Why Go Green? How to Make Green Energy at Home and More

For a long time, the human race has relied on fossil fuels as their primary source of energy. Fossil fuels heat our homes, provide gas for our cars and electricity for our everyday appliances. In the 21st centery, we are using non-renewable energy sources more than ever, but our ravenous power consumbtion comes with a cost. Over time, we are depleting the Earth's resources and slowly killing our planet. There is still hope for the Earth. If we change our ways now and shift our focus to green energy sources,the planet will survive for generations to come.

There are advantages to using green, renewable energy sources that we will never see if we don't shift away from our dependency on fossil fuels. Although it can be argued that green energy is too difficult to manage and not efficient enough to generate the energy we need. Every home that switches to or supplements their power consumption with green energy sources takes the planet in a step in the right direction to stop the negative effects to our environment. There are many kinds green energy sources out there and each geographic location has strengths that can help you play your part in that cause.

Green Energy, such as solar, wind, wave, hydropower and geothermal, are pollutant free. They don't have a negative impact on the environment when we use them because they don't produce harmful gasses or byproducts when converted to energy.On the other hand, coal, nuclear, and gas, all do this.

When coal is burned for fuel, it releases large amount of carbon dioxide into the air. Carbon Dioxide is suspected to be the leading cause of global warming and with 50,000 coal plants worldwide, you can image how that stacks up.

Nuclear plants are often mistakenly referred to as green energy. It's true that they don't release any harmful gasses into the air, but their impact may be even worse. may not release anything harmful into the air. Everyone remembers the disastrous effects of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Not only are we opening ourselves up for a repeat occurrence of these events, but nuclear power plants also leave behind an extremely dangerous waste byproduct that is difficult to dispose of.

Green energy sources are not maintenance free. However, compared to fossil fuels, the don't cost that much to maintain. Although plants that produce green energy are more expensive to construct and set up, they are less expensive in the long run due to the decreased operating costs.

The biggest advantage of green energy is that we will never run out of it. Everyone is aware of the impending crisis we are facing when the world's non-renewable energy sources such as oil and coal run out. This isn't the case with green energy. We will always have the sun, wind, and water to draw power from.

The world has been taking these green energy sources for granted too long. If we do the right thing and change our way now, we will save our children and grandchildren from having the clean up the mess we created in the future.

The power to make the world a better place for the future is in our hands. Conferences on global warming are happening constantly, but with not enough commercial or government support, not much is happening in the way of advancements and research. With a little effort and funding today, we can make a difference.

It is easy to talk about how concerned we are about the environment but you have to ask yourself when will more solar panels or wind turbines will be erected? When will the number of coal or nuclear power plants be reduced?

Green energy sources are the solution to the environmental, political and social problems of this lifetime. By spending more on these technologies, no country will have to depend on another or even a corporation for their power needs because green energy sources are self dependent and free.

Wouldn’t it be great to produce your own green energy source? If you could do that, you wouldn't have to pay any electrical bills or buy anymore gas for your cars. While you can buy some of the equipment to make your own green energy source, you will have to do the rest on your own.

Take solar or wind energy for example. We already know how to harness and make it both of these green energy sources and it's already being done all over the world. Many people even install their own solar power and wind power home systems. There are a lot of how to articles to be found online and many solar power and wind power kits come with step by step instructions.

There are surprisingly few types of components needed to build either a solar energy or wind energy system, You will need an inverter, battery, charge controller, solar panels, some wires and support structure. The only difference with wind energy is that you need a fan instead of solar panels. Once you have everything you need, you can put it all together.

If you aren't a fan of electrical work, you will be happy to know that several companies sell the entire system and install it for you. By buying it from them and having it installed by their experts, you are sure that there won’t be any problems the moment you switch it on.

There is one major downfall to using solar power or wind energy as green energy sources for your home. The amount of space required to set either one of these green energy sources up if fairly significant. Before you invest in any materials or the system, make sure you have a flat area that is about a hundred square feet in size to support the space needed.

This space will vary with the size of your house and the amount of power you are attempting to generate. Many people choose to only add a few solar panels to their roof to supplement their power instead of switching completely to a green energy source. There are also small fans that can be added to your roof, much like satellites. Every little bit helps!

If you don't have enough space or the budget to use either wind energy or solar power as your green energy sources, another option is to create your own biofuels.

Biofuels are already being used in many countries today. They produce biofuels by from harvesting corn, sugar and other crops. However, you don’t need a farm to produce biofuels, because you can also make your own by recycling your trash.

One great example is vegetable oil that you have used for cooking. Don't throw it away when you're done with it, instead follow these step to turn it into your own biofuel.

1. First filter it by warming up the liquid and then filtering this with a coffee filter.

2. Remove the water also by boiling it again at 100 degrees for a short period of time.

3. We need to know the amount of lye present in the vegetable oil and we do this by a process known as titration.

4. Once complete, sodium hydroxide is mixed into the oil to produce sodium methoxide.

5. Finally, the oil is given time to settle before it is used as fuel.

The process of converting used vegetable oil before it becomes a biofuel takes quite awhile and it must be heated the entire time. This is done so the fuel we produce is pure and only when this is achieved that we give it time to cool.

Just how much biofuel you get after all the work varies If there is still some glycerin present, filter it again. From there, you have your own homemade biofuel which you can use and even sell to other people who are just as concerned with the environment as you are.

You can get detailed step by step videos for creating your own biofuel at this site.