ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES BY Daniel Macdonald, Jesse Vienet, Dylan Janky, Scott Holland

Solar energy  PRO’S:  After installing a solar panel, the energy you get from the sun is free  Solar energy is environmentally friendly  Solar panels store energy, so if there is a power-out, you will still be supplied with power  After installing one or more panels, there is low or no maintenance  CON’S:  Installing the panels themselves can cost a lot of money  As power-outs are becoming more common, more people are buying solar panels, so they are becoming price-competitive  Solar panels require a lot of space to be installed  Production of solar energy is influenced by clouds and air pollution  No energy is produced during night-time  Not much energy is gathered from the sun

Tidal energy  PRO’S:  The rise and fall of the tide is consistent  The tide does is not affected by the weather  The production of this energy is not very costly  CON’S:  Tides do not produce a lot of energy  Barrages across river estuaries can alter the flow of the tide  Because of these barrages, some wildlife can be in danger

Nuclear Power  PRO’S:  Nuclear energy emits very low amounts of greenhouse gases  The technology for the production of nuclear energy is readily available – it does not need to be developed first  Nuclear energy produces a lot of power  Nuclear energy runs on uranium, which there is plenty of in Australia  CON’S:  It produces nuclear waste, which is very dangerous and takes 10,000 years to become safe once again  There are high risk-levels when making nuclear energy  Power plants could be a preferred target for terrorist attacks

Biomass energy  PRO’S:  There is a large array of appliance which can use biomass energy  If maintained well, it is a very vast resource  CON’S: The production of biomass energy produces a lot of greenhouse gases  As biomass energy is produced from organic resources like wood, lots of trees will be cut down  The production of this energy is very costly, and requires a lot of space

Geothermal energy  PRO’S:  Geothermal stations are generally small in size  Hot vapour contains lots of energy  CON’S:  Hot vapour for energy doesn’t stay hot for very long  To use the hot vapour as energy, the people using the energy will have to live near the station where it is produced  Thermal underground water contains lots of toxins which evaporate quickly, and constantly need to be refilled using human technology, making greenhouse gases

Wind energy  PRO’S:  Earth is constantly producing wind, and will never stop  The production of wind energy emits almost no greenhouse gases  Wind energy is available on lots of places around the planet  Wind turbines occupy very little area, only about a metre wide circle in the ground  CON’S:  People think that turbines sticking out of the ground here and there ruins the scenery  Some days might have very little wind, and so not much energy will be produced  Wind does not contain lots of energy

Hydroelectric energy  PRO’S:  The dams can store lots of water, so in case of a drought, there will be lots of stored water  The dams controls flooding  The dam’s simple design makes for cheap repairs  Produces clean power for a cheap price  It is a renewable energy source  The production of the energy has very few breakdowns  CON’S:  It disrupts natural seasonal changes for the rivers connected to the dams  The dams stops flooding of the rivers, when they should flood to help clear out silt in the rivers  The dams require a lot of money to make  Dams could break in a flash flood

Gas energy  PRO’S:  Natural gas burns more cleanly than other fossil fuels  The energy is easily transported via pipelines  It can be used as fuel for vehicles  CON’S:  Although cleaner than fossil fuels, it still produces greenhouse gases  Gas energy mostly consists of methane, which is 21 times more dangerous than greenhouse gases

What are the meanings for these words?  Voltage - Voltage is the difference in electric between two points  Circuit - A circuit is when you accomplish work by means of routing matter in a loop, e.g.: to light a globe, you will need electricity constantly moving in a loop to keep it alight  Current - An electric current is the flow of electricity

In which ways can electricity convert into other forms of energy in our homes?  To do a useful job for us, electrical energy is converted into other forms of energy. For example:  A Drill: the electric energy is made into kinetic (moving) energy, which spins the drill  A Radio: the electrical energy is made into sound energy, producing noise

Solar Energy?  Victoria’s seasons can change how much sun we get. While in summer and spring we get lots of sun, we get hardly any in autumn and winter.  And Victoria get’s darker in Winter, and if we don’t have any solar power…then it’s pretty useless.

Tidal Energy?  Victoria’s coasts don’t have great tide differences – our tides change only by about 1 or 2 metres.  And if there’s not much tide to get energy from, then we will have a very dark and cold Melbourne.

Nuclear Energy?  Nuclear energy could be good – Australia has plenty of Uranium, and the technology we need to build a power plant is ready to go.  But it is a very dangerous job to do, and WorkSafe won’t be very happy. And, terrorists could find a very easy target to destroy our city.

Biomass Energy?  Biomass energy consists of using the nutrients from trees to make energy. Victoria has plenty of trees, but we also have plenty on native endangered species of both plants and animals which need the trees to survive.  And if we’re cutting all of the trees down, we’re only making our living space worse.

Geothermal Energy?  Victoria has a lot of hot steam underneath it’s surface, and is present at almost every corner of our state.  The problem is though, lots of the heat is buried one and a half kilometres into the ground, and it would require a lot of machinery, noise and pollution to simply get to this energy source.

Wind Energy?  Australia has pretty high winds at some areas, and have a good opportunity to place some turbines where it is windy. We can also put the turbines in other farms which might have cows for example, because the turbines don’t take up much room.  But, if we want to run a city using wind power, we will need a LOT of turbines!

Hydroelectric Energy?  Victoria has several dams which, recently, have been filled due to our massive rainfall and flooding.  But, we are in a drought, and are running out of water simply for drinking, doing dishes and other household appliances.  We would need lots more water to run Victoria on hydroelectric energy.

Gas Energy?  Natural gas could be a solution. It gives us energy and is renewable.  But the gas that we use, methane, is much more dangerous than greenhouse gases!  And there is no point in running a city with electricity if it is just going to wipe out the whole ecosystem!

But how?  We could use Nuclear energy to run our city’s energy. Sure, it is risky, but with proper safety, it could be done.  And besides, I don’t think terrorists will want to attack Australia – we haven’t done anything to them (America did) and we have an the Army who will stop them!  And with wind energy, we could put those in the farms in the outskirts of Victoria to give the small country towns a source of natural energy that could keep them running for a long time!

How does Wind Energy work?  The wind spins the blades of the turbine, which spins a shaft (creating kinetic energy). The kinetic energy then goes into a generator. The generator then takes the newly made electricity to homes and factories, via wires and pipes.

How does Nuclear Energy work?  The source of nuclear energy, Uranium, has energy inside it, which people extract in a nuclear power plant. We then use that energy to do the things we use, while the leftovers becomes nuclear waste.

where could we put our nuclear power plant and wind farms?  The nuclear power plant could go in the centre of Melbourne, where all of the houses, buildings etc. that need energy are, while the wind turbines can go in the farms in the outskirts of victoria.

How did we perform as a team?  We worked as a good team, and we all showed individual strengths and helped each other when it was needed.  Jesses and Scott did most of the research, getting all of the information we needed for this presentation, while Daniel did this PowerPoint.  Dylan helped by editing, putting-together, filming and overall coming up with the idea of doing a film!

REFERENCES  Google.com, Wikipedia.com, drake.martin.com, timeforchange.com, facts-about-solar-energy.com, wiki.answers.com