Solar Power, That's Obvious, But The

8/3/2019 Solar Power, That's Obvious, But The

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ENVIRONMENTAL

STUDIESENERGY RESOURCES

SUBMITTEDBY:-

UMA GOYAL

SEM-9TH SEM

ROLL NO.-7023



Solar power, that's obvious, but the energy in coal originally came fromthe Sun too.

Prehistoric plants stored the Sun's energy in their leaves, and when they

died and eventually formed coal seams, that energy was still there.

So when we burn coal (or any fossil fuel), we're releasing chemical energy

that was stored in plants millions of years ago.

The same goes for Wind and Wave power. Waves occur because of winds,

and winds blow because the Sun warms our atmosphere. Warm air tends

to rise, and winds are due to other air moving in to replace it.

Most power stations burn coal, oil or natural gas to run the generators.

Others use uranium, or the flow of water. Electricity is sent around the

country using high-voltage power lines. Nearly all of the power we usecomes from large power stations, although some places such as isolated

farms, or hospitals, have their own diesel generators.









ACTUAL RELATION OF ENERGY SOURCES

Fossil fuels are the main energy source used forsupplying the actual mankind needs. Vast majorityof energy gained from renewable sources relates tothe water energy. Other renewable sources aremomentarily energetically negligible. Since in thefuture we will be forced to satisfy our energy needs

from renewable sources, we have to think of the wayto transform renewable sources to an usable energy.The main problems are expensive and longresearches, with most transformations relating just tothe production of electrical energy. Factor thatcontributes to higher research costs is also variety of renewable energy sources.



Solar Energy



Solar Energy for heating water, generating electricity and concentrating solar

energy to create fuel for your vehicles.

Energy from the sun can be categorized in two ways: (1) in the form of heat (or

thermal energy), and (2) in the form of light energy. Solar thermal technologies

uses the solar heat energy to heat substances (such as water or air) for applications

such as space heating, pool heating and water heating for homes and businesses.

All coastal areas experience high and low

tide. If the difference between high and low

tides is more than 16 feet, the differences can

be used to produce electricity. There are

approximately 40 sites on earth where

tidal differences are sufficient. Tidal energy

is more reliable than wave

energy because it based on the moon and we

can predict them. It is intermittent,generating energy for only 6-12 hours in

each 24 hour period, so demand for energy

will not always be in line with supply.





1. Solar energy is free although there is a cost in the building of ¶collectors· and otherequipment required to convert solar energy into electricity or hot water.

2. Solar energy does not cause pollution. However, solar collectors and other associated

equipment / machines are manufactured in factories that in turn cause some pollution.

3. Solar energy can be used in remote areas where it is too expensive to extend the electricity

power grid.

4. Many everyday items such as calculators and other low power consuming devices can be

powered by solar energy effectively.

5. It is estimated that the worlds oil reserves will last for 30 to 40 year1. Solar energy can only

be harnessed when it is daytime and sunny.

2. Solar collectors, panels and cells are relatively expensive to manufacture although prices are

falling rapidly.

3. Solar power stations can be built but they do not match the power output of similar sized

conventional power stations. They are also very expensive.4. In countries such as the UK, the unreliable climate means that solar energy is also unreliable

as a source of energy. Cloudy skies reduce its effectiveness.

5. Large areas of land are required to capture the suns energy. Collectors are usually arranged

together especially when electricity is to be produced and used in the same location.

6. Solar power is used to charge batteries so that solar powered devices can be used at night.

However, the batteries are large and heavy and need storage space. They also need replacing

from time to time. s. On the other hand, solar energy is infinite (forever).



Solar energy facts. Solar energy is renewable energy source. Read some interesting factsabout solar energy.

Sun is ours closest star and directly or indirectly source of almost all available energy onEarth. Sun's energy originates from nuclear fusion in its core, where temperature reaches15 millions °C. Nuclear fusion is process of joining two light atoms into one heavier atom.

Thanks to nuclear fusion on Sun, every second about 600 million tons of hydrogen istransformed into helium, having 4 million tons of hydrogen transformed into energy as

side effect. Solar energy facts: The Sun has been producing energy for billions of years now and by current estimations it

will continue to do that for next five billions of years. Solar energy is part of energyproduced on the Sun that reaches the Earth.

Solar energy can be directly converted into thermal energy or into electrical energy whichare useful forms of energy. Electrical energy is most useful form of energy because it canbe easily converted into useful work.

Solar energy is ´the engineµ beyond almost all renewable energy sources. Secondary solarenergy powered resources such as wind energy, wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass,account for most of the available renewable energy on earth. Geothermal and tidal energyare not considered as secondary products of solar energy because they exist even withoutsolar radiation.



Hydropower energy Hydropower is one of most established true renewable energy source. This is the

utilisation of the potential energy caused by a height different in two levels of electricity.

Originally this was used in old fashioned water mills, however in the first half of the 20thcentury more modern devices using turbines to generate electricity were used. Generallyin the more modern systems a dam is built across an existing river valley to form areservoir, and this increases the height of the water, and therefore the potential energy.This water is then allowed to flow from the top of the dam down to it's base inside tunnelswithin the dam. As it flows, it will pass through a turbine. This will cause the turbine toturn and this movement of the turbine is then transferred into a generator, which in turngenerates the electricity, as the video shown up and right explains. Hydropower is a useful

source of electricity, as it is not only renewable but it is also possible to control when thewater is released in many systems, allowing control to happen. Famous hydropower dams are the Hoover Dam in the US, the Aswan Dam in Egypt and the Three

Gorges Dam in China. Out of all of the renewable energy technologies hydropower is probably

the most economic, assuming there is a suitable resource.

Whilst there is the potential for

further hydropower projects to

produce renewable energy, themajority of good sites in

developed countries have already

been used, and so out of all of the

the renewable energy technologies

this is probably the one with the

lowest chance of serious percentage

growth.



H YDROELECTRIC DAM Advantages:

±The energy is virtuallyfree.

± No waste or pollution

± Reliable

± Can cope with peaks in

demand. ± Can increase to full

power very quickly,unlike other powerstations.

±

Electricity can begenerated constantly.

Disadvantages:

²Expensive to build.

²Environmental

concerns upstream and

downstream

²Sitting



W IND PO W ER Wind power depends on utilising the wind to generate electricity or carry out

some other activity (such as pumping water). As with many other renewableenergy sources it has a history going back quite centuries. For example,

windmills were used in medieval Britain (and famously Holland) to help grindcorn, and wind power was used to pump water in the American plains.

However the first modern wind power generators were investigated in the late1970s and early 1980s when there was a large international push for renewableenergy. However many prototypes failed and Denmark was the only countrywhich continued pursuing the idea of using the wind to generate electricity. TheDanish made a way of producing electricity using the wind that was relatively

economic, and with various forms of Danish government support the industrygrew. In the early 1990s the Danish wind industry started to becomeinternational and along with support in other countries it grew.

The growth continued at annual rates of between 30% and 50% a year from theearly nineties through to the present day, and this was accompanied byreductions in the cost of the electricity generated by the wind and an increase inthe cost of electricity generated using conventional means. As such, in manyareas of the world where the wind resource is very good, wind power is now ableto compete with all other forms of generation even without any form of government assistance, and so this is at present the renewable energy sourcewhich is adding most capacity each year.

More recently there has been an increase in the use of using offshore windturbines to generate electricty, particularly around the coasts of Europe, and this

is another potential are for growth in the wind energy industry.



Wind Energy Another of the more popular alternative energy resources. Though not a

reliable resource for every household, it is a viable option for may depending on your

location.



Ocean thermal energy

Ocean thermal energy conversion, or OTEC for short is a theoretical way of getting renewable energy out of the sea, by taking advantage of the temperaturedifference between surface seawater and deep deawater. This is a simple process,

although it requires some explanation. Whilst there is a temperature difference it is not very large, which limits the choices

available for the removal of the energy. The most common option would be to usea rankine cycle. In this system the hot water at the surface of the surface of theocean is used to turn another liquid (the so called working fluid) into agas. Obviously this other liquid would have to have a low boiling point and so a

substance such as isobutane may be used. This working fluid is then driventhrough a turbine which can be connected to a generator to produce renewableelectricity. The working fluid which exits the turbine is then cooled back from agas into a liquid by using the cool water from the deep ocean. This cooled liquidcan then start the process again.

ADVANTAGES

A greater advantage of the ocean thermal energy is that it can be used continuously for 24hours throughout the year.

Ocean thermal energy is a renewable source of energy and its use does not cause anypollution. Sea-wave energy and ocean thermal energy are the two forms in which solar energy

manifests itself in oceans.





Tidal Energy Tidal energy is a natural source of energy which utilises the power of the tides. Tides are caused by the

gravitational pull of the moon, and to a lesser extent the sun upon the earth's oceans. The tidal motionsfollow a cyclical pattern, and so unlike other forms of renewable energy such as wind and waves it is possibleto predict with great accuracy the power output of a tidal energy device well in advance of it being placed

within the water, which is a great bonus. There are two major ways of harnessing tidal energy. It is possible toharness both the changes in height of the water caused by the tides (so called tidal head technologies) and themovement of water as it moves around the globe (tidal stream technologies). Like many renewabletechnologies the energy source has been utilised for many years, in this case in the form of tidal mills to grindcereals, particularly in northern France.

There are several theoretical ways of tidal head technologies to produce power, but as of thepresent time there is only one well proven technology. This is for a barrage, which acts like a damacross an estuary or river mouth. This leads to a height difference between the water on both

sides of the barrage, and this height difference can be utilised using similar technology as thatwhich is used in hydropower stations (see above). This has the effect though that it significantlychanges a large area of the estuary/bay, with potentially bad affects on the ecosystem. At presentthere is only one large scale example, that of La Rance in northern France (240MW), althoughthere are plans for others such as on the Severn. Another option for utilising the tidal head is tidallagoons. These are like tidal barrages, and work in a similar way, with the only difference beingthat the built area completely surrounds the area, instead of relying on the coast. This has theresult that it increases the cost, but it means that environmentally sensitive intertidal areas can

have some more protection. A turbine located in the car-park of Marine Current Turbines taken approximately 1 year ago.

The second way of generating power from the tides is using tidal stream technologies. This is amuch newer renewable energy technology, and at present there are not many working examples.One of furthest progressed technologies is Marine Current Turbine's machine, which acts like anunderwater wind turbine or boat propeller and has been deployed in Strangford Loch in NorthernIreland. There are also several other potential ways of harnessing tidal stream power, but theseare at present all at theoretical or prototype stage.





GEOT HERMAL ENERGY



BIOMASS ENERGY

Discover ways to use corn, corn stalks, wheat,

pine cones, twigs,bark....to generate fuel toheat your home or drive your vehicle. the

technology has been around for over 100

years.Basically, anything that decomposes orburns can be used to generate energy for

your home or car. learn how to become your

own bootleggger and drive on Ethanol or

produce your own biodiesel fuel or methane.Or run a vehicle on all three.

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Solar Power, That's Obvious, But The