Alternative Energy

The regions under the earth’s crust are hot and as we all know that is the very source if geothermal energy. The steam from these hot areas is used to drive the turbines which in turn power the electric generators.

Locations

The biggest disadvantage is that there are not many locations that are suitable for the geothermal energy harvesting and an accompanying power plant. The best location for a geothermal energy plant is when the rocks are hot and are at depth which is suitable for drilling. The rocks should also be soft enough to be drilling properly.

Longevity

The problem with geothermal energy is that there are temporary times when the locations just run out of steam, the problem may last for month sand for such times there is no production of energy as there would be no steam and thus no energy. Read the rest of this entry »

17% of the world’s energy is provided by the nuclear power plants. Some countries have more dependency on nuclear power than others, for e.g. France has 75% of its energy in the form of nuclear energy as is said by the International Atomic Energy Agency. 15% of the power supplied to the United States is by this process only in which some states have more dependency than others. The world has in total around 400 nuclear power plants of which 100 are in United States alone.The way that the nuclear power is generated and how it is kept safe is what is explained in the subsequent lines.

Uranium
this is one of the common elements on the planet, which was incorporated into earth at the time when the planet was formed. The formation of Uranium is originally in stars. The stars when got old, they imploded, thus scattering massive amounts of dust everywhere, due to the heat and the cold, these massive dust clouds formed planets and this is how our plant was also formed. The half-life of Uranium-238 (U-238) is extremely long and is to the tune of 4.5 billion years, due to this it has still not disintegrated and is present in abundant quantities. U-238 makes up for at least 99% of all the Uranium present on the earth. U-235 is the kind that makes up about 0.7% of the uranium and U-234 which is formed by the decay of the U-238 is even rarer (Uranium-238 undergoes a lot of stages of alpha and beta decay which finally leads to the formation of a stable isotope of lead)

Uranium-235 decays naturally just as U-238 decays by alpha radiation this makes U-235 an ideal element for use in nuclear power production as well as nuclear bomb production. U-235 at a small percentage of time undergoes nuclear fission, it is also one of the very few elements that can undergo induced fission and can absorb a neutron and spit immediately without taking up enormous amounts of energy or hesitation.  How Nuclear Radiation Works will give u complete details of the process.

The ocean is a source of vast amounts of energy; the water carries with it huge amounts of potential and kinetic energy which is harnessed can solve the world’s energy problems twice over. Wave energy is a concept where the energy from the ocean is meant to be utilized. The techniques developed are

1)    Open Oscillating water column (OWC)

2)      Closed OWC

3)      Raft

The concept behind an open OWC is that is in essence a device that is floated on the surface of the ocean which in turn takes the energy from the slow powerful and sudden waves and converts in into bursts of wind that in turn move the turbine.

The closed version is almost the same except that it is submerged and the energy source is the difference of water pressure and subsequently the energy between the two waves crest. This device is fixed to the seabed.

The raft is a different ball game though, invented by Sir Christopher it is in essence a lot of rafts, i.e. a whole series of rafts which are connected by the hinges with the help of hydraulic jacks. The rafts work on the principle that every wave has its own inherent energy and as the waves some the rafts are moved up and down with the crest and trough of the wave this motion pushes the hydraulic jacks which further pushes the fluid into the turbines, thus making them work and generating electricity. 

Advantages

Wave energy is a form of alternate energy, it is clean and renewable and does not need the consumption of the precious fossil fuel, and it is also non-polluting and is thus no danger to the environment. The structures can also act as barriers against the shoreline buildings.

Disadvantages

The biggest disadvantage is that this is a region specific energy and is limited to the seas of mainly the southern hemisphere where the waves are higher. The devices are designed to absorb huge amounts of energy so, the maintenance is particularly high.

The geothermal power industry’s largest show, the Geothermal Energy Association’s Trade Show is now a huge hit, it is expected to bring in a record no crowd this year and preparations are being made for the same. This annual meet is help in consonance with the Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting, and the crowds are expected to exceed over 1500 including the participants and the visitors.

“We have seen dramatic new interest in the geothermal industry,” noted Gawell, “and that is translating into many new geothermal projects in the US and around the world.”

“Last year’s programs brought together 1,000 people, and we anticipate a 50% increase,” noted Karl Gawell, GEA’s Executive Director.  The GEA-GRC events will be three days long and will be held from October 1 to October 3 at the John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Nevada in Sparks..

“We have seen dramatic new interest in the geothermal industry,” noted Gawell, “and that is translating into many new geothermal projects in the US and around the world.”

The GEA in may had issues a report which had pointed new geothermal projects, 72 in number in the regions of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The projects have the capacity to double the geothermal power in the entire US when they are developed.  The capacity of geothermal energy after the development of these projects will be close to 6000 MW. Another report by the association gives the 40 countries that have geothermal potential and are developing to harness it and due to these, the projection was shown to be an increase by 50% in the energy production. http://www.geo-energy.org/publications/reports.asp.)

Geothermal energy is the energy from the earth’s core, sometimes reaching as far down into the earth’s core as the magma. This is usually limited to the hot rocks a few miles down the surface of the earth.

The annual meeting can be accessed at www.geothermal.org

What is Fission energy?”Fission is a nuclear process in which a heavy nucleus splits into two smaller nuclei.” This is the definition given for the energy generation process called fission energy. Fission energy is produced when the electrostatic forces inside the atom are overcome. An atom of larger size has more electrostatic repulsion between the protons than an atom which is smaller in size so once the stronger bonds are broken, fission occurs. Fission energy is created by the process in which a free proton is accelerated then smashed into an atom, which splits the atom into two. This splitting releases huge amounts of energy which can be further harnessed for a lot of uses. In a fission reaction process the number of protons equals to that of the neutron in the product equal to that of the original. Fission reaction is a natural reaction for the earth, the universe everyday has fission reaction. Infact the earth’s natural uranium fission reactor was in West Africa.

Why is Fission better than burning fossil fuels?

Fossil fuels are the natural sources for creating energy. Fossil fuels are not very efficient to create thermal energy as the energy released in the reaction is low as regards the consumption of the raw material. Fission on the other hand is a reaction which does not require too much raw material, but the energy produced is in massive amounts. The energy produced in fission reaction is a million times more than a normal chemical energy.

Why is Fission unpopular?

The reason for fission reaction to be unpopular is because of the immense amount f radiation created while doing a fission reaction. Today the major area of research is to create an environment where this radiation energy is reduced and the process is purified, and the pollution is significantly reduced. An immense amount of power is needed to accelerate the proton for the start of the process.

Energy is one of our primary needs, and the most primary of all those needs is the need for an alternate source of energy that is nonpolluting and does not eat into our fossil fuel reserves. This is where these technologies come into play.

What exactly is Ocean thermal energy conversion?

The main line of thought behind OTEC or ocean thermal energy conversion is to utilize the solar energy that is trapped in the ocean into a useable source of energy. This energy that can be converted is usually found in the tropical oceans, where the temperature of the water is drastically different from the surface and the deep sea. The ocean surface by an average can be around 20 degrees hotter or cooler as compared to the deep sea temperature. This concept though is still in the experimental phase, even though it was conceived some 100 years back by the French engineer Jacques D’Arsonval as early as the year 1881. Over the past fifty years, three approaches have been created to work this facility. There three approaches are called

1) Open cycle OTEC

2) Closed cycle OTEC

3) Hybrid cycle OTEC

As of now, the world’s only functional OTEC plant is being hosted by the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii.

1) Closed Cycle OTEC: in this cycle, a fluid with a low boiling point is used, as an intermediate fluid for e.g. ammonia or propane. The warm sea water is first pumped and the fluid is boiled using the energy in the water, the fluid that then turns to vapor which in turn further turns the turbine which then generates electricity. Cold sea water then cools down the fluid that is then again ready for use for a second round.

2) Open Cycle OTEC: in this no outside fluid is used, the fluid used is sea water itself and that steam from that only pushes the turbines.

3) Hybrid Cycle OTEC: this is the theoretical method still under experimentation, which aims at a combination of the two methods.

The mechanical energy can easily be converted into electrical energy by the rotation of the shaft of the wind turbine in direct current or DC form. From there this form of energy is converted from DC to AC form of energy.  This is a very expensive option in the way of costs as well as because there is loss of power. Another method to store energy is by induction generators. Energy needs to be stored for the purposes of high demands or when the winds don’t blow hard even thought the blades of the windmills are adjustable in accordance with the wind speed.

Long term use of energy produced by wind mills can be achieved only by the storage of the energy. The ways to store the energy produced by the wind are

1)      Energy is used to charge Electrolyte batteries

2)       Lead-acid or Lead-cobalt car batteries are often used.  These batteries may however prove to be expensive and inefficient– and may lose 10-25% of the total percentage of the energy stored in them.

3)      Nickel-Iron, Nickel-cadmium, and zinc-air cells are often brought into use too. These have a record of being more efficient.

4)      Windmills now use organic electrolyte batteries such as CuCl2, Ni Cl2, and NiF2 batteries as well as sodium-sulfur batteries, these operate in high temperature.

Nowadays energy is being stored not by the conversion to electrical energy, but by the morphing into thermal or electromagnetic energy.

Windmills are noisy business. A 300 kW turbine at a distance of 1 mile has a dB level to equal a traffic light 100 feet away.  The sound levels in windmills are regulated. The rule stating that the Db level has to be kept below 46 dB in a residential area. These windmills can also be the cause of disturbance in the signals of radio’s, microwaves and also be a hindrance in the satellite reception as well.

There could be a serious setback to the ecological protection measures if the levels of carbon dioxide continue to rise at the rate it is currently. The carbon dioxide increase can adversely affect the weather, air and vegetation, that are common knowledge, but now another graver problem is coming to the fore, the increase in the CO2 levels can also affect the underground water recharge. 

Many models are predicting the levels of CO2 to be double in this century and now according to the latest releases, the scientists are predicting an increase in the recharge levels of the groundwater i.e. an increase in the process by which the water gets filtered through the soil and then enters the aquifers.

The rate of the filtration of water through the vadose zone as it is called is dependent on the way the way the water, soil and the plants systems are interaction amongst themselves. The increase in temperature brought on by the increase in the levels of CO2 increase the rate at which this process happens.

The effects of CO2 on the vadose zone and on the interaction between plants and groundwater were simulated by the scientists and then further applied to two locations in Australia, where the temperature is subtropical and the other in the area where the temperature is milder and is of a more Mediterranean touch. The findings were that the Mediterranean area was more responsive to the temperature changes, while the subtropical area had more influence on the volume and frequency of precipitation.    

In both locations however, the recharge rate of groundwater was significantly enhanced, from 74 to 500 percent faster for the subtropical climate and from 34 percent slower to 119 percent faster in the Mediterranean climate.
it is still to be known whether the process is beneficial or harmful to the ecology.

The most important things to keep in mind while building a windmill are

A) Location:-

The energy of the wind is usually on the higher side and is more useful to generation of energy on the seashores or at the sides of large lakes or water bodies thus making these places ideal for setting up of a venture. Areas with wide terrains and no surface features, i.e. flat grasslands and such like terrain also has a lot of wind energy potential and that can be harnessed successfully

The wind characteristics also to be taken into account while building of a windmill are:-

 1) The mean of the wind speed and all its variations occurring seasonally.

2)  The distribution of the wind speed and the winds. The wind speed should be high so that the distribution is the same at all the points of collection of energy.

3)  The height is also very important as the wind cannot be afforded to be too high or too low as then it become a difficult energy to harness, also the wind energy too close to the ground is less than the energy higher up, but the stability of the infrastructure higher up always has a question.

4) The frequency of gustiness should be avoided as they are usually harmful.

5) The general direction of the wind should be the same and should change direction only infrequently.

6) The density of the air should be another concern, because the denser the air, the more harmful it is for the windmill.

7)  If there is a catch to the trade winds then it is specially beneficial to the windmills and energy production.

Terrain Characteristics
once the location for a prospective windmill has been decided upon, other requisites, different from the wind criterion have to be met. These are consisting of:-

 1) The terrains must be in all a flat terrain, because the elevation difference between the terrain and turbine site is not more than 60 meters for a radius of 12 km.  

2) All hills have to have a small height to width ratios:  h:l must be < 0.016.

Shrouds like those of jet engines cover some turbines. The use of a shroud is that the wind gets channeled.  .

The equation for the power harnessed by a shrouded wind turbine is:

P(Pe) = ( QT ((p + (k)  where P is the power,

Pe is the power extracted, ( is the turbine efficiency, QT is the  volumetric flow rate of air on the turbine, (V/A)),(p + (k) is the change  in pressure energy between the inlet and the exit of the wind turbine, and  k is the cane in kinetic energy of a unit volume of air that passes through the machine.
A shroud is used for concentrating and diffusing the wind as it passes through a horizontal in shape access wind turbine, it helps in reduction of turbulence of the wind and directing it.

The main reasons for the use of a shroud are

 a) A shroud increases the axial velocity of the turbine making smaller rotrs operate at high revolutions than usual.  

b) The use of a shroud can greatly help in reducing tip-losses, and

The height of the windmill has to be given considerable thought, it should be high enough to tower above all the obstructions and still be able to sustain itself when the wind velocity is really high. The wind velocity close to the surface is usually the lowest, so the higher the windmill is, the higher will be the power generated by the windmill, since the wind speed would be generally higher than that of the ground.

The equation for the calculation of the windmill is:-

 
V1/V2 = (H1/H2)n,

Where V1 is the wind speed at the highest point of the highest blade, V2 is the wind speed at the lowest
point of the lowest blade, H1 is the height of the highest point, and H2 is the height of the lowest point.  n is the index location of the site, a value that measures the roughness of the terrain.