Energy Technology

Of all the new technologies, advances in energy technology have been rather slow. We are still using the internal combustion engine to power vehicles.  There are definitely a lot of new ideas and energy concepts that are being discussed and researched. Some of these we already incorporate such as solar, hydro, wind, fuel cell and nuclear power.  Others are new sources of energy that are currently not recognized as feasible by the "scientific establishment," but for which overwhelming and compelling evidence exists in three categories: New hydrogen physics (cold fusion), vacuum energy, environmental energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Web site has a list of 14 main sources of energy. Many of the listed energy sources are dependent on other sourcers (ie. most of the electrical power is supplied by coal-fired power plants):

Bioenergy - Biomass offers America tremendous opportunity to use domestic and sustainable resources to provide its fuel, power, and chemical needs from plants and plant-derived materials.

Coal - Coal-fired electric generating plants are the cornerstone of America's central power system. Learn more about Futuregen the world's first zero-emissions fossil fuel (coal) based plant.

Electric Power - America – and much of the world -- is becoming increasingly electrified. Today, more than half of the electricity generated in the United States comes from coal.

Fossil Fuels - Fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas -- currently provide more than 85% of all the energy consumed in the United States, nearly two-thirds of our electricity, and virtually all of our transportation fuels.

Fusion - The Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program is the national basic research effort to advance plasma science, fusion science, and fusion technology-the knowledge base needed for an economically and environmentally attractive fusion energy source.

Geothermal - Geothermal energy is the heat from the Earth. It's clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth's surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma.

Hydrogen - Hydrogen is a clean energy carrier (like electricity) made from diverse domestic resources such as renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geothermal), nuclear energy, and fossil energy (combined with carbon capture/sequestration). Hydrogen in the long-term will simultaneously reduce dependence on foreign oil and emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants.

Hydropower - Hydroelectric power facilities in the United States can generate enough power to supply 28 million households with electricity, the equivalent of nearly 500 million barrels of oil.

Natural Gas - Domestically produced and readily available to end-users through the existing utility infrastructure, natural gas has also become increasingly popular as an alternative transportation fuel.

Nuclear - A key mission of DOE’s nuclear energy research and development program is to strengthen that basic technology and, through some of the most advanced civilian technology research being conducted today, chart the way toward introduction of the next generation of nuclear power plants.

Oil - Oil is the lifeblood of America’s economy.  Currently, it supplies more than 40% of our total energy demands and more than 99% of the fuel we use in our cars and trucks.

Renewables - Renewable energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal, hydrogen and biomass play an important role in the future of our nation.

Solar - Developing technologies that take advantage of the clean abundant energy of the sun is important to reducing greenhouse gasses and helps stimulate the economy.

Wind - Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy of the wind into other forms of energy.