# data[].attributes.body
In the document renewable energy explained, by U.S. Energy Information administration it gave great background knowledge on all of the source of renewable energy. I also gives some good facts on hydropower and all the types of ways to get energy from water. Lastly the article has one great section that tell us the incentives of renewable energy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to sub-navigation

Sorry, the page or file you were looking for could not be found.

You may have followed a bad external link, or mistyped a URL.

We have recently redesigned our website to make it easier and faster for you to find the information you need.
This means the bookmarks and addresses you have used in the past may no longer work.

If you got this page from a link within eia.gov or if the problem persists, please report the error to our webmaster.

You can also try the EIA site search below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Renewable energy explained - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Types and sources of renewable energy and contribution of renewable energy to U.S. energy supply since 1776.

# data[].attributes.body
In the article why electric cars are our future by Bill Destler talks about why electric cars already made and are on the market have failed. It also mention that they haven't just been failing in the US. The Nissan Leaf hasn't made its projected profit from any country across the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As the president of Rochester Institute of Technology, one of the nation's largest technical universities, I became interested in electric vehicles a few years ago because one of our major research centers was working on advanced battery and fuel cell research projects for major automotive companies. I was at first quite skeptical of electric vehicles because electricity must be generated from another source of energy, and that seemed to insert another inefficient step in the energy conversion process that would make such vehicles inherently less efficient than the current generation of gasoline-powered cars and trucks.

And I was not alone. In fact, first-generation electric vehicles such as the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf have failed to gain significant market share in their first two years of availability, and many have concluded that they are not the future of personal transportation, either in the U.S. or elsewhere. Nevertheless, despite this widespread skepticism, other carmakers are rolling out new electric vehicles on a regular basis, including Ford, Tesla, Mitsubishi, Volvo, and BMW, among others.

Why? Because a careful analysis reveals that there are fundamental reasons that will drive manufacturers and consumers inevitably to electric vehicles in the years ahead, reasons that the public in general is unaware of. So here are a few of the reasons that I have learned that lead me to believe that within 50 years a majority of our cars will be equipped with electric drivetrains.

1. Electric vehicles are inherently more efficient at turning energy into miles driven. Most people do not realize this, but electric drivetrains are much more efficient than internal combustion engine (ICE) drivetrains (about 75% vs 25%, in fact). In fact, there is little hope that ICE drivetrains could ever compete with electric drivetrains in terms of efficiency. Why are ICE drivetrains so inefficient? There are many reasons, including heat losses and inertial losses of various kinds, but ICE's are also thermodynamic systems with efficiencies limited by the heat cycle they operate under. Engineers have done amazing work in improving the efficiency of gas-powered cars, but they are up against fundamental limits. In contrast, a Nissan Leaf or a Chevy Volt can go about 40 miles on 11 Kilowatt-hours (KWH) of electricity, the energy equivalent of a third of a gallon of gasoline. And since the national average cost per KWH for electricity is only $0.11, this performance translates cost-wise into the equivalent of more than 120 miles per gallon.

2. Electric vehicles are greener than gasoline-powered cars. There are those who have tried to argue otherwise, but the most credible research has shown that most of a vehicle's carbon production comes during operation rather than production, and electric vehicles that consume only a third as much energy in operation are inherently greener no matter what fuel is used to generate the electricity they use. And electric vehicles powered by electricity from hydro, solar, wind, or nuclear sources produce no carbon in operation.

3. Electric vehicles can be powered by electricity produced from multiple energy sources. Electricity can come from wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, biofuel, and fossil fuel sources including natural gas, oil, and coal. All but one of those sources is produced almost entirely within the U.S. from local natural resources. So electric vehicles have the potential to support the U.S. economy and reduce our dependence on imported oil.

4. An efficient distribution network for electricity already exists in the U.S. This seems obvious, but compare this situation to that of other next-generation vehicle fuels such as natural gas and hydrogen.

5. Range is less of an issue than most think. Most Americans drive 40 miles per day or less on the average, well within the range of almost all available electric cars, and future models will have 10 times this range or more. And for advanced designs like the Chevy Volt, driving distances are unlimited as long as one keeps filling the gas tank, because an onboard gasoline powered generator can provide electricity when the battery is depleted. In fact, statistics monitored daily at Voltstats.net on over 1700 Volts in operation indicate that the median Volt owner drives 80% of their miles using the stored energy in the battery, and consumes only one gallon of gas per 177 miles driven. So these drivers get benefit of the greater efficiency of an electric vehicle and the unlimited range of a gasoline powered car.

6. Next generation technologies, such as fuel cell vehicles, will require electric drivetrains to propel the vehicles. Fuel cells can be efficient, portable sources of electricity running on a variety of fuels, but all cars and trucks using these energy sources will use electric drivetrains. In fact, there are new fuel cell technologies that use natural gas as a fuel to produce electricity, but in a chemical reaction rather than a combustion reaction. These advanced fuel cells produce sequesterable Carbon that can be simply buried rather than being emitted into the atmosphere.

So in the future, electric drivetrains will probably dominate whatever the energy source. There's just no other way to get this kind of efficiency gain from an ICE drivetrain.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the president of Rochester Institute of Technology, one of the nation's largest technical universities, I became interested in electric vehicles a few years ago because one of our major research centers was working on advanced battery and fuel cell research projects for major automotive companies.

# data[].attributes.body
The article clean energy by Energy.gov talks about each different renewable energy source. When reading I focused on the section of the article about hydropower. From this article I learned that there are many dams that aren't being used to generate power and that there are people trying to convert them into profitable dams.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A clean energy revolution is taking place across America, underscored by the steady expansion of the U.S. renewable energy sector.

The clean energy industry generates hundreds of billions in economic activity, and is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years. There is tremendous economic opportunity for the countries that invent, manufacture and export clean energy technologies.

Responsible development of all of America's rich energy resources -- including solar, wind, water, geothermal, bioenergy & nuclear -- will help ensure America's continued leadership in clean energy. Moving forward, the Energy Department will continue to drive strategic investments in the transition to a cleaner, domestic and more secure energy future.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about the Energy Department’s investments in clean, renewable energy technologies including wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, bioenergy & nuclear.

# data[].attributes.body
The article what is climate change published by BBC has many great videos graphs and charts that provide wonderful background knowledge. It also has a great section on greenhouse gasses that gives you a great idea of what they are and how they are made. The article also provided evidence on how they knew that climate change is happening. It gives a chart that shows the warmest and the coldest that it has been in the past 10 years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Human activities have increased carbon-dioxide emissions, driving up temperatures. Extreme weather and melting polar ice are among the possible effects.

What is climate change?

The Earth's average temperature is about 15C but has been much higher and lower in the past.

There are natural fluctuations in the climate but scientists say temperatures are now rising faster than at many other times.

This is linked to the greenhouse effect, which describes how the Earth's atmosphere traps some of the Sun's energy.

Solar energy radiating back to space from the Earth's surface is absorbed by greenhouse gases and re-emitted in all directions.

This heats both the lower atmosphere and the surface of the planet. Without this effect, the Earth would be about 30C colder and hostile to life.

Scientists believe we are adding to the natural greenhouse effect, with gases released from industry and agriculture trapping more energy and increasing the temperature.

This is known as climate change or global warming.

What are greenhouse gases?

The greenhouse gas with the greatest impact on warming is water vapour. But it remains in the atmosphere for only a few days.

Carbon dioxide (CO2), however, persists for much longer. It would take hundreds of years for a return to pre-industrial levels and only so much can be soaked up by natural reservoirs such as the oceans.

Most man-made emissions of CO2 come from burning fossil fuels. When carbon-absorbing forests are cut down and left to rot, or burned, that stored carbon is released, contributing to global warming.

Climate change: Where we are in seven charts

Five things the 1.5C report taught us

Since the industrial revolution began in about 1750, CO2 levels have risen more than 30%. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in at least 800,000 years.

Other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide are also released through human activities but they are less abundant than carbon dioxide.

What is the evidence for warming?

The world is about one degree Celsius warmer than before widespread industrialisation, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says.

The 20 warmest years on record all occurred in the past 22 years, with 2015-18 making up the top four.

Across the globe, the average sea level increased by 3.6mm per year between 2005 and 2015.

Most of this change was because water increases in volume as it heats up.

However, melting ice is now thought to be the main reason for rising sea levels. Most glaciers in temperate regions of the world are retreating.

And satellite records show a dramatic decline in Arctic sea-ice since 1979. The Greenland Ice Sheet has experienced record melting in recent years.

Satellite data also shows the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing mass. A recent study indicated East Antarctica may also have started to lose mass.

The effects of a changing climate can also be seen in vegetation and land animals. These include earlier flowering and fruiting times for plants and changes in the territories of animals.

How much will temperatures rise in future?

The change in the global surface temperature between 1850 and the end of the 21st Century is likely to exceed 1.5C, most simulations suggest.

The WMO says that if the current warming trend continues, temperatures could rise 3-5C by the end of this century.

Temperature rises of 2C had long been regarded as the gateway to dangerous warming. More recently, scientists and policymakers have argued that limiting temperature rises to 1.5C is safer.

An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in 2018 suggested that keeping to the 1.5C target would require " rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society".

The UN is leading a political effort to stabilise greenhouse-gas emissions. China emits more CO2 than any other country. It is followed by the US and the European Union member states, although emissions per person are much greater there.

But even if we now cut greenhouse-gas emissions dramatically, scientists say the effects will continue. Large bodies of water and ice can take hundreds of years to respond to changes in temperature. And it takes CO2 decades to be removed from the atmosphere.

How will climate change affect us?

There is uncertainty about how great the impact of a changing climate will be.

It could cause freshwater shortages, dramatically alter our ability to produce food, and increase the number of deaths from floods, storms and heatwaves. This is because climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events - though linking any single event to global warming is complicated.

As the world warms, more water evaporates, leading to more moisture in the air. This means many areas will experience more intense rainfall - and in some places snowfall. But the risk of drought in inland areas during hot summers will increase. More flooding is expected from storms and rising sea levels. But there are likely to be very strong regional variations in these patterns.

Vietnam's children and the fear of climate change

Would you give up beef to help the planet?

Poorer countries, which are least equipped to deal with rapid change, could suffer the most.

Plant and animal extinctions are predicted as habitats change faster than species can adapt. And the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the health of millions could be threatened by increases in malaria, water-borne disease and malnutrition.

As more CO2 is released into the atmosphere, uptake of the gas by the oceans increases, causing the water to become more acidic. This could pose major problems for coral reefs.

Global warming will cause further changes that are likely to create further heating. This includes the release of large quantities of methane as permafrost - frozen soil found mainly at high latitudes - melts.

Responding to climate change will be one of the biggest challenges we face this century.

Climate-related words and phrases explained

How much warmer is your city?

What is your diet's carbon footprint?

Where we are in seven charts

What questions do you have about changes in our climate?
In some cases your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.

Use this form to ask your question:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Human activities have increased carbon-dioxide emissions, driving up temperatures. Extreme weather and melting polar ice are among the possible effects. The Earth's average temperature is about 15C but has been much higher and lower in the past. There are natural fluctuations in the climate but scientists say temperatures are now rising faster than at many other times.

# data[].attributes.body
The writing piece renewable energy is not just a fix for climate change it's also a sign of progress by Francesco Starace gave many great facts. But it also gave many good theories, one being that when we were presented with a resolution to a problem like in the case of clime change being electric cars. We reject it, why?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Renewable energy is not just a fix for climate change - it's also a sign of progress

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Renewable energy is not just a reaction to climate change and Latin America is proof of that, says Francesco Starace.