Skip to main content

Home/ qmstech2/ Group items matching "fossil" in title, tags, annotations or url

Group items matching
in title, tags, annotations or url

Sort By: Relevance | Date Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
1More

Geothermal Basics - Environment - 0 views

  • Unlike fossil fuel power plants, no smoke is emitted from geothermal power plants, because no burning takes place; only steam is emitted from geothermal facilities. Emissions of nitrous oxide, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide are extremely low, especially when compared to fossil fuel emissions. The binary geothermal plant, which currently represents around 15% of all geothermal plant capacity, along with the flash/binary plant, produce nearly zero air emissions. Even dry steam plants, which are considered to have the highest levels of air emissions, are considered environmentally benign compared with fossil fuels. For example, Lake County, California, downwind of The Geysers, has met all federal and state ambient air quality standards for almost 25 years. There are 21 power plants at The Geysers, comprising a significant complex of electric generation facilities, yet even despite this, air quality is excellent. At The Geysers, air quality has even improved as a result of geothermal development because hydrogen sulfide, which would ordinarily be released naturally into the atmosphere by hot springs and fumaroles, instead now passes through an abatement system that reduces hydrogen sulfide emissions by 99.9%. (1) See also Myth #2.
1More

Geothermal Could be Cheaper than Fossil Fuels with $3 Billion DOE Investment Says NYU S... - 0 views

  • Geothermal could be cheaper than fossil fuels, according to a study just published at NYU Stern. Yet, strangely, geothermal received the fewest Federal DOE dollars invested in R&D over the last 8 years
2More

DOE - Fossil Energy: A Brief History of Coal Use in the United States - 1 views

  • Archeologists have also found evidence that the Romans in England used it in the second and third centuries (100-200 AD). 
  • In the 1700s, the English found that coal could produce a fuel that burned cleaner and hotter than wood charcoal.
1More

Why Solar Powered Energy Is Better Than Fossil Fuels - 2 views

  •  
    In only one hour, the amount of energy that shines on the Earth equates to the amount used by the world's population in an entire year. Mankind has developed a way to utilize the sun's vast energy by converting its sunlight into electricity via photovoltaics and other solar power methods.
11More

Facts About Fossil Fuel Pollution - 0 views

  • pollution spewing from a typical coal plant
  • 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary human cause of global warming--as much CO2 as cutting down 161 million trees.
  • sulphur dioxide (SO2), which causes acid rain
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • small airborne particles
  • which cause chronic bronchitis
  • • 170 pounds of mercury
  • leads to the formation of ozone (smog)
  • carbon monoxide (CO), which cause headaches
  • nitrogen oxide (NOx)
  • 225 pounds of arsenic, which will cause cancer
  • 114 pounds of lead
2More

Geothermal Energy and the Environment - Energy Explained, Your Guide To Understanding E... - 1 views

  • eothermal power plants do not burn fuel to generate electricity, so their emission levels are very low. They release less than 1% of the carbon dioxide emissions of a fossil fuel plant. Geothermal plants use scrubber systems to clean the air of hydrogen sulfide that is naturally found in the steam and hot water.
  • Geothermal plants emit 97% less acid rain-causing sulfur compounds than are emitted by fossil fuel plants. After the steam and water from a geothermal reservoir have been used, they are injected back into the Earth.
1More

Hydrogen economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  •  
    "The hydrogen economy is a proposed system of delivering energy using hydrogen. The term hydrogen economy was coined by John Bockris during a talk he gave in 1970 at General Motors (GM) Technical Center.[1] Hydrogen advocates promote hydrogen as a potential fuel for motive power[2] (including cars and boats), the energy needs of buildings and portable electronics. Free hydrogen does not occur naturally in quantity, but can be generated by steam reformation of hydrocarbons, water electrolysis or by other methods. Hydrogen is thus an energy carrier (like a battery), not a primary energy source (like coal). The feasibility of a hydrogen economy depends on issues of electrolysis, energy sourcing, including fossil fuel use, climate change, and sustainable energy generation."
1More

Geothermal Electricity Production - Geothermal Energy - Renewable Energy World - 0 views

  •  
    " Geothermal Electricity Production Most power plants need steam to generate electricity. The steam rotates a turbine that activates a generator, which produces electricity. Many power plants still use fossil fuels to boil water for steam. Geothermal power plants, however, use steam produced from reservoirs of hot water found a couple of miles or more below the Earth's surface. There are three types of geothermal power plants: dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle. Dry steam power plants draw from underground resources of steam. The steam is piped directly from underground wells to the power plant, where it is directed into a turbine/generator unit. There are only two known underground resources of steam in the United States: The Geysers in northern California and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, where there's a well-known geyser called Old Faithful. Since Yellowstone is protected from development, the only dry steam plants in the country are at The Geysers. This geothermal power plant generates electricity for the Imperial Valley in California. Credit: Warren Gretz Flash steam power plants are the most common. They use geothermal reservoirs of water with temperatures greater than 360°F (182°C). This very hot water flows up through wells in the ground under its own pressure. As it flows upward, the pressure decreases and some of the hot water boils into steam. The steam is then separated from the water and used to power a turbine/generator. Any leftover water and condensed steam are injected back into the reservoir, making this a sustainable resource. Binary cycle power plants operate on water at lower temperatures of about 225°-360°F (107°-182°C). These plants use the heat from the hot water to boil a working fluid, usually an organic compound with a low boiling point. The working fluid is vaporized in a heat exchanger and used to turn a turbine. The water is then injected back into the ground to be reheated. The water and the working fluid are
2More

Global Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions - 1 views

  • Since 1751 approximately 337 billion tons of carbon have been released to the atmosphere from the consumption of fossil fuels and cement production
  • Half of these emissions have occurred since the mid 1970s
1More

DOE - Fossil Energy: Current Technology for Producing Hydrogen - 0 views

  • Today, most hydrogen in the United States, and about half of the world's hydrogen supply, is produced through the steam reforming of natural gas. The U.S. demand for hydrogen currently is about 9 million tons per year. Of this amount, about 1.5 million tons is merchant hydrogen production that is sold to refineries and chemical plants. In refineries, hydrogen is produced as a by-product of naphtha reforming, and any supplemental hydrogen is produced from steam reforming of natural gas. The chemical industry also uses hydrogen, mostly to manufacture ammonia and other nitrogen-based fertilizers. Hydrogen for the chemical industry is also produced from steam reforming of natural gas, although some chemical plants use coal gasification (i.e., partial oxidation) to produce hydrogen. In total, about 95 percent of U.S. hydrogen production for supplemental refinery needs and the chemical industry is produced from natural gas using steam reforming technology.
9More

Geothermal energy environmental impact | Earth's Heat - 0 views

  • First of all, harnessing geothermal energy does not have the devastating impact on climate change like burning of the fossil fuels does. It is true that fluids drawn from the earth's core include greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, but the amount of released greenhouse gas emissions is negligible compared to those from fossil fuel fired power plants.
  • One of the reasons for this is the fact that geothermal power plants are equipped with emission-control systems that reduce the exhaust.
  • geothermal power plants are connected with minimal freshwater and land requirements. This means that geothermal energy commonly has minimal impact on nearby ecosystems.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Geothermal fluids contain elevated levels of certain toxic elements such as arsenic, mercury, lithium and boron, which means that geothermal plants need to be equipped with proper waste disposal units in order to ensure that the waste is disposed back into geothermal fields
    • dpurdy
       
      pollution from geothermal
  • constructing geothermal plant (which includes deep drilling) can affect land stability, and in some cases even trigger earthquakes (especially enhanced geothermal systems).
  • Geothermal power plants operate quietly meaning that they do not cause noise pollution.
  • It is often relatively easy to incorporate them into the existing environment without the obvious visual pollution because of their modest land requirements.
  • This natural source of energy provides efficient way to harness energy from with minimal impact on its surrounding environment.
2More

Solar Homes and Solar Collectors - 0 views

  •    Solar energy is our birthright like the air we breathe or the water we drink. Solar Home Plans and  cost effective   Solar Hot Water Projects  are the gateway into a "Solar Age"  of energy independence. Fossil fuels are no longer necessary to keep the wheels of civilization turning. Build your own solar heating system.  Explore the Strawberry Fields Book Store  for more information. Alternative energies like solar energy will increase in value as Fossil fuel prices escalate making energy efficient,  solar houses more valuable. Solar collectors, solar hot water systems, heat storage vaults, photovoltaic electricity, solar panels, and solar greenhouses will soon become the standard rather than the exception to the standard in the near future According to Buckminster Fuller "We have wondered too far from the roots." An energy crisis can only be avoided only if we learn to rely on a diffuse, sustainable resource like the sun. Become part of this green economy and travel on the  Green Train and learn about Solar Rebate Incentives and Cheap Electricity                                                                             
  •  
    solar energy
8More

EnergyBC: Tidal Power - 2 views

  • his is somewhat balanced out by long plant lives of 100 years for the actual barrage structure, and 40 for the equipment, as well as low operating costs.
  • An estimate is given by researcher Eleanor Denny. Denny estimates that in order for a facility to be profitable, its capital cost should be less than €530,000 (~$700,000 USD) per MegaWatt which with the current technology is not a realistic goal, meaning that so far the industry produces negative net benefits.50
  • Canada's Race Rocks site, where a single turbine generator converts 65 kW of energy, cost $4,000,000.54 This figure was met with $3,000,000 investment from project partner EnCana's Environmental Innovation Fund, and a grant of just under $1 million awarded to Pearson College and their partners in the project.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • This plant produces about 100 times the power generated at Race Rocks. An investment of around €8.5 million ($11 million USD) made SeaGen a reality.
  • The environmental impacts of tidal barrage include hampered fish migration, forced water level changes on the basin behind the barrage, reduced salinity in the basin due to low quantities of ocean water, and reduced ability of currents to transport and suspend sediments
  • sustainable energy resources produce limited amounts of carbon dioxide emissions
  • , they are, by nature, reliant on the natural environment and therefore are vulnerable to the effects of climate change
  • Brief History of Tidal Power The energy stored in tides been known to people for many centuries. The earliest records of tidal mills are dated back to the 8th Century CE.7 The tidal mills were mainly used for grain grinding and were of similar design to the conventional water mills with the exception of the addition of a dam and reservoir. The industrial revolution increased demand for power but tidal energy never got off the ground, undercut by cheap fossil fuels and other developments which offered easier access to power generation. Existing tidal mills became as obsolescent as pre-industrial water-mills. The first large scale modern tidal electric plant started to operate in La Rance Estuary, St. Malo, France in the 1960s and has been operating ever since. In recent years the search for renewable, non-polluting energy sources and the increase in fossil fuel prices has encouraged renewed interest in tidal power.
1More

Yale Environment 360: Wind Energy Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuel Power Plants in Australia - 0 views

  • Unsubsidized wind power is now cheaper than electricity produced from new coal- and natural gas-fired power stations in Australia, according to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The study said that electricity can be supplied from a new wind farm at a cost of 80 Australian dollars per megawatt hour, compared to 143 Australian dollars from a new coal plant and 116 Australian dollars from a new natural gas plant.
1More

Advantages of Geothermal Energy - 0 views

  •  
    "Pollution free production of energy. Since geothermal energy does not require fossil fuels to be burned, production of electricity using this type of energy can be considered as pollution free. Sometimes, there is the tendency that this could release some harmful gases from beneath the earth that might actually be harmful. However, these gases could be contained."
3More

Where does Wind Energy Come From? - 1 views

  • All renewable energy (except tidal and geothermal power), and even the energy in fossil fuels, ultimately comes from the sun. The sun radiates 174,423,000,000,000 kilowatt hours of energy to the earth per hour.
  • The sun radiates 174,423,000,000,000 kilowatt hours of energy to the earth per hour.
  •  
    " Where does Wind Energy come From? All renewable energy (except tidal and geothermal power), and even the energy in fossil fuels, ultimately comes from the sun. The sun radiates 174,423,000,000,000 kilowatt hours of energy to the earth per hour. In other words, the earth receives 1.74 x 10 17 watts of power . 1) About 1 to 2 per cent of the energy coming from the sun is converted into wind energy. That is about 50 to 100 times more than the energy converted into biomass by all plants on earth. 2)"
1More

Answers - 0 views

  •  
    "Bio-fuel is produced directly from plant matter typically corn, sugar cane, sugar beets, or cellulose transforming it into alcohol. Fossil fuels are produced by either the decomposition of plant or animal matter over long periods of time under certain conditions such as high temperature and "
1More

HowStuffWorks "Biofuels vs. Fossil Fuels" - 0 views

  • The U.S. currently produces 9.2 billion gallons of ethanol a year and consumes 9.6 billion gallons.
1More

What are the advantages and disadvantages of wind power - 0 views

  •  
    "Wind power will become cheaper than fossil fuel in the next few years (when the price of carbon is added to coal and oil), and in many places already is."
« First ‹ Previous 41 - 60 of 149 Next › Last »
Showing 20 items per page