Archive for the ‘Sources’ tag

Sources of Alternative Energy – Including Resources, Forms, Stocks and Investment

The Ocean, Nuclear and Solar Power are forms of alternative energy which can be developed.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a potential alternative energy source that needs to be funded and explored much more than it presently is.

There are three kinds; closed, open and hybrid cycle of OTEC.

?Closed Cycle? uses a low-boiling point liquid such as, for example, propane to act as an intermediate fluid. The OTEC plant pumps the warm sea water into the reaction chamber and boils the intermediate fluid. This results in the intermediate fluid’s vapor pushing the turbine of the engine, which thus generates electricity. The vapor is then cooled down by putting in cold sea water.

?Open Cycle?. The sea water itself is the driver of the turbine engine in this OTEC format. Warm sea water found on the surface of the ocean is turned into a low-pressure vapor under the constraint of a vacuum. The low-pressure vapor is released in a focused area and it has the power to drive the turbine. To cool down the vapor and create desalinated water for human consumption, the deeper ocean’s cold waters are added to the vapor after it has generated sufficient electricity.

?Hybrid Cycle? There are actually two sub-theories to the theory of Hybrid Cycling. The first involves using a closed cycling to generate electricity. This electricity is in turn used to create the vacuum environment needed for open cycling. The second component is the integration of two open cyclings such that twice the amount of desalinated, potable water is created that with just one open cycle.

Developing Nuclear Power as Alternative Energy

Nuclear power plants are very ?clean-burning? and their efficiency is rather staggering. Nuclear power is generated at 80% efficiency, meaning that the energy produced by the fission reactions is almost equal to the energy put into producing the fission reactions in the first place. There is not a lot of waste material generated by nuclear fission?although, due to the fact that there is no such thing as creating energy without also creating some measure of waste, there is some. The concerns of people such as environmentalists with regards to using nuclear power as an alternative energy source center around this waste, which is radioactive gases which have to be contained.

Solar Energy Collecting as an Alternative Energy Source

Solar powered electricity generation is certainly good for the environment, as this alternative form of producing energy gives off absolutely zero emissions into the atmosphere and is merely utilizing one of the most naturally occurring of all things as its driver. Solar collection cells are becoming slowly but surely ever more practical for placing upon the rooftops of people’s homes, and they are not a difficult system to use for heating one’s home, creating hot water, or producing electricity. In the case of using the photovoltaic cells for hot water generation, the system works by having the water encased in the cells, where it is heated and then sent through your pipes.

“alternative Energy Sources” System © – is it Affordable?

Already spending hundreds month-by-month on these rising electricity-bills? It seems like a simple “Alternative Energy Sources” System can easily save you all that trouble. The first impression may not reveal that, but this technique takes no more than just few days to be completed. If you read this article you’ll be able to know more about how this technology can help you to significantly cut your expenses. Quick introduction The basic idea behind this “Alternative Energy Sources” System is to teaching you how to assemble Solar-Cells by using materials that can be found at any average hardware store. Some guides can be really useful while others miss their target; check whether it offers the following: clear information, detailed diagrams, video tutorials, and technical support. In any case, here are some key-advantages and tips that can help you out. Important benefits We could clearly notice several good reasons to use this one-of-a-kind solution: * Cuts down on the usage of non-renewable enr. resources. * Helps our nation on becoming less dependent on external oil suppliers. * Saves hundreds month-after-month. * Knowing that we are doing our part to conserve the planet. * Increases the value of your home by thousands. Advice Use high quality materials – you want your unit to hold for many years ahead, don’t try to save a few dollars here and there and after a few months watch how everything falls apart. Summarizing this article When we constantly look for immediate and affordable ways to ‘cut’ our elec. expenses, no doubt that “Alternative Energy Sources” System is one of the most revolutionary ideas that can help us achieve that goal. It would be quite easy to find other advantages provided by this remarkable invention, simply because it is innovative. At this point it would be advised to use it as this is the most recommended way that truly enables you to explore the advantages mentioned in this article.

Understanding Geothermal Heat Sources

In this article, we shall explore information to provide an answer to the question; what is geothermal energy? We hope this source will be suitable for educational reference to both adults and teenagers.
Geothermal heat sources are used in a variety of ways across our world today, from geothermal power plants, to geothermal hot water systems, we shall now attempt to understand what this geothermal energy is, and where it comes from.
What geothermal energy is, can essentially be described with the sentence; heat contained and produced by the heating of the earth in two different ways. The more powerful geothermal energy comes from deep within the earth, where the temperature is hot enough to melt the surrounding rocks. The second source of geothermal energy is as a results of the suns rays beating down on the land surface. We shall now look into these two main sources.
What is geothermal energy?The center of the earth is approximately 4000 degrees Celsius, as described in the above sentence, this tremendous amount of heat is capable of turning rocks into liquid. This heat is able to warm the earth right up to surface. The reason you do not burn your feet when they touch the ground is because there is a great distance between our feet and this molten rock, and only a very small, but significant fraction of this heat is transferred to the surface.
You may find molten rock very close to surface along fault lines and around volcanoes, and this enables a volcanic area to be a very significant source of geothermal power. So we have now discovered the most powerful source of geothermal energy comes from the core of the earth, and if you are planning to harness geothermal energy, you are best doing so where molten rock is closest to the surface.
The second source is more commonly overlooked as an alternative to the earths geothermal heat source, yet this method is installed in a significant amount of homes in areas such as Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and is becoming more popular in the U. K.
The great advantage of the suns geothermal effect, is you are able to harness the power in most areas unlike the earths geothermal heat source, where the location of, lets say a geothermal power plant can be the deciding factor in it’s efficiency. So, geothermal energy from the sun is essentially a solar energy idea in that the original source of “ground source heat energy” is from the sun.
Geothermal energy can also be a result of solar energy. All through the day, the suns rays shine down on the earths surface, and this heats the first couple of meters of our earth quite significantly. To understand this more, think about when it’s been snowing, and sun then comes out. Do you notice how there is always snow left in shaded areas a long time after the rest of the snow has melted? This isn’t to do with the general temperature increasing, it is the heat contained within the suns rays. This shows you how powerful our sun is, in that it is able to melt snow on our surface.
A very good, proven method of extracting this geothermal energy from the sun is though the use of geothermal heat pumps, which enable a low cost hot water heating system that is very environmentally friendly for your home.

The Coal based thermal power plants and the need for alternate energy sources for Green India

The complete article is also available at http://probebusiness. blogspot. com/2009/12/greener-side-of-greener-india-newer. html There was certainly an element of surprise in the market when the Indian GDP numbers for the September 2009 quarter were released. India had clocked a record GDP growth of 7. 9 percent as against the market expectations of 6. 3 percent. The Indian bellwether indexes Sensex and Nifty reached new highs for the year after the announcement of GDP numbers. India is witnessing a rapid economic growth, and so with it are the growing energy needs of the country. Power demand in the country touched an all-time high of 99,027 MW recently, a year-on-year growth of over 16%. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in US where the overall power consumption is expected to decline by over 1. 4%. According to forecasts from Mckinsey and company[2008], India?s demand for power is set to soar to as much as 315,000 MW by 2017 at an average GDP growth rate of 8% per year, which is more than double the demand for power from now. To meet these humongous energy demands the nation has to scale up rapidly its power generating sources. Currently the power needs of India are primarily met by Thermal?power stations followed by Hydro, Renewable (mainly Wind) and Nuclear power stations. Thermal power stations account for nearly 60% of India?s total power generation and these power stations are predominantly Coal based. India has got?domestic reserves of Coal but unfortunately around 80% of coal available in India is characterized by high ash content of 35-45%. Burning of this inferior quality coal, results in higher Carbon emissions and lesser efficiency. It also releases hazardous substances like Nitrogen Oxide, Sulphur Oxide, particulate matters, bottom ash and Fly ash. Causes of several diseases like Asthma, Tuberculosis, Black lung, kidney diseases and many more have been attributed to these emissions. Coal mining which is done to extract coal to feed into thermal plants is also hazardous. A Coal mine fire detected in Jharia of Jharkhand state for which illegal coal mining has been blamed, has now risked life of more than 80,000 people and the govt is looking for evacuation and rehabilitation measures. The environmental problems caused by burning and mining of coal are unrelenting. The operations of Thermal power stations aren’t going good either. The plants are now facing newer problems due to insufficient domestic coal supply. India is experiencing shortages in the production of domestic coal and has now started to import coal. Recently around 23 Thermal power stations including the Super thermal power stations like NTPC faced critical coal stock levels and had to cut down their production levels. The power cuts were imminent. As per a study India Inc has supposedly lost Rs. 43,205 crore in 2008-09 due to power outages. There are also growing fears now that at the current rate of coal consumption the coal reserves of India may get exhausted by 2040 and India may have to to depend entirely on coal?imports. Relying on imports for domestic energy production?? This is a serious energy security concern for India and is in stark contrast to India’s energy independence plans. To recall on the eve of the 59th Independence Day, the President of India had emphasized that energy independence should be India?s first and highest priority, and the nation must be determined to achieve this within 25 years. The President had called for ??an economy which will function well with total freedom from oil, gas or coal imports??. To achieve energy independence, India has to reduce its reliance on energy sources based on?imported fuels and look for indigenous sources of power generation. If not for the reasons of environmental pollution and global warming, at least for the costs of operating, shortages of coal supply and for achieving energy independence, India has to move aggressively towards non coal based power generation sources. The alternatives available for non coal source are not only much efficient but also much greener. The important ones among the alternatives are Solar Energy, Nuclear Energy, Wind Energy, Natural gas and Biomass. The Carbon emissions from these sources are significantly low compared to Coal based thermal power stations. To satisfy the humongous power demands of the nation and hence for the economic development of India,?Going Green seems to be the only way to go.