Catching the Wind:
The two main factors that are considered when deciding whether to install a wind turbine in a specific area is what the locations wind speed is and how much wind that location gets during the year. Other factors that are taken in consideration is how much electricity it will create, efficiency, and whether the community will accept the building of one. The ideal energy source would not pollute the environment, would be cheap to produce, and would be available in abundance. There is not one source that has all of these factors, each source has its own tradeoffs. Solar energy for example can be in abundance if the panels are installed in places where there is always sun. However, they are not very reliable if for some reason that area does not have sun for a week, and they are also very expensive to install. Coal is an efficient non renewable source that is horrible for the environment and is not available in abundance.
Conserve at Home:
At this exhibit one was able to experiment with ways that energy can be conserved at home. When experimenting with “What’s a Watt?” I was able to compare typical house hold appliances and to see which ones use more energy. I noticed that you can consume the same amount of watts really quickly over a very short period of time or slowly depending on what appliance was in use. The next part of the exhibited that I observed showed ways that heat can get away from your house and what you can do prevent that heat from leaking out. one way mentioned was to insulate your home in order to limit the amount of heat that will leave your house because of thin spaces where parts of the house meet or near walls.
Energized:
This exhibit was about the use of energy in ones day to day life, focusing on getting energy from self-replenishing sources. One self- replenishing source that I had never heard about before was getting energy from cow manure. A dairy farm in Vermont generates the electricity that it uses by collecting the cow waste in sealed tanks where bacteria would break down the waste and create a methane based gas. Bring this gas can power an electric generator at this green dairy farm and also save them money. As the human population continues to grow so does the demand for electricity. We need to find a clean, innovative, and creative way to supply the population with the energy that is demanded.