The Future Of Green Technologies In America
As America turns it’s attention toward green technologies, it is important to define what the promising next generation green technologies are. We will also need to evaluate the funding required, a timeline to practical application and affordability in the marketplace. Other challenges wait ahead, including educating the public and getting qualified staff and workers to support these green technologies.
According to Time magazine, there are 10 next generation green technologies that perhaps are the solution to weaning ourselves off of the country’s dependence on fossil fuels while providing jobs and cleaning up the environment. Here is a short description of each of these next generation green technologies:
Concentrated Solar Power
Approximately 12% of America’s U.S. electricity usage comes from renewable energy sources such as nuclear and hydro. Expect that the Obama administration will look to expand that percentage by revving up other renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. But to make it happen, the U.S. administration must fund the development and promote private industry and investment in these technologies.
The next generation of solar power will use massive mirrors with the ability to focus the heat of the sun to will generate steam to drive electric turbines. In short, concentrated solar power is building commercial-scale plants that can be used to replace fossil-fuel powered plants without having to use the solar photovoltaic panels that we are currently used by homeowners and small businesses.
Tidal Energy
It makes sense to take advantage of the power of the tides using tidal turbines in the ocean. The engineering principle is no different than that of windmills. Instead of converting the physical energy in a breeze into electricity, tidal turbines can do the same for the motion in the ocean. And the tides are more predictable than wind, which makes it a more reliable source.
Smart Grid
The U.S. power grid is antiquated and prone to breakdowns. But the technology of the smart grid calls for networking all the power grids that will benefit the country in energy savings. The smart grid would be able to identify energy spikes and reroute unused energy to where it is needed most. Bits and pieces of the smart grid are already taking shape — Obama’s stimulus package includes $11 billion for the development of a nationwide smart grid — and utilities like Xcel are starting test projects in cities around the U.S.
Offshore Wind
This renewable source of technology is already being used in the North Sea by Denmark. The advantage to this green technology is you can avoid the problem of using land to build massive wind farms. In addition, the winds off of the east and west coast can provide a tremendous amount of sustainable energy. The downside to this technology is the cost involved and the reluctance of some states to have them installed off their shores.
Algae Biofuel
Biofuel made from algae instead of food plants like corn, plant waste and wood require land for them to be grown. Microscopic plant-like organisms that feed on carbon and produce oil are a much better alternative. Continental Airlines has already successed in flying commerical airplanes using algae biofuel without having to make any techical changes to the airplane to accept the biofuel. Algae biofuel is still some way from commercialization — a gallon of the stuff costs as much as $20 — but the technology is progressing. One start-up, Algenol, has plans for a 100 million gallon a year facility in northern Mexico’s Sonora Desert.
Carbon Capture and Sequestration
Let’s face facts. Fossil fuels will be used for years into the future, but developing a technology to capture the carbon emissions and store them in the ground is the environmentalist dream. But this technology is far away and there are significant technological challenges to be overcome.
Geothermal
Iceland already uses geothermal energy. In fact, twenty five percent of it’s electricity comes from geothermal sources. In the United States, there are geothermal heating systems for homeowners that can be installed at a relatively inexpensive cost. The homeowner saves on energy costs and generate carbon-free heating. And the U.S. has significant geothermal potential for electricity as well: the government estimates that geothermal could provide up to 10% of the country’s electrical supply.
Lithium-ion Batteries
Until recently, most larger-scale batteries were made using nickel and cadmium, but they were heavy, and lacked the long life needed to properly power cars. That’s shifted in recent years to lithium-ion batteries, which can be made much smaller, with a superior weight-to-energy ratio. But the technology to use Lithium-ion batteries for the automobile are not available yet. The hope is that the same kind of technology will finally begin to make electric cars a reality, by producing batteries that can run a car for 40 miles or more per charge, but which won’t take up the entire backseat. Right now lithium-ion batteries still aren’t cheap enough to make electric cars truly economically viable, but the hope is that as projects like the Volt reach scale, the price will drop dramatically.
Concentrated Solar Photovoltaic
If you have ever used a magnifying glass to burn a hole or start a fire, then you have used concentrated solar photovoltaic energy. Instead of using solar panels, the techology uses mirrors or lenses to concentrate the sun’s light on an array of solar PV panels, vastly increasing the amount of electricity that can be produced. Only a few CSPV plants are in operation, including a 500-kilowatt test plant from the company SolFocus in Spain, but more are on the way. One of the most innovative ideas comes from a start-up called CoolEarth Solar, which uses thin-film plastic lenses, blown up like a balloon, to cheaply concentrate the sun’s rays.
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion powers the sun, and it holds out the possibility of near-limitless electricity, without pollution. But decades of research have gone by and scientists remain incapable of creating a sustainable fusion reaction that could be used to create reliable power. That could be changing, however. Construction has begun on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a $15 billion project that will rely on magnetic fields that are 100,000 times stronger than the Earth’s to create the conditions necessary for viable fusion. The plant is scheduled to be switched on in 2018 — assuming everything goes right. Nuclear fusion remains a long shot, but if the world is going to avert climate change, we’ll need some luck, too.
