Alternative Energy Sources for Fossil Fuel Independence

Abstract

Fossil fuel dependence has caused a massive increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. These gases pollute the environment and warm the planet, resulting in climate change effects that will soon be irreversible. To prevent this, clean alternative energy sources need to be developed further and used to gain fossil fuel independence in the near future. Possible alternative energy sources to meet this goal are nuclear fission, fusion, solar, hydro, geothermal, and wind. In this paper, the results of an experiment performed to study on the relationship between a solar panel’s angle with the sun and its power production will be reported. It was found that angle of the sun on the solar panel is a significant factor in its power production ability. A change in the angle with the sun of 82° results in a 47% reduction in power production.