Green electricity : 25 green technologies that will electrify your future / Kendall Haven.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: part 1 Not So Green: The Grid We Have Today -- The Amazing U.S. Electric Grid: Delivering Electricity to Your Doorstep -- What Does "Green" Mean? -- A Closer Look at Why Our Grid Isn't Green -- pt. 2 Greener Pastures: 25 Electric Technologies of the Future -- Introduction -- Free Electricity for Everyone!: Fusion -- Let the Sun Sizzle!: Solar Thermal Electricity -- Beaming Megawatts: Solar Energy from Space -- "Up on the Roof": Solar Photovoltaic Energy -- "Blowin' in the Wind": Wind Turbines -- "Go Fly a Kite!": Wind Kites -- Mighty Minnies: Micro-Nukes -- The Genie's Magic Energy Lamp: Fuel Cells -- Borrowing the Planet's Energy: Geothermal Energy.

River Hum: Hydroelectric Energy -- A Swim in the Balmy, Briny Sea: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) -- "Catch a Wave, Dude!": Ocean Wave Energy -- Rollin', Rollin' with the Tide: Ocean Tidal Energy -- The Mightiest River: Ocean Current Energy -- The Sweet Smell of Garbage: Municipal Solid Waste -- Taking the Power Plant to the Farm: Bio Crop Waste -- Growing Electricity: Energy Crops -- A BIG Future for the Smallest Atom: Hydrogen -- "Natural" Gas: Methane Energy -- A Tidy Lump of Coal: Clean Coal Technology -- Teaming Up: Electrical Cogeneration -- Second Time Around: Energy Recapture -- Electricity in a Box: Batteries and Energy Storage -- Micro-Might: Nanotechnology -- The Power Plant That Never Was: Energy Conservation.

Each year, our electricity demands increase with the proliferation of devices that all depend on electricity--computers, cell phones, microwave ovens, electric cars, and home entertainment. However, the industry that generates electricity in the United States is the single greatest polluter and source of greenhouse gases. Which green technologies can meet our expanding needs for power?

Green Electricity: 25 Green Technologies That Will Electrify Your Future lays out the possible blueprints for a greener future in a way that will engage middle school learners, enabling students and teachers to explore the emerging energy technologies that could become the future of our electrical supply system.

In Part One of this book, the author describes the amazing patchwork of 1,300 power plants and over 5 million miles of wire that comprise our national grid and reveals the environmental damages it causes. Part Two examines the 25 leading ecofriendly contenders to modernize and replace our current grid, describing each proposed technology and how it works. Other relevant information is also provided, such as a qualitative assessment of the pluses, minuses, and limitations of each system, and an assessment of that technology's potential to contribute to our future electrical appetite. --Book Jacket.