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Energy

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This article is about the scalar physical quantity. For other uses, see Energy (disambiguation).

Lightning is the electric breakdown of air by strong electric fields and is a flow of energy.
The electric potential energy in the atmosphere changes into heat, light and sound which are
other forms of energy.

In physics, energy (from the Greek ἐνέργεια - energeia, "activity, operation", from ἐνεργός -
energos, "active, working"[1]) is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of work
that can be performed by a force, an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a
conservation law. Different forms of energy include kinetic, potential, thermal, gravitational,
sound, light, elastic, and electromagnetic energy. The forms of energy are often named after a
related force.

Any form of energy can be transformed into another form, but the total energy always
remains the same. This principle, the conservation of energy, was first postulated in the early
19th century, and applies to any isolated system. According to Noether's theorem, the
conservation of energy is a consequence of the fact that the laws of physics do not change
over time.[2]

Although the total energy of a system does not change with time, its value may depend on the
frame of reference. For example, a seated passenger in a moving airplane has zero kinetic
energy relative to the airplane, but non-zero kinetic energy relative to the Earth.

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain,
tides, and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished). In 2006, about 18%
of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional
biomass, such as wood-burning. Hydroelectricity was the next largest renewable source,
providing 3% of global energy consumption and 15% of global electricity generation.[2]

Wind power is growing at the rate of 30 percent annually, with a worldwide installed capacity
of 121,000 megawatts (MW) in 2008,[3] and is widely used in European countries and the
United States.[4] The annual manufacturing output of the photovoltaics industry reached 6,900
MW in 2008,[5] and photovoltaic (PV) power stations are popular in Germany and Spain.[6]
Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of these is the 354
MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert.[7] The world's largest geothermal power
installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW.[8] Brazil has one
of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel
from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country's automotive fuel.[9]
Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA. While most renewable energy projects and
production is large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited to small off-grid
applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human
development.[10] Kenya has the world's highest household solar ownership rate with roughly
30,000 small (20–100 watt) solar power systems sold per year.[11]

Some renewable-energy technologies are criticized for being intermittent or unsightly, yet the
renewable-energy market continues to grow. Climate-change concerns, coupled with high oil
prices, peak oil, and increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable-energy
legislation, incentives and commercialization.[12] New government spending, regulation and
policies should help the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other
sectors.[13]

Wind power
Main article: Wind power

Vestas V80 wind turbines

Airflows can be used to run wind turbines. Modern wind turbines range from around 600 kW
to 5 MW of rated power, although turbines with rated output of 1.5–3 MW have become the
most common for commercial use; the power output of a turbine is a function of the cube of
the wind speed, so as wind speed increases, power output increases dramatically.[19] Areas
where winds are stronger and more constant, such as offshore and high altitude sites, are
preferred locations for wind farms.

Since wind speed is not constant, a wind farm's annual energy production is never as much as
the sum of the generator nameplate ratings multiplied by the total hours in a year. The ratio of
actual productivity in a year to this theoretical maximum is called the capacity factor. Typical
capacity factors are 20-40%, with values at the upper end of the range in particularly
favourable sites.[20] [21] For example, a 1 MW turbine with a capacity factor of 35% will only
produce an average of 0.35 MW. Over a year, output would be .35x24x365 = 3,066 MWh
instead of 24x365 = 8,760 MWh. Online data is available for some locations and the capacity
factor can be calculated from the yearly output.[22][23]

Globally, the long-term technical potential of wind energy is believed to be five times total
current global energy production, or 40 times current electricity demand. This could require
large amounts of land to be used for wind turbines, particularly in areas of higher wind
resources. Offshore resources experience mean wind speeds of ~90% greater than that of
land, so offshore resources could contribute substantially more energy.[24] This number could
also increase with higher altitude ground-based or airborne wind turbines.[25]

Wind power is renewable and produces no greenhouse gases during operation, such as carbon
dioxide and methane
Sugar cane residue can be used as a biofuel

Solid biomass is most commonly used directly as a combustible fuel, producing 10-20 MJ/kg
of heat. Biomass can also be used to feed bacteria, which can transform it in another form of
energy such as hydrogen, using a process called Fermentative hydrogen production.

Its forms and sources include wood fuel, the biogenic portion of municipal solid waste, or the
unused portion of field crops. Field crops may or may not be grown intentionally as an
energy crop, and the remaining plant byproduct used as a fuel. Most types of biomass contain
energy. Even cow manure still contains two-thirds of the original energy consumed by the
cow. Energy harvesting via a bioreactor is a cost-effective solution to the waste disposal
issues faced by the dairy farmer, and can produce enough biogas to run a farm.

With current technology, it is not ideally suited for use as a transportation fuel. Most
transportation vehicles require power sources with high power density, such as that provided
by internal combustion engines. These engines generally require clean burning fuels, which
are generally in liquid form, and to a lesser extent, compressed gaseous phase. Liquids are
more portable because they can have a high energy density, and they can be pumped, which
makes handling easier.

Non-transportation applications can usually tolerate the low power-density of external


combustion engines, that can run directly on less-expensive solid biomass fuel, for combined
heat and power. One type of biomass is wood, which has been used for millennia. Two
billion people currently cook every day, and heat their homes in the winter by burning
biomass, which is a major contributor to man-made climate change global warming.[citation
needed]
The black soot that is being carried from Asia to polar ice caps is causing them to melt
faster in the summer.[citation needed] In the 19th century, wood-fired steam engines were common,
contributing significantly to industrial revolution unhealthy air pollution.[citation needed] Coal is a
form of biomass that has been compressed over millennia to produce a non-renewable,
highly-polluting fossil fuel.

Wood and its byproducts can now be converted through processes such as gasification into
biofuels such as woodgas, biogas, methanol or ethanol fuel; although further development
may be required to make these methods affordable and practical. Sugar cane residue, wheat
chaff, corn cobs and other plant matter can be, and are, burned quite successfully. The net
carbon dioxide emissions that are added to the atmosphere by this process are only from the
fossil fuel that was consumed to plant, fertilize, harvest and transport the biomass.
Krafla Geothermal Station in northeast Iceland

Geothermal energy is energy obtained by tapping the heat of the earth itself, both from
kilometers deep into the Earth's crust in some places of the globe or from some meters in
geothermal heat pump in all the places of the planet . It is expensive to build a power station
but operating costs are low resulting in low energy costs for suitable sites. Ultimately, this
energy derives from heat in the Earth's core.

Three types of power plants are used to generate power from geothermal energy: dry steam,
flash, and binary. Dry steam plants take steam out of fractures in the ground and use it to
directly drive a turbine that spins a generator. Flash plants take hot water, usually at
temperatures over 200 °C, out of the ground, and allows it to boil as it rises to the surface
then separates the steam phase in steam/water separators and then runs the steam through a
turbine. In binary plants, the hot water flows through heat exchangers, boiling an organic
fluid that spins the turbine. The condensed steam and remaining geothermal fluid from all
three types of plants are injected back into the hot rock to pick up more heat.

The geothermal energy from the core of the Earth is closer to the surface in some areas than
in others. Where hot underground steam or water can be tapped and brought to the surface it
may be used to generate electricity. Such geothermal power sources exist in certain
geologically unstable parts of the world such as Chile, Iceland, New Zealand, United States,
the Philippines and Italy. The two most prominent areas for this in the United States are in the
Yellowstone basin and in northern California. Iceland produced 170 MW geothermal power
and heated 86% of all houses in the year 2000 through geothermal energy. Some 8000 MW
of capacity is operational in total.

There is also the potential to generate geothermal energy from hot dry rocks. Holes at least
3 km deep are drilled into the earth. Some of these holes pump water into the earth, while
other holes pump hot water out. The heat resource consists of hot underground radiogenic
granite rocks, which heat up when there is enough sediment between the rock and the earths
surface. Several companies in Australia are exploring this technology.
Water power

Main article: Hydropower

Energy in water (in the form of kinetic energy, temperature differences or salinity gradients)
can be harnessed and used. Since water is about 800 times denser than air,[26][27] even a slow
flowing stream of water, or moderate sea swell, can yield considerable amounts of energy.

One of 3 Pelamis P-750 Ocean Wave Power machines in the harbor of Peniche, Portugal

There are many forms of water energy:

• Hydroelectric energy is a term usually reserved for large-scale hydroelectric dams.


Examples are the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State and the Akosombo Dam in
Ghana.
• Micro hydro systems are hydroelectric power installations that typically produce up to
100 kW of power. They are often used in water rich areas as a Remote Area Power
Supply (RAPS). There are many of these installations around the world, including
several delivering around 50 kW in the Solomon Islands.
• Damless hydro systems derive kinetic energy from rivers and oceans without using a
dam.
• Ocean energy describes all the technologies to harness energy from the ocean and the
sea:
o Tidal power captures energy from the tides. Two different principles for
generating energy from the tides are used at the moment:

1. Tidal motion in the vertical direction — Tides come in, raise water levels in a
basin, and tides roll out. Around low tide, the water in the basin is discharged
through a turbine, exploiting the stored potential energy.
2. Tidal motion in the horizontal direction — Or tidal stream power. Using tidal
stream generators, like wind turbines but then in a tidal stream. Due to the
high density of water, about eight-hundred times the density of air, tidal
currents can have a lot of kinetic energy. Several commercial prototypes have
been built, and more are in development.

o Wave power uses the energy in waves. Wave power machines usually take the
form of floating or neutrally buoyant structures which move relative to one
another or to a fixed point. Wave power has now reached commercialization.

Solar energy
Main article: Solar energy

Monocrystalline solar cell

In this context, "solar energy" refers to energy that is collected from sunlight. Solar energy
can be applied in many ways, including to:

• Generate electricity using photovoltaic solar cells.


• Generate electricity using concentrated solar power.
• Generate electricity by heating trapped air which rotates turbines in a Solar updraft
tower.
• Generate hydrogen using photoelectrochemical cells.
• Heat and cool air through use of solar chimneys.
• Heat buildings, directly, through passive solar building design.
• Heat foodstuffs, through solar ovens.
• Heat water or air for domestic hot water and space heating needs using solar-thermal
panels.
• Solar air conditioning
Fossil fuel
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Coal, one of the fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels or mineral fuels are fuels formed by natural resources such as anaerobic
decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil
fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years.[1] These fuels
contain high percentage of carbon and hydrocarbons.

Fossil fuels range from volatile materials with low carbon:hydrogen ratios like methane, to
liquid petroleum to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon, like anthracite
coal. Methane can be found in hydrocarbon fields, alone, associated with oil, or in the form of
methane clathrates. It is generally accepted that they formed from the fossilized remains of
dead plants and animals[2] by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth's crust over hundreds
of millions of years.[3] This biogenic theory was first introduced by Georg Agricola in 1556
and later by Mikhail Lomonosov in the 18th century.

It was estimated by the Energy Information Administration that in 2006 primary sources of
energy consisted of petroleum 36.8%, coal 26.6%, natural gas 22.9%, amounting to an 86%
share for fossil fuels in primary energy production in the world. Non-fossil sources included
hydroelectric 6.3%, nuclear 6.0%, and (geothermal, solar, tide, wind, wood, waste)
amounting 0.9 percent.[4] World energy consumption was growing about 2.3% per year.

Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form, and
reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being formed. The production and
use of fossil fuels raise environmental concerns. A global movement toward the generation of
renewable energy is therefore under way to help meet increased energy needs.[citation needed]

The burning of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes (21.3 gigatonnes) of carbon
dioxide per year, but it is estimated that natural processes can only absorb about half of that
amount, so there is a net increase of 10.65 billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per
year (one tonne of atmospheric carbon is equivalent to 44/12 or 3.7 tonnes of carbon).[5]
Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that enhances radiative forcing and contributes
to global warming, causing the average surface temperature of the Earth to rise in response,
which climate scientists agree will cause major adverse effects.
Non-renewable resource
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A coal mine in Wyoming. Coal, produced over millions of years, is an inherently finite and
non-renewable resource on a human time scale.

A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be produced, re-grown,


regenerated, or reused on a scale which can sustain its consumption rate. These resources
often exist in a fixed amount, or are consumed much faster than nature can recreate them.
Fossil fuel (such as coal, petroleum and natural gas)is an example. In contrast, resources such
as timber (when harvested sustainably) or metals (which can be recycled) are considered
renewable resources [1].

A non-renewable resource is always drawn down with anabolic processes that use up energy.
[citation needed]
Nuclear Energy has been touted as an alternative to mainstream electricity production from
fossil fuel sources. But how does Nuclear compare to fossil fuels in the long run?

Undoubtedly fossil fuels have serious issues associated with them. Peak Oil production is one
such problem which will very soon make its presence felt at both the national and individual
level. Another even more serious concern is the possibility of serious and perhaps irreversible
climate change brought about by pollution primarily in the form of Carbon Dioxide emissions
from the burning of fossil fuels.

So how does Nuclear energy stand up as an alternative to fossil fuels in terms of a sustainable
source of electricity production? There are several concerns about Nuclear energy that have
given it a bad name. Reactor problems such as those that caused the Three Mile Island and
Chernobyl incidents, along with several others, are far fewer in number relative to the scale
of electricity production than compared to casualties in the mining sector associated with oil
and coal.

Storage of Nuclear waste is also largely an issue of the past with technology now available to
store Nuclear waste in solid form, reducing virtually to zero the possibility of leakage, ground
water contamination and so forth.

Use of fuel enrichment to produce weapons grade nuclear materials such as Plutonium-239 is
an unfortunate but essential part of the economical use of nuclear fuel. It is worth
remembering that no aggressive nuclear strike has been carried out since the bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War Two, and that many millions of casualties have
occurred in conventional warfare since that same time.

The reality for us though is that nuclear power relies upon supplies of Uranium and
Plutonium that are themselves limited. While these resources may have only begun to be
exploited, it is certain that if our current level of increase of energy consumption continues
then Nuclear fuel will also face the prospect of its own peak production level.

It cannot be a responsible decision to replace fossil fuels with another energy source that is
also doomed to run out in the foreseeable future. While those proponents of Nuclear power
proclaim it as the salvation of our current situation they are not looking far enough into the
future.

To make correct, responsible decisions that take into account not only our own welfare but
also that of our children and their children, we need to adopt wide scale renewable energy in
the form of Solar and Wind power. These proven technologies have the capacity to meet our
energy demands TODAY with no adverse future effects, assuming they are implemented in
an intelligent way.

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