ALTERNATIVE ENERGYBY BRI, EVA & HARMONY

Pros Provides fuel and gets rid of waste at the same time. Biomass is clean, there is lots of it and is a renewable energy source. Made locally with minimal cost Does not depend on fossil fuels CO2 Neutral Promotes energy independence Converts waste into fuel Produces greenhouse gasses

Cons Large areas of land are needed to create enough electricity to make biomass

efficient Some materials are not available all year around. This is the biggest issue with

crop waste If biomass is overused, then deforestation and other environmental problems

can develop. This has happened in less developed countries that use a lot of wood for heat.

WIND TURBINES

Pros The wind is free, and it can be captured with good efficiency nowadays compared to the results

some decades ago. They do not take large portion of lands like solar farms do! The land around these small towers can

be used in a different way without any problems! A large group of people thinks they add to the view of the landscape! If you live on the top of the hill or miles away from any civilization you can still generate your own

power with smaller wind turbines!

Cons Wind turbines do not produce constantly. Their performance varies based on the actual power of

the wind. This can be from zero to storm force! Efficiency is not the best available: a modern turbine running at its desired speed can deliver

electricity to 500 households. Count quickly how many would be needed for a city with a population of 20 million?

It is not true that wind turbines are 100% environment friendly, because when factories build them, they do emit some pollution into the air. But that is a onetime pollution against the constant negative effects of regular electricity production with for example burning of coal.

They are noisy mechanisms. One turbine can produce the same level of noise as a car travelling at 60mph on the highway! You certainly don't want that under your window constantly. But almost all of these are against the larger, industrial versions, not the ones built for home usage.

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/electricity/index.cfm/mytopic=10501

HYDROELECTRICPOWER

Pros Hydroelectric power uses very clean energy. It can possibly help flooding in a nearby flood region. Once the dam is built, it does not require further cost. It generates an endless supply of energy. Hydroelectric energy can be maintained easily and it can be put to a halt nearly immediately

due to an unlikely cause There isn’t much need of human help when you have the hydroelectric energy running, as it

is mainly being run on machines. When the power stations are built, they can last for over 100 years.

Cons Droughts have a bad impact on hydroelectric power generation. It can damage some of its surrounding environment. Many species of fish have to swim against the water stream during their breeding season,

but they are not able to do so as the dam creates obstacles in their path. The plants which get destroyed by the floods caused by the dams, start to rot away. This

results into the production of methane, an intoxicating greenhouse gas. A slight error in the construction of the dam can cause the dam collapsing and affecting the

lives of humans, plants and animals. A dam in China called the Banqiao Dam costed the lives of more than 100 thousand people and homes of about a million.

SOLAR ENERGY

Pros Solar panels give off no pollution. Yes, the cost of solar cells is high, but when bought, they provide a free source of

energy which will pay off for the coming years. Solar panels can be installed on many rooftops, which reduces the problem of

finding the required space for solar panel placement.

Cons 99% of the energy goes into space. Only 1% is used. The problem of solar energy is that solar cells cost a fortune! At the moment, the

cost of solar cells is over $1000 and some households may need more than one. Solar energy can only generate during daylight hours. This mean for around half of

every day, solar panels aren’t producing energy for your home. The weather can affect the efficiency of solar cells. Pollution levels can affect solar cells efficiency. This would be very bad for

businesses or industries wishing to install solar panels in heavily polluted areas.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

ProsGeothermal is very safeIt is very cleanIt is efficient

ConsGeothermal energy may cause slight

after-shock earthquakesMinor damage may take 1000 years to

recoverIt can be quite expensive

TIDAL POWER

ProsTidal energy is renewable, because nothing is consumed in the

rising of the tides.Tidal power is free once the dam is built.Tidal energy is easy to maintain because it is easy to predict

when high and low tides will occur.Tidal energy is non-pollutingIt is renewable

ConsThe cost of tidal power is extremely high because the initial cost

of building a dam is very expensive.The construction barrier can affect the transportation system in

water. Boats may not be able to cross the barrier and fishing boats sometimes need to find an alternative route to be able to get to its destination.

GAS

PO

WER

Pros Natural gas (largely methane) burns more cleanly than the other fossil fuels

(45% less carbon dioxide emitted than coal and 30% less than oil) It is easily transported via pipelines and fairly easily using tankers (land and sea) It can be piped into homes to provide heating and cooking and to run a variety

of appliances. Where homes are not piped, it can be supplied in small tanks. It can be used as a fuel for vehicles (cars, trucks and jet engines) where it is

cleaner than gasoline or diesel. It is used to produce ammonia for fertilizers, and hydrogen, as well as in the

production of some plastics and paints.

Cons Even though it is cleaner than coal and oil, it still contributes a large amount of

carbon dioxide to greenhouse gases. By itself natural gas is mostly methane, which is 21 times more dangerous for

greenhouse warming than carbon dioxide so any leakage of the gas (from animals, landfills, melting tundra, etc.) contributes strongly to greenhouse emissions.

NUCLEAR POWER

ProsGreenhouse gases from nuclear power are about 12 times less

than gas power stations and about 30 times less than coal stations

ConsNuclear power is not a renewable source of energy. High-grade,

low-cost ores will run out in 50 yearsIt is not "greenhouse gas" free, which means it will produce more

emissions than some renewable power sources such as wind It would take at least 10 years and several billion dollars to build

Australia's first nuclear power stationPlants are potential targets for terrorists attacks; smuggling of

radioactive material is on the rise; no complete solution to the disposal of radioactive waste has been found

What’s best for Victoria?Our winner is Biomass because all the cons Biomass brings Victoria can manage. One of the three cons is large areas of

land are needed to create enough electricity to make Biomass efficient. We can manage this because Victoria has many large unused lands to work with. Another con is some materials aren’t available all year around; this is the biggest

issue with crop waste. We can try to deal with this by possibly importing materials where they are available.

The next con is that if Biomass is over used, then deforestation and other environmental problems can

develop. This has happened in less developed countries that use a lot of wood for heat. We can control this because we don’t use wood for heat and victoria doesn’t have a huge

amount of forests.

We chose to put our biomass station in Rye because there is a rubbish tip at Rye where we could get Methane gas and transport it into our biomass station.

OUR BIOMASS STATION

Runner Up – Tidal Power Our runner up is Tidal power as we believe the pros are great. Tidal power is renewable, is free once the dam is built and is easy to maintain. We think that there should be a Tidal Power station set up at Gunnamatta beach because at there is strong surf which will power the tides and generate energy for Victoria.

BIBLIOGRAPHY http://wiki.answers.com http://whatabiomass.weebly.com/pros-and-cons.html http://socyberty.com/activism/why-biomass-is-a-good-alternative-energy-source/ http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mornington+p

eninsula&aq=&vps=1&sll=38.136717,144.912415&sspn=0.987265,2.694397&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Mornington+Peninsula+Victoria

http://www.alternativeenergyadvice.net/geothermal-energy-pros-and-cons.html http://www.clean-energy-ideas.com/geothermal_power.html http://www.clean-energy-ideas.com/articles/pros_and_cons_of_solar_energy.html http://www.energy-consumers-edge.com/pros_and_cons_of_geothermal_energy.html http://www.energy-consumers-edge.com/tidal_energy_use.html http://www.energy-green.net/blog/articles/geothermal-power/pros-and-cons-of-geothe

rmal-technology.html