Energy

 

Wind Power

 

Warm air and cool air mix together and make wind. It moves a wind turbine and it makes electricity. Some people think wind turbines are noisy and scare animals. If they were none of them then we would have no electricity. Lots of wind turbines are put together and then that’s called a wind farm.  Non- polluting can be a predictable force.  One wind turbine can power over 200 homes. That’s why there are not very many about. Some people keep them at their houses like this one in the photo.

 

 

 

 

Water Power

 

Water Wheels

Water comes above a big water wheel. It goes around and the water goes in to a stream. Well they are supposed to go around. It has to have water at the top so it work wheels. This water wheel is the Quendale water wheel in Shetland.

 

Hydro Power

When people burn coal or wood the energy is used up. Other types of energy you can use again and again. Water is one of those energy.  The biggest hydroelectric power stations are The Three Gorges Complex on the Chang-Jing River in China. The energy in water can be converted to electrical energy by forcing the water to flow through a turbine.

 

Solar Power

You can get solar panels nearly anywhere in the world. It took a long time to invent them. Most of the time they are on top of people’s houses for under floor heating but sometimes they can be used for other things like calculators and some toys.  Storing solar power is really hard. In one hour the sun can make enough energy to power what the world needs for a year!   There are two different kinds of solar panel.

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