By: Stephanie Rogers
http://earthfirst.com/11-bizarre-sources-of-clean-energy-from-dead-turkeys-to-urine/
Picture: These are examples of alternative energy. They are all crazy ideas. They are way different than coal, oil, and natural gas.There are many well known sources to provide us with energy such as wind turbines, solar energy, thermal, and more. You might be thinking they are the only sources of energy. However, not many know that there are other very weird alternative energy sources. Some of the alternatives are using watermelon juice, turkey guts, urine and human waste, garbage, onions, viruses, alcohol, and chocolate. A lot of people never would of thought of using these objects. If you thought some of the regularly used energy source were weird already, you should be in for a surprise.
You would normally think of watermelon as just a source of food. Now it is possible to use it as energy. It can now be a source for biofuel. Scientist have said that imperfect watermelons can be used to be fermented into ethanol. Don't worry about wasting the watermelons because since they are imperfect we would have just ignored them or not have used them anyway. Next, we can use turkey guts as energy. They are used to make oil. Just think after Thanksgiving you can use your turkey to make oil. A company called Changing World Technologies use turkey guts, feet, intestines, and rotting heads to make oil. However, this type of alternative energy needs to be refined before it becomes well known. It may be gross but yes we can use human and animal waste as a source of energy. It is used for buses to run on in Norway. The name is called biomethane. Also cow waste could one day power homes. Then, there is urine powered batteries. This would be a easy way to provide energy. Garbage can be used to provide electricity as well but it is a controversial topic because it isn't necessarily clean and it can pollute the air. Onion can also be a source for energy because the juice can be made into fuel. A farmer has tried this and save $700,000 off their electric bill because the farmer used the onion juice in his refrigerator and lighting. Another interesting source is viruses in a computer. You can use it to charge lithium-iron batteries. As weird and disgusting as it sounds you can use dead bodies to keep you warm. In a Swedish town they use dead bodies to produce heat. Then, we have alcohol. We can use it to be created into methane which can be used to fuel biogas-powered vehicles. Finally we have chocolate that can be an alternative. It is not necessarily chocolate that is used but the cocoa bean shells. It is mixed with coal to be made into fuel. All of these sources are very different then the source taught in school and are unheard of.
Opinion/Reflection: I am extremely shocked from reading about all of these alternative energy sources. This information could be really helpful in the future if something were to happen to our other sources. I just want to know how scientist find this stuff out. I never would of guessed that these objects would be used for energy. I think it is kind of gross being heated using dead bodies and using human waste as energy sources. I wonder if there are problems with any of these or if it is just as good as the energy source we use regularly. I like how most of the alternative energy sources are wastes so we would not be losing anything if we used them.
Questions:
1) Out of these alternative energy sources, which one would you want to use? Why?
2) Do you think any of these could actually be a legitimate energy source in the future? Why or why not?
3) Which one of these alternative energy source do you think could cause problems? Why?
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Grant that this is extremely shocking and I never heard of this before. If we could harness one of these energies and start being able to fuel cars and homes by it we could save the earth. All the gas and pollutants we use to power our things hurt the environment so if we could find a natural way to fuel our things that could really help the earth! It is so cool that we are finding out new ways to power things that are healthier for the world. I can relate this too my dad getting a new car. Usually cars are fueled by gas but my dad's car runs on gas and electricity. I find it so cool that it can use both and that really helps the earth since with his car he is not always polluting the air with gas. This is a really good example of alternative energy.
Answer to question 3:
I think fueling our homes with garbage is a very bad idea. The point of finding alternative energy sources is to help save the earth and keep it more green. If we used garbage we would just be putting more pollutants back into the air and that is not good. We want to be able to find better ways to fuel our cars and homes with as less pollution as possible.
Opinion/Reflection: I was extremely surprised when I read this. On the news and in class we hear about the normal sources of energy but now that these have been discovered, I think they will be a more popular topic. The only weird source of energy that i have heard about was the dead bodies keeping people warm. Personally, I think it is disgusting but if it works for the people in Sweden, they should keep using that method. I think that these sources of energy should be looked in to and make a positive impact on the environment. I was very surprised to hear that the farmer saved $700,000! That is a lot of money and the way he is using the onions is very affective. Now if more people start doing this, they would save money and help the environment. I really hope that some of these sources of energy start becoming popular.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to question 1: If i lived on a farm, I would use the onions but since I don't, I would want to use the turkey insides. I think that it could really have an impact on our society. Also, it causes way less pollution than what we are using now. It may be disgusting but I think it is worth it because it could take place of the oil that is harming our environment today.
Opinion: I was very suprised after reading this. I did not know bad watermelons could be a source for energy. I know that oil will run out in the next 75 years. It would be very cool to see things like bad watermelons replace them. Also gas prices are rising very quickly so it would be great if we found another energy source that can run cars. I think it is amazing that a farmer saved $700,000 by simply using onion juice. Scientest could make this huge and people could save a lot of money. If onion juice really does work that well I want to use it in my house! It would be cool to see these alternative energy sources become popular. They can save people money and help the environment.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to number 1: I would want to use the onion juice. If that could really save a guy $700,000 its worth a try! Using onion juice could help the environment and save me money. Using onion juice can knock down two birds with one stone.
Opinion/Reflection: I was extremely shocked after reading this summary. Who knew that imperfect watermelons and the excess of a turkey could be used as an energy source. Like Ryan, I believe that harnessing one of these energies could save many people a lot of money and save the earth. I hope that these alternative energy sources start to make a huge outburst soon, because if not, there could be a problem. In class we learned about how bad fossil fuels were for the environment, and if we do not do anything to stop this now, there may be an everlasting problem. The fact that a farmer saved $700,000 just by using onion juice as an energy source is astonishing. Many people may not take these alternate energy sources serious, but if they find out about the farmer, I am sure they will. Millions of dollars would be saved each year for everyone by not having to purchase the very expensive gas, or not having an electric bill with prices shooting through the roof. Grant made a good point when he says that we would not be wasting these alternative energy sources because most of them are from imperfect food sources; therefore could not be eaten anyway. The different sources of alternate energy are very strange, and I do not think I would think of them. They may seem random, but clearly they work as a good source of energy. I truly wish that there could be a huge outburst of all different kinds of alternate energy.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Question #1: Personally, I would use the energy from the onion juice. The fact that it saved a farmer a total of $700,000, is absolutely amazing. If I got the chance of that happening to me, I would jump right on it and use the onion. Also, since they make fuel, they could make my car run. With the gas prices these days, I could save a lot of money while saving the environment at the same time. Also, electric bills can be extremely expensive, so I would be saving money in that way as well. In all, alternate energy sources can be a very good thing when it comes to saving money and helping the environment.