November 22nd, 2013
Fossil Fuels
Coal, natural gas, oil
Energy in the form of chemical bonds (potential energy)
Advantages
Disadvantages
Nuclear power
Advantages (fission)
Disadvantages (fission)
Advantages (fusion)
Disadvantages (fusion)
Wind power
Advantages
Disadvantages
Solar energy
Advantages
Disadvantages
Energy Storage
Electric cars
Lit Motors C-1 (There are more conventional electric cars out there, I just like this one.)
Cheap to run
Simple & low maintenance
Expensive up-front
When the batteries need replacing, you get a pretty substantial financial hit all at once.
Coal, natural gas, oil
Energy in the form of chemical bonds (potential energy)
Advantages
- Cheap
- Infrastructure in place
- Easily transported
- Easily used (burned) on site
- U.S. has plenty
Disadvantages
- Carbon dioxide emissions: global climate change
- Emissions of acid rain precursors
- Extraction issues
- Transportation hazards
- Non-renewable
Nuclear power
Advantages (fission)
- No climate change issues
- No acid rain
- More concentrated than anything else we have today
Disadvantages (fission)
- Nuclear waste
- Non-renewable
- U.S. imports most of its uranium
Advantages (fusion)
- More concentrated than anything we have today
- Radioactive waste is less nasty than that from fission
- Technically non-renewable, but enough fuel on earth for millions of years of use
Disadvantages (fusion)
- We can't do it commercially yet
Wind power
Advantages
- No climate change issues
- No acid rain
- Renewable
- Requires very little land
- Can produce energy in remote areas
Disadvantages
- Intermittent
- Not very concentrated
- Issues with scaling up: all the good spots are taken first...
- Noisy
- Can ruin the view
Solar energy
Advantages
- No climate change issues
- No acid rain
- Renewable
- Roof tops, etc.
- Can produce energy in remote areas
- Available almost everywhere
- Costs are all at start-up
- Fairly reliable
- Few moving parts
- Less reliance on a national power grid
Disadvantages
- Costs are all at start-up
- Not available all the time (but our need is greatest during the day...)
Energy Storage
- Electrochemically: batteries
- Mechanically: flywheels
- Thermally: heat reservoirs
- Gravitationally: water reservoirs
Electric cars
Lit Motors C-1 (There are more conventional electric cars out there, I just like this one.)
Cheap to run
Simple & low maintenance
Expensive up-front
When the batteries need replacing, you get a pretty substantial financial hit all at once.