https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf en-us 2021-09-03 14:14:55 UTC 2024-06-10 07:09:51 UTC hello@padlet.com jimtrepka https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1845176510 2021-10-26 14:28:02 UTC https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1845176510 https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1846458994 Hi, My name is Mason I am from the US. 

My class interviewed the instructor for Wind turbine maintenance from my College. I asked about the efficiency of solar panels and wind turbines. Within regard to wind turbines their is a physics limitation of about 59.7% Max efficiency. Modern wind turbines are at 50% efficiency. With solar panels theoretical efficiency is at 48% but commercial efficiency is around 20%. I would argue that these efficiencies are the same as current Nuclear power plant efficiency around 45%.  ]]> 2021-10-26 23:03:52 UTC https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1846458994 https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1847098716 Hello my name is Jamie from the US.

In my class we had interviewed a professor that does maintenance for a Wind turbine at our college. We talked about the challenges we are facing with building, transporting and the funding of one of these wind turbines. With the construction of a turbine we have to have a certain height in order to not make it have an impact on the surrounding area, I believe we talked about it needing to be around 80 meters. Now for the transportation we can't simply transport a 80 meter tower on one single truck bed, we need to split the load thus needing more trucks and money to pay the drivers and not only that it takes a while to go through highway traffic with an oversized load especially in the concentrated populated cities. Now to build a wind turbine you need people to invest and investors want to be paid for the project if people don't have a purpose then nothing happens. These are the main factors that affect in how a wind turbine is created.]]> 2021-10-27 03:58:05 UTC https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1847098716 k0866522 https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1848387245 Hello my name is Michael Rhoads from the USA.
As a class we interviewed an instructor from the renewable energy field at Kirkwood Community College. One of the biggest obsticles in making renewable energy more widespread is a mixture between politics and the all mighty dollar. Renewable energy itself doesnt make money so the money has to come from somewhere. The other side of this is convincing politicians this falls within their political agenda to be able to fund this for the years to come.]]> 2021-10-27 14:21:41 UTC https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1848387245 k0280395 https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1848430871 My name is Chris from the USA.

We had a speaker yesterday that spoke about wind and solar. The biggest barrier to wind and solar is the upfront cost, therefore an upfront investment is needed to get projects moving on a large scale. Another barrier is power storage. Wind and solar units usually last about 20 years. After that time the units require maintenance or are obsolete.

Solar is about 20-25% efficient for commercially available panels, and up to 48% in labs.

Some issue exist with how to dispose of old wind and solar units.

Power grid infrastructure needs some updating and can be improved for renewables.]]> 2021-10-27 14:32:52 UTC https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1848430871 https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1848452613 Hi my name is Amin from the US
We interviewed a instructor that does maintenance on turbines from our college. We talked about the different problems that come with building a turbine and how hard it is to fund them. One thing that really stuck out to me was when he mentioned that the reason why there's not more renewable energy is because of money. That the money has to come from somewhere and if it doesn't look profitable them there's no need to pursue it, because it takes a lot of time money and, resources to build the turbines. He also mentioned that it will take time to convince the politicians to continue to fund renewable energy like turbines because it benefits us and usually align with their own agendas. ]]> 2021-10-27 14:38:49 UTC https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1848452613 https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1848710675 Hi my name is Trenton from the United States. We had a speaker come into class who was knowledgeable about wind and solar energy. My biggest takeaway from the discussion is that although the renewable energy sources seem to be getting close to ready to be deployed and replace the fossil fuel sources, the infrastructure behind it is not yet. In order to have power 24 hours, we need to find an efficient way of storing that energy, and the current batteries we have are not capable of keeping up and obtaining clean energy. Also, these batteries have a negative effect on the environment as the mining and disposing of the batteries leaves a large carbon footprint. The other concern I had with renewable energy is the lifetime and disposal of the windmills and solar panels. As of now the lifetime of these energy sources are around 20 years if not deemed obsolete before then. After the lifespan is done, they are sent to landfills, which overall harms the environment as well.
Overall I believe that renewable energy is obtainable and practical...for the future. Right now I believe that until we can find a way to recycle the old, or obsolete panels or windmills and find an efficient way of storing energy when there is no wind or light without harming the environment in the process, we should hold off on switching everything over to renewable forms of energy.]]> 2021-10-27 15:54:59 UTC https://padlet.com/globalsolutions/e9a63fn0cq7z7uvf/wish/1848710675