Alternative Energy | National Geographic

when the wind picks up at the foot of
the Rockies there are those who believe
they can hear the future at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory making
alternative power sources competitive
with fossil fuels has been a mission
since the energy crisis of the 1970s
scientists work to create solar cells
far more efficient than those currently
available to homeowners they believe the
market for this technology is about to
come of age when it was installed this
was believed to be the largest
residential solar electric system in the
United States the homeowner is actually
selling electricity back to the power
company I also feel good because I’ve
always been committed about the
environment and doing something and we
have to start as individuals to do
things but individuals can do only so
much researchers here say for renewable
energy to really make a difference it
has to be on a large scale there hasn’t
been any great sense of urgency for
finding energy alternatives for decades
low gas prices have kept Americans in
their cars usually alone but a jump and
gas prices often spotlights the search
for something else to keep all those
cars going what’s in there now is
material that looks like straw or it’s
actually the material that farmers just
leave sitting on the ground after they
go through and they harvest corn we’re
trying to get farmers to collect this
material so that we can run it through a
conversion technology to make new liquid
fuels since the energy crisis of the 70s
some farmers have been diverting part of
their grain harvest to make a fuel
called ethanol but the emphasis now is
on the stalks and stubble left on the
ground after the harvest the cellulose
that’s in here that actually is made up
of sugars is something that they can
turn into ethanol in the same way that
they’re currently taking their corn
grain and having it turned into fuel
grade ethanol
the National Renewable Energy Lab has a
plant that converts harvest leftovers
and just about anything else into fuel
proving that renewable energy technology
is viable remains a struggle at least in
America wind turbines were pioneered in
the United States but countries in
Europe use them to supply more
meaningful amounts of power with the
current energy situation labeled a
crisis the urgency for finding reliable
alternatives to fossil fuels may have
arrived and for renewable energy the
future may be now