We have considered some of the different ways that we are able to get
energy. There are two main ways left which many countries are using and
continuing to develop.
Wind Power
 Winds are made by the sun heating up air over land which then raises
cools and returns back down to ground level.
 Antarctica is the windiest continent on the planet with winds of 200
km/h +
 HISTORICALLY: Wind power was used to
o Dry clothing
o Sail boats
o Windmills
o Kites: In China kites were used to carry
weapons and food
 NOW
o Wind turbines (same concept as windmills just more advanced)
o In Ireland small wind turbines are used on remote farms to
provide energy
o Power water pumps, bring
drinking water to the surface
o Quadrifoils and gliders
o Wind surfing, hovercrafts and sea
transport
o Land yacht
 Wind energy is collected at wind farms. The blades of
wind turbines are painted gray to blend in
o Denmark had the first wind farm
 In the future wind turbines will be built at sea to
solve the noise and ugliness problems
o Salt spray can damage moving parts
 No pollution
 The wind is not always blowing
 Provides energy to remote
locations
 Large space is required for wind
farms
 Turbine technology is improving
and getting cheaper
 Ugly look and can be noisy
 Wind is free
 As long as the sun shines the
wind will never run out
Solar Power
 The Sun will not run out of energy for about 5 billion years
 Although the Sun is 150 million kilometers away it’s energy reaches
us in 8 about minutes
 Solar cells will absorb the heat from the Sun and heat water. This
converts to steam and is used to power turbines.
 HISTORICALLY: Solar energy was used to
o Dry fish, meat and clothing
o First machines were powered by water and wind which are
affected by sun
o Furnace
 NOW
o Solar cells
o Calculators
o Satellites and space robots
o Street signs, cross walks, speed indicators and pay
phones
o Solar water heaters
o Swimming pools
o Solar Sills: used to make salt sea water into fresh drinking
water
o Cars, boats and planes
 No pollution
 Provides energy to remote
locations
 Solar energy is free
 When it runs out we’ll have
bigger problems to deal with than
loss of energy!
 Darkness during night or cloudy
days
 Expensive to make the
technology
 Fossil fuel energy required to
make some parts
 Quebec
o A bacteria, found in human colons is being used to capture CO2
from smoke stacks.
o It uses a protein to transform the CO2 to CaCO3 which is then
used
 Saskatchewan
o Artificial trees remove CO2 from the
atmosphere faster than real trees. The
CO2 is the buried
o 30 million tonnes is buried each year
 Edmonton, Alberta
o Built a net zero house that produces all the
energy it needs though solar generation
 Toronto
o Deep water lake cooling project draw ice
water from lack Ontario
o The cold water is then used to cool
buildings in the summer using 90% less
energy
 Reykjavik (Iceland)
o Geothermal energy to heat buildings
 Norway
o This country has high mountains and heavy rainfall. 90% of
electricity is made in hydro-electric power stations
 Everywhere
o Using clotheslines in the summer will reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
o White roofs and reflective pavement in large cities
 If done in the 100 largest cities would drop the
Earth’s temperature by several degrees.
 Here at home! Brampton
o Transit powered by biofuel
o Red light cameras powered by solar
panels
o Some cross walks powered by solar
panels