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wrighteri99

The Big Data Tidal Wave | The World Financial Review - 0 views

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    Tidal Energy Source link
smithree98

Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicles - Is Hydrogen the Fuel of the Future? - 1 views

  • The benefits of ditching fossil fuels for hydrogen are many, of course. Burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil to heat and cool our buildings and run our vehicles takes a heavy toll on the environment, contributing significantly to both local problems such as elevated particulate levels and global ones such as a warming climate. The only by-product of running a hydrogen-powered fuel cell is oxygen and a trickle of water, neither of which will cause any harm to human health or the environment.
  • But right now, 95 percent of the hydrogen available in the United States is either extracted from fossil fuels or made using electrolytic processes powered by fossil fuels, thus negating any real emissions savings or reduction in fossil-fuel usage. Only if renewable energy sources—solar, wind and others—can be harnessed to provide the energy to process hydrogen fuel can the dream of a truly clean hydrogen fuel be realized.
  • They concluded that we’d lower greenhouse gas emissions more by driving gasoline/electric hybrid cars than by driving fuel-cell cars run on hydrogen from coal. Hydrogen made using natural gas would fare a little bit better in terms of pollution output, while making it from wind power would be a slam-dunk for the environment.
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  • many reasons, ranging from safety to cost to lack of demand.
  • Another problem is the lack of hydrogen refueling stations
  • replacing the fossil fuels responsible for global warming and various nagging forms of pollution.
  • they are spending upwards of $1 million to produce each one due to the advanced technology involved and low production runs. Toyota hopes to reduce its costs per fuel-cell vehicle to around $50,000 by 2015
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    says most things about hydrogen and what it does
dpurdy

Wind Energy Basics - 1 views

  • The major challenge to using wind as a source of power is that it is intermittent and does not always blow when electricity is needed. Wind cannot be stored (although wind-generated electricity can be stored, if batteries are used), and not all winds can be harnessed to meet the timing of electricity demands. Further, good wind sites are often located in remote locations far from areas of electric power demand (such as cities).
  • Although wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment compared to fossil fuel power plants, there is some concern over the noise produced by the rotor blades, aesthetic (visual) impacts, and birds and bats having been killed (avian/bat mortality) by flying into the rotors. Most of these problems have been resolved or greatly reduced through technological development or by properly siting wind plants.
  • A Renewable Non-Polluting Resource Wind energy is a free, renewable resource, so no matter how much is used today, there will still be the same supply in the future. Wind energy is also a source of clean, non-polluting, electricity. Unlike conventional power plants, wind plants emit no air pollutants or greenhouse gases. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, in 1990, California's wind power plants offset the emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, and 15 million pounds of other pollutants that would have otherwise been produced. It would take a forest of 90 million to 175 million trees to provide the same air quality.
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  • Cost Issues Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically in the past 10 years, the technology requires a higher initial investment than fossil-fueled generators. Roughly 80% of the cost is the machinery, with the balance being site preparation and installation. If wind generating systems are compared with fossil-fueled systems on a "life-cycle" cost basis (counting fuel and operating expenses for the life of the generator), however, wind costs are much more competitive with other generating technologies because there is no fuel to purchase and minimal operating expenses.
    • dpurdy
       
      Good point for how we will need to change in future! To get more wind energy.
  • Wind energy is very abundant in many parts of the United States. Wind resources are characterized by wind-power density classes, ranging from class 1 (the lowest) to class 7 (the highest). Good wind resources (e.g., class 3 and above, which have an average annual wind speed of at least 13 miles per hour) are found in many locations
  • Wind speed is a critical feature of wind resources,
  • In other words, a stronger wind means a lot more power.
  • Horizontal turbine components include: blade or rotor, which converts the energy in the wind to rotational shaft energy; a drive train, usually including a gearbox and a generator; a tower that supports the rotor and drive train; and other equipment, including controls, electrical cables, ground support equipment, and interconnection equipment. Wind turbine diagram - click for enlarged image.
  • Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth's terrain, bodies of water, and vegetative cover.
  • How Wind Power Is Generated The terms "wind energy" or "wind power" describe the process by which the wind is used to generate mechanical power or electricity. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power.
dpurdy

Geothermal Energy Construction: Resource Requirements and Impact Sources - 0 views

  • The construction phase involves the construction of the geothermal field(s), infrastructure, power plants, and transmission lines.
dpurdy

Infrastructure Requirements for Geothermal Energy ?!? - Yahoo! Answers - 0 views

  • Transmission lines, Electric power transmission or "high voltage electric transmission" is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating Geothermal plants. Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_po… 2 years ago
dpurdy

Tidal stream generators - Brightside - 0 views

  • Tidal stream generators look and work like underwater wind turbines. As opposed to using the rising and falling movement of the tides, tidal stream generators take advantage of the fast moving sea currents (tidal streams), which flow when tides are moving in and out. These tidal streams cause the turbines to rotate, turning the generators which generate electricity. Tidal stream generators have the advantage of being much cheaper to build, and do not have as much of an environmental impact as a tidal barrage. The turbines turn relatively slowly, hence do not affect sea life. This is different to tidal barrages which can disrupt fish migrating up rivers from the sea.
dpurdy

Tidal Energy Pros and Cons - Energy Informative - 0 views

  • This ultimately reduces the cost these power plants can sell their electricity
  • It is important to realize that the methods for generating electricity from tidal energy is a relatively are relatively new technologies
  • Tidal Energy is a renewable energy source. This energy source is a result of the gravitational fields from both the sun and the moon, combined with the earth’s rotation around its axis, resulting in high and low tides.
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  • In addition to being a renewable energy, it does not emit any climate gases and does not take up a lot of space
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    pollution
dpurdy

How Does Tidal Power Work? - Energy Informative - 1 views

  • 450 TWh is the estimated yearly potential of electric power that can be produced from tidal energy. In addition to this comes a large and not yet estimated potential in river flows.
  • Tidal stream generators are very similar to wind turbines except their below the water surface instead of above or on land. The turbine and generator converts the movement of water coming from change in tide, the kinetic energy, into electricity. Water is 830 times denser than air and therefore can generate electricity at lower speeds than wind turbines.
dpurdy

Tidal power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Tidal stream generators (or TSGs) make use of the kinetic energy of moving water to power turbines, in a similar way to wind turbines that use wind to power turbines. Some tidal generators can be built into the structures of existing bridges, involving virtually no aesthetic problems. Likewise, “tidal bridging” is a relatively new advancement that is gaining recognition as a more practical and beneficial way to generate tidal power.
    • dpurdy
       
      Good pic of tidal stream generator working
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    "Tidal stream generators (or TSGs) make use of the kinetic energy of moving water to power turbines, in a similar way to wind turbines that use wind to power turbines. Some tidal generators can be built into the structures of existing bridges, involving virtually no aesthetic problems. Likewise, "tidal bridging" is a relatively new advancement that is gaining recognition as a more practical and beneficial way to generate tidal power."
dpurdy

Photovoltaic publications : Global Market Outlook, Solar Generation - 1 views

  • On a global scale, approximately 15,000 MW of new PV installations have been added during 2010, amounting the entire PV capacity to almost 40,000 MW.
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    During 2010, the Photovoltaic (PV) market has shown unprecedented growth and wide-spread deployment of this environmentally friendly source of power generation. On a global scale, approximately 15,000 MW of new PV installations have been added during 2010, amounting the entire PV capacity to almost 40,000 MW.
dpurdy

Wave Hub wave energy hydropower infrastructure project on track for summer 2011 deploym... - 0 views

  • Hartlepool-based JDR Cable Systems is constructing the armored 25- kilometer subsea cable that will connect Wave Hub to the grid and the hub structure that will sit on the seabed. Work also is progressing on the hub assembly, which will provide a connection between the main cable from the shore and the tails leading to the wave energy devices.
dpurdy

Renewable Energy, Other sources of Renewable Energy - 0 views

  • "Worldwide, approximately 3000 gigawatts (1 gigawatt = 1 GW = 1 billion watts) of energy is continuously available from the action of tides.
  • The best areas are on the eastern sides of the oceans (western side of the continents) between the 40 and 60 latitudes in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
  • While the "wave power at deep ocean sites is three to eight times the wave power at adjacent coastal sites," constructing and mooring the site and transmitting the electricity to shore would be prohibitively costly.
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  • There is a handful of wave energy demonstration plants operating worldwide, but none produces a significant amount of electricity.
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    While the "wave power at deep ocean sites is three to eight times the wave power at adjacent coastal sites," constructing and mooring the site and transmitting the electricity to shore would be prohibitively costly.
dpurdy

Devices that Harness Wave Energy | Wave Energy Cost - 0 views

  • Because wave energy needs only 1/200 the land area of wind and requires no access roads, infrastructure costs are less;
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    "7. Because wave energy needs only 1/200 the land area of wind and requires no access roads, infrastructure costs are less;"
dpurdy

Winds, Waves, Tides - Ocean Energy | Environmental News, Articles & Information | Globa... - 2 views

  • Can Already Cost Under $.06 per Kilowatt Hour * Pneumatic devices, such as the oscillating water column (OWC), use wave motion to compress and decompress air, and drive a turbine. * Float-based devices utilise a buoyant float moving with the waves, reacting against a sea bed anchor in order to harness energy. * Spillover devices utilise wave height to replenish a reservoir of seawater, which runs a turbine. * Raft-type devices use the relative motion of adjacent rafts or pontoons to harness wave energy. * Moving-body devices articulate in the water, inducing motion, which may be used to drive a hydraulic motor.
  • Tidal stream devices extract energy from the diurnal flow of tidal currents (caused by the gravitational pull of the moon). Unlike wind and wave power, tidal streams offer entirely predictable output. However, as the lunar cycle is of around 25 hours’ duration, the timing of peak outputs differs by around an hour each day and tidal energy cannot be guaranteed at times of peak demand.
  • However, several large grid-connected demonstration projects are expected to enter the water in the near future. Tidal stream is thus a few years behind wave energy.
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  • Marine Current Turbines is about to field test a submerged 300 kW tidal turbine off Devon in the United Kingdom
  • The manufacturers of all these devices expect to deliver energy at a cost of 10-14 US cents per kWh, falling to below 6 US cents as experience grows and technologies mature
  • Power generation using wave energy is at a much earlier stage of development. Wave energy offers more predictable outputs than wind, but in early 2003 there was only around one megawatt of generating capacity installed worldwide, all of it essentially with demonstration prototypes. Proposed projects are likely to take this to about 6 MW over the next few years. The wave industry is characterised by a wide variety of novel devices
dpurdy

Wave Energy: an Overview (Oxfordshire Climate Exchange) - 1 views

  • Waves are generated by winds blowing over the ocean surface.  Wave energy is effectively a stored and concentrated form of solar energy since the winds that produce them are caused by pressure differences in the atmosphere caused by the sun's differential heating of the earth's surface. Waves can efficiently transport energy for thousands of miles and retain their energy long after the winds that first created them have died down, which makes waves one of the most concentrated and consistent sources of renewable energy. 
  • Globally, the potential use of wave power is, unsurprisingly, limited to areas of the world where there are waves. On a global scale, this is dictated by global wind patterns, with the result that waves are more prevalent in the mid-latitudes (40-60(N/S), than nearer the equator where the lack of ocean wind is referred to as the 'doldrums'.  Interestingly, this potential for wave power contrasts with that of solar power, which is more effective in lower latitudes
    • dpurdy
       
      Location of wave power.
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  • it is widely anticipated that other types of renewable resources, including wave energy, will need to be developed in order to meet more challenging targets beyond 2020. 
  • As with most renewable energy sources, wave devices have no emissions during generation but the energy associated with the construction of the device does have small associated emissions.
    • dpurdy
       
      What do we need to do in the future to make this work.
  • it is essential that the current demonstration schemes are successful, to reassure future investors. The most important objective is to deploy full-size demonstration schemes in order to gain greater confidence in the most developed technologies (as in the EU's Atlas project). 
  • it will be necessary to significantly improve the network connections to the electricity suppliers.
dpurdy

How we know human activity is causing warming | Environmental Defense Fund - 1 views

  • The theory of global warming is nothing new. The Nobel Prize-winning chemist Svante Arrhenius first proposed the idea of global warming in 1896. Carbon dioxide, he knew, traps heat in the Earth's atmosphere. He also knew that burning coal and oil releases carbon dioxide (CO2).
dpurdy

Traditional Energy Sources vs. Green Power Sources | National Geographic - 2 views

  • Coal generates 2,249 pounds of carbon dioxide, 13 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 6 pounds of nitrogen oxides for every megawatt hour of energy generated.
  • Biomass produces nitrogen oxides and small amounts of sulfur dioxide. The amount of carbon dioxide produced does not exceed that of the Earth's normal carbon cycle and is considered negligible.
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