RC&D's Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Projects
RC&D's Energy Success Stories
Bio-Diesel
According to a study by the United States EPA, diesel trucks and busses
account for approximately six percent of the miles driven on our nations
roads, however, they account for twenty percent of the particulate
pollution in our atmosphere. One method of reducing the particulate
emissions from trucks and busses is the introduction of bio-diesel.
Bio-diesel is a cleaner burning type of fuel, which can be made from soy
beans, vegetable oils, or animal fats. It is also a renewable fuel that
can be produced domestically from a variety of agricultural resources.
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Bio-Energy
Bio-energy is defined as any organic material that is produced by the
process of photosynthesis and is available on a renewable basis, including
crops and their residues, wood and its residues, animal and municipal
wastes, and aquatic plants.
Bioenergy is being explored as a way to provide power to the United
States by increasing domestic energy resources. Bioenergy resources are an
important domestic source of energy. The US Department of Energy currently
reports that bioenergy resources meet more than 3% of US energy
requirements.
Rapid growth in the industry is necessary to meet concerns of air
quality, climate change, and dependence on imported energy supplies.
Bioenergy is also important in realizing a decrease in the reliance on
fossil fuels.
Development of bioenergy resources can provide benefits which are:
economic, environmental, social and important to national security.
Ethanol
Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, ETOH) is a clear, colorless
liquid with a characteristic, agreeable odor that can be used as a fuel
source. Since ethanol is produced from plants, it is a renewable fuel.
In addition to ethanol being a reliable, domestic, renewable fuel source,
ethanol is also energy efficient. The current process for creating ethanol
yields 34 percent more energy than it takes to produce it. This includes
growing the corn, harvesting it, transporting it, and distilling it into
ethanol (USDA ERS publication number 814). The use of ethanol can even
help our country attain certain provisions of the Clean Air Act. It can be
used as an automotive fuel by itself or it may be mixed with gasoline to
create "gasohol." In the United States over 1 billion gallons of ethanol
are blended to create gasohol every year. Further, since an ethanol
molecule contains oxygen, it allows the engine to more completely combust
the fuel, resulting in fewer emissions. This mixing of ethanol enables
producers to meet the oxygen requirements mandated by the 1990 amendments
in the Clean Air Act. Further, the use of ethanol can eliminate the use of
other oxygenating products that may cause environmental contamination
including ground and surface water.
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Solar
Solar energy is produced from the radiant energy of the sun. This
radiant energy is produced through Fusion. "The large quantity of energy
released by the sun and the stars is the result of the conversion of
matter into energy. This occurs when the lightest atom, hydrogen, is
heated to very high temperatures forming a special gas called "plasma". In
this plasma, hydrogen atoms combine, or "fuse", to form a heavier atom,
helium. In the process of fusing, some of the hydrogen involved is
converted directly into large amounts of energy."
One of the most easy to obtain sources of solar energy is through
Photovoltaics ("PV"). PV's come from the words photo meaning light and
volt, a measure of electricity. In the most basic terms, PV's are made
from two thin pieces of silicon, one containing boron, an element, which
has the properties of attracting electrons, the other containing the
element of phosphorous, which has the properties of discharging
electrons. When these two layers are placed into the sun they create an
energy field that creates a circuit transferring the electrons from layer
to layer. This transferring of electrons is what creates electricity.
The utilization of solar energy has many great benefits for the
environment and our Nation’s thirst for energy. Solar energy is clean and
pollution free, it does not produce water or air pollution. However, solar
energy is not without any costs, the production and manufacturing of the
PV cells utilizes resources and creates waste and if not properly managed
and positioned PV can alter ecosystems and habitats.
Wind
Wind power is not new to our world. The mass use of wind power, on
land, dates back to the early 1700's when the Dutch harnessed the power of
wind with windmills. In the 1930's wind was used in the Midwest to help
pump water over the great plains, and today wind power can be used to
produce energy at a rate of 4 to 6 cents per kilowatt hour.
How is wind produced? Wind is created when the sun's rays heat up the
earth. The Sun's rays heat the land and the water at differing intervals.
These differing intervals cause a convection current. This current is
caused when the hot air above land land rises into the earths atmosphere
and slowly cools off. Upon cooling off the cooler air moves over water and
then falls pushing the waters warm air over land to start the cycle all
over again.
How does a wind produce electricity that our Nation can use? Today's
windmills use large blades, some the size of a Boeing 747, to catch the
wind, turning rotors that produce electricity. These windmills are
connected to switching stations and then the electricity produced can be
transmitted to an electric transmission grid. However, to produce
electricity, the turbines, of a windmill, must be pushed by a wind of at
least 10 miles per hour. When wind falls below this speed the economic
benefit of the windmill is greatly reduced. Currently, it is estimated
that windmills supply approximately 4 to 5 percent of our Nations power.
In addition, since wind is a renewable energy source, it can not be
depleted as is the case with many other sources on electricity.
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