Joshua Sneideman - Renewable Energy: Discover the Fuel of the Future With 20 Projects

~ Recent Science Titles in the Build It Yourself Series ~

Check out more titles at www.nomadpress.net

Nomad Press

A division of Nomad Communications

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Copyright 2016 by Nomad Press. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review or for limited educational use. The trademark Nomad Press and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc.

Educational Consultant, Marla Conn

Questions regarding the ordering of this book should be addressed to

Nomad Press

2456 Christian St.

White River Junction, VT 05001

www.nomadpress.net

The authors would like to thank NEED for generously allowing the use of their activities.

CONTENTS

Introduction
Opening Ceremonies

Chapter 1
The Power of the Sun

Chapter 2
Farming the Wind

Chapter 3
Planet Water

Chapter 4
Mother Earths Beating Heart

Chapter 5
Circle of Life

Chapter 6
Energizing Our Future

Interested in Primary Sources?

Look for this icon. Use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR code and explore more about renewable energy! You can find a list of URLs on the Resources page.

If the QR code doesnt work, try searching the Internet with the Keyword Prompts to find other helpful sources.

renewable energy

Look around you. Are your lights on? Is your computer running? We use energy every day to power our world. Most of the energy we use comes from fossil fuels, but renewable energy is another option.

In this book, well investigate five different renewable energies. Each of the five interconnected Olympic circles represents a renewable energy: yellow for the sun, black for wind, blue for water, green for biomass , and red for geothermal . You will discover how these forms work separately and together to produce clean energy.

WORDS TO KNOW

renewable energy: a form of energy that doesnt get used up, including the energy of the sun and the wind.

biomass: plant materials and animal waste used as fuel.

geothermal: heat energy from beneath the earths surface.

These renewable energy technologies are striving for a single shared goala cleaner future.

This book highlights the passion, hard work, and innovation of people working in the fields of science, technology , and engineering . Renewable energy is competing against fossil fuels , which have dominated the energy industry for the past 150 years. Fossil fuels cause air and water pollution and contribute to global warming . Using renewable energies will help create a cleaner planet.

A History of Renewable Energy

The use of renewable energy dates back thousands of years. Humans have been looking to the world around them for energy answers for a long time.

Wind was used as early as about 5000 BCE as a power source to propel boats along the Nile River in Egypt. Sometime around 3,000 years ago, the Persians began using wind power to pump water and grind grain.

Humans have also been harnessing water to perform work for thousands of years. The Greeks used water wheels for grinding wheat into flour more than 2,000 years ago.

Solar power is not new, either. Its history spans nearly 3,000 years, from the seventh century BCE to today. We started out concentrating the suns heat with glass and mirrors to light fires. Now we use solar panels to convert the sun into electricity.

The first known use of geothermal energy occurred more than 10,000 years ago in North America. People used water from hot springs for cooking, bathing, and cleaning.

Times change and people try new things. In the 1800s, the use of renewable power, which for centuries had been mankinds only source of power, became overwhelmed by the needs of the Industrial Revolution . At that point, our modern civilization and its rapid expansion became powered mostly by fossil fuels. We needed these fossil fuels to power factories and new forms of transportation, such as trains and planes. People didnt realize that there was a high price for using fossil fuelclimate change.

Now, renewable energies are experiencing a resurgence. In the past few decades, there have been major advances in the science and technology used to harness energy from different renewable energy sources.

WORDS TO KNOW

innovation: a new invention or way of doing something.

technology: tools, methods, and systems used to solve a problem or do work.

engineering: the use of science and math in the design and construction of things.

fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. These energy sources come from the fossils of plants and tiny animals that lived millions of years ago.

global warming: an increase in the earths average temperatures, enough to change the climate.

BCE: put after a date, BCE stands for Before Common Era and counts down to zero. CE stands for Common Era and counts up from zero. The year this book is published is 2016 CE.

solar power: energy from the sun converted to electricity.

Industrial Revolution: a period of time beginning in the late 1700s when people started using machines to make things in large factories.

The urgent need to slow global warming and climate change is pushing us to make breakthroughs in the field of renewable energy.

Fossil Fuels

Coal, oil, and natural gas are called fossil fuels because they come from animal and plant fossils . Our planet of more than 7 billion people runs on energy from fossil fuels. People burn fossil fuels to create the energy we need to drive cars, power computers, heat and cool homes, and refrigerate food. About 90 percent of the worlds electricity comes from burning fossil fuels.

Plugged In

More than half of the renewable energy used in the United States goes to generating electricity. But in 2014, only 10 percent of our total energy consumption came from renewable sources.