Part 5: Wave and Tidal Energy

NARRAGANSETT -- The model is simple: Three plastic pipes that form a triangle-shaped buoy, bouncing up and down in a University of Rhode Island wave tank. But it is designs like this that hold the potential to harness a new source of power.

--- Gallery: R.I. efforts to use energy from alternative sources

Your turn: Would you use energy from alternative sources?

Part 4: Biodiesel

Last year Americans used about 250 million gallons of biodiesel. That's a lot. The product hardly existed three years ago.

Part 3: Wind

PORTSMOUTH -- The white, 164-foot-tall windmill at Portsmouth Abbey School can be seen for miles, its blades slowly turning in the breeze like a large pinwheel. Closer up, the gentle swooshing hum can be heard in the school parking lot and open pasture surrounding the turbine. The 660-kilowatt Vestas turbine, the state's only utility-sized windmill, has been up for a little over a year.

Part 2: Solar

When it comes to energy, the most obvious choice for Domenic Bucci, 82, is sunlight. Bucci, president of the Rhode Island Solar Energy Association, has designed a solar oven using aluminum foil, plastic and wood. For 20 years, Bucci has used it to preheat and reheat his meals and to teach others about the benefits of solar.

Part 1: Conservation

Outside, two workers are drilling holes into a 100-year-old house on Bouvier Avenue and pumping insulation made of recycled newspapers into the walls. On the third floor of the Lincoln triple-decker, tenant Roger Soule, 56, has a temperature problem. Soule, a graphic artist and photo designer, said his one-bedroom apartment can feel like an oven.

“Summer’s brutal,” he said in June. “On a 70-degree day, with no cloud cover, it roasts here. It’s a good 10, 15 degrees hotter than outside.”

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Your turn: How much do you care about conservation?