CarbonFeet

The truth is, the 350,000,000 terawatts of energy obtainable from the sun is so large that an exposure to a full sun in only 15 minutes will be sufficient to generate the world’s energy requirement

Compare that with energy that is generated by nuclear and fossil fuel. Presently, the obtainable data for fossil and nuclear fuel is 10,800,000 terawatts which we all realize to become non renewable.

To produce electricity, utility companies burn fossil fuels that translate to 1.3 pounds of carbon dioxide to produce 1kw of electrical power. This unwanted CO2 emissions are dumped into the atmosphere. This then translates into each typical home being accountable yearly for 22,000 pounds of CO2 emissions.

The harnessing of the sun’s rays is clean and safe. It produces no emissions and it’s practical and may within the years ahead, prove very economical. Within the United States, only 0.1% of power that is generated is solar energy driven. And so what are the obstacles?

According to the Wall Street Journal (in an article that was released in its August 2008 concern), you will find groups, backed by political groups that are lobbying against the putting up of transmission lines for solar energy. The construction of distribution lines for solar energy is also becoming blocked by environmental activists that restrict the delivering of solar energy to these who want it in their homes.

An additional obstacle is that the power grid in the United States which was created a lot more than 100 years ago is now so congested in many regions. To deliver the pv power to consumers, scientists and engineers will need to come out with an additional cost efficient plan to transfer large amounts of power from one location to another.

Solar panels are considered expensive. Even though a house increases its value by folds when solar powered, the costs still could be prohibitive to most that unless the non silicon flexible pv panels which are now becoming produced are released for marketplace consumption, powering homes through solar energy could nevertheless be very limited.

Other forms of rewards to prevent fossil fuel use should nevertheless be effectively placed. The 30% tax cut to projected cost previously awarded will be a lot more attractive if other federal credits are included to encourage further investments.

The global warming concern that has been brought to the papers is really a recurrent subject of talk shows and remains to be a great news item. Also, the too unstable pump costs, should and for most part, already be a great incentive to use this alternative source of energy.

However, efficient solar energy transmission to homes will stay to be very difficult unless these obstacles are breached. Assuming that these obstacles are solved these days, it will still take some years to convert 20% of American houses into solar energy users. Meanwhile, solar panels on individual houses stay to become the most viable option.

The good part to solar energy quest is that technologies is advancing very rapidly. Nano technologies for solar energy is becoming developed and may be available in five years time. Other breakthroughs in cell designs are also being produced that could, in the next few many years, be a cost-effective way of generating power without having having to rely anymore on fossil and nuclear power.

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Environmentalists and politicians have never really worked well together and we’re certainly seeing this during our uncertain times. Politicians are looking for every way possible to regulate and restrict the carbon trade, trying to find a way to decrease our reliance on excessive energy consumption. Nothing is ever certain in politics and big swings are taking place from one side to the other as schemes are considered to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.

The House of Representatives was able to pass a fairly controversial and comprehensive piece of legislation called the American Clean Energy and Security Act 2009, “cap and trade” scheme included. While this program was similar to the Emissions Trading Scheme already in existence in Europe, nobody really expected that forward progress would be effectively stopped as the Senate was unable to reach a compromise.

As 2010 unfolds, carbon trade is front and center as three Senators, representing a bipartisan approach craft a bill to bring carbon trade legislation in front of the Senate. Environmentalists continue to bicker, however, noting that meaningful legislation appears to be coming weaker and weaker with each committee reading.

There is a carbon trade scheme within new proposals being put forward by Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Graham. However, this is much different to the proposal put forth by the House of Representatives and in the beginning only applies to the power sector. It seems that there are provisions to extend in the future, however.

As the Democrats within the U.S. Senate effectively lost its ability to “steamroller” legislation through when the late Sen. Kennedy’s seat fell to a Democrat, from now forward the Republicans have a considerable amount of say in crafting climate legislation. They are known to be against a carbon trade scheme and a number of conciliatory features must be added to any legislation that has a chance of passing during the 2010 sessions.

Republicans say that the Environmental Protection Agency is planning to put in place restrictions of its own to cover carbon emissions. If legislation does not go through Congress, the EPA has already found that emissions are “a danger to public health.”

Climate carbon trade restrictions represent some of the most controversial issues for politicians. As carbon emissions are directly linked to energy use, it is felt that no progress can be made in real world terms unless energy use is restricted, efficiencies achieved and alternative energy uses considered. While some state and regional initiatives are underway or in development, another controversial element of the Senate legislation under consideration is that any federal scheme would in turn cause a state or regional scheme to be canceled.

Whether 2010 brings federal carbon trade legislation or not, it is certain that in one way or the other every business will be forced to consider its energy use, to strive for sustainability and to ensure that it operates at maximum efficiency across the board.

Daniel Stouffer has a lot of information about the carbon trade and how a visit to www.verisae.com will be of use to you.

The day may not be far off when the use of solar energy becomes a norm. There is now a deep conviction among experts that given a few years time, solar power will be in high demand that the cost will go down, inexpensive enough to undercut the prices of oil-generated electricity.

Previous predictions that it will still happen in a decade may no longer be true. The anger generated by the recent prices in oil and its vulnerability to market forces and other events may have already been enough to polarized people, governments and scientific communities into seriously considering a reliable alternative energy source.

You can not get a source more reliable than the sun. Even today homes that uses its power does not only benefit from the silent, energy generating, inexhaustible power of the sun, it also spikes up the prices of their homes. Those that have solar powered homes are even reimbursed for the surplus power that they supply to the power grid.

Presently, heliostats, photovoltaic cells and plate collectors are being used to collect the energy by focusing these panels towards the sun or constructing and installing the panel’s on spots where the sun shines most. Development in technology as we all know often has a snowball effect. It never stops rediscovering and reinventing that the speed of development could often be surprisingly fast.

Today, a polymer foil, thin as a sheet of paper and lighter by 200 times when compared to the regular glass collecting plates, are being developed. Chances are, these new inventions and discoveries could very well have a great potential for mass production. Previously, the glass-based materials used for heat collection need expensive substrates and require additional support for mounting due to its weight. The polymer foil, being very light could now be attached even to the walls of a structure.

So confident are scientists in the development of this technology that while the polymer foil is being developed, a plastic solar cell, based on nano technology is gaining breakthroughs. This plastic material can collect the power of the sun even on a cloudy day through harnessing the infrared rays is believed to be five times more efficient than the current technology.

While plastic materials for harnessing the power of the sun are not new, it is only recently that this plastic composite could harvest the infrared portion. Previously, only the visible rays are generated, the infrared part, which is half of the power of the sun, is invisible.

Currently, the best plastic solar cells could only harness 6% of the suns energy, with further study and development, this new plastic solar cells are expected to harness 30% of the suns solar power.

Scientists and researchers alike agree that ultimately, solar farms will be harnessing all our energy requirements and costs of power will drop. Today the price of solar powered energy is about 3 to 4 times per kilowatt hour compared with conventional electricity. That could change dramatically though the development of the existing technology and recent discoveries.

The roller pressed flexible plastic materials and the polymer foil are only two of the best hopes in arriving at a cleaner, greener and safer environment that could ultimately free the planet from its dependency on the depleting supply of oil.

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