admin answers:

Ecologically speaking

the Sun
Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth. Only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used.

Solar power technologies provide electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. Once converted its uses are only limited by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.

Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collectors, with electrical or mechanical equipment, to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.
Http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/solar/en/index.htm

Wind
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. At the end of 2008, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 120.8 gigawatts.[1] Although wind produces only about 1.5% of worldwide electricity use,[1] it is growing rapidly, having doubled in the three years between 2005 and 2008. In several countries it has achieved relatively high levels of penetration, accounting for approximately 19% of electricity production in Denmark, 10% in Spain and Portugal, and 7% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland in 2008.
Http://www.milwind.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power

and Waves,(as in ocean waves)
Ocean waves are caused by the wind as it blows across the sea. Waves are a powerful source of energy.

The problem is that it’s not easy to harness this energy and convert it into electricity in large amounts. Thus, wave power stations are rare.
Http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/wave.htm
http://ocsenergy.anl.gov/guide/wave/index.cfm

Hydro-electricity

Today the largest use of hydropower is for the creation of hydroelectricity, which allows low cost energy to be used at long distances from the water source. Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, i.e., the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, and has a considerably different output level of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) than fossil fuel powered energy plants. Worldwide, hydroelectricity supplied an estimated 715,000 MWe in 2005. This was approximately 19% of the world’s electricity (up from 16% in 2003), and accounted for over 63% of electricity from renewable sources.[1]

Some jurisdictions do not consider large hydro projects to be a sustainable energy source, due to the human, economic and environmental impacts of dam construction and maintenance.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydropower

admin answers:

There are 3 ways to utilize organic waste for energy.
1 biodiesel -corn/soybean/any oil
2 methane -mostly animal waste
3 ethanol -sugar/starch vegetables

Since fruit has a high sugar content you will want to produce ethanol. You will want to search the web for wine making(drinking alcohol is wine) The process is simple, just add water and yeast to the container and keep it sealed at room temperature.

Tip: If your fruit waste is clean i would put it strait into a container. If its not, I would cook it first to make sure all the bacteria is killed. You wan the only think living in the container to be yeast otherwise it wont work.

Here are the steps to energy production:

1. Fruit waste
2. Yeast creates ethanol from sugars
3. Remove Juice (compost the solids)
4. Distill the juice( to seperate the ethanol from the other stuff)
— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still
— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_still
5. Burn the ethanol with alcohol burner (you can use a peice of cotton rope poked through the top of a container filled with ethanol)

This would be a very cool project. The alcohol burner is simple, but it represents ethanol being used in a car, generator, etc.

For a first attempt you may want to add some sugar with your fruit waste just to make sure it works. Once you have the process down you can remove the sugar.

This is a hard project. If you run into stumbles, ask lots of questions. If your project doesn’t go fully as planed, explain to the judges the process, what you learned and what you would change.

Best of Luck!