Dams - A Source Of Sustainable Power
November 5, 2009 by Go Green Tips · Leave a Comment
Dams have been around for a century now. Beavers used it, although not for energy and now humans employ it as source for that ingredient in survival: power.
Hydroelectricity
Hydropower generates hydroelectricity. It produces power with the help of gravity. It is the most common alternate source of energy. After the dam (called the hydroelectric complex) is built the complex it produces no waste whatsoever. Hydroelectric power comes from waters potential energy.
Imagine a glass bubble, and you’re in it. When the walls crack water exerts pressure on that one whole until water comes through that tiny gap. It’s the same thing with a dam. The engineers collect the dam’s power by harnessing it with the use of a turbine which then connected to a generator. In this matter the power extracted from the rushing water depends on the amount of force the water exerts on the turbine and on the difference of the water’s average gravitational pull. The difference between the height and the outflow is called the head
The amount of the water’s potential energy depends on how high the dam is from its outflow. Dams help cities by supplying energy during extremely high demand times and during off peak the turbines pump water into higher reservoirs so that when electricity consumption is high again.
Where Is The Power Supplied
Most hydroelectric power plants supply public entities; there are some which are funded by industrial companies for their specific use. Such industries like aluminum electrolytic plants build there own hydroelectric power plants due to their high energy consumption. In fact the world’s largest dam the Coulee Dam, located in Bellingham Washington was switched to support Alcoa Aluminum plant, which at the time was the largest supplier of materials for war planes; afterwards though it was used for public electricity and as a source for irrigation.
There are also small scale hydroelectric power plants, most of them are located in north America. A plant is classified as small scale when it only produces 10- 30 megawatts. These power sources are usually connected to power grids to supply energy to small isolated communities or even to a single family home. In China small hydro schemes are very popular due to a high number of factories wishing to have their own supply of electricity.
Other Common Water Energy Sources
Other common hydro resources are rivers, the ocean, waterfalls and even ponds or lakes. Rivers power plants where in no reservoir can be built are called run-of-the-river-, while the ocean is put into good use because of the tides. A tidal power plant harnesses the energy of the coming and the going of the tides. Uncommon but never the less employed are kinetic energy water plants.
Why It Makes Sense
Economically the use of hydropower is cost effective because our primary source the fossil fuel is expensive and slowly getting used up. Water is of the abundance and most of the time it is free. Granted that dams and other hydroelectric power plants are quite expensive to build, but the pros far out weigh the cons. The operating and maintenance cost of a hydroplant is considerably cheaper than looking for fossil fuel, drilling for it, and refining it to become oil. What’s more a hydroelectric power plant cannot be affected and is not subject to the rise and fall of fuel prices.
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Sustaining Life-Sustainable Power
November 4, 2009 by Go Green Tips · Leave a Comment
When we speak of energy, power, and development, we all think development, industrialization, advancement; all these leads to pollution and degradation of the environment. You hear advocates say that our environment was a lot purer in long gone ages because people do not use energy.
Who’s Liable?
That is not necessarily true; you see ancient man used fire to cook things, and then the sun to warm them up. Even humanity itself uses energy to be able to move and go about life each day. We cannot survive without energy and yet we blame it for the destruction of our planet. It is us who use energy to no ends, it is us who abuse its use therefore we are liable to find the solution to pollution. It is our responsibility to our selves and the future generation to seek ways of supporting our way of life without harming the environment.
The Scope and Definition of Sustainable Power
Generally sustainable power is thought to be any renewable kind of energy. Meaning it is any puissance whose source cannot be depleted and does not contaminate the environment on a long term basis.
Although sustainable power maybe confused with alternate or green energy the two are distinctly different. Sustainable power is conducive to nature but it is set apart from green or alternate energy because its source is unending, it cannot be exhausted.
Power Source
Sources of sustainable energy vary. It can be as simple as hydrogen to as complex as nuclear energy. When we speak of sustainable development we must consider the basics before heading of to the complex, after all we haven’t used the newly scientifically discovered energy long enough to know its possible effects. The first things to consider are those that nature itself supplies; like the air, wind, solar, tidal, and water resources.
Techno Speak
With all the media hype surrounding this idealism you’d think that we aren’t already using sustainable energy! Yes, we already are using alternate energy resources. We have water dams, the waterfall power plants, wind mills, geothermal plants, and the nuclear power plants.
There are three technological classifications for the technologies that help us attain sustainable power; these include biomass combustion, hydropower, and geothermal plants. First generation power automatons arose during the industrial revolution. This is the time where people discovered that manufacturing will become faster thru the use of machines, and faster output means larger sales. In a way sustainable power was researched and invented not for the future but for the moment; to improve lives, industry and the economy.
Second Generation energy resources comprise wind power, various forms of modern bioenergy, solar photovoltaics, and solar energy. These technologies emerged from the need to depend on oil so much. Research and Development was massively funded during the 1980’s and we are now reaping the benefits.
Third Generation sustainable energy resources are those that relatively new; biorefinery technologies, ocean energy, hot dry rock energy, biomass gasification, concentrating solar thermal power and even nanotechnology may make future appearances that will hopefully end our quest for continuous energy sources. On the stage of research and experimentation these resources are still under development but raise the hopes of those who continually seek sustainable power.
All that have been mentioned are technological advances and discoveries of everlasting energy source, but in the end like everything in our lives, the future is in our hands. Even when we are provided with more nature friendly energy resources if we don’t conserve and use it wisely we will still end up damaging the very planet on whose existence and well being we very much depend on.
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It’s Not All About The Oil- America Has Sustainable Power
November 4, 2009 by Go Green Tips · Leave a Comment
The world is in a frenzy, the oil crisis is making economies to cause a downturn that may even be greater than the great depression. The war as they say is the cause. The budget deficit for 2008 is now over $400,000,000. This money certainly would have been put to better use within America itself.
Conspiracy Theory
Most people will say that the president of the United States waged war with a middle eastern country due to oil America after all is one of the world’s largest oil consumer. Everything in the US is automated, or electrical. To run machineries you need oil products, to produce high demands of electricity you barrel and barrels of oil to run the generators.
It is quite easy to assume that President bush whose family business is oil has a vested interest in acquiring a country so rich in mineral deposits. First of all it will make oil sources available anytime they want without having to bother with diplomacy and pass through another government. Second more profit for the Bush family, because they have an oil business if they can get fossil fuel at cost then they will have more earnings. The theory makes sense and could very much be possible.
Sustainable Power Resources
We are not here to discuss political and personal issues. We are here to point out that there are other faces to this scenario. Yes, America is one of the world’s largest energy consumer, but America also has the largest alternative energy resources in the World
Geothermal, Hydro, Wind and etc
The United States of America is considered as the world’s greatest geothermal energy producer. The Geysers located just north of San Francisco was the planet’s first and largest dry steam field. The amazing thing about these power plants (since there are several) is that sewage waste from surrounding cities are pumped into the geothermal plant in order to replenish the supply of steam needed for energy production. States such as Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Utah among others have their own geothermal plants.
Considered the fourth country with the largest hydropower capacity, the Americas revolutionized hydropower by building numerous dams in highly calculated areas all over the US. Perhaps the most popular is the Hoover Dam. At the time it was fully operational Hoover Dam was said to be the world’s largest electricity generating hydropower plant. Located on the cusp of Nevada and Arizona, the Hoover dam supplies electricity to the states of Nevada, Arizona and most of Southern California.
Rock Port Missouri is a city in North America who is fully powered by wind farms. Of the 56 states in America over half have wind farms which help supply their security needs. Some states may have aesthetical issues, but wind farms will definitely become indispensable in the future especially when the impact of dwindling oil supplies from the east is felt.
A Closing
The States have its own oil resources right within its backyard. Texas and just off shore from New Orleans a new sight is emerging. That of drilling areas, but one thing remains clear. Fossil fuel as an energy source is not viable for human health and the future of our environment. If you’re still asking why the American government is waging war for oil? Perhaps it’s not oil after all. Maybe it’s just a peace crusade with a sword in hand.
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