Energy Alternatives: Conventional and Renewable

oil

_______ consumption has shot up and not it’s leveling out

natural gas

_______ consumption has increased

hydropower

__________ has been around for a while, but that has leveled off

hydropower and wind

_________ and ________ are the most important renewables

solar power

_______ is a growing piece of renewables

nuclear energy

energy that holds subatomic particles together in atomic nucleus

nuclear fission

nuclei of uranium or plutonium atoms are bombarded with neutrons. slit nuclei emit radiation, energy, and neutrons, which can bombard other atoms (chain reaction)

nuclear reactor

stored in a small building

containment building

building that is used to make sure that any radioactive material that is released is contained within that structure and needs to meet specific design specifications

reactor vessel

where bombarding of uranium atoms with neutrons takes place

water

________ is very important in controlling the rate of nuclear reactions

fuel rods

small pellets of uranium are purified and placed into __________

control rods

_________ can be moved up and down to control the rate of reactions to allow neutrons to move between the fuel rods

generator

the water in nuclear reactors gets super heated and moves through tubing into the steam _________ and flows back inside

steam

________ is generated and moves into secondary loop and spins turbine to allow electricity to be made in the generator

cooling tower

steam is cooled off in ___________ to be converted to liquid water

uranium-235

__________ is source material for nuclear reactions

uranium isotope

there is a low concentration of _________ when mining

14:1

EROI of uranium

greenhouse gas emissions

nuclear power produces no __________

core meltdown

loss of coolant resulted in _________ in three mile island

chernobyl

power spike resulted in increase in nuclear chain reaction and several explosions occurred and a large plume of radioactive smoke was released

dispose

it is difficult to _______ of nuclear waste

small modular reactors

are prefabricated and can be used individually or in combination. the design is simpler as there are no pumps or motors

generation reactors

new __________ are under development that use new fuels and coolants

passive solar energy collection

use natural sun as heating in the winter and minimize how hot it gets in the summer

active solar energy collection

uses solar panels. They can sometimes move as the sun move and they have pipes moving through them that has liquid in them and the liquid is heated up and hot liquid moves into different structures. Can generate both heat and hot water in your home

mirrors

you can use ______ to concentrate sunlight and heat up liquid to heat homes and generate electricity

photovoltaic cells

take light energy and directly convert to electricity

store

photovoltaic cells cannot ________ that energy

wind power

__________ is growing in terms of importance

80:1

EROI for hydropower

run-of-river

build some piping and take some of the water that is flowing from the river. Smaller scale, but is a lot less disruptive and the impacts are a lot less severe

pumped storage

secondary reservoir that sits higher that is connected to primary reservoir with pipes. They use electricity to move water from downstream area up to higher reservoir and only gets used when there is significant demand. They use energy to pump the water up when energy usage within the public is low. Allows for storage capacity

large dams

_______ prevent migration of fish

geothermal energy

utilizing the heat coming from the core of the earth

heat pumps

They dig down into the ground about 3-4 ft, and the soil temperature stays relatively constant throughout the year. Use this as air conditioning and heating system. In the winter, soil temperature is warmer than air temperature. Water gets warmer as it runs through the pipe and the warm water gets pumped through the house. Does the opposite in the summer. Does not affect soil layer. It is pricy.

bioenergy

combustion of biomass for heating, electricity generation, and transportation

direct combustion

burn wood or charcoal to heat your home

bipower

use waste products for electricity

biofuels

use plants to power vehicles

biogas plants

either produce biogas for electricity or liquid waste product used for fertilizer

ethanol

produced by fermenting biomass

biomass

crops with high carbohydrate content

1.3:1

EROI of ethanol

biodiesel

fuel produced from vegetable oil used cooking grease or animal fat or use of algae as alternative source of this

emissions

biodiesel has less ________ than regular diesel

0.7-5.5

EROI of biodiesel