Anderson.Fouhey.Chaney.Spring2009.EnergyandWater

National Energy Distribution so as to depreciate the dependency on Fossil Fuels and deplete the creation of Greenhouse gasses

[|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM-mfEMssy8-] just for fun

Since the arrival of Al Gore's Nobel Prize winning, //Inconvenient Truth//, global warming has been at the forefront of the Presidential administrations agenda and has helped the public decide on the new president. The issue has been the amount of green house gases which are emitted by cars, companies, and other power plants. These green house gases prevent UV rays from escaping the atmosphere, redirecting them back towards the earth’s surface. This creates higher temperatures and produces more harmful rays. Fossil Fuels are among one of the most harmful contributors to global warming. Fortunately the dependency on fossil fuels can be replaced by a national distribution of renewable energy resources. The United States is made up of many diverse states all with different needs and resources. For this reason, there is no one renewable energy source that will be able to sufficiently supply the entire country with clean power. However, proper distribution of these sources can make clean power a viable option. For example areas with large amounts of sun can use solar power where this may not work in a place were fog and clouds dominate the sky such as Washington State. Although this is the largest issue to tackle, other issues include the transportation of the energy that is created, and finally the cost and environmental impact of implementing these new energy sources. Webster’s dictionary defines global warming as “an increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse effect resulting especially from pollution.” This definition does not go into great detail of any aspect of global warming. The definition does not even classify this increase in earth’s temperature as a good or bad thing. It is a bad thing. Global warming affects every living organism on earth in some manner or another. Increasing global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and will change the amount and pattern of precipitation, probably including expansion of subtropical deserts. The continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice is expected, with the Arctic region being particularly affected. Other likely effects include shrinkage of the Amazon rainforest and Boreal forests, increases in the intensity of extreme weather events, species extinctions and changes in agricultural yields. The Webster’s definition says the cause can be attributed to the greenhouse effect, usually as a resultant of pollution. In order to go into more detail about the effect of greenhouse gasses, I have included a video. This video, although a little satirical can be informative, Al Gore even included it in his Nobel Prize winning movie. **[].** I hope you enjoyed the video but I also hope you understand the importance of doing everything in our power to stop contributing to global warming. And as you know the large ice cube is not an option. In summation of the video, “greenhouse gasses are gases which allow direct sunlight, relative shortwave energy, to reach the Earth's surface unimpeded. As the shortwave energy, that in the visible and ultraviolet portion of the spectra, heats the surface, longer-wave (infrared) energy (heat) is reradiated to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases absorb this energy, thereby allowing less heat to escape back to space, and 'trapping' it in the lower atmosphere.” – NOAA. Since the industrial revolution, both the naturally occurring and man-made greenhouse gasses have become more abundant. “While gases such as carbon dioxide occur naturally in the atmosphere, through our interference with the carbon cycle (through burning forest lands, or mining and burning coal), we artificially move carbon from solid storage to its gaseous state, thereby increasing atmospheric concentrations.” – NOAA. I will not go into great detail about each greenhouse gas but I do think it is worth mentioning them here so incase they are mentioned later by their individual names you will be able to identify them. The most common greenhouse gasses are; water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, troposphere Ozone, Nitrous Oxide, and Carbon Monoxide.

So now that we know what the greenhouse gasses are, what effect they have on the global temperature, we must look at how to reduce the man-made greenhouse gasses. Most of these greenhouse gasses are produced as a by product of creating and using energy from power plants that run on fossil fuels. Coal power plants for example use enough coal in one day to fill an entire train over one mile long. That’s over three hundred and sixty five miles of coal used each year for just one power plant. By replacing these fossil fuels with an alternative, clean, and hopefully renewable energy source we have decreased our carbon footprint. I will describe some of the most realistic renewable energy sources to give you some idea of what is involved in each.

**Solar power** is the conversion of sunlight into electricity. This can be done using two different methods. Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of sunlight into energy. Concentrating solar power focuses the suns power in order to boil water which can be used to provide different forms of energy. The Mojave Desert is twenty five thousand square miles. The Great basin is one hundred ninety thousand square miles. The Sonoran desert is approximately one hundred and twenty thousand square miles. With these three large deserts there is an amount of space equal to half that of the Gobi Desert. This means we have the capabilities of creating half the world’s energy in these deserts alone. This also means if we set up solar panel stations in only the one of the two larger deserts then we would without a doubt create enough energy to power the United States. An interesting part of solar power is that is doesn’t have to be done on a wide scale basis. Individuals can use solar power panels on the roof of their homes or in their back yard to create power sources for just their home. There are also units you can buy such as solar powered
 * Solar Power **
 * Photo voltaics**-a solar cell converts light from the sun into energy using the photoelectric effect. the photoelectric effect is when electrons are emitted from matter after the absorption of energy from electromagnetic radiation. this was first developed in the eighteen eighties by a man named Fritts. It is most commonly known for its use in solar powered calculators.
 * Concentrating solar power**-uses lenses to focus light into a high intensity high heat beam. Because a high area of sunlight is funneled down into a small beam, that beam has enough heat to act as a heat source for conventional power plants.
 * A Study of Very Large Solar Desert Systems with the Requirements and Benefits to those Nations Having high Solar Irradiation Potential**, found if you were to Cover four percent of the world's desert area with photo voltaics could supply the entire worlds supply of electricity could be created. The Gobi Desert alone could supply almost all of the world's total energy demand**.** The size of the Gobi Desert is five hundred thousand square miles. In the United States there are several very large deserts including the Mojave, Great basin, and Sonoran deserts.
 * Renewed Interest-** after the oil embargo in the early seventies and the energy crisis in nineteen seventy-nine, the world realized that technology needed to be developed to move away from complete dependence on one limited resource. Efforts included incentive programs such as the Federal Photovoltaic utilization program and the Sunshine program in Japan. Yet despite these years of advancements in technology, falling oil prices severely limited the demand for solar technology once again. Once the oil supply came into question in the late Nineteen nineties again, renewed interest took place and has not stopped since. In an attempt to find an alternative renewable source of energy and to eliminate global warming production has grown an average of forty percent per year since two thousand. To give an example of the effectiveness of this power, Nellis air force base is receiving photovoltaic power for two cents a kWh while its receiving grid power for about nine cents a kWh



As global warming increases and the prices on the fossil fuels we use to make our electricity continue to rise we look more and more the alternate energy. Wind energy is one of the most common alternate sources for electricity. The wind is completely renewable you never can run out as long as the sun keeps heating the earth. Wind energy stems from solar energy, the sun heats the earth and which makes the air began to move the warm air rises and the cold sinks. The basic principle is what is responsible for giving us the wind we depend on. Wind energy can be used anywhere in the world where there is a steady wind for most of the time. From the great plans, to the desert, to the ocean you can find wind power because of the long open stretches the wind blows across un iterated. There are two main types of wind turbines. The horizontal type which we are all accustoming to and the vertical type. Most of the large commercial wind turbines are of the horizontal type. both type use the same basic principles to generate electricity. They each have a basic which supports the rotor, the rotor turns in the wind. The rotor Is hooked to a gear box witch changes the speed of the rotating shaft to a speed useable by the generator. After the rotation speed has been changed the outlet from the gear box rotates the generator and it generates us electricity. A wind turbine takes wind energy converts it to mechanical energy and then converts it again into mechanical energy. As the untied states energy consumption grows the idea of wing energy dose to, in the coming years there are plans for large wind farms to be built like the one planed for off the coast of cape cod. Wind mills are no longer only found on postcards of Holland. Granted the new wind mills which are being built to generate power look a lot more modern. Generally white in color, almost robotic, the look very industrial. Wind turbines convert wind energy into a usable form. This is a clean form of creating energy. Wind power as well solar power are considered non-dispatch able. This is because there resources can only be harvested at certain times such as when it is it windy and when it is sunny. In order to make up for the lack of energy during the periods that do not have wind or sun, excess energy must be stored and/or energy sources that don’t stop such as hydropower must be used to fill in the blank spots. Wind power produces roughly one point five percent of the world’s energy. In the last three years production of energy from wind has doubled. In Denmark, energy produced by wind totals roughly nineteen percent, eleven percent in Spain and Portugal, and seven percent in Germany. Studies have shown that creating twenty percent of the world’s energy from wind could be done with minimal difficulty. The positives of wind power is that it is renewable and it does not produce green house gases while the negatives include the fact that the wind farms are not appealing to the eyes and wind is not always a constant.
 * Wind- **




 * Tidal Energy **

=== This process is one of my favorites. The predictability of tides is for more accurate than that of both wind and solar energy. The use of tidal turbines dates back to as for as the Roman times, and can most commonly be found being used in Europe and the Atlantic coast of the United States of America. Since tidal energy is dependant on the relative gravitational forces between the Earth, Moon, and Sun, it is practically inexhaustible. Not to mention that since water is 832 times denser than air, water speeds of one-tenth that of wind speeds can produce the same amount of power on similar size turbines. There are three sub categories of types of tidal power; the tidal system, Barrages, and Tidal lagoons. The tidal system is much like a wind mill. It transfers the kinetic energy of moving water to turbines and turns it into usable energy. It has lower costs and the ecological impact is also lower than some of the other tidal power options. The second category is Barrages, the use the potential energy in the difference between high and low tides. A barrage is similar to a dam which spans the entire width of a tidal estuary. Along with these large structures can com higher civil infrastructure costs, fewer possible sites, and a greater number of environmental issues. The third is tidal lagoons. These lagoons are similar to barrages but do not need to reach fully across the estuary. With this comes lower costs, and a lower overall impact. One other difference between tidal lagoons and barrages is that tidal lagoons can be set up to continuously generate power which is cannot be done with barrages. For all these methods the stronger the tide, both water level or current velocities results in greater potential energy that can be generated. Here are some of the energy calculations for tidal power. ===

Energy calculations
Various turbine designs have varying efficiencies and therefore varying power output. If the efficiency of the turbine "Cp" is known the equation below can be used to determine the power output. The energy available from these kinetic systems can be expressed as: where: Cp is the turbine coefficient of performance P = the power generated (in watts) ρ = the density of the water (seawater is 1025 kg/m³) A = the sweep area of the turbine (in m²) V³ = the velocity of the flow cubed (i.e. V x V x V) Relative to an open turbine in free stream, shrouded turbines are capable of as much as 3 to 4 times the power of the same rotor in open flow, depending on the width of the shroud. However, to measure the efficiency, one must compare the benefits of a larger rotor with the benefits of the shroud. Geothermal energy can be used for both heat and electricity. It uses the radioactive decay of minerals and also the solar energy which is absorbed at the surface of the earth. Even ancient Romans used geothermal energy for both space heating and ‘roman’ bathes. The first geothermal generator was first tested by Prince Piero Ginori Conti in Italy on 4 July 1904. This form of energy is cost effective, reliable, and environmentally friendly. However the drawback is that it is limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Fortunately along with the development of the Binary cycle and advances in drilling and extracting technology, plants have been able to be put in places previously unsuitable. Currently the largest plant in the world is located at the Geysers geothermal field in California. And the largest company in the world is also located in the United States, Chevron. There is a high initial cost in building the power plant but once the plant is running, the cost is extremely low. Another reason geothermal energy may be criticized is because the wells can release greenhouses gases. The amounts of greenhouse gases that are released are far less than those of any fossil fuel power plant.
 * P = Cp x 0.5 x ρ x A x V³
 * Geothermal **

Bio fuels are solid liquid or gaseous fuel obtained from relatively recently lifeless or living biological material as opposed to fossil fuels which are derived from biological material that has been dead for hundreds of thousands of years. Bio fuels are most commonly used to power vehicles, heat homes, and cook. Although not fully developed bio fuel industries are expanding in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some of the technology developed allows for the transformation of pollution into renewable bio fuel. The common bio fuels include vegetable oil, biodiesel, bio alcohols, bio ethers, biogas, syngas, and solid bio fuels. Vegetable oil is often processed into bio diesel because it works well in the old style diesel engines that can run it as fuel. It can also be used in newer diesel engines with special conversion kits. Bio diesel is used mostly in Europe in vehicle engines. It is mixed with mineral diesel and the mixture is limited to a suggested 15% biodiesel by the manufactures. Bio alcohols are designed to work in gasoline engines. Butanol can act as a straight replacement while Ethanol fuels are mixed with gasoline. The problem with these is that they are highly corrosive to the fuel system in the vehicle. Bio ethers are used as performance enhances in car engines. They also reduce exhaust emissions. Bio gas is a product burned to produce heat such as natural gas. Syngas can be burned directly in internal combustion engines or turbines and it can be converted into a synthetic diesel substitute. Lastly solid bio fuels are such things as wood, charcoal, and dried manure. The problems that arise with the use of bio fuels include the food verses fuel issue, the level of carbon emissions, finding a sustainable level of bio fuels, deforestation and erosion as well as the loss of water resources among other things.
 * BIO FUEL **



To take this country in a new direction, the President is working with Congress to pass comprehensive legislation to protect our nation from the serious economic and strategic risks associated with our reliance on foreign oil and the destabilizing effects of a changing climate. Policies to advance energy and climate security should promote economic recovery efforts, accelerate job creation, and drive clean energy manufacturing by: [] Throughout many years of growing up and learning many things, we have come to realize school is a tool in which you learn how to think on your own. An educated person knows how to create solutions to a problem and can help to improve themselves and their surroundings. We were tasked with trying to find and research a method of purifying water to drink, or a renewable energy source. While brainstorming, we decided that although this is a good task we could come up with a solution to a larger scale problem and have a greater impact on our surroundings. Since there is no end all renewable energy sources which could supply clean energy to the entire world or country, we decided to research multiple renewable energy sources, and then look at areas where they could best be utilized throughout the United States of America. We feel that this could be accomplished in the near future by looking at the resources of the many diverse areas in throughout the country.
 * Progress**
 * The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included more than $60 billion in clean energy investments that will jump-start our economy and build the clean energy jobs of tomorrow:
 * $11 billion for a bigger, better, and smarter grid that will move renewable energy from the rural places it is produced to the cities where it is mostly used, as well as for 40 million smart meters to be deployed in American homes.
 * $5 billion for low-income home weatherization projects.
 * $4.5 billion to green federal buildings and cut our energy bill, saving taxpayers billions of dollars.
 * $6.3 billion for state and local renewable energy and energy efficiency efforts.
 * $600 million in green job training programs – $100 million to expand line worker training programs and $500 million for green workforce training.
 * $2 billion in competitive grants to develop the next generation of batteries to store energy.
 * Increasing, for the first time in more than a decade, the fuel economy standards for Model Year 2011 for cars and trucks so they will get better mileage, saving driver’s money and spurring companies to develop more innovative products.
 * The President issued a memorandum to the Department of Energy to implement more aggressive efficiency standards for common household appliances, like dishwashers and refrigerators. Through this step, over the next three decades, we’ll save twice the amount of energy produced by all the coal-fired power plants in America in any given year.
 * Supporting the first steps of a legally-binding treaty to reduce mercury emissions worldwide.
 * On Earth Day 2009, the President unveiled a program to develop the renewable energy projects on the waters of our Outer Continental Shelf that produce electricity from wind, wave, and ocean currents. These regulations will enable, for the first time ever, the nation to tap into our ocean’s vast sustainable resources to generate clean energy in an environmentally sound and safe manner.