When electric jeeps may be a good idea, 2

ASIDE from geothermal, what are the other economical sources of renewable energy? One is hydroelectric. The ultimate source of this energy comes from the sun. It heats up water in the oceans. Water is evaporated and the ensuing water vapor rises up into the troposphere. It precipitates into the tiny droplets of water that makes up clouds. It rains down on the highlands. The accumulated water from the highlands form rivers of flowing water. Hydroelectric dams cause this moving water’s kinetic energy to turn turbines that generate electricity.

The sun’s energy and t he rains and rivers it produces are for free. Like geothermal plants, a hydroelectric dam just sits there, regulating the flow of water from the river, constantly generating electrical energy.

Kinetic energy of moving water → mechanical energy of the turbine of hydroelectric generator → electricity ( electrical energy) → chemical energy of a battery → electricity ( electrical energy) → mechanical energy that powers the wheels of an electric vehicle

This is more efficient than getting power from fossil fuels. See the discussion above on the processes involved in getting energy from fossil fuels. More processes and more energy transformations are involved.

Nuclear energy may also turn out to be a viable and economic source of energy for electric vehicles. Although strictly speaking it is not a renewable source, uranium sources being ultimately limited. The reason is that Uranium has such a high energy density that it is theoretically a much more economical and cheaper source of energy than fossil fuels. The important commonality of renewable energy sources and nuclear plants is that the energy that they produce is in the form of electricity. Electricity can be converted to chemical energy in electric vehicles’ batteries, and later reconverted back to electricity in order to run the vehicles’ wheels.

It must also be pointed out that if Thorium were to replace Uranium as the source of nuclear fuel, it could be regarded like a renewable energy source. The reason is that Thorium is so common in the Earth’s crust (almost as common as Lead) that it can act as a virtually unlimited source of energy, much like a renewable energy source. Many nuclear scientists and engineers claim that Thorium alone can power all of human world civilization for thousands of years.

We can thus conclude that electric jeeps and other electric vehicles may be economically more viable if the original source of energy are geothermal and hydroelectric renewable energy sources, or Thorium, and perhaps Uranium.

Another renewable energy source is biomass. Biomass is just parts of recently dead once living organisms that can be used for energy. Prime examples in our country:

* Wood residues and the charcoal made from them, often used in massive amounts for cooking all over the country, especially in rural communities and areas near sawmills and plywood factories. Plywood factories also combust their own sawdust and wood shavings waste as fuel in giant boilers in order to obtain energy to run themselves.

* Bagasse, which is the woody residue of sugar cane plants after raw sugar and molasses are squeezed out of them. Sugar mills burn bagasse for fuel to run their mills, and in certain situations, the bagasse can be combusted to run electrical turbines to generate electricity for the power grids.

* Coconut husks and charcoal derived from them are also used massively in rural areas where coconut crops planted. Copra factories also burn them in giant boilers in order to obtain the energy needed to run their factories’ operations.

Note that the above organics would end up as wastes that would decompose and still produce carbon dioxide. Much of it would get buried or end up in landfills which lack oxygen, and so produce a lot more methane than if burned, since anaerobic fermentation produces methane rather then carbon dioxide as an end product.