What is Renewable Energy?
Many people have no idea what renewable energy is or the critical role it plays in our lives. Unlike fossil fuels that have a finite supply and are key contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy is “clean” energy derived from natural sources that regenerate at a higher rate than people consume them.
In "Renewable Energy on the Farm" energy themes will be explored through interactive displays incorporating water, wind, solar, and organic matter in a series of outdoor exhibits at the Museum’s gristmill, windmill, chicken house and barnyard.
Wind energy is very much part of our past, present and future energy generation. Energy displays at the Museum's windmill will invite visitors to consider how wind has historically been harnessed to pump water for livestock and power homes, and, in modern times, the environmental and economic impacts of wind turbines used to generate electricity.
Harnessing the power of Water to turn a wheel is one of humanity’s oldest sources of mechanical energy. Waterwheels have historically been used in grist mills to turn stones that grind grain into flour. Displays at the gristmill draw connections between early uses of hydropower and the high-tech dams that generate electricity today.
While solar panels and photovoltaic cells are relatively new inventions, energy from the Sun has been used for millennia to start fires, heat water, and dry food to preserve it. While electricity generated by solar “farms” is used to power the grid, real farmers have also been adopting solar power to generate electricity to power equipment and buildings.
From Native Americans and settlers burning buffalo chips (dung) to heat their homes on the American prairie, to burning of wood and charcoal, there is a long history of burning Organic Matter to generate heat. Modern biomass energy production involves burning agricultural waste or woody materials to heat water and produce steam that spins turbines producing electricity.
