Global Engineering

Future Sources of Energy

Today, most of our power comes from either oil, coal, or solar and wind. And while these have seen us through the last two hundred years, one day they will provide enough energy to meet our ambitions.

Learn about the types of alternative energy that may arise in the future as our technology continues to evolve.

Space-Based Production

Most of the energy from the sun doesn’t actually make it into our planet’s atmosphere, so space-based solar power has a high chance of coming to fruition,.

The main challenges are the cost in getting a satellite to orbit, along with the conversion of electricity into microwaves that can then be transferred to the planet’s surface.

Human Resources

There are more than seven billion people walking around the Earth at the moment, so it makes sense to try and harness all of that kinetic energy somehow.

Many experts believe that we can make use of this energy, and that we might be able to use it to power our portable devices one day, allowing us to make calls or play online blackjack Canada without needing to plug in.

The Power of the Tides

There are a total of five countries globally that are beginning to make use of viable wave power farm operations, but the potential is far higher.

The U.S. coastline alone has a wave energy potential of about 252 billion KWh annually, for example.

Hydrogen Power

Hydrogen is a clean and potent source of energy, and it makes up 74% of the mass of the entire universe. The main issue is that hydrogen atoms are generally only found in combinations with oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen atoms.

Removing this bond requires a lot of energy, which can end up being counter-productive.

Magma Energy

The centre of the Earth is incredibly hot; so many energy experts are creating technology to tap into this limitless supply of power.

People in Iceland, for example, have already been doing this with fresh magma after accidentally striking a pocket of it during a 2008 drilling project.

Nuclear Waste Material

Only about 5% of uranium atoms are used in a fission reaction, while the rest ends up in the pile of nuclear waste, which is then put into storage for thousands of years.

Researchers and companies are trying to find a way to tap into all of this otherwise forgotten power source.

Embedded Solar Power

The idea behind this is that every window installed on a house has the ability to absorb sunlight and transform it into energy.

It remains in its infancy, but may one day be a common part of a new structure.

Elevated Wind Power

Wind more powerful and much stronger depending on its elevations in the atmosphere.

If wind farms could be autonomous and flying, they would be able to harness the energy from wind where it is strongest and then produce around double the energy of similarly sized tower-mounted turbines.