As we strive to deflect the United States’ dependence on foreign oil sources for energy, the question begins to arise as to whether there is truly an energy source which is completely renewable. A renewable energy source is defined as one that is continually naturally replenished, and the first forms of this energy that come to mind are typically solar and wind energy. As technology develops in both of these fields the fact remains that there are costly modifications to be made in the industries currently supplying our energy. Whether these be modifications of existing systems to coordinate with new energy sources, or construction of entirely new systems to harness and distribute the alternative energy sources, the cost considerations must include the potential longevity of the energy source.

For example, we consider the sun to be a permanent source of energy, and indeed it is for all practical purposes. The question of it’s usability becomes an issue when considering the climate changes that are occurring all over the world. While it seems that the greenhouse effect may actually work in favor of solar energy harnessing, we must also consider increases in air pollution, which disrupt the collection of solar energy, as well as the patterns of intense rain and snow which make solar cells inoperable until weather conditions are cooperative.

The use of wind energy is the fastest growing industry in renewable energy sources, and can also be dramatically altered by the effects of weather and the greenhouse effect. If the wind direction changes, how efficient will the fields of wind turbines continue to be? Will constant changes in wind shear cause the components of the turbines to age prematurely? Is it possible for the wind and weather patterns to change so abruptly that the wind farms will be rendered useless? Can we predict the life expectancy of these machines and plan ahead for the possibility of forced relocation? Of course, these are all questions which should be addressed in the planning phases of staging wind turbine farm locations.

As scientific research technology is beginning to focus more on wave energy harnessing, again we must consider the shift in weather patterns due to global warming, and the effect it may have on the oceanic levels and the directions of the currents. While the ecological impact of current redirections could be detrimental, a compounded issue with loss of energy resources would be devastating. Dramatic rises and drops in water levels due to polar ice cap depletions could result in entire reservoir dams being under water.

The questions seem extremist and paranoid, but considering the dramatic shift in weather patterns in the last thirty years, it seems evident that the climate can rapidly change. In planning for a future where the nation is independent from foreign oil and relies on domestic sources of alternative and renewable energy sources we must prepare for the contingency that dramatic shifts in weather may negatively impact our harvesting of what currently appears to be an unending renewable energy source.

As discussions and concentrated efforts continue in the United States to emphasize personal efforts to recycle and conserve energy, many question the responsibility of the state and federal government bodies to convert our current dependence on foreign oil sources for energy to cleaner alternative for domestic energy. As it turns out, although we have not heard much about it until recently, the U.S. has been preparing for an energy crisis for several decades, and has funded many programs to develop renewable energy source harnessing. Now that the impact of wasteful use of energy is becoming evident, the past research can now be implemented to resolve many of the fuel shortage problems we are all experiencing.

The United States Department of Energy is a branch of the federal government which is responsible for assuring that residential and commercial consumers of utilities are provided with a continual supply of energy at reasonable cost. There is a specific budget within the Department of Energy set aside for research and development of renewable energy sources. That is, energy sources which do not deplete a finite supply of natural resources to provide usable energy. This is not a new concept. The highest budget allotted for renewable energy development was during the energy shortage of the 1980’s, under President Jimmy Carter. When President Ronald Reagan took office, he slashed the budget by 75%, and since this time, the budget has increased and decreased according to current administration principles.

Overall, the U.S. trails both Europe and Japan in research and development of alternative and renewable energy sources. Long standing developments in solar energy and wind energy harnessing and conversion to usable electricity, are now being revisited by the domestic alternative fuel industry and require the cooperation of the state and federal government to implement the technological advances on a broad scale.

One good example of the government stepping up to the plate on the issue of renewable and alternative energy development is the continued support of Clean Cities act which was enacted in 1993 and is comprised of over 90 coalitions which strive to shift the energy infrastructure of the U.S. to use of alternative fuels in its government vehicles, and low carbon print energy consumption in government buildings. To date, more than 157,000 alternative fuel vehicles have replaced gasoline driven vehicles within the Clean Cities organization, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Program. The programs’s ultimate goal to to shift dependence on foreign oil suppliers for domestic transportation to a domestic source that dramatically reduces or eliminates harmful emissions into the environment.

By continuous cooperation between private corporations and research organizations and systematic funding by government entities, the hopes for renewed excellence in the fields of science and development will once again push the United States into the foreground of technology. The initial steps are small, and each individual has the responsibility to impact the overall conversion to renewable energy in any way he can. Corporations hold additional responsibility, as their impact on the overall environment can be more devastating and they hold the power to influence other manufacturers and suppliers to concede to alternative fuel sources such as solar and wind energy to power their manufacturing plants.

As the hot topic of the impending necessity for the United States to develop domestic resources for alternative energy is discussed, many companies are refining their roles in the energy industry to strive toward a common goal of providing the U.S. with independence from foreign fuel sources while reducing the negative impact traditional energy conversion has had on the global environment. The most obvious sources of renewable energy that can be harnassed and converted to heat and electricity for commercial and residential use are solar energy, wind energy and oceanic wave energy.

Another valuable source of potential energy is the process of extracting natural hot water reservoirs from the earths underlayers and pumping them to the earth’s surface to be used as insulating conduit inside of walls and floors. This process is called geothermal energy, and was first tested for viability in 1904 in Italy, although to date, only 1% of the worlds total energy use is being propagated by geothermal technology. Currently the world’s largest geothermal energy plant is located north of San Francisco in California. The power plant taps into the Geysers as it’s source of renewable energy and is responsible for providing 60 percent of all of the energy consumed by the coastal region of California.

Geothermal energy is extremely cost effective, in that no method of heating the water is necessary, there is no purchasing of fuel required and there is an unlimited heat source deep in the earth’s mantle. The only cost involved in the use of geothermal energy is in construction of the power plants necessary for boring into the earth and the equipment required for extraction of the energy source. Furthermore, the processing of geothermal energy creates no dangerous emissions. There is a mild environmental argument that holds that if geothermal energy is mined for on a mass scale, there may be considerable damage done to the outer layers of the earth’s crust, which can eventually affect the plate tectonics of our planet. As the technology advances, though, less invasive methods for extracting the necessary components will make this form of energy more ecologically feasible and available on a wide basis.

Geothermal energy can be harvested for use in several forms. The hot beds under the earths outer layers contain hot water, gas and molten rock, all of which can be “mined”, so to speak, and used in their various forms to heat homes, commercial buildings, and public walkways to prevent snow and ice build up.

When converted correctly, geothermal energy produces no polluting emmisions into the water or air environments. Also among the benefits of geothermal energy production are the traits of the energy power plants themselves, which generally only require a small building footprint and are a self-sufficient source of energy that has little impact on the landscape environment.

As is the case with any new form of energy, or new process for harnessing energy, it is of vital importance that steps are taken to insure the proper drilling and conversion of geothermal energy. Improper drilling can release hazardous chemical and gases from the earth which can be potentially dangerous to surrounding life as well as the overall atmosphere.

As the debates on how to best facilitate the United States’ independence from foreign fuel sources heats up, a resurgence of the industry that helped build this country may be the catalyst to the newest generation of renewable alternative energy. Farming. Specifically, farming plants that are used in the production of fuels to take the place of gasoline. Biofuels is the general term used for fuels derived from plant sources. Specifically, a biodiesel an alternative fuel produced from soy and ethanol is a grain-based alcohol derived from corn. This advent of technology is thereby creating the need for additional farming communities as well as processing plants for converting the natural raw materials into usable fuel. For example, alternative liquid fuels used in an increasing number of cars and trucks can be extracted from switchgrass, corn, cornstalks, sugar beets or sugarcane. These crops can then be planted with the intended end use being fuel, thereby being known as “energy crops”.

Other biofuels are being developed using the waste products of other energy sources. Cattle manure, for example, is a very rich source of potential energy. Since the excrement from cattle still contains 66% of the original components of the originally ingested food grain, current research is focused on developing similar fuel sources which recycle cow manure as a raw material.

Ironically, as the United States continues to strive to advance the research, development and use of alternative and renewable fuel sources to reduce the impact of fuel uses on the environment, the biofuel industry is hostage to the weather and climate patterns which are dramatically impacted by continued global warming. Currently, the biofuel industry is suffering because of the severe weather conditions which are affecting crop production. Hopefully, the efforts to reverse the greenhouse effect of pollution emissions in the atmostphere will eventually aid in relieving the weather related plight of the American farmer. Unfortunately, the resolution will not come in a reasonable amount of time to benefit the producer or consumer.

The logical solution to the environmental problems the biofuel energy crop farmers are facing may be in the production of large scale greenhouses where climate control can be more easily managed. Government subsidized farmland is a perfect opportunity to expand the necessity for mass greenhouses, by use of commercial grants and pre-orders for energy output from utility companies.

Opponents of the bio-fuel farm crop system are not necessarily opposed to the idea of plant use in production of alternative fuels, but rather are concerned with the ratio of energy used to produce the crop and energy extracted from the crop. Studies are being conducted to gauge the relative productivity levels of one crop to another. For example, the process of growing and cultivating soybeans for production of bio-diesel is much less labor intensive than the growing and production of ethanol from corn. Therefore, bio-diesel may be a more sustainable energy source than ethanol. Research and development is also being conducted to simplify the refining processes of plant based fuels to balance the production cost with the energy output for more profitable results.

Saving money is the game now if you really want to bank on a good future for you and your family. This is one definite way to ensure that you make yourself able and ready for whatever big plans you have ahead, be it getting a new house, buying a car, sending a kid to college or even a grand vacation.

There are many ways to save money. It can range from setting aside a portion of your monthly paycheck or avoiding the little temptations for you to spend. Make it your goal.

Start at Your Own Home

Saving money should be part of your way of life to make it most effective. It is best that the effort to save be shared by everyone in the family.

Little Efforts

Do not drive if you really don’t have to. If you can, just take a walk or take the bus. Riding the bike can also be very good for your body. Have a car pool with friends or neighbors. You can also suggest doing errands together like doing the grocery store.

Avoid the little temptations that may come your way. It is naturally fine to reward yourself after a hard work every now and then, but do stay away from splurging. Cut back on your expenses.

Use Less and Save Energy

Electricity – Turn off appliances that are not used. Turn the TV off if the show is not worth it. Close the refrigerator after getting what you need. Use lower wattage bulb for rooms that do not need much lighting. These will definitely add more data to your savings!

Water – Check for any leaks in your pipes. Always make sure that the faucet is not dripping. Avoid long showers. Use a glass when brushing your teeth instead of leaving the faucet on.

Phone – Choose a provider that has savings plans especially for long-distance calls.

Gas – Have your car tuned up so you can save on gas. Get membership benefits also from stations. Fill up the tank when the prices go low. You can also do a research on gas saving cars if you have to purchase a new one. Turn off the air conditioning. If there is no need for that, simply keep the windows open. Enjoy the ride and the cool wind.

You may not realized this before, but your household’s basic utilities can actually be your key to saving more money. This has a two-way benefit. You get to save some dollars for your family. You also contribute in addressing the energy crisis.

A lot of people believe wind energy is the best alternative energy solution. As of lately, the global economic crisis has made people realize how important the energy situation really is. So people are now trying to find the best solutions to this crisis, hence the recent popularity of alternative power sources such as solar panels and wind generators.

On top of saving you money for your bills, it is also one hundred percent harmless to our environment, and it will not cause any holes in the ozone layer ,or require you to cut down the rain forests. Nor will it emit a toxic gas from a tailpipe, poisoning the air we breathe, as is done routinely in today’s society as if it is “normal”. The only effect a wind generator will have is to provide free unlimited energy, with no negative side effects whatsoever. You would think it would be preposterously impossible that such a wonderful device, could cause anything bad, as you sip on a smoothie made by a blender that used $0 worth of energy, and didn’t hurt a single gnat……Smile

While the energy is free after you have the wind generator running, it may be expensive to have it installed by professionals. Because of this most people would rather do it themselves and save 90% of the ridiculous fees the installers charge. It wouldn’t make sense to go and spend several thousand , just to save a couple hundred a month, especially if you did not have more than a couple hundred to spend. You would be waiting until next year to see the return on your investment, if you had had it installed by professionals.

There are guides available on the internet that will show you how to install it for next to nothing, and it will be set up and running in a couple of minutes. These guides will also give you plenty of tips that will help you maintain the wind generator, thus keeping you from having to ever spend money on a technician. There are even do it yourself kits available that are a small fraction of the price of an assembled wind generator. If you want a wind generator, but you don’t want to spend thousands, then you are going to have to not be lazy, and spend an hour of your time assembling it. Take a look at the Power4Home site.

Crude oil is a costly nonrenewable resource as a source from electricity and the world supply is dwindling. Smart home owners are looking at alternative energy sources. Electricity from wind energy seems like the answer being as it is free, plentiful and is a renewable source.

Wind hydro power for home use is a cleaner source of energy especially when compared to nuclear power generation or oil and coal extraction. As you create your own wind power, instead of relying on the power grid, your cost saving can be tremendous. Excess power generated can be stored for future use or sold to the power grid.

Your house will have an uninterrupted supply of electrical power from a wind generator, if there is a constant uninterrupted source of wind. The power collected can be stored for later use.

Commercially produced mini generators and turbines, in the early stages, were very expensive to buy. As more and more companies produced these generators and turbines, the cost came down.

Wind hydro power for home use is reliable and efficient. Wind turbines are reliable, require minimal maintenance and have a low operating cost. In most cases, hydro wind power is used as a supplementary power. Generally, homes are powered by a combination of wind energy, solar energy or purchased electricity from the grid.

Some valuable lessons were learned from the early experimentation with electricity from wind energy.

Such as:

1. Turbines cannot be used in congested city areas. High rises interfere with the wind flow which is essential for good electricity from wind energy.

2. In Urban areas, the noise of the turbines will unset your neighbors.

3. It is best to combine wind power generation with solar power or electricity purchased from the grid.

4. Wind turbines should be erected in high elevated remote rural areas. This type of area is where you will find the best unhampered wind flow.

5. Wind hydro power for home use in Urban areas is not a good idea. Tall building play havoc with the wind direction and the wind strength. Wind power turbines are more suitable for Rural areas where there is more open space.

6. You need an average wind speed of 11 miles per hour in an un-intermittent area.

Provided that there is enough wind in your area, the wind hydro power that you produce plus the power grid as backup will greatly reduce your electrical bill.

A wind powered house is advised to also have solar panels or use supplementary power from the grid for a more efficient combination.

A good manual and video will show you how to install the system, the ideal place to install the turbine, as well as how to acquire the different parts at an affordable price. Free availability of the batteries is also discussed in the manual. Go ahead and read this manual and get ready to benefit from wind hydro power. This information and video will make the process of installation of the system easy.

The state and federal government bodies are recently beginning to concede to public pressure to provide funding for development of renewable energy sources, and the prospect of using wind energy conversion technology to provide electricity and heating sources on a residential level is becoming closer to reality. While the wind itself is obviously free, the current cost to convert the energy produced by the wind to usable energy on the existing utility grid is prohibitive.

While the total capacity of wind farm energy production worldwide is 100,000 megawatts, the United States is leading in advancement and implementation of this technology and currently supplies over 18,300 megawatts of energy from it’s various small scale windfarms, including the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center of Texas which is home to the world’s largest wind farm. The level of energy output produced from U.S. windfarms is currently adequate to service 5 million households with electricity. The American Wind Energy Association was formed in 1974 as the national trade association for the wind energy industry in the U.S., and is the leading body in providing wind energy research in an advisory capacity to the industry.

Among the distinct advantages of wind energy is that it’s conversion to usable electricity requires no chemical processes and therefore there are no bi-products are environmentally contaminating pollutants.

While there must be adequate and continual wind speeds to assure consistent energy output of turbine fields, obviously, wind is an unending source of energy. The equipment required, though, must take into consideration that consistent wind speeds are at elevated levels, therefore wind turbines must be very tall and require specialized equipment for their construction. Conversely, the extreme height required for adequate wind turbine generation makes it ideal for use in farmlands, where grazing animals, or crops can be planted around the turbine supports. Many wind farms are superimposed over existing farmland that supplies crop bi-products to the alternative liquid fuel industry. In addition, windfarms can be built off shore, therefore reducing even more of the landscape environmental impact.

As we consider the environmental impact of our energy choices and methods to convert and distribute forms of “clean” energy, it must also be understood that solar energy has an advantage over wind energy in that the wind turbines produce a considerable amount of noise. Also noted is the impact the wind turbine fields have on certain people who react negatively to the pulsation in the air waves created by the turbines and the visual impact to natural landscape with the implementation of wind turbine farms.

As solar and wind energy seem to be running neck in neck for the position of most widely used source of renewable alternative energy, it seems that the federal government is bracing to lend it’s support to the advancement of mass wind turbine farms. The economic impact of this development could mean renewed financial stature to many of the citizens of the United States as fabrication, construction and maintenance of the turbine fields will require a new industry of workers to support it.

A relatively new concept in alternative and renewable energy production is the use of wave farm technology, that is, harnessing the energy produced by oceanic waves and converting it to electricity. Currently, the United States has no commercial wave farms, but the largest national utility and many additional public utility companies are actively investing in wave energy technology, and recently enacted California state laws requiring public utility companies to acquire 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2010 will assure that this trend to developing more responsible sources of energy will continue.

Wave energy, known as hydroelectric power, is a truly renewable form of energy in that the water used in the production of the electricity can be reused. While the dams required for containment of the oceanic flows are very expensive and require cooperation between large corporations, research facilities and governmental entities to finance and build, as long as there is a sufficiently powerful water supply available, electricity can be continuously generated. Unlike solar energy, which is contingent on the number of sunny days available in a year, the absence of air pollution to interfere with the solar cell collectors, and the negative impact of no energy collection after sunset, wave energy is not affected by any other environmental factor, therefore is a 24/7 operation, continuously.

Hydroelectric power is the most widely used form of renewable energy and over 50 percent of the total hydroelectric power produced in the United States is from power plant locations in California, Oregon and Washington. These coastal states have advanced the technology used to dam the reservoirs of water at different levels to be able to control the output of energy in relation to current demands.

Water has been used, worldwide, as a source of energy since the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Use of water to harness energy spans over thousands of years in various forms from ancient aquaducts to waterwheels used to produce water driven electricity to power various manufacturing plants in North America in the 1950’s.

One potential negative impact of hydroelectric power technology is in the direct relation to aquatic habitat. Considerations must be made in effort to prevent disruption of spawning patterns and natural chemical flows for the reproductive efforts of aquatic life. In most cases, problems arising from introduction of new devices to an established waterway are seldom able to be foreseen, and must be addressed once the dilemma has presented itself. As more dams and water energy producing systems are introduced, producers and installers will have the benefit of prior installation issues to aid in preventing future problems.

As research and development continues to progress regarding the use of wave energy technology the U.S. will find itself poised to be the frontrunning source worldwide in the distribution of harnessed water energy. As the U.S. terrirtories are large in geography, and contain many oceanic borders, including Hawaii and the Virgin Islands, the potential for becoming a worldwide supplier of a natural energy source which produces no pollutants or chemical bi-products is a lucrative position to be in.