With the rapid advancement in wind technology, reliable product quality and more than 95% feasibility rates, wind power has become a safe and reliable energy source. With ever-increasing economization of generating electricity using wind power, the costs are becoming comparable to that for coal-fired generators and are lower than petroleum-fired and nuclear generators. Taking into account the intermediary investments in environmental protection and transportation, it is more economical to use wind power in place of coal to generate electricity. In addition, the construction of wind power stations takes a relatively shorter amount of time. The installation and adjustment of a wind turbine system takes a few weeks, and the whole process of land construction, installation and commencement of productions will only take 6 months to one year – a feat which coal-fired or nuclear stations cannot match up to. The investment scope is also flexible; one can chose to install as much capacity as possible based on the available capital. For offshore islands, remote highlands which are inaccessible, vast but thinly-populated grasslands and pastures, and rural villages and frontier regions which are far away from power supply networks and will continue to remain unreached, wind power can be an effective energy source for production and survival, which further enhances its significance.

bad aspects
The spinning blades kill and maim birds and bats
Noise like "brick wrapped in a towel turning in a tumble drier," "as if someone was mixing cement in the sky," "like a train that never arrives
And at night, the towers must be lighted, which the AWEA describes as a serious nuisance, destroying the dark skies that many people in rural areas cherish (and that the state of Vermont is on the verge of specifically protecting). Red lights are thought to attract night-migrating birds.
Ice is another problem. It builds up when the blades are still and gets flung off -- as far as 1,500 feet the negative impacts must of course be weighed against the benefits

Background
Growing energy demands, rising energy costs, and increasing concern about global climate change have sparked strong interest in utilizing renewable energy technologies.
Renewable energy technologies are touted as clean, environmentally friendly, and an important step toward an independent energy future; however an industry, government, or company that seeks to construct a renewable energy facility may be met with significant opposition within the community. Such opposition can be caused by several factors including: knowledge levels about energy sources and production; trust, or lack of trust, in government and industry; and beliefs about the advantages and disadvantages of proposed renewable energy technologies.
Even though renewable energy is a key component in addressing the current energy crisis, the use of renewable energy technologies does not come without its costs. Specifically, locating renewable energy projects in communities can prompt the “NIMBY [not in my backyard] syndrome.”
Although community members may support the general concept of renewable energy, they also may have specific concerns regarding the potential adverse economic, environmental, and public safety impacts on their own neighborhood.
This activity is designed to help students research, understand, analyze, and evaluate concerns about and opposing viewpoints to renewable energy, specifically biomass, ethanol, and wind.
Introduction
In our modern society, electricity is the most important form of energy today and into the foreseeable future. In these times of depleting fossil fuels (peak oil) and climate change, some people still question whether it is possible for countries to generate their electric power predominantly using renewable energy sources.
The abundance of natural hydro resources seems to be a key factor in its extensive development as source of power. Norway and Canada are both relatively far north in the Northern hemisphere and rely on distinctive systems of glaciers and rivers to harness hydro power.
Norway, as does Iceland, lacks its own coal resources. So, in order to keep pace with its rapid industrialization, the Norwegian people quickly found ways of harnessing hydropower international cooperation in research and development is crucial to map a strategy that enables all countries to benefit from electric power and still act with environmental responsibility.

Benefits of Renewable Energy
Renewable energy has a host of social, environmental, and economic benefits. To be truly sustainable, an energy source must meet these criteria:
• have minimal or no negative environmental or social impact;
• not deplete natural resources;
• meet the needs of people today and in the future in an accessible, equitable and efficient manner;
• protect air, land and water;
• have little or no net carbon or other greenhouse gas emissions;
• be safe today and not burden future generations with unnecessary risk. www.pembina.org Renewable energy policies would benefit farmers
Wisconsin's researchers are forging ahead on many fronts, such as ways to grow biomass crops in a sustainable manner; economically viable processes to convert biomass into transportation fuels; and the siting, processing, and transportation protocols associated with using biomass for heat and power. Given the state's large biomass capacity in forests and crops like switchgrass, researchers are making an investment in the state's future. which offer opportunities for new jobs across the state, in small towns as well as cities. Inevitably, vested interests always fight even obviously necessary change. So it should surprise nobody when coal companies and others who depend on fossil fuels mount campaigns to oppose renewable energy policies.
Another policy being considered that supports farmers and rural communities as well as municipalities is the renewable energy buyback program
The buyback program would guarantee adequate compensation for small-scale renewable energy producers

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/margaret_krome/renewable-energy-policies-would-benefit-farmers/article_dc6864d3-e28e-5c5d-8f7a-a4d6fd313dc6.html#ixzz2LQfP2LR5

Switchgrass for Ethanol & Biodiesel
Switchgrass has one of the highest potentials for use as a biofuel crop in the United States, mainly because it grows well under a wide range of conditions and it grows faster than corn.

Renewable energy is energy derived from sources that will not run out. Some of the present disadvantages are:
• solar -- panels are expensive. Most Governments are not all willing to buy home generated electricity. Not all climates are suitable for solar panels.
• wind -- turbines are expensive. Wind doesn't blow all the time, so they have to be part of a larger plan.
• waves -- different technologies are being tried around the world. Scientists are still waiting for the ultimate development.
• tides -- barrages (dams) across river mouths are expensive to build and disrupt shipping. Smaller turbines are cheaper and easier to install.
• rivers -- Dams are expensive to build and disrupt the environment. Smaller turbines are cheaper and easier to install.
• geothermal -- Difficult to drill two or three kilometers down into the earth.
• biofuel -- often uses crop land or crops (like corn) to produce biofuel so the price of cheap food goes up.
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One of the biggest disadvantages of renewable energy is that it cannot be stored like coal and natural gas can. Storage is a huge issue because using renewable energy puts us at the whim of Mother Nature. If there is no wind for a week, relying on wind power becomes a problem. If you are too far north, solar panels will only produce sufficient energy when the Northern Hemisphere of the planet is tilted towards the sun and so on.
Other sources of renewable energy are being studied as well to power not only our homes but our automobiles as well. Hybrid cars have been on the market for a while. They use the same idea as an electric car only they don’t need to be plugged in to recharge. They use their braking system to regenerate power and they still have all of the engine power of a gasoline engine. New technologies to produce a fuel cell vehicle are currently underway along with a hydro-powered hybrid using hydrogen.
Another of the disadvantages of renewable energy is that it can be expensive to implement into our already set up infrastructure. Most of the renewable energy resources available today require a different type of wiring system than what we currently have in place. This could cause the transformation to renewable energy sources to be delayed until we have depleted the remaining amounts of fossil fuels found on our Earth today.
Fossil fuels are less expensive right now than renewable energy due to the amount of changes that have to be made to adapt a renewable energy plan. This proves to be another one of the disadvantages of renewable energy. Fossil fuels are readily available and easy to use. They can be transported to almost any location for use. Power plants are already set up for burning fossil fuels like coal and this makes the whole process less expensive than transforming to renewable energy. The advantages of using renewable energy will be realized when people are forced to make the change if for example, we deplete all of our fossil fuels or the cost of use simply become prohibitive. The disadvantages will slowly fade away as more and more people use renewable energy as their source of power. http://www.solarcompanies.com/disadvantages-renewable-energy Motivation for Developing Alternative Fuels
• Petroleum has been the primary source of fuel for the industrialized world for the past hundred years. However, petroleum is a finite resource. Some experts claim that the world has already reached what is known as Peak Oil, or the point where oil production will no longer increase but will begin to decline as oil becomes more scarce. In addition, much of the world's untapped oil reserves are located in areas that are physically difficult to access, such as beneath the Arctic ice cap. The majority of the known reserves of oil are located in of high geopolitical sensitivity, mainly the Middle East.
Petroleum exhausts are also a major source of greenhouse gases, which are generally acknowledged for being partially responsible for climate change, or the alteration of weather conditions. While some aspects of climate change are the result of normal temperature variations, most scientists believe that present-day climate change is exacerbated by human activities that produce greenhouse gases. These factors have combined to make developing renewable energy sources an increasingly important goal for many Americans.
Nuclear Energy
• Nuclear energy has been in use as an alternative source of fuel for decades. Countries such as France use nuclear fuel for a large percentage of their non-automotive fuel needs. However, accidents such as Three Mile Island in the United States and the Chernobyl disaster in the former USSR have demonstrated the significant potential danger of nuclear energy. There is also the ongoing problem of how to safely discard spent nuclear by-products. Some countries, notably Germany, have pledged to phase out nuclear energy altogether. However, the recent spike in petroleum prices has caused many countries to reconsider whether nuclear energy has a place in their energy strategies.
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Biofuels
• Recently, biofuels have emerged as an alternative source of fuel. Conventional biofuels have been produced by processing plant crops such as corn or sugarcane into fuel that can be blended into gasoline. However, in recent years, controversy has grown around the use of food crops for biofuel production. Because farmers could receive much higher prices for biofuel crops than for food crops, many farmers diverted their efforts to producing biofuels. As a result, food prices escalated worldwide, and famine was exacerbated in large areas of the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa. Skepticism also emerged about the efficiency of biofuel production, which requires a significant expenditure of energy resources in its production. Large parcels of land are also devoted to biofuel production, which often results in lack of agricultural diversity. Recently, the direction of biofuel production has begun to shift from using food crops to using by-products, waste products or even esoteric sources such as algae.
Solar Energy and Wind Energy
• Solar energy is clean and renewable. However, harnessing the power of the Sun has remained largely elusive. The development of solar panels has made it possible to begin to utilize solar energy as a viable alternative for petroleum. However, solar panels are expensive, and are in fact financially out of reach for most individual homeowners and certainly nearly all renters. In addition, many areas of the world are only marginally sunny enough to make the present-day technologies for capturing solar energy viable, let alone financially efficient.
Windmills have been in use for generations. Wind energy is also considered a clean source of energy. However, wind energy has not been considered a viable source to replace more than a fraction the present demand for energy, because of the difficulty and expense involved with harnessing wind energy. In addition, there is some controversy concerning the location of wind turbines in locations such as offshore wind farms, as some observers consider them an eyesore.
Considerations
• Emerging societies have increasing demands for energy and fuel. China especially has largely turned to conventional sources of fuel such as petroleum and coal to supply its energy needs. In the developing world, fuel often represents a major expense, even for countries with vast natural resources, including oil reserves. Developing alternative energy sources would require subsidies to be viable in the developing world, at least in the short run. Additionally, some industrialized countries remain reluctant to devote funding to researching alternative fuel sources, especially in challenging economic times.
However, a fundamental shift in attitudes has begun to take place in the emerging, developing and industrialized worlds as more individuals and governments recognize the necessity of developing alternative forms of energy. in addition to the better-known forms of alternative energy, previously little known alternatives such as hydrogen energy and geothermal energy have also begun to receive serious research attention.

Read more: Alternative Fuels' Impact on Society | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_4829347_alternative-fuels-impact-society.html#ixzz2LR1KtGmO
I'm sure you have heard through television, magazines, and other forms of media about how the world is about to face a global energy crisis. Some people, like the politician and author Al Gore, have been speaking about the limited energy availability for years, and they have been recognized by the Noble Peace committee for trying to make people more aware of the problem. Have you ever wondered if what Mr. Gore and his fellow politicians are talking about is of any importance to you? After all, you know you can't stop global warming or make the polar ice caps re freeze on your own, can you?
Just because you can't change how everyone else acts to conserve our current fossils fuels doesn't mean the global energy crisis won't affect you. It most certainly does and will. The biggest factor in the crisis is the worlds dependence on oil and oil based products. We only have a limited amount of oil in the earth and it takes millions of years to form, but with our world population size and increasing demand from developing nations we are using this source of energy at a alarming rate. The demand for crude oil is so high right now that it has been estimated that we may run out of oil in the next 100 - 125 years if we keep using it at this pace. Can you imagine living without oil? We use it for many things. Gasoline, heating oil, asphalt for our roads, insecticides, and even perfumes are all based in some part on crude oil. That's why it is important that we discover and implement alternative energy sources now before our oil sources are gone.
Because oil is in such high demand to make products for consumers the price keeps rising so this definitely affects everyone.
Researchers have been looking for alternatives to oil based gasoline as the prices keep going higher year after year. Ethanol, an alcohol based fuel from plant crops that is blended with gasoline, is already in use in many areas around the country. But there are some problems with ethanol that you will have to deal with. First of all, older cars can't use it without having their engines damaged so as ethanol gets more widely distributed it may be hard and expensive to find gasoline with no ethanol in it. You might have to buy a new car that accepts flex fuels sooner than you want.
Unlike Brazil and and some other countries, in the United States we use almost nothing but corn based ethanol, which has a hidden surprise that not many people think about. Since we are using a good portion of the corn that used to be grown for food as fuel the corn prices have increased. Prices haven't become unreasonable yet but I'm sure you've noticed that your paying much more now for ears of corn in the grocery store than you used to.
This should give you an idea of the small and not so small ways that you will be affected by the way we are using our resources on our planet.
There are only so much fossil fuel sources on our planet and it is limited and not a renewable energy resource so we need to conserve what little is left for future generations.
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Fossil fuels are substances, which were created several hundred million years ago through the decomposition of prehistoric organisms and plants. Machines such as televisions, cars and computers we take for granted in our daily lives, need energy to run. The energy used to power these energy things come from fossil fuels. Fossil fuels can be categorised into three types; petroleum, natural gas and coal.

Examples of petroleum fuels include gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuels. Because of petroleum's importance to our energy needs, infrastructure necessary to extract oil from the ground and refine it is already in place, and this oil is relatively economical source of energy. One of the major forms of natural gas is propane, which is also useful in a number of applications, including transportation. We burn natural gas to heat our homes, hot water and for industrial processes. Another form of fossil fuel is coal. Coal occurs naturally in a solid form and is used primarily to produce electricity. It therefore provides us with light, motive power from electric motors, and our many electronic devices.

At some point in the future, certain countries will invariably be without a fossil fuel- based economy as fossil fuels are not renewable, but rather an expendable source of energy. The exact amount of time that fossil fuels can be a variable energy source is not precisely known, but some estimates place the time at any where from 20-1000 years into the future. This period of time can be expanded with the development of new technology as that can better extract oil from the Earth's oil resources, but this will also greatly increase the price of oil. Another potential solution is to extract oil from crops such as corn. At some point in the future, oil will no longer be an economically feasible source of energy. Environmental concerns not withstanding, sooner or later fossil fuels must be replaced by other sources of energy.

Efforts have been put forward to find alternative renewable energy. Instead of using a supply of energy, which takes millions of years to replenish, these alternatives convert the energies of the wind, sun and water to provide usable energy.

Most common alternative is capturing falling water to generate electricity. Hydropower is a very effective source of electricity, which has already proven as a non-pollution alternative
There have been "not in my back yard" (NIMBY) concerns relating to the visual and other impacts of some wind farms, with local residents sometimes fighting or blocking construction.[2] In the USA, the Massachusetts Cape Wind project was delayed for years partly because of aesthetic concerns. However, residents in other areas have been more positive and there are many examples of community wind farm developments. According to a town councilor, the overwhelming majority of locals believe that the Ardrossan Wind Farm in Scotland has enhanced the area.[3]
The market for renewable energy technologies has continued to grow. Climate change concerns, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, and increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization.[4] New government spending, regulation and policies helped the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other sectors.[5]
NIMBY (an acronym for the phrase "Not In My Back Yard"), or Nimby, is a pejorative characterization of opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development because it is close to them, often with the connotation that such residents believe that the developments are needed in society but should be further away.
Although nuclear power plants avoid many of the air emissions associated with fossil fuel plants, they create unique environmental risks. could result in an accident killing several thousand people, injuring several hundred thousand others, contaminating large areas of land, and costing billions of dollars
Since the beginning of the 1990s through to the present confrontation in Libya, the excuse has always been the same: Making the world safe for democracy. But if we dig not too hard and a little deeper, we will find revealed the truth of the matter and that truth is a war for resources, in particular; oil. But this does not exclude other resources such as found in Afghanistan and Iran, which also has oil and uranium. By now, many of us have dispelled the myth of making the world safe for democracy, when democracy at home is being eroded. We now have to work out the myth of being dependent on oil and gas.
As crude oil from the earth is a fixed quantity resource, this means that at some point that it will be completely depleted. We have built an entire technology that is more or less completely dependent upon this resource. And yet, despite this, we continue building in this direction. There are moves to change to bio-fuels, but this comes at the cost of starving the poor. There are alternatives, but big oil lobbyists pressure policy makers to stay the course. And so, more gas guzzlers are built and sold. We the people continue to buy this technology, being too busy to delve into the ultimate meaning of what is being done to the planet, the resources and ultimately, to ourselves. We depend on others to direct the course in which we go and there seem on the surface few other, if any choices.
Almost every day we hear that oil is running out and that each and that everyone is going to have to pay more for everything and make do with less. The whole of our infrastructure and technology is based on oil as there is hardly anything that is done that does not requires its use. Yet there are other ways to do these things. So why is it not being done. Part of the answer is that big oil business designs to keep the cash flow going as to continue using oil is highly profitable. As supplies get shorter, we have to look for it where ever it is and that means obtaining it from someone else in many cases. If that someone else is not willing to feed our habit, then the next recourse is war to obtain it and this in itself is highly profitable. Some pretext is required to declare a war or just to move in and expropriate it without declaring war. This can be and is explained in far greater detail elsewhere but it diverges from the direction being taken here. This then is this one part of the equation of oil consumption.
Another significant part of the equation is each and every one of us and our consumption habits. That means that everyone who has at least one car, truck, van, SUV or some other gasoline run vehicle is also responsible. Some of us have more than one gas guzzler and we also have snow mobiles, motorcycles, boats and even private jets. Further, when we travel, we prefer the commercial jet that is a huge consumer of oil derivatives. The skies are filled with commercial jets everyday flying around the planet in the tens of thousands. Our food and all other goods are transported in the main by diesel tractor trailers moving from regions of production to every major and minor metropolis of consumers in the whole of the developed and developing world. This translates into a huge amount of oil consumption in a single day and we can thus see why we have the occurrence of global dimming and rising pollution, not to mention escalating greenhouse gasses. Our climate is changing as a result, despite the battling controversy over the issue of climate change and global warming.
Each and every one of us has a personal contribution in this, whether or not we have a car. Everyday we make decisions that support the existing order of oil consumption and the increasing tendency of wars to make sure the supply is uninterrupted. If we eat produce shipped into the city by diesel tractor trailers, we contribute to the bombing of developing regions to obtain their oil. If we heat our homes using oil directly or by electricity generated by oil fired, coal fired or nuclear plants, we contribute to the war effort to ensure the continuance of supply. Generally, to continue as we do with our gas devouring vehicles, generators, jets, boats and recreational vehicles, homes, offices, businesses and malls, we end up ensuring the innocent children and people are tortured and bombed in order that we can continue blithely the way we have all along. Thus, along with big oil, lobbyists and government, we a complicit in and contribute to the war for oil. In our busy chase for the elusive dollar, we tend to overlook it and the media for its part would rather entertain us with inanities rather than telling the unfiltered and raw truth. So we go about our lives in the face of ever rising fuel costs, chasing our elusive dreams ever more frenetically, hoping against hope that somehow we will make it through. This seemingly hopeless spiral into madness and destruction need not continue to its ultimate conclusion of total civil unrest and chaos with each of us battling all others for the last drops of oil and gas. But we as individuals and collectively have to act now. There are ways to begin the break with this dead end way of living.
These ways include concepts such as local production of all the food we need in order to live. It must be grown locally to cut way down on the use of diesel transport. The local manufacture of items like clothing has to also be reintroduced, such as was once done not too long ago. We have to either abandon the use of gas powered cars altogether in exchange for effective mass transit powered by non oil, coal or nuclear fueled electricity. The whole concept of commercial jet flights, especially short haul, has to be abandoned in flavor of electric bullet trains, such as those in Japan. If a large proportion of the population is still caught up in the old ways and as yet unwilling to change, at least we can begin to consider alternatives like biking to work and shopping, The whole concept of how we build cities has to change as well so that less fuel of alternatives such as geothermal power are used. Cities as we know them evolved out of the changes in production. Now they are in danger of strangling most of us, unless we change everything we do. It is no longer enough just to recycle everything, but we must also consider what comes of any of our actions.
Concepts such as planned obsolescence have to be abandoned unconditionally. Commodities have to be built to last as in the old days. But as with everything else, there are consequences. Commodities that last mean that there is less work required and resulting unemployment. But, as needs change, as required now, there will be new tasks and jobs for people and this at least temporarily prevent unemployment. The history of technological progress has been that machines do more and more of the dangerous, dirty and unhealthy work, which is managed by fewer and fewer people. The mechanized displaced people have to then find other work in order to make a living under the existing economic order of capitalism. The vast majority of people in the developed world today have nothing other than their ability to work as a way to survive. Most do not grow or find their own food, but rely on the oil dependent infrastructure to deliver it to them for a profit. Nor do we make our own clothes and again rely on clothes makers half a world away. Again, many do not have any other way to travel except with the personal automobile which we have to gas up, park, insure and maintain at huge cost.
This vast archipelago of oil dependance has become our collective trap. We must break free of this addiction to save one another and the planet. We can begin immediately in small steps and work our way to total independence. There are alternatives for which we must struggle and make demands
Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. http://bioenergy.net/about.html http://www.switchgrassfarm.com/ www.pembina.org Liquid Fuels
Currently most biofuels are produced from food based crops like maize, wheat and rape. However, scientific advancements mean that switchgrass can be used in second generation biofuels using ligno-cellulosic conversion. Switchgrass produces significantly lower CO2 emissions per unit of fuel than many other crops. As it also produces higher yields per hectare of land, much less land is required, enabling more land to be used to produce food crops for consumption