Alternative energy sources in South Florida
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Abstract
The use of alternative sources of energy is encouraged not only in South Florida but also across the world. Generally, the adoption of alternative energy sources is mainly for environmental conservation. Over time, many countries have used fossil fuels as energy source. However, fossils use have proved harmful mostly to the environment. Gradually, a shift has been experienced and the incorporation of environment-friendly methods practiced. This paper will discuss the introduction of wind energy, hydroelectric energy, and geothermal energy in South Florida.
Introduction
Energy alternatives become a key aspect when environment conservation is a concern. Over time, the use of fossil energy has raised concerns in terms of environmental pollution in South Florida and the world at large. Gradually, there have been effects such as climate change, and global warming resulting from the interference of the atmosphere with the toxic substances emitted from the fossils during the process of energy production. Environmental pollution has been a topic of study for quite a long time. Therefore, more natural ways have been introduced to avoid environmental pollution. These are majorly the alternative sources of energy that are environment-friendly such as wind power, energy from solar, hydrogen gas, hydroelectric energy, geothermal energy, and natural gas use. The essay thesis statement holds that wind energy, geothermal energy, and hydroelectric energy are the three most desirable sources of energy to be introduced in South Florida.
Wind power
Florida should embrace wind power energy. Wind power or energy is generally the tapping and use of wind in order to generate energy and power through the use of turbines to provide energy for electric generators to produce electric energy (Musial & Ram, 2010). Over time, wind power has been studied and proved environment-friendly. Likewise, wind power is renewable and sustainable. Research says that South Florida harbors potential for the production of wind-based power though there are claims that Florida and other states in the southeastern experience lower winds as compared to other zones (Musial & Ram, 2010). However, research and study have found out that there is a possibility of windmills and turbine construction along some parts of South Florida coasts incorporating the most recent wind technology.
For quite a long time, South Florida has been using Biomass and Solar energy which are quite good. However, the state equally has the potential of exploring the production of wind energy. The winds experienced along Hutchinson Island coasts usually blow at 14 miles in an hour covering 80 meters hub height hence is sufficient to produce electric energy. This shows that South Florida can introduce the use of wind energy as an alternative source of energy. The college of Florida and Florida State Universities, (FAMU-FSU) research says “With advances in turbine technology, taller towers, larger rotor diameter, and new control system, we will be able to provide low-cost wind power to low wind regions such as Florida and the Southeast (Musial & Ram, 2010). Generally, with the advancing technology, the turbines used in wind production have been upgraded to incorporate variable wind speed in different locations.
Hydroelectric energy
There is a need to acknowledge hydroelectric energy production in Florida. Florida comes second after Texas in electricity production. Equally, it is among the states with higher electricity consumption. However, the major source of energy used in the power production in South Florida is Biomass and solar energy. With the massive water bodies in South Florida, there lies an opportunity to embrace the hydroelectric method of energy production. The hydroelectric method of energy production is one of the earliest and environment-friendly methods of energy production (Rahman et al., 2014). It is a proven renewable and clean source of energy. In this method of energy production, water in the dams or rivers is used to generate electric power. Usually, the water waves set the blades of the turbines in motion which then ignites the generator to convert the mechanical energy into electricity.
South Florida has not embraced the use of dams, rivers, and water reservoirs in energy production. There are fewer hydroelectric stations in South Florida. When the Florida legislators are briefed by Gabriel Alsenas on the amount of energy the Gulf Stream can generate, he says Imagine all the freshwater rivers in the world like Mississippi and their discharge into the Worlds ocean. Multiply that water flow by 30 and you got what is going by our shores every second (Kosnik, 2008). Significantly, this shows the possibilities of hydroelectric power production in South Florida too as it has more water bodies and rivers such as Santa Fe, St Johns, Apalachicola, Escambia, and many others. The research shows that the production of hydroelectric would result in an increase of power production by 2-4 folds. Further, Alsenas Gabriel, the head of FAU and a renewable energy center says in our experiment, we generated about 100 watts, like a bulb you might have in a floodlight (Kosnik, 2008). Significantly this shows the possibility of hydroelectric power generation in Florida.
Geothermal energy
Extensive exploration of geothermal energy would be beneficial to South Florida. Geothermal energy involves the extraction of power or energy from the ground. It is the water that usually carries the energy to the surface of the earth (Von & Brekken, 2017). There are greater potentials for this method of energy production in Florida. Florida has a big advantage when it comes to geothermal energy adoption because it has more groundwater as compared to other states.
However, there is a need for extensive research in South Florida concerning groundwater heat pump efficiency. It is normally accepted that the temperatures of the groundwater be lower than the air temperature, conversely, in South Florida, there are situations when the groundwater temperatures are almost the air temperatures and sometimes exceed the air temperatures (Von & Brekken, 2017). Therefore, proper installations of the heat pumps are necessary for South Florida to enjoy geothermal energy production.
Conclusion
In conclusion, alternative energy sources are a very important aspect of energy production. The adoption of alternative energy sources like wind, water, and ground energy production is cost-effective and reduces the effects of environmental pollution like increased ozone layer depletion leading to global warming with severe climatic change. Another advantage of the three discussed alternative sources is that they are renewable. Just as Tom Steyer says “Renewable energy is a clear winner when it comes to boosting the economy and creating jobs”. Therefore, there is a need for South Florida to embrace the suggested alternative energy with a renewed zeal for better performance.
References
Kosnik, L. (2008). The potential of water power in the fight against global warming in the US. Energy Policy, 36(9), 3252-3265.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421508002310
Michaelides, E. E. S. (2012). Alternative energy sources. Springer Science & Business Media.
https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-4wh16C7pEwC&oi=fnd&pg=PR8&dq=Alternative+energy+sources&ots=64YPd9IYrV&sig=ykKuxea2JRlyyutL2CktRswrh_E&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Alternative%20energy%20sources&f=false
Musial, W., & Ram, B. (2010). Large-scale offshore wind power in the United States: Assessment of opportunities and barriers (No. NREL/TP-500-40745). National Renewable Energy Lab.(NREL), Golden, CO (United States).
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/40745.pdf
Rahman, N., Badshah, S., Rafai, A., & Badshah, M. (2014). Literature review of ocean current turbine. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 5(11), 11.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Noor-Rahman-4/publication/273316387_Literature_Review_of_Ocean_Current_Turbine/links/55010bb50cf2aee14b58ebe0/Literature-Review-of-Ocean-Current-Turbine.pdf
Von Jouanne, A., & Brekken, T. K. (2017). Ocean and geothermal energy systems. Proceedings of the IEEE, 105(11), 2147-2165.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8008739
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/mdc.edu?url=https%3a%2f%2febooks.infobase.com%2fPortalPlaylists.aspx%3fwID%3d16925%26ISBN%3d9781438132280
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/mdc.edu?url=https%3a%2f%2febooks.infobase.com%2fPortalPlaylists.aspx%3fwID%3d16925%26ISBN%3d9781438163222
https://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/alternative-energy-sources/
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Alternative energy sources in South Florida
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation
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1
Alternative energy sources in South Florida
Students Name
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Instructor
Due Date
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