Wind energy/geothermal energy

What is wind

The movement of atmospheric molecules caused by uneven heating of Earth’s surface

What is a low pressure system

Warm, less dense air rises into the atmosphere and migrates towards cooler areas

What is a high pressure system

Cooler, denser air moves over Earth’s surface towards warmer areas

In what direction does wind blow from

High pressure to low pressure areas

How does a wind turbine work

Wind flows over the blades with different pressures causing it to turn and spinning the rotor that connects to a generator

The two main kinds of wind turbines

Horizontal axis wind turbines (hawts)

Vertical axis wind turbines (vawts)

Vertical axid wind turbines

Short and wide blades, omnidirectional to receive wind from all directions, unreliable due to turbulence from obstt

Different types of vawts

Savonius

Onshore wind turbine

Turbines on land, inexpensive, less complex, easier maintenance, adaptable for small scale

Offshore wind turbine

More efficient at producing energy, not limited by space, closer to communities

Cons of wind energy

animal mortality in bats and birds, altered behavior of birds, habitat loss of marine life, noise pollution for marine life and humans, visual impact on humans

What is geothermal energy

Producing electrical energy from thermal energy from steam and hot water reservoirs

What two applications can hydrothermal resources be used for

Heat pumps and power plants

Heat pumps

Used to heat and cool homes, can be underground with fluid in pipes. If atmosphere is cold then heat is absorbed from ground and transferred to home, if atmosphere is warm then heat is dispersed in ground

Different types of geothermal power plants

Dry steam plants, flash steam plants, and binary-cycle plants

Dry steam plants

Uses steam directly from a geothermal reservoir to turn generator

Flash steam plants

High pressure hot water from inside earth is converted to steam to turn a turbine that goes to generator to convert mechanical to electrical energy, the steam condenses and injected back into ground

Binary-cycle plants

Transfers heat from geothermal hot water to another liquid that turns into steam to drive turbine then generator to convert mechanical to electrical energy

Cons of geothermal energy

High initial costs, could cause seismic activity, is location specific to places on “ring of fire”