Alternative Energy Through Hybrid Generators

Alternative Energy through hybrid generators, how to get power when the wind does not blow, water does not flow, or the sun does not shine? Solar power is the most abundant alternative energy source available.

 Wind power and hydro power are the next most abundant alternative energy sources. One disadvantage of solar power systems is they require the sun to generate alternative energy. No sun means no energy. Solar power systems are most efficient when sunlight is focused for maximum exposure. Efficiency also increases in regions where sunlight is readily available. The second most readily available source of alternative energy, wind power, suffers similar disadvantages. No wind means now energy. Wind power generators require wind speeds as low as 3 miles per hour to operate. Wind power efficiency increases with the speed and duration of the wind.

Hydro power is equally limited to available resources. Hydro power requires abundant water sources to operate all year long. During drought or through dry seasons water sources may dry up. Hydro power efficiency is determined by the speed and the force of the current passing over the blades of the generator. Alternative energy limitations can easily be overcome through hybrid generator systems. A hybrid generator system uses two or more sources to provide a near constant supply of power. Typical hybrid generator system is designed to maximize power output through a variety of weather conditions. Alternative energy can be provided through the use of solar power and wind power. Systems built for personal, or small commercial use can often generate electrical outputs of 200 watts to 30 kilowatts.

Hybrid generator systems can be constructed either as grid-assisted or grid-inter-tied and off-grid. Grid assisted systems will use both electrical grid and alternative energy sources. The electrical energy provided from these multiple sources will then be stored in battery systems. There is an advantage to grid-assisted alternative energy sources. When the wind does not blow, or the sun does not shine, the electrical system will still be storing power in the battery system. In these systems, hybrid generators operate as a method to reduce utility costs. Off-grid systems on the other hand are designed to provide alternative energy sources that are completely separate from grid power. Hybrid generators in this case are the sole method of electrical input to the battery storage system. Off-grid hybrid generator systems have three advantages over grid assisted systems.

First, they minimize the environmental footprint of a person's electrical consumption. Second, they eliminate a person's reliance upon utility companies and utility costs. Lastly, hybrid generator systems can be constructed nearly anywhere replacing the need for expensive utility connections to remote areas. Off-grid hybrid generator systems have minimal disadvantages over grid-assisted systems that proper planning and design can easily overcome. The only significant disadvantage of a hybrid generator is the lack of available sources. Careful review of available alternative energy sources at the US DOE Energy Information Administration's website will help to decide the availability of alternative energy resources. Alternative energy sources are abundant and readily available.

Through proper planning and design the advantages of alternative energy can be utilized while the disadvantages can easily be overcome with hybrid generator systems.

Rebalancing the nuclear debate through education

Better physics teaching with a particular emphasis on radioactivity and radiation science could improve public awareness through education of the environmental benefits and relative safety of nuclear power generation, according to leading Brazilian scientist Heldio Villar. He suggests that it might then be possible to have a less emotional debate about the future of the industry that will ultimately reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

To environmental activists, nuclear power and environmental preservation are two antagonistic concepts. Nevertheless, nuclear power can generate huge amounts of electrical and heat energy with minimal impact on the planet, particularly in terms of much lower carbon emissions and pollution than is seen with power generation based on burning fossil fuels. Because of this cultural clash, activists have prognosticated doom for a world if we pursue the nuclear energy option, leading to public distrust of the nuclear industry and its relatives, nuclear research installations and particle accelerators.

"The introduction of the theoretical bases of radioactivity, radiation physics and nuclear power plants in the environmental education curricula will certainly result in a greater awareness of the public towards the reality surrounding radiation and radioactivity," says Villar of the University of Pernambuco, who not surprising also works for Brazil's Nuclear Energy Commission. "This initiative, coupled with a more realistic approach towards nuclear risks on the part of nuclear regulators and licensers, has the potential to make nuclear applications -- not only in electric energy production but in other areas -- more palatable to a public squeamish of another Three Mile Island or Chernobyl and the specter of nuclear weapons, rendering it more prepared to reap the benefits thereof."

Ironically, in the 1950s and 1960s, nuclear power was once hailed as the best option for an energy-starved world. Nuclear reactors were seen as modern, reliable and, above all, capable of producing electricity 'too cheap to meter'. Into the 1970s, the oil crisis sparked the first major interest in going nuclear on a much wider scale. However, even before Three Mile Island, activist groups such as Greenpeace were sounding unwarranted alarm bells and popular movies such as the China Syndrome, which does not have a disastrous ending, were fuelling the anti-nuclear movement.

Villar points out that it is widely accepted that Brazil and several other nations, are entirely capable of launching successful nuclear power programs, given their expertise, the availability of nuclear fuel and the pressures such as a lack of coal and the rising price of oil. "Electrical energy is scarce and obviously expensive," says Villar, "a situation seen in several other countries." Supposed "green" solutions, such as hydroelectric power, which has already been fully exploited in Brazil, as well as gas turbines, solar and wind power, tidal power and biomass, do not represent a cheaper alternative to nuclear he asserts.

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