5.6 -Present and Future Energy Sources

Coal Slurry:

a suspension of pulverized coal in water

Syngas:

a synthetic fuel produced from gasification of coal

Efficiency:

the ratio of the energy output to the energy input of any system

The most widely fuels today are :

fossil fuels including petroleum, coal, and natural gasses

Most coal used in Canada used to generate

electricity

Petroleum and natural gas primarily used for

transportation and heating

Fossil fuels are :

non renewable energy sources and its combustion releases greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and water.

Nuclear Fission:

used in power plants have extremely large quantities of energy

Power station:

expensive to build or operate and can cause catastrophic accidents

Long term solution to the problem of how to safely store nuclear waste

not yet found

Coal

• Can be used produce coal slurry and syngas, synthetic fuel that can be used in the place of other fossil fuels

• These fossil fuels extend the limited supply of fossil fuels but have similar costs

Hydrogen gas:

• can potentially be used as a fuel

  • Large amount of energy released upon hydrogen combustion, but product (water vapour) is greenhouse gas

  • Hydrogen gas also very expensive to produce and challenging to transport and store

Biofuel’s:

renewable but come from crops like corn ( would increase food prices if it was source of energy)

• Much of energy content of energy sourced is:

lost in conversion and distribution processes, mostly as waste heat