Introduction
With the amount of energy used worldwide, it is imperative to find a much cleaner option that will not compromise the security and health of our mother earth. Several possibilities such as natural gas, wind power and solar energy arouse, just to mention a few. It is just that there is not an assurance of a real clean solution. All the options that are being offered have a downside. We just need to balance the options and take the least damaging one. At the same time, we need to create a plan to minimize the damage to the earth or to replenish whatever was taken from it.
The over-use of natural resources and the emissions produced that would go into the air have created a problem for the ozone layer. Global warming has become an important issue of many political agendas.
Realistically, how much energy in the presentation of electricity is needed to live with the commodities we have in the US? Is it really necessary to use the amount that we are using? One might be surprised to receive the answer. In a comparison among other countries, the US is the one that uses the most. It seems that in reality we wouldn't need the amount used. However, businesses rely a lot on the fact that electricity will be a large part of their advertising. Lighted signs and media in the form of TV announcements use a lot of electric energy. If this electricity comes from the regular source that it has been coming from, such as coals, or from nuclear plants, the consumption will be found to be outrageous.
Currently, 60% of the electricity used in the US comes from coals and 20% from nuclear energy. One can imagine the amount of waste produced by either of these two options to obtain electricity. On one hand, mining the coal leaves the land unusable, and on the other hand, there is a lot of waste from the result of nuclear fission and nobody knows where to dispose it. Meanwhile, the nuclear waste is being "stored" in the same plant, which normally closes after a period of time.
Replacing current oil propelled vehicles with electric battery operated ones is a goal in which several companies are working. Using solar energy to recharge the batteries in these cars is another goal. Although the technology to accomplish their goals is not near their desires, the companies keep working looking for solutions.
This curriculum unit focuses on the benefits of using solar energy, but without ignoring the problems created by its production. Calculations related to efficiency including cost and usage of solar energy in comparison to the use of traditional electricity are as well included. The applied math in the energy problems is directly related to the curriculum studied in the courses of Algebra-1 and Algebra-2.
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