Army Type Em
Mar/110
what types of alternative energy are REAL?
i had an ideas guy for the army explain to me that cold fusion works.. kinda curious about some of the other things/whatnot.. or what it'd cost to setup cold fusion 
-(haven't talked to 'em in awhile)
does work - go read up on wikipedia & figure out what the panel said.. they said it works, but they dont know how. whether you can get enough energy/whatnot.. i duno
Cold fusion is currently on the backburner, I'm afraid -- at least the Stanley/Pons model. There may have been something happening in their beaker but it doesn't appear to have been a nuclear reaction. At least, that's the current conclusion. (I'm still hopeful though...)
Now for the rest of your question:
The main types of alternative energy which are currently viable are:
- biofuels/biodiesel
1. Example: cow dung is collected and stored in a general facility in some towns in India. The result? Enough methane can be produced from the bacterial activity to power about 10 homes
2. Example#2: used vegetable oil, slaughterhouse excess, etc. can be turned into a type of diesel
- water power(! - based on electrochemistry!)
- Example: There's a company in British Columbia which has powered a bus with the stuff. GM is an investor. Honda apparently has a similar project going.
- active solar power (aka solar panels; main drawback - cost of metals needed to produce the panels, but technology is improving)
- passive solar power - you can see this greenhouses and some carefully designed homes - materials are cheap and it's pretty easy to build a solar energy trap.
- wind power (cheap and easy to set up, but some wind turbines have been effective at mulching birds)
- tidal power (use the power of the waves -- easily renewable; drawback: initial cost to build plus mechanical wear and tear)
- river power (aka hydroelectric dams - high initial cost, tend to have a limited life due to sediment build-up, erosion, not to mention ecological damage, changes in soil chemistry, changes to landscape and flooding)
- geothermal (cheap and simple technology -- drawback: location must be suitable)
- alcohol/gasohol - wheat and other starchy crops can be converted to ethanol and that can be used to power cars (e.g., use a search engine for Cuba's or Brazil's alcool).