Biodiesel and ethanol, for example, is being combined with gasoline for cleaner transportation fuel.
While we are on the subject of combining technologies to give useful results. Sunlight is being collected and is being combined with standard electric lighting to produce hybrid solar lighting, a new development in solar technology.
Geothermal Energy can be used much more than it has been to date. Geologically derived energy of this sort is produced by heat from sources below the Earth's surface. For electricity generation, steam created by these underground heat sources is used to spin turbines. Geothermal energy uses hot water deep within the earth's crust to spin turbines and produce power 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It produces few carbon emissions and can re-inject used-water back into the earth to be used again, making it fully sustainable.
Solar power is generated when utilities are in highest demand – in the middle of the day. In terms of the energy to make these solar cells, it is said that in about the same time it takes to pay them off – four to five years – the cells provide back the energy that was required to make them in the first place.
One place in which solar energy is being heavily used is Hong Kong. Solar energy is abundant in Hong Kong's sunny climate, and easy to use. However, you can consider replacing your existing water heater with a new solar hot water heating system located on the rooftop of your building, even if not in a hot country. The reduction in available solar energy between equator and poles is not a great as most people seem to think. Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert, but solar is still worthwhile in more temperate climates.
Finally, there is the potential for much more thermal electric energy to be captured, where the sun light is reflected and focused using a huge parabolic mirror. This reflected light energy can then be used to heat water to create steam which can be used to drive a turbine to produce electricity just like in a conventional power plant.
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