| With energy prices skyrocketing, and energy | | | | as hanging your clothes on a clothesline to dry is a |
| demands with nowhere to go but up, more and more | | | | basic use of solar energy. |
| people are concerned with how to decrease their | | | | There is also the greenhouse effect. Just simply |
| energy consumption. Electricity has become an | | | | putting plants inside a greenhouse traps the heat of |
| essential part of life, from keeping food fresh to | | | | the sun and makes it significantly warmer inside than |
| powering lifesaving medical equipment. The world | | | | it is outside, allowing plants to be grown in climates |
| today runs on electricity. | | | | that would otherwise kill the crops. Solar energy is |
| However, all this electricity comes at a cost, and that | | | | used for a variety of uses. Home heating is an |
| cost is something homeowners are becoming | | | | obvious use. Some people use solar energy to heat |
| increasingly reluctant to pay. In that spirit, creative | | | | their water, and others use solar cells to directly |
| homeowners are looking for alternatives to doling out | | | | create electricity that powers appliances. In fact, |
| their hard earned cash to a faceless power company. | | | | solar energy can satisfy all the home energy needs |
| Alternative Energy may offer the solution. | | | | of a homeowner. |
| Alternative energy is nothing new. Windmills have | | | | Many still see these forms of alternative energy as |
| been around for thousands of years. Windmills were | | | | impractical, but with the advancements being made in |
| originally used to grind wheat and other grains. In | | | | their technology, they are becoming increasingly |
| fact, that is why they are called wind mills. Although | | | | viable and practical as home energy choices. Before |
| this was a technology developed well before the | | | | simply discarding these green energy options as being |
| advent of electricity, transforming it for use as a | | | | impractical, be sure to consider some of the long |
| source of electrical power was a logical development. | | | | term impacts of converting. |
| Perhaps it was even inevitable. | | | | Alternative energy is not beholden to the supplies |
| The technology of alternative energy sources has | | | | and demands of big corporations. There's no OPEC |
| come a long way since the first windmills and water | | | | controlling the price of the sun. It is more ecologically |
| wheels of old. As technology developed, so did | | | | friendly. You don't need to dig holes that are |
| efficiency. New designs have brought alternative | | | | thousands of feet deep to harness the wind. These |
| energy into the 21st century, and even made them | | | | alternative energy sources don't put out noxious |
| affordable for the average home owner. | | | | gases because there are no substances being burned |
| Waterwheels are another ancient technology. They | | | | to produce energy. |
| were also used to power millstones in times past. | | | | Overall, while it may look like a big investment up |
| Today we call our version of this technology | | | | front to make a few changes to your home and |
| "hydropower" or "hydro-electric power." Hydropower | | | | start using some of these alternative energy |
| harnesses the energy of water currents to turn | | | | technologies, it will cost less in the long run. It will |
| turbines which generate electricity. | | | | cost you less financially, and it will cost all of us less |
| Solar Energy harnesses the power of the Sun. The | | | | ecologically. In the end, we all would like to leave the |
| Sun feeds all of life with it's energy, so it's logical that | | | | world a better place than it was when we arrived, |
| we have developed technologies that can directly tap | | | | and we can do that by advancing the use of |
| into the Sun as an electricity producer. Although solar | | | | alternative energy. |
| panels may be a new development, things as simple | | | | |