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Transcription
The podcast discusses various unique renewable energy sources. It explains that renewable energy is produced from things like the sun, wind, water, biomass, and geothermal energy. It also mentions new methods, such as using poop and alcohol waste to generate energy. The podcast highlights the potential of methane from landfills and distilleries. It also mentions using body heat and kinetic energy to generate power. The podcast concludes by mentioning the potential for Arkansas to improve its renewable energy use in agriculture and provides a preview of future episodes. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, everyone. Welcome to my podcast, where today I'll be discussing all about unique renewable energy sources that you should really know about. Typically, people think renewable energy is produced from things that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed. An example is the sun and the wind. We don't really see that not supplying us anytime soon. It's something that is pretty much continuing for millions and millions of years. Another fact about renewable energy is that it's pretty much harmless to the environment since it rarely involves the burning of fossil fuel resources. What really are the different types of renewable energy resources that we get? Many people might have no clue or can probably only think of a couple things off the top of their head. One of the most popular forms of renewable energy people know about is solar energy. People commonly see this as solar panels, so this takes in the solar radiation and that whole process creates energy. Secondly, we have wind turbines in the south. This is generated through wind in the air, moving these giant white propellers to generate energy. Similarly to wind, we have hydroelectric power with water, so water movement, the kinetic energy in that can move propellers or whatever it needs to in these generators to produce energy. Fourth, we have biomass energy in the agriculture industry, so the leftover organic matter can be used to generate energy through the biogas that they emit. Lastly, we have geothermal energy, so this is energy derived from the heat inside the earth. You can get energy from almost anything, as you can see through all of these examples, but there are methods out there that are being introduced that I really want to share with you guys. The first thing I want to talk about is poop. Poop is one of the best resources when it comes to ... It's not probably one of the best, but I think it's definitely one of the coolest resources used in biomass energy production. Fun fact, farm animal poop contributes to a tenth of agricultural greenhouse emissions. That's a significant amount, so a way we have decreased this is by putting this poop in anaerobic digesters. This process is where bacteria breaks down the organic matter or poop without using oxygen. Whenever this bacteria breaks down this matter, it releases methane. This methane is really the main thing here that helps us get energy. This methane is burned to heat water, and this hot water has more energy. This hot water eventually turns a turbine and a generator, which then creates electricity. Knowing methane's potential, we can think of other ways to use it, not just from poop. Methane can also be captured from landfills, but in the same process. Let's move on to another interesting topic, alcohol. Some distilleries ... For example, in Scotland, we have Scottish Whiskey. They have been using the waste, which is known as draught, which is just leftover grain after the distilling process to create electricity with a similar method to the poop method. It's put through a digester or it's put through biomass burning, and the emissions from that generates energy. In the Scotland whiskey industry, this process is able to power about 9,000 homes with their waste. Imagine how much we can get from the South, because you know the South has probably a lot of distilleries, how much energy we can get from these. The next time you guys sip on a glass of scotch, think about how much you're helping power homes at the same time. Lastly, I think we should move on to us humans. If you're here in the South in the springtime, you already know we're having to get ready for the summer heat. It's going to be hot. For me personally, I sweat 10 times more than I feel like than the average person. Besides the point, I feel like with this increase in temperature, it means we will be outputting a ton of more body heat. Imagine how much body heat gets produced in big group settings. Speaking of big group settings, think of Sweden's Central Station. It has an incredible system that takes this heat in and turns it into energy. It works by the vent systems channeling the heat that is then used to warm up water and underground tanks, and then pumped through the heating system. There are tons of different ways to derive energy. From these examples, you've seen that it can mainly be derived from the use of kinetic energy and heating. To wrap up the pod, I want to quickly showcase how easy it is to harness energy anywhere. For example, any time you take a step, leave a vibration, or generate heat, there is energy there being able to be derived. For example, I read about this in a club in Rotterdam, Netherlands. They have this very interesting dance floor that involves several different modules that each intake kinetic energy when pressed on. Essentially, it's one big generator that turns every movement into power. Knowing all of the potential solutions for states such as Arkansas that rely on heavy uses of non-renewable energy can help us find ways to reduce this. Next week on the pod, I will look at ways Arkansas can drastically improve its renewable energy use due to the state's main industries, such as agriculture. Also, stay tuned for methods you as an Arkansan can use unique renewable energy methods at home or on the farm. Thanks!
