no state support for them and, consequently, there is no photovoltaic market. However, the output of solar panels is measured in megawatts. In 2006 about 400 MW were produced. There is a trend towards some growth. However, buyers from abroad show greater interest in the products of various research and production associations that produce photocells, for Russians they are still expensive; in particular, because raw materials for the production of crystalline film elements have to be imported from abroad (in Soviet times, silicon production plants were located in Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine) The most favorable areas for the use of solar energy in Russia are the North Caucasus, Stavropol and Krasnodar regions, Astrakhan region, Kalmykia, Tuva, Buryatia, Chita region, Far East.

The greatest achievements in the use of solar energy have been noted in the field of creating heat supply systems using flat solar collectors. The first place in Russia in the implementation of such systems is occupied by the Krasnodar Territory, where in recent years, in accordance with the current regional energy saving program, about a hundred large solar hot water supply systems and many small installations for individual use have been built. The greatest development of solar installations for space heating was received in the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Buryatia. In Buryatia, solar collectors with a capacity of 500 to 3000 liters of hot water (90-100 degrees Celsius) per day are equipped with various industrial and social facilities - hospitals, schools, the Elektromashina plant, etc., as well as private residential buildings. Relatively increased attention is being paid to the development of geothermal power plants, which are more likely to be familiar to our energy managers and reach high capacities, and therefore better fit into the familiar concept of energy gigantism. Experts believe that the reserves of geothermal energy in Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands can provide power plants with a capacity of up to 1000 MW.

Back in 1967 Pauzhetskaya GeoTPP with a capacity of 11.5 MW was built in Kamchatka. It was the fifth GeoTPP in the world. In 1967 The Paratunskaya GeoTPP was put into operation - the first in the world with a binary Rankine cycle. Currently, the Mutnovskaya GeoTPP with a capacity of 200 MW is being built using domestic equipment manufactured by the Kaluga Turbine Plant. This plant has also started mass production of modular units for geothermal power and heat supply. With the use of such blocks, Kamchatka and Sakhalin can be almost completely provided with electricity and heat from geothermal sources. Geothermal sources with a sufficiently large energy potential are available in the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories. Today, the contribution of geothermal heat supply systems is 3 million Gcal/year.

According to experts, with countless reserves of this type of energy, the issue of rational, cost-effective and environmentally friendly use of geothermal resources has not been resolved, which hinders their industrial development. For example, extracted geothermal waters are used by barbaric methods: untreated waste water containing a number of hazardous substances (mercury, arsenic, phenols, sulfur, etc.) is dumped into the surrounding water bodies, causing irreparable harm to nature. In addition, all pipelines of geothermal heating systems quickly fail due to the high salinity of geothermal waters. Therefore, a fundamental revision of the technology of using geothermal energy is required.

Now the leading enterprise for the manufacture of geothermal power plants in Russia is the Kaluga Turbine Plant and JSC Nauka, which have developed and are producing modular geothermal power plants with a capacity of 0.5 to 25 MW. A program has been developed and launched to create a geothermal energy supply for Kamchatka, as a result of which about 900,000 kWh of electricity will be saved annually. HERE. 10 deposits of geothermal waters are exploited in the Kuban. For 1999-2000 the level of production of heat and power water in the region amounted to about 9 million m3, which made it possible to save up to 65 thousand TTU. The Turbocon enterprise, created at the Kaluga Turbine Plant, has developed an extremely promising technology that allows you to get electricity from hot water that evaporates under pressure and rotates a turbine equipped with special funnels instead of the usual blades - the so-called Laval nozzles. The benefits of such installations, called hydro-steam turbines, are at least twofold. First, they allow better use of geothermal energy. Usually, only geothermal steam or combustible gases dissolved in geothermal water are used to generate energy, while with a hydro-steam turbine, hot water can also be used directly to generate energy. Another possible application of the new turbine is to generate electricity in urban heating networks from water returning from heat consumers. Now the heat of this water is wasted, while it could provide boiler rooms with an independent source of electricity.

The heat of the bowels of the Earth can not only throw fountains of geysers into the air, but also warm homes and generate electricity. Kamchatka, Chukotka, the Kuriles, Primorsky Krai, Western Siberia, the North Caucasus, the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, and the Kaliningrad Region have large geothermal resources. High-potential thermal heat (steam-and-water mixture over 100 degrees Celsius) makes it possible to produce electricity directly.

Typically, steam-water thermal mixture is extracted from wells drilled to a depth of 2-5 km. Each of the wells is capable of providing electrical power of 4-8 MW from a geothermal deposit area of ​​about 1 km 2 . At the same time, for environmental reasons, it is also necessary to have wells for pumping waste geothermal water into the reservoir.

Currently, there are 3 geothermal power plants operating in Kamchatka: Pauzhetskaya GeoPP, Verkhne-Mutnovskaya GeoPP and Mutnovskaya GeoPP. The total capacity of these geothermal power plants is more than 70 MW. This makes it possible to meet the region's needs for electricity by 25% and reduce dependence on the supply of expensive imported fuel oil.

In the Sakhalin region on about. Kunashir put into operation the first unit with a capacity of 1.8 MW at the Mendeleev GeoTPP and a geothermal thermal power plant GTS-700 with a capacity of 17 Gcal/h. Most of the low-grade geothermal energy is used in the form of heat in housing and communal services and agriculture. Thus, in the Caucasus, the total area of ​​greenhouses heated by geothermal waters is over 70 hectares. In Moscow, an experimental multi-storey building has been built and is being successfully operated, in which hot water for domestic needs is heated by low-potential heat from the Earth.

Finally, small hydroelectric power plants should also be mentioned. The situation with them is relatively favorable in terms of design developments: equipment for small hydropower plants is being produced or is ready for production at many enterprises of the power engineering industry, with hydraulic turbines of various designs - axial, radial-axial, propeller, diagonal, bucket. At the same time, the cost of equipment manufactured at domestic enterprises remains significantly below the world price level. In the Kuban, two small hydroelectric power plants (SHPPs) are being built on the river. Beshenka near the village of Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi and the discharge of the circulating system of technical water supply of the Krasnodar CHPP. It is planned to build a SHPP at the outlet of the Krasnodar reservoir with a capacity of 50 MW. Work has begun on the restoration of a system of small hydropower plants in the Leningrad Region. In the 1970s there, as a result of the campaign to enlarge the power supply of the region, more than 40 such stations stopped working. The fruits of short-sighted gigantomania have to be corrected now, when the need for small energy sources has become obvious.

Conclusion

It should be noted that in Russia there are still no such laws that would regulate alternative energy and stimulate its development. As well as there is no structure that would protect the interests of alternative energy. As, for example, the Ministry of Atomic Energy is separately engaged in nuclear energy. A report is planned to the government on the justification of the need and the development of the concept of the draft federal law “On the Development of Renewable Energy Sources”. Four ministries are responsible for preparing this report: the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Industry and Science and the Ministry of Justice. When they will agree, it is not known.

In order for the industry to develop quickly and fully, the law should provide tax incentives for enterprises producing equipment for renewable energy (for example, reducing the VAT rate to at least 10%). Certification and licensing issues are also important (especially with regard to equipment), because the priority of renewable energy must also meet quality requirements.

The development of alternative ways of obtaining energy is hampered by producers and miners of traditional energy sources: they have strong positions in power and have the opportunity to defend their interests. Alternative energy is still quite expensive compared to traditional energy, because almost all manufacturing enterprises produce installations in pilot batches in very small quantities and, accordingly, are very expensive. The organization of serial production and certification of installations require significant investments, which are completely absent. State support could help reduce the cost. However, this is contrary to the interests of those whose business is based on the extraction of traditional hydrocarbon fuel. No one wants extra competition.

As a result, the predominant use of renewable sources and the development of alternative energy are preferred mainly in those regions where this is the most obvious solution to the existing energy problems. Russia has significant wind energy resources, including in those regions where there is no centralized power supply - the coast of the Arctic Ocean, Yakutia, Kamchatka, Chukotka, Sakhalin, but even in these areas almost no attempts are made to solve energy problems in this way.

The further development of alternative energy is discussed in the Energy Strategy of Russia for the period up to 2020. The numbers that our alternative energy industry must achieve are very low, the tasks are minimal, so there is no need to wait for a turning point in the Russian energy sector. Due to alternative energy, by 2020 it is planned to save less than 1% of all fuel resources. The priority of its "energy strategy" Russia chooses the nuclear industry as "the most important part of the country's energy."

Recently, some steps have been taken towards the development of alternative renewable energy. The Ministry of Energy has begun negotiations with the French on the prospects for cooperation in the field of alternative energy. In general, it can be noted that the state and prospects for the development of alternative energy for the next 10-15 years are generally deplorable.

List of sources used

1. Kopylov V.A. Geography of industry in Russia and CIS countries. Tutorial. - M.: Marketing, 2001 - 184 p.

2. Vidyapin M.V., Stepanov M.V. Economic geography of Russia. - M.: Infra - M., 2002 - 533 p.

3. Morozova T.G. Economic geography of Russia - 2nd ed., ed. - M.: UNITI, 2002 - 471 p.

4. Arustamov E.A. Levakova I.V. Barkalova N.V. Ecological bases of nature management. M. Ed. "Dashkov and K". 2002.

5. V. Volodin, P. Khazanovsky Energy, twenty-first century.-M 1998

6. A. Goldin "Oceans of Energy". M: UNITY 2000

7. Popov V. Biosphere and problems of its protection. Kazan. 1981.

8. Rakhilin V. society and wildlife. M. Science. 1989.

9. Lavrus V.S. Energy Sources K: NiT, 1997

10. E. Berman. Geothermal Energy - Moscow: Mir, 1978.

11. L. S. Yudasin. Energy: problems and hopes. M: UNITY. 1999.

To solve the problem of the limited fossil fuels, researchers around the world are working to create and put into operation alternative energy sources. And we are talking not only about the well-known windmills and solar panels. Gas and oil can be replaced by energy from algae, volcanoes and human steps. Recycle has selected ten of the most exciting and clean energy sources of the future.

Joules from turnstiles

Thousands of people every day pass through the turnstiles at the entrance to railway stations. At once in several research centers of the world, the idea appeared to use the flow of people as an innovative energy generator. The Japanese company East Japan Railway Company decided to equip each turnstile at railway stations with generators. The installation works at a train station in Tokyo's Shibuya district: piezoelectric elements are embedded in the floor under the turnstiles, which generate electricity from the pressure and vibration they receive when people step on them.

Another "energy turnstile" technology is already in use in China and the Netherlands. In these countries, engineers decided to use not the effect of pressing the piezoelectric elements, but the pushing effect of the turnstile handles or turnstile doors. The concept of the Dutch company Boon Edam involves replacing standard doors at the entrance to shopping centers (which usually work on a photocell system and start spinning themselves) with doors that the visitor must push and thus generate electricity.

In the Dutch center Natuurcafe La Port, such doors-generators have already appeared. Each of them produces about 4,600 kilowatt-hours of energy per year, which at first glance may seem insignificant, but it is a good example of an alternative technology for generating electricity.

Algae heat houses

Algae began to be considered as an alternative energy source relatively recently, but the technology, according to experts, is very promising. Suffice it to say that from 1 hectare of water surface area occupied by algae, 150 thousand cubic meters of biogas can be obtained per year. This is approximately equal to the volume of gas that a small well produces, and enough for the life of a small village.

Green algae are easy to maintain, grow quickly and come in a variety of species that use the energy of sunlight to carry out photosynthesis. All biomass, be it sugars or fats, can be converted into biofuels, most commonly bioethanol and biodiesel. Algae is an ideal eco-fuel because it grows in the aquatic environment and does not require land resources, is highly productive and does not harm the environment.

According to economists, by 2018 the global turnover from the processing of biomass of marine microalgae can reach about $ 100 billion. There are already implemented projects on "algae" fuel - for example, a 15-apartment building in Hamburg, Germany. The facades of the house are covered with 129 algae tanks, which serve as the only source of energy for heating and air conditioning of the building, called the Bio Intelligent Quotient (BIQ) House.

Speed ​​bumps light up the streets

The concept of generating electricity using the so-called "speed bumps" began to be implemented first in the UK, then in Bahrain, and soon the technology will reach Russia.It all started with the fact that the British inventor Peter Hughes created the "Generating Road Ramp" (Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp) for highways. The ramp consists of two metal plates that rise slightly above the road. An electric generator is laid under the plates, which generates current whenever the car passes through the ramp.

Depending on the weight of the car, the ramp can generate from 5 to 50 kilowatts during the time the car passes the ramp. Such ramps as batteries are able to supply electricity to traffic lights and illuminated road signs. In the UK, the technology is already working in several cities. The method began to spread to other countries - for example, to small Bahrain.

The most surprising thing is that something similar can be seen in Russia. Albert Brand, a student from Tyumen, proposed the same street lighting solution at the VUZPromExpo forum. According to the developer's estimates, from 1,000 to 1,500 cars pass by speed bumps in his city every day. For one “collision” of a car on a “speed bump” equipped with an electric generator, about 20 watts of electricity will be generated that does not harm the environment.

More than just football

Developed by a group of Harvard alumni who founded Uncharted Play, a Soccket ball can generate electricity in half an hour of football, enough to power an LED lamp for several hours. Soccket is called an environmentally friendly alternative to unsafe energy sources, which are often used by residents of underdeveloped countries.

The principle of energy storage in a Soccket is quite simple: the kinetic energy generated from hitting the ball is transferred to a tiny pendulum-like mechanism that drives a generator. The generator produces electricity, which is stored in the battery. The stored energy can be used to power any small electrical appliance, such as a table lamp with an LED.

The output power of the Soccket is six watts. The energy-generating ball has already won worldwide recognition, winning numerous awards, being highly acclaimed by the Clinton Global Initiative, and receiving accolades at the renowned TED conference.

The hidden energy of volcanoes

One of the main developments in the development of volcanic energy belongs to American researchers from the initiating companies AltaRock Energy and Davenport Newberry Holdings. The test subject was a dormant volcano in Oregon. Salt water is pumped deep into the rocks, the temperature of which is very high due to the decay of the radioactive elements present in the planet's crust and the Earth's hottest mantle. When heated, water turns into steam, which is fed into a turbine that generates electricity.

At the moment, there are only two small operating power plants of this type - in France and in Germany. If the American technology works, the US Geological Survey estimates that geothermal energy has the potential to provide 50% of the electricity needed by the country (today its contribution is only 0.3%).

Another way to use volcanoes to generate energy was proposed in 2009 by Icelandic researchers. Near the volcanic depths, they discovered an underground reservoir of water with an abnormally high temperature. Super-hot water is somewhere on the border between liquid and gas and exists only at a certain temperature and pressure.

Scientists could generate something similar in the laboratory, but it turned out that such water is also found in nature - in the bowels of the earth. It is believed that ten times more energy can be extracted from "critical temperature" water than from water brought to a boil in the classical way.

Energy from human heat

The principle of thermoelectric generators operating on temperature difference has been known for a long time. But only a few years ago, technology began to allow the use of the heat of the human body as an energy source. A team of researchers from the Korea Leading Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has developed a generator embedded in a flexible glass plate.

T Which gadget will allow fitness bracelets to be recharged from the heat of a human hand - for example, while running, when the body is very hot and contrasts with the ambient temperature. A Korean generator measuring 10 by 10 centimeters can produce about 40 milliwatts of energy at a skin temperature of 31 degrees Celsius.

A similar technology was taken as a basis by the young Ann Makosinski, who invented a flashlight that is charged by the temperature difference between the air and the human body. The effect is explained by the use of four Peltier elements: their feature is the ability to generate electricity when heated on one side and cooled on the other side.

As a result, Ann's flashlight produces a fairly bright light, but does not require rechargeable batteries. For its operation, only a temperature difference of only five degrees between the degree of heating of the human palm and the temperature in the room is necessary.

Steps on "smart" paving slabs

At any point of one of the busy streets, there are up to 50,000 steps per day. The idea of ​​using foot traffic to usefully convert steps into energy was realized in a product developed by Lawrence Kemball-Cook, director of Pavegen Systems Ltd. in the UK. An engineer has created paving slabs that generate electricity from the kinetic energy of walking pedestrians.

The device in the innovative tile is made from a flexible, waterproof material that flexes about five millimeters when pressed. This, in turn, creates energy, which the mechanism converts into electricity. The accumulated watts are either stored in a lithium polymer battery or directly used to illuminate bus stops, shop windows and signage.

The Pavegen tile itself is considered completely environmentally friendly: its body is made of special grade stainless steel and low carbon recycled polymer. The top surface is made from recycled tires, thanks to which the tiles are durable and highly resistant to abrasion.

During the Summer Olympics in London in 2012, tiles were installed on many tourist streets. In two weeks, 20 million joules of energy were obtained. This was more than enough for street lighting in the British capital.

Bicycle charging smartphones

To recharge the player, phone or tablet, it is not necessary to have an outlet at hand. Sometimes just turning the pedals is enough. Thus, the American company Cycle Atom has released a device that allows you to charge an external battery while cycling and subsequently recharge mobile devices.

The product, called the Siva Cycle Atom, is a lightweight lithium battery bike generator designed to power almost any mobile device with a USB port. This mini generator can be installed on most common bike frames in minutes. The battery itself can be easily removed for subsequent recharging of gadgets. The user goes in for sports and pedals - and after a couple of hours his smartphone is already charged by 100 cents.

Nokia, in turn, also introduced to the general public a gadget that attaches to a bicycle and allows you to translate pedaling into a way to obtain environmentally friendly energy. The Nokia Bicycle Charger Kit has a dynamo, a small electrical generator that uses power from the wheels of a bicycle to charge the phone through the standard 2mm plug found on most Nokia phones.

The Benefits of Wastewater

Any large city daily dumps a huge amount of wastewater into open water, polluting the ecosystem. It would seem that water poisoned by sewage can no longer be useful to anyone, but this is not so - scientists have discovered a way to create fuel cells based on it.

One of the pioneers of the idea was Pennsylvania State University professor Bruce Logan. The general concept is very difficult for a non-specialist to understand and is built on two pillars - the use of bacterial fuel cells and the installation of the so-called reverse electrodialysis. Bacteria oxidize organic matter in wastewater and produce electrons in the process, creating an electrical current.

Almost any type of organic waste material can be used to generate electricity - not only sewage, but also animal waste, as well as by-products from the wine, brewing, and dairy industries. As for reverse electrodialysis, electric generators work here, separated by membranes into cells and extracting energy from the difference in salinity of two mixing liquid streams.

"Paper" energy

Japanese electronics manufacturer Sony has developed and unveiled a bio-generator capable of generating electricity from finely cut paper at the Tokyo Green Food Show. The essence of the process is as follows: corrugated cardboard is needed to isolate cellulose (this is a long chain of glucose sugar found in green plants).

The chain is broken with the help of enzymes, and the resulting glucose is processed by another group of enzymes, with the help of which hydrogen ions and free electrons are released. The electrons are sent through an external circuit to generate electricity. It is estimated that such an installation during the processing of one sheet of paper measuring 210 by 297 mm can generate about 18 watts per hour (about the same amount of energy is generated by 6 AA batteries).

The method is environmentally friendly: an important advantage of such a “battery” is the absence of metals and harmful chemical compounds. Although at the moment the technology is still far from commercialization: electricity is generated quite a bit - it is only enough to power small portable gadgets.

For owners of private houses, there is an opportunity to significantly reduce utility bills or not use the services of heat, electricity and gas providers at all. You can even provide a considerable economy, and if you wish, you can sell the surplus. This is real and some have already done it. For this, alternative energy sources are used.

Where can you get energy and in what form

In fact, energy, in one form or another, is practically everywhere in nature - the sun, wind, water, earth - there is energy everywhere. The main task is to extract it from there. Humanity has been doing this for more than one hundred years and has achieved good results. At the moment, alternative energy sources can provide the house with heat, electricity, gas, warm water. Moreover, alternative energy does not require any super skills or super knowledge. Everything can be done for your home with your own hands. So what can be done:

All alternative energy sources are able to fully meet human needs, but this requires too large investments and/or too large areas. Therefore, it is more reasonable to make a combined system: to receive energy from alternative sources, and if there is a shortage, “to get” from centralized networks.

Use of solar energy

One of the most powerful alternative energy sources for the home is solar radiation. There are two types of installations for converting solar energy:

Do not think that installations work only in the south and only in summer. They work well in winter too. In clear weather with snowfall, energy production is only slightly lower than in summer. If your area has a large number of clear days, you can use this technology.

Solar panels

Solar panels are assembled from photovoltaic converters, which are made on the basis of minerals that, under the influence of sunlight, emit electrons - they generate an electric current. For private use, silicon photoconverters are used. In their structure, they are monocrystalline (made from one crystal) and polycrystalline (many crystals). Monocrystalline have a higher efficiency (13-25% depending on the quality) and a longer service life, but are more expensive. Polycrystalline ones generate less electricity (9-15%) and fail faster, but have a lower price.

This is a polycrystalline photoconverter. You need to handle them carefully - they are very fragile (single-crystal too, but not to the same extent)

Assembling a solar battery with your own hands is not difficult. First you need to purchase a certain amount of silicon photocells (the amount depends on the required power). Most often they are bought on Chinese trading platforms such as Aliexpress. Then the procedure is simple:

A few words about why the substrate for the solar panel (batteries) should be painted white. The operating temperature range of silicon wafers is from -40°C to +50°C. Operation at higher or lower temperatures leads to rapid failure of the elements. On the roof, in summer, indoors, the temperature can be much higher than +50°C. That's why white is needed - so as not to overheat the silicon.

Solar collectors

Solar collectors can heat water or air. Where to direct the water heated by the sun - to hot water taps or to the heating system - you choose. Only heating will be low-temperature - for underfloor heating, what is required. But in order for the temperature in the house not to depend on the weather, the system must be made redundant so that, if necessary, another heat source is connected or the boiler switches to another energy source.

There are three types of solar collectors: flat, tubular and air. The most common are tubular, but others also have a right to exist.

flat plastic

Two panels - black and transparent - are combined into one body. Between them is a copper pipeline in the form of a snake. From the sun, the lower dark panel heats up. copper is heated from it, and from it - the water passing through the labyrinth. This way of using alternative energy sources is not the most efficient, but it is attractive because it is very simple to implement. Thus, you can heat water in. It will only be necessary to loop its supply (using a circulation pump). In the same way, you can heat water in a container for or use it for domestic needs. The disadvantage of such installations is low efficiency and productivity. It takes either a lot of time or a large number of flat-plate collectors to heat a large amount of water.

Tubular collectors

These are glass tubes - vacuum or coaxial - through which water flows. A special system allows the maximum concentration in the tubes of heat, which is transferred to the water flowing through them.

The system must have a storage tank in which water is heated. The circulation of water in the system is provided by a pump. Such systems cannot be made on your own - it is problematic to make glass tubes with your own hands and this is the main drawback. Together with the high price, it hinders the widespread adoption of this source of energy for the home. And the system itself is very efficient, with a bang it copes with heating water for hot water supply and makes a decent contribution to heating.

Scheme of organizing heating and hot water supply from alternative energy sources - using solar collectors

Air collectors

In our country, they are very rare and in vain. They are simple and easy to make by hand. The only negative is that a large area is required: they can occupy the entire southern (eastern, southeastern) wall. The system is very similar to flat-plate collectors - a black lower panel, a transparent upper one, but they directly heat the air, which is forced (by a fan) or naturally into the room. Despite the seeming frivolity, in this way it is possible to heat small rooms during daylight hours, including technical or utility rooms:, cottages, sheds for living creatures.

Such an alternative source of energy as the sun gives us its heat, but most of it goes "to nowhere". To catch a small fraction of it and use it for personal needs is the task that all these devices solve.

Wind turbines

Alternative energy sources are good because they are mostly renewable resources. The most eternal, probably, is the wind. As long as there is atmosphere and sun, there is also wind. Maybe for a short period the air will be still, but not for long. Our ancestors used wind energy in mills, and modern man converts it into electricity. All that is required for this:

• a tower installed in a windy place;
• generator with blades attached to it;
• storage battery and electric current distribution system.

The tower is built any, from any material. A storage battery is a battery, you can’t imagine anything here, but where to supply electricity is your choice. It remains only to make a generator. It can also be bought ready-made, but it is quite possible to make it from an engine from household appliances - a washing machine, a screwdriver, etc. You will need neodymium magnets and epoxy resin, a lathe.

On the motor rotor we mark the places for the installation of magnets. They must be at an equal distance from each other. We grind the rotor of the selected motor, forming “seats”. The bottom of the recess should have a slight slope so that the surface of the magnet is tilted. Magnets are glued to the carved places on liquid nails, filled with epoxy resin. The surface is then smoothed with sandpaper. Next, you need to attach brushes that will remove the current. And that's it, you can assemble and run a wind generator.

Such installations are quite effective, but their power depends on many factors: wind intensity, how well the generator is made, how effectively the potential difference is removed by brushes, on the reliability of electrical connections, etc.

Heat pumps for home heating

Heat pumps use all available alternative energy sources. They take heat from water, air, soil. In small quantities, this heat is there even in winter, so the heat pump collects it and redirects it to heating the house.

Heat pumps also use alternative energy sources - the heat of the earth, water and air

Principle of operation

Why are heat pumps so attractive? The fact that having spent 1 kW of energy for its pumping, in the worst case, you will get 1.5 kW of heat, and the most successful implementations can give up to 4-6 kW. And this does not contradict the law of conservation of energy in any way, because energy is spent not on obtaining heat, but not on pumping it. So no inconsistencies.

Heat pumps have three working circuits: two external and they are internal, as well as an evaporator, a compressor and a condenser. The scheme works like this:

• A coolant circulates in the primary circuit, which takes heat from low-potential sources. It can be lowered into water, buried in the ground, or it can take heat from the air. The highest temperature reached in this circuit is around 6°C.
• The internal circuit circulates a heating medium with a very low boiling point (typically 0°C). When heated, the refrigerant evaporates, the vapor enters the compressor, where it is compressed to high pressure. During compression, heat is released, the refrigerant vapor is heated to an average temperature of +35°C to +65°C.
• In the condenser, heat is transferred to the coolant from the third - heating - circuit. Cooling vapors are condensed, then further enter the evaporator. And then the cycle repeats.

The heating circuit is best done in the form of a warm floor. Temperatures are the best for this. The radiator system will require too many sections, which is ugly and unprofitable.

Alternative sources of thermal energy: where and how to get heat

But the biggest difficulty is the device of the first external circuit, which collects heat. Since the sources are low-potential (there is little heat at the bottom), large areas are required to collect it in sufficient quantities. There are four types of contours:

• Rings laid in water pipes with a coolant. The body of water can be anything - a river, a pond, a lake. The main condition is that it should not freeze through even in the most severe frosts. Pumps that pump heat out of the river work more efficiently; much less heat is transferred in stagnant water. Such a heat source is the easiest to implement - throw pipes, tie a load. There is only a high chance of accidental damage.

  

• Thermal fields with pipes buried below freezing depth. In this case, there is only one drawback - large volumes of earthworks. We have to remove the soil over a large area, and even to a solid depth.

  

• Use of geothermal temperatures. A number of wells of great depth are drilled, and coolant circuits are lowered into them. What is good about this option is that it requires little space, but not everywhere it is possible to drill to great depths, and drilling services cost a lot. It is possible, however, but the work is still not easy.

  

• Extraction of heat from the air. This is how air conditioners with the possibility of heating work - they take heat from the "outboard" air. Even at sub-zero temperatures, such units work, though at a not very “deep” minus - up to -15 ° C. To make the work more intensive, you can use the heat from the ventilation shafts. Throw a few slings with coolant there and pump heat from there.

  

The main disadvantage of heat pumps is the high price of the pump itself, and the installation of heat collection fields is not cheap. In this case, you can save money by making the pump yourself and also laying the contours with your own hands, but the amount will still remain considerable. The advantage is that heating will be inexpensive and the system will operate for a long time.

Waste to income:

All alternative energy sources are of natural origin, but you can only get a double benefit from biogas plants. They recycle animal and poultry waste. As a result, a certain volume of gas is obtained, which, after purification and drying, can be used for its intended purpose. The remaining processed waste can be sold or used in the fields to increase yields - a very effective and safe fertilizer is obtained.

Briefly about the technology

The formation of gas occurs during fermentation, and bacteria living in manure are involved in this. Any livestock and poultry waste is suitable for biogas production, but cattle manure is optimal. It is even added to the rest of the waste for the "sourdough" - it contains exactly the bacteria needed for processing.

To create optimal conditions, an anaerobic environment is necessary - fermentation must take place without oxygen. Therefore, effective bioreactors are closed containers. In order for the process to proceed more actively, regular mixing of the mass is necessary. In industrial plants, electric mixers are installed for this, in self-made biogas plants, these are usually mechanical devices - from the simplest stick to mechanical mixers that “work” by hand.

There are two types of bacteria involved in the formation of gas from manure: mesophilic and thermophilic. Mesophilic are active at temperatures from +30°C to +40°C, thermophilic - at +42°C to +53°C. Thermophilic bacteria work more efficiently. Under ideal conditions, gas production from 1 liter of usable area can reach 4-4.5 liters of gas. But maintaining a temperature of 50 ° C in the installation is very difficult and costly, although the costs justify themselves.

A little about designs

The simplest biogas plant is a barrel with a lid and a stirrer. The lid has an outlet for connecting a hose through which gas enters the tank. You won’t get much gas from such a volume, but it will be enough for one or two gas burners.

More serious volumes can be obtained from an underground or above-ground bunker. If we are talking about an underground bunker, then it is made of reinforced concrete. The walls are separated from the ground with a layer of thermal insulation, the container itself can be divided into several compartments, in which processing will take place with a time shift. Since mesophilic cultures usually work under such conditions, the whole process takes from 12 to 30 days (thermophilic cultures are processed in 3 days), therefore a time shift is desirable.

Manure enters through the loading hopper, on the opposite side they make an unloading hatch, from where processed raw materials are taken. The bunker is not completely filled with biomixture - about 15-20% of the space remains free - gas accumulates here. To drain it, a tube is built into the lid, the second end of which is lowered into a water seal - a container partially filled with water. In this way, the gas is dried - already purified is collected in the upper part, it is discharged using another tube and can already be choked to the consumer.

Anyone can use alternative energy sources. It is more difficult for apartment owners to implement this, but in a private house you can at least implement all the ideas. There are even real examples of that. People fully provide for their needs and considerable economy.

Why pay energy companies for electricity every month when you can provide your own energy? More and more people in the world understand this truth. And so today we will talk about 8 Unusual Alternative Energy Sources for Home, Office and Leisure.

Solar panels in windows

Solar panels are the most widely used alternative source of energy in the home today. Traditionally, they are installed on the roofs of private houses or in courtyards. But recently it has become possible to place these elements directly in the windows, which makes it possible to use such batteries even for owners of ordinary apartments in high-rise buildings.

At the same time, solutions have already appeared that allow creating solar panels with a high level of transparency. It is these energy elements that should be installed in the windows of residential premises.

For example, transparent solar panels were developed by specialists from Michigan State University. These elements transmit 99 percent of the light passing through them, but at the same time have an efficiency of 7%.

Uprise has created an unusual high power wind turbine that can be used both at home and on an industrial scale. This windmill is located in a trailer, which can move an SUV or motorhome.

When folded with the Uprise turbine, you can drive on public roads. But when unfolded, it turns into a full-fledged windmill fifteen meters high and 50 kW.

Uprise can be used while traveling in a motorhome, to provide power to remote sites or ordinary private residences. By installing this turbine in his yard, its owner can even sell excess electricity to neighbors.

Makani Power is a project of the company of the same name, which recently came under the control of a semi-secret innovation laboratory. The idea of ​​this technology is both simple and ingenious. We are talking about a small kite that can fly at a height of up to one kilometer and generate electricity.

The Makani Power aircraft is equipped with built-in wind turbines that will work actively at altitude, where the wind speed is significantly greater than at ground level. The received energy in this case is transmitted along the cord connecting the kite to the base station.

Energy will also be generated from the movements of the Makani Power aircraft itself. Pulling the cable under the force of the wind, this kite will spin the dynamo built into the base station.

With the help of Makani Power, it is possible to provide energy to both private homes and remote facilities where it is impractical to install a traditional power line.

Modern solar panels still have a very low efficiency. Therefore, in order to obtain high production rates from them, it is necessary to cover rather large spaces with panels. But the technology called Betaray allows you to increase the efficiency by about three times.

Betaray is a small installation that can be placed in the yard of a private house or on the roof of a high-rise building. It is based on a transparent glass sphere with a diameter of slightly less than one meter. It accumulates sunlight and focuses it on a fairly small photovoltaic panel. The maximum efficiency of this technology has a stunningly high show of 35 percent.

At the same time, the Betaray installation itself is dynamic. It automatically adjusts to the position of the Sun in the sky in order to work at maximum capacity at any time. And even at night, this battery generates electricity by converting light from the moon, stars and street lights.

Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has launched an unusual project called Little Sun, which combines creativity, technology and the social commitment of successful people to the underprivileged. We are talking about a small device in the form of a sunflower flower, which during the day is filled with energy from sunlight in order to bring illumination to the darkest corners of the planet in the evenings.

Anyone can donate money so that the Little Sun solar lamp appears in the life of a family from a Third World Country. Little Sun lamps allow children from slums and remote villages to devote evenings to study or reading, without which success in modern society is impossible.

Little Sun lamps can also be purchased for yourself, making them part of your own life. These devices can be used when going out into nature or to create an amazing evening atmosphere in open areas.

Many skeptics laugh at athletes, arguing that the forces expended by them during exercise can be used to generate electricity. The creators went on about this opinion and created the world's first set of outdoor simulators, each of which is a small power plant.

The first Green Heart sports ground appeared in November 2014 in London. The electricity that exercise enthusiasts generate on it can be used to charge mobile devices: smartphones or tablet computers.

The Green Heart site sends excess energy to local power grids.

Paradoxically, even children can be forced to produce "green" energy. After all, they are never averse to doing something, somehow playing and entertaining themselves. That is why Dutch engineers have created an unusual swing called Giraffe Street Lamp, which uses children's restlessness in the process of generating electricity.

The Giraffe Street Lamp swing generates energy when it is used for its intended purpose. Swinging in the seat, children or adults stimulate the dynamo built into this design.

Of course, the electricity received is not enough for the full functioning of a private residential building. But the energy accumulated during the day of games is quite enough to operate a not very powerful street lamp for a couple of hours after dusk.

Mobile operator Vodafone realizes that its profits increase when customers' phones work around the clock, and their owners themselves do not worry about where to find an outlet to charge their gadget's batteries. Therefore, this company sponsored the development of an unusual technology called Power Pocket.

Devices based on Power Pocket technology should be as close as possible to the human body in order to use its heat to generate electricity for domestic needs.

At the moment, based on Power Pocket technology, two practical products have been created: shorts and a sleeping bag. They were first tested during the Isle of Wight Festival in 2013. The experience turned out to be successful, one night of a person in such a sleeping bag was enough to charge the smartphone battery by about 50 percent.

In this review, we talked only about those alternative energy sources that can be used for domestic needs: at home, in the office or while relaxing. But there are still many extraordinary modern "green" technologies developed for use on an industrial scale. You can read about them in the review.