GREEN ENERGY Max Blankenship Hailey Welch Ben French Cam Wilson.

GREEN ENERGY

Max BlankenshipHailey WelchBen FrenchCam Wilson

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

SOLAR ENERGY COSTSVS.

ELECTRIC, OIL & NATURAL GAS

“The U.S. solar market faces both

challenges and opportunities; the

industry is working to scale up the

production of solar technology, and drive

down manufacturing and installation

costs.”

Pros

Cleanest/Most Abundant renewable energy

Variety of uses: Electric, Providing light, heating homes & waterPower plants could be constructed on site, or can be constructed off the solar base, and still store power

Cons

Initial investment too costly

Switching to this type of power would actually put electric companies down, decreasing our countries GDP. Storing solar power is more difficult, and would be the constant cost of switching to solar power.

BIOFUELS

Corn•Ethanol•Would drive food prices up

•40% of US corn crop only makes 1/20 of needed fuel

Algal oil•Companies already created cars that run on algal oil

•Algae can be farmed in fresh and saltwater

•More energy per acre than any other form of biofuels

Photosynthesis•Most efficient method of turning sun’s power into usable energy

•Fossil fuels originate from photosynthesis

HYDROELECTRICDisadvantages Include:

• Disturb Habitats with Flood Plain

• Can cause issues with agriculture

• Possible breach of dam

• Expensive to build

• Droughts could affect generation

Advantages Include:

• Cheap generation costs

• Clean – no generation emissions

• Constant Power

• Recreation

• Modular Installations

• Renewable resource

• Safe

HYDROELECTRIC

CAPE WIND PROJECT

$2.5 billion needed to build- lack of private

sector investment

High maintenance

costs

Energy cost twice as much as

fossil fuels

Environmental concerns

MORE R&D NEEDED

HYDROHYHYDROGEN FUEL CELLS

Pros

Cons

made from water, only by-

product is water,

technology isn't developed

Can power homes & vehicles

technology requires platinum, massively

expensive to make fuel cells

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

HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS IN CONCLUSION

OUTLOOKOUTLOUTLOOOUTLOOK ON ECONOMY

With enough investment, green energy could replace fossil fuels

as our primary source of energy. With current infrastructure, it

would be too expensive to make the switch, society is not ready

for a green economy.

BIBLIOGRAPHYBIhttp://www.seia.org/about/solar-energy

• www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/01/30/what-really-toppled-cape-wind-plans-for-nantucket-sound/mGJnw0PbCdfzZHtITxq1aN/story.html

• energyinformative.org/hydroelectric-energy-pros-and-cons• Strahan, David, New Scientist, 02624079, 11/29/2008, Vol. 199, Issue 2684• http://energyinformative.org/hydroelectric-energy-pros-and-cons/

• http://greenthefuture.com/HYDROELECTRIC_PROSCONS.html

• http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/Disadvantages_HydroPower.php

• http://www.nps.gov/jofl/index.htm• Mayfield, S. (2013). The Green Revolution 2.0: the potential of algae for the production of biofuels and

bioproducts1. Genome, 56(10), 551-555. doi:10.1139/gen-2013-01