Renewable energy sources

Although the  renewable energy sources are free to use, there is of course money to be invested in the research and development into how to most efficiently and properly use it. Critics initially pointed to the relatively high cost of production and implementation of such apparatus as wind farms, solar cells, and solar panels; however, as technologies have improved, the cost of utilizing renewable energy has dropped significantly. It is this way with any new technology.

President Bush announced the Hydrogen Fuel Initiave (HFI) program in 2003, as part of his State of the Union Address. Fully suported by legislation of the Energy Policy Act 2005 (EPACT 2005) and the Advanced Energy Initiative 2006 the aims are to develop fuel cell, hydrogen and infrastructure technologies in order to make the production of fuel-cell vehicles much more cost-effective and practical by the year 2020. Over one billion dollars has been dedicated by the United States towards the development and research into fuel cells up to now.

Extensive fuel cell research is doing its part to reduce greenhouse gases into the air. A lot of funding is needed for research into fuel cells so that the future will see the majority of vehicles powered in this way, and less of the gas powered ones of today. Luckily, the government are now geared towards helping the research move more quickly, so the future of fuel cell powered cars could be nearer than we think!

The wind power industry is advancing in the exploration and development of better and more efficient ways of converting wind power into useful energy. Primitive techniques of harnessing the power of the wind already existed many centuries ago and today, modern  wind farms  and wind turbine suppliers aim to better their designs and technology to meet current and future energy demands.A wind turbine is more commonly referred to as a windmill. It can also be referred to as a wind generator. Though the terms are used interchangeably, each is not the same as the other. What makes a wind turbine different from a windmill? For instance, a wind turbine converts wind energy into mechanical energy that can be further converted to electrical energy whereas a windmill will just use the mechanical energy as is. As a windmill does not convert the energy, it cannot really be considered a wind turbine even though the words are often used interchangeably.