Continued Research for Background by Andrew

This contains the background information for Alternative Power Sources
1.) Solar
2.) Geothermal
3.) Wind


 list of sites with information:

Solar:
http://powersourcesolar.com/7370/index.html
used this image as a basis for my flowchart I will make for the solar power section/description


http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=solar_photovoltaics
This talks about photovoltaics

Geothermal:
http://www.geothermal-energy.org/314,what_is_geothermal_energy.html
This explains how geothermal energy works, and why it is important.
"Geothermal systems

Geothermal systems can therefore be found in regions with a normal or slightly above normal geothermal gradient, and especially in regions around plate margins where the geothermal gradients may be significantly higher than the average value. In the first case the systems will be characterised by low temperatures, usually no higher than 100 °C at economic depths; in the second case the temperatures could cover a wide range from low to very high, and even above 400 °C.

What is a geothermal system and what happens in such a system? It can be described schematically as 'convecting water in the upper crust of the Earth, which, in a confined space, transfers heat from a heat source to a heat sink, usually the free surface' (Hochstein, 1990). A geothermal system is made up of three main elements: a heat source, a reservoir and a fluid, which is the carrier that transfers the heat. The heat source can be either a very high temperature (> 600 °C) magmatic intrusion that has reached relatively shallow depths (5-10 km) or, as in certain low-temperature systems, the Earth's normal temperature, which, as we explained earlier, increases with depth. The reservoir is a volume of hot permeable rocks from which the circulating fluids extract heat. The reservoir is generally overlain by a cover of impermeable rocks and connected to a surficial recharge area through which the meteoric waters can replace or partly replace the fluids that escape from the reservoir through springs or are extracted by boreholes. The geothermal fluid is water, in the majority of cases meteoric water, in the liquid or vapour phase, depending on its temperature and pressure. This water often carries with it chemicals and gases such as CO₂, H₂S, etc. Figure 6 is a greatly simplified representation of an ideal geothermal system."

Wind:


http://memoryperformance.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/wind-power-horizontal.gif