Alternative Energy

Burning fosil fuels is becoming more and more of a problem and people are becoming more aware of this. The main problems with burning them is that they release their carbons into the atmosphere, which is one of the biggest contributors to the greenhouse effect.  Another problem is that it takes an insanely long time to replenish the resources we are using, such as coal and oil.  There are new technologies become available to us as alternative energy sources.

Hydroelectric-
Water is forced through a dam, and with the aid of gravity, the force of the water through the small opening turns large turbines which create energy.

Geothermic-
High temperatures caused by tectonic activity is used to heat water, which is then transported for use elsewhere.  The main downfall with this is that it can only be used near plate boundaries, and is therefore, inaccessable for some places.

Biomass (biowaste)-
Burning waste materials and capturing the gases released during this process to be converted into energy, such as methane.  This is already being used in several places.

Solar-
One type of solar energy is very simple and involves having very large windows which allow the sun to come in and heat the building, and heating water with the light and running it through the house in pipes under the floor.
The other, more complicated version uses solar panels to trap the sun's energy in solar cells which are then chemically and physically changed to provide energy.

Wind-
Windmills are spun by the wind and turn a series of gears which are used to power an electric generator.  There are a couple of downfalls to this though.  There is a very large amount of wear and tear on the machines, the windmills tend to be loud, and they can only be run if the wind is going a certain speed to be efficient.