Wind and Hydroelectric Power

So in my last post, I made reference to both wind power and hydroelectricity, and I briefly explained each, but I suppose it would be a fairly good idea to cover both of these in detail in their own post, as wind and water are both extremely copious sources of energy, as they are available literally wherever wind or water blows or flows, respectively. So without further ado, I suppose I'll hop right into two of the planet's most renewable sources of energy.

This post is brought to you by Mägo de Oz and their song "Molinos de Viento," also known as windmills:


iEspañoles son locos!

Wind power has been utilized by humans for centuries. Wind has been used to perform tasks like grinding up corn, to drawing up water, to sailing a boat, to even powering a house! Now, if you want to get really technically, windmills are used to provide mechanical energy, like the first three tasks, while wind turbines (also called wind generators, or if you're really cool: aerogenerators) are used to provide electrical energy, as in the last task; however, I am human, and thus I shall probably end up using them interchangeably throughout the course of this blog, so just for the sake of clarity, I mean wind turbines. Anyway, wind turbines are extremely simple. Essentially, the wind blows over the rotor blades, which causes them to rotate, which provides rotary power for a generator, creating electricity. Now, there are two main methods to doing this: the infinitely-more-common Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (Left), and the slightly-more-obscure-but-at-the-same-time-kind-of-fun-to-look-at Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (Right). When a person thinks of wind power, generally they think of a HAWT, however LAWTs are gradually becoming more prevalent, due to some distinct advantages. Firstly, HAWTs must be built fairly tall so as to gain access to fast enough winds to cause a rotation, but LAWTs are able to rotate with slower wind speeds. Furthermore, HAWTs are extremely difficult to transport, as the blades must come in one piece, and most of them are half as long as a football field; however, LAWTs generally don't have to come in massive pieces, and usually aren't nearly as tall. Lastly, the generator and most of the moving parts in a HAWT are hundreds of feet in the air, while the generator in a LAWT is close to the ground, making it easier to repair, should it break down (a good rule of thumb to remember is that in every machine ever designed ever, the more moving parts it has, the more likely it is to break). However, despite all these advantages, Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines are far more popular, simply because they are more efficient, and generally perceived to be sturdier. However, HAWTs are catching on. One up-and-coming method of using wind turbines is to install a relatively small HAWT on top of a building! This serves as a double-whammy, as the building itself redirects wind to the roof, oftentimes doubling the wind speed, and also the very electricity produced by the turbine could simply go straight into the building beneath it. Anyway, I suppose I'll just sum up wind power with this: from what I've researched, wind power is completely and utterly renewable, but it just isn't efficient enough to replace oil. Right now, wind accounts for about .3% of the planets energy, while nonrenewable sources account for over 90% In theory, if we could cover the planet in 300 times as many wind turbines as there are now, it could work, but in practice, I just don't see it happening. However, wind power, in conjunction with other renewable resources, certainly could do the job.



Hydroelectricity is currently the most widely used source of renewable energy. In 2006, hydroelectric power plants supplied almost 3000 TeraWatt-hours of energy, accounting for 20% of the entire planet's electricity, and 80% of the electricity from renewable resources. Clearly, as the planet has plenty of water to spare, hydroelectricity has the potential to power the planet.

So I suppose I'll rap to ya about how this hydroelectricity works. There are several methods of deriving energy from water, but the most common method is through damming water, such as in a river, and releasing it gradually in order to spin massive turbines and generators. Essentially, it's very similar to wind power, except with moving water as opposed to moving air. However, that's just how the typical, orthodox, conventional, boring hydroelectric plant works. There are entirely different methods of utilizing moving water that, while less common, are gradually becoming more prevalent in the world's energy supply. Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity does not involve a dam. Rather, it just has two massive reservoirs, one at a high elevation, and another at a low elevation. When there is a high peak demand, literally when there is the highest demand for electricity, water will flow from the high tank down to the low one, spinning a turbine along the way. Then, during times of low peak demand, any excess energy can be used to pump water from the low reservoir back up to the high one. This method, however, ultimately results in the system using more electricity than it produces. However, it is capable of making money by creating energy during high demand and using it during low demand, even though it technically consumes more than it produces. This allows it to have the largest capacity for grid energy storage. Another mildly intriguing source of hydroelectric power is known as a Tidal Plant. This method uses the changing tide from the moon's gravitational pull to create energy and electricity. Clearly, there are plenty of schools of thought as to how water can be used to meet the energy needs of the planet.

So I suppose I'll do some pros and cons. A nice thing about the big ol' dam idea is that after building the dam...that's about it, other than a bit of maintenance here and there. As long as water flows in the river, it will continue to crank out electricity. However, a negative aspect of building massive dams is the huge impact it can have on ecosystems...downstream. Plants and animals often rely on rivers for food, drinking water, and shelter. However, dropping a big dam in the middle of a river drastically decreases the amount of water available downstream, and thus these ecosystems suffer. Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity does not have this adverse effect on the environment; however, there is the negative aspect of the fact that it isn't nearly as efficient, as at some point, that water has to be pumped back up. Tidal plants solve both problems; however, the areas in which there is enough of a tidal change and a fast enough flow of water to spin a turbine are extremely limited. So really while each one has its benefits...there's not really one specific method that's better than the others. Unless if we combined them all into a super hydroelectric power plant o.O but that's just preposterous.

Anyway, I'll wrap this up now if you don't mind. Hydroelectric power has the capacity to replace oil, if we can expand the industry. Furthermore, it's only a matter of time before the technology we have now is improved to the point that the aforementioned negative aspects become fairly negligible. Again, the best-case scenario would be to use hydroelectric power in combination with other sources of completely renewable energy.

This post took almost 2 weeks to complete.

Let us dabble in the fantastic for a moment, shall we?

Fuel cells and solar power are all well and good, but everybody and his brother already know about them. What about those ridiculously fantastical ideas? The kind that are just now emerging, work only in theory, or are simply imagined by Yours Truly. These are just ideas to mull over or think about, and aren't necessarily probable or even logically sound. Nevertheless, I'm pretty much always thinking about these sorts of things.

Let's start of with something straightforward. I think we all can agree that the ocean is pretty huge. It has lots of water, lots of space, and lots of...well...fish. The fish point is mildly irrelevant, but water and open space are certainly useful. A hydroelectric power plant is any plant that uses the kinetic energy of water to create electricity. Hydroelectricity is the world's biggest source of renewable energy, and I'll probably be covering it at some point later. It simply uses a flow of water to turn a big turbine, thus creating electricity. Now, when most people think of hydroelectricity, they think of a big river stopped up by a big dam. For the most part, this IS how hydroelectricity is produced. However, rivers are limited. There are only so many rivers in the world, and we can't exactly stop them all up to create electricity, lest we cause massive environmental issues down the road. However, why must it be a river? If any flow of water can turn a turbine, why not look to the ocean. Let's take a look at the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is a massive current of water that cruises along the eastern coast of the United States and cuts across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Think of the Gulf Stream like a river within the ocean: it is constantly moving, and will never run out. Hypothetically, it could be completely possible to place the same hydroelectric turbines at the bottom of the ocean, right smack in the middle of the Gulf Stream. If it works for rivers, why not the ocean? In theory, and this is pretty much just my own speculation, this could be a constant source of completely renewable energy. However, the ocean has even more uses than just huge currents. The vast flat space offered by the ocean allows yet another form of renewable energy to be used here: wind power. Wind farms, or large clusters of wind turbines, have been popping up all over dry land for years now. However, this leads to many issues. They are rather noisy, mildly unpleasant to look at, and difficult to transport. Furthermore, there is a limited amount of flat open land, and the wind doesn't always blow here. However, wind farms on the ocean solve virtually all of these issues. They will be far away from anyone who would prefer not to have a massive, spinning windmill in their backyard. They would be far easier to transport and assemble at sea, due to the great mobility of sea cranes. Furthermore, deep water is considerably less rough than dry land, causing the wind the be far more powerful and constant than here. Clearly, the ocean has a lot to offer.

Well, those were both fairly straightforward. However, I think I'm about to go off the deep end with this next section, so here is my official warning.
I've got a pretty fantastic idea, in my humble opinion. It's kind of simple in essence, mildly similar to the aforementioned windmills or hydroelectric plants, but the driving force behind it is slightly more abstract than simply water or wind. There is a gratuitous amount of mass simply flying around the universe and passing through the earth as you read this. This substance is referred to as "dark matter," simply because it is difficult to detect. It is impossible to see, feel, hear, or interact with in any way. However, due to the massive nature of the dark matter, scientists are able to prove its existence, through observing the rotation of galaxies or observing the bending of light around massive pockets of seemingly invisible gravity. Now this is all well and good, but what does it actually do for us? Well, there are chunks of mass zipping all over the universe at thousands of miles per hour. If this mass were able to exert force on regular matter, that would be a force exerted over a distance, also known as the definition of energy. If a substance or material could be designed that can physically interact with dark matter, it could potentially be possible to create a dark matter "windmill" that could create energy in exactly the same way as a hydroelectric turbine. In theory, I think it's a stupendous idea, but in practice...well, no such substance has been discovered yet, but someday...who knows?

Ahem: an Update: I've gotten a pretty positive response from my Dark Matter rant, so I just thought that I might expand a bit, and apply my freaky physics nonsense to something happening right now in the real world. Over in Switzerland, perhaps you've heard of the Large Hadron Collider, also known as "that machine that's gonna end the world in 2012" to the fools that believe the Mayans could predict the future. But I digress. Anyway, I feel as though 98% of the people in the world are positive that this thing is going to create big evil black holes that are going to compress the planet into the size of a tic tac, and about 2% actually know what the LHC is supposed to do. Now, I don't really know all the stuff it's supposed to help discover, but I do know that one of the things is proving the theory of dark matter. Theoretically, by slamming together these particles at 99.999% the speed of light, many believe that this could create dark matter, thus allowing those wacky Swiss scientists to potentially prove its existence, develop ways to detect it, and potentially even find ways to interact with it. So I suppose my idea's not so preposterous after all.

Fuel cells: a tiny little box of awesome

Fuel cells seem to have gradually infiltrated the world of energy. However, it is still a fairly new and widely unused source of energy. Right now, with the current technology at hand, fuel cells are impractical; however, it is very likely that in the near future, they have the potential to move to the forefront of the world's energy needs, from remote power sources to transportation.

These fuel cells, like the one shown to the right, are actually fairly simple in nature. The fuel, usually hydrogen, is pumped into the cell. Then, it is oxidized, meaning it is changed from a neutral atom into a positive ion and a single free electron. Said electrons are then free to move about, specifically through a wire, which creates electric current. Then, on the other side of the cell, the aforementioned positive ion and electron are reunited and react with another substance, generally oxygen, creating a waste product of water or carbon dioxide. Now a perfectly reasonable reaction at this point would be "Hey, Bryan! You promised us this was simple!" I'm not really implying that fuel cells are simple, and anyone could just make one if the mood struck them. I'm just saying that these fuel cells are a lot easier than say...gas-powered engines. Just in case you didn't know before now, the engine that drives your car is literally housing thousands of explosions every second. Just something to think about...

Anyway, that's how the most basic of fuel cells work. Naturally there are variations on the simple design, and many other methods used that all help change the uses and efficiency of the fuel cells. One such alteration is a very very recent development referred to as the "bloom box." A good video detailing the bloom box can be found here. The bloom box works off the same general principle, but utilizes sand and hydrocarbons to create electricity. As of right now, it's still unclear how it works, but it apparently seems to work quite effectively. However, one drawback I personally see is that it needs hydrocarbons, like gasoline, in order to function.

Whew...I don't know about you, but I can't handle any more science. Let's talk numbers. The typical fuel cell cranks out an average of .6 to .7 volts, or about half of a triple A battery, which is not exactly all that impressive. However, these fuel cells are capable of being stacked together in either series or parallel circuits, allowing higher voltage or higher current respectively. If one were to stack together enough of these fuel cells, it would be possible to get enough voltage to power virtually any application, from a 100 Watt laptop, to a 5000 Watt house, to a 100,000 Watt vehicle, to even a massive 200,000,000 Watt central power generator. The very "stackable" nature of fuel cells is what makes it so useful in many different applications. Hydrogen cells are pretty efficient, too. About half of the energy from the fuel (hydrogen) is converted into electricity, and half of it is lost as heat because a typical hydrogen fuel cell is about 50% efficient. This is a lot more impressive when compared to an average car, which is about 3% to 4% efficient on a good day. Furthermore, due to the fairly simple nature of fuel cells, they can be expected to be very reliable. They are compact, lightweight, have no moving parts, and don't contain tiny explosions, meaning that it is very very difficult for it to actually break. Scientists theorize that for every 2 years of perfect functionality, a hydrogen fuel cell could be expected to break for about a minute. Fuel cells also have countless uses. The most practical one, would actually be providing power to a remote location. A stack of hydrogen fuel cells, a tank of oxygen, and a tank of hydrogen could essentially power anything from a remote log cabin to a permanent settlement on Mars. Also, hydrogen fuel cells are currently being used to power vehicles that expel only oxygen and water vapor as waste. Many things, from German subs to the Element One car run off fuel cells. in 2008, Boeing conducted experimental flight tests of The Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane, powered by both fuel cells and unimaginative titles. Reykjavik, Iceland, was the first place to open a hydrogen refueling station, literally just a gas station for hydrogen fuel cells. Granted, it only services three buses, but it still counts.

All in all, I'm quite impressed with the potential of fuel cells. I remember several years ago when I used to think a hydrogen powered car was ridiculous and sounded just like some fantastical pipe dream. Now, however, it's starting to look like hydrogen-powered cars could become the norm within my lifetime. Personally, I think it'll take quite a while for it to become practical to use fuel cells, but in reality it's only a matter of time

Time for some input

So now that I've thrown down a couple of lengthy blog entries, most of which I doubt anyone actually read, with very little feedback, I suppose I'll take a break from the gratuitously long posts and keep this one simple. So I'm just going to ask you, the blogging community, to give me some feedback on my blog here. It can be anything as simple as critiquing my layout, style, font, color scheme, etc; talking about my beloved Rasta Fish; or even just asking me to clear up anything I've talked about up to now. Knock yourselves out...any and all feedback is welcome and encouraged.

The Sun: the biggest nuclear reactor this side of the Kuiper Belt

The sun accounts for roughly 99.86% of the mass in the Solar System. It is about 1.3 billion kilometers across and reaches surface temperatures of over 5000 degrees Celsius. Through a process called nuclear fusion, it combines up to 600 million tons of hydrogen atoms together every second. The energy released from this process then travels 150 billion kilometers to the Earth, which absorbs 3,850,000,000,000,000,000,000 Joules of energy from the sun every year, all of which is just begging to be used by humankind. Put into perspective, in one hour, the Earth receives more energy from the sun than the entire human race collectively used in 2002.

Now that's all well and good, but a person logically might be wondering how exactly can this energy be harnessed by humans in order to get things done? Energy from the sun essentially fuels everything on the planet in some fashion. It is absorbed by plants to create food, chemical energy, biomass materials, and eventually even fossil fuels. Buildings can be specially engineered to absorb sunlight as heat and distribute it throughout the entire structure, essentially creating free and clean heating. Yet, primarily, solar energy is harnessed through what is referred to as "Solar Power," which is essentially just using sunlight to create electricity. There are two ways to do this, either directly through photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly through concentrated solar power (CSP).Photovoltaic cells, from the single-cell units in calculators to the massive panel arrays in power plants, have the capacity to directly convert the photons in sunlight into direct current electricity. Essentially, a photovoltaic cell functions by absorbing photon particles in sunlight, which then collide with electrons within the cell, causing the electrons to be knocked into a higher energy state, thus creating a flow of electrons, otherwise known as "electricity." PV cells are highly effective and have many uses, from running a pocket calculator, to recharging batteries, to powering orbiting satellites. One of the fastest-growing applications for PVs are massive photovoltaic power plants, such as the Olmedilla plant in Spain, which can crank out 60 MegaWatts of power. However, a massive project in California is expected to begin sometime this year in the Northwest California valley. The Topaz Solar Farm is expected to be fully operation by 2013 and produce a whopping 550 MegaWatts of power, and roughly 1100 GigaWatt-hours of perfectly renewable energy. Clearly, the photovoltaic industry is growing at a rapid rate, and is likely to become the dominant source of electricity at some point in this century.

Concentrating Solar Power takes a slightly different angle from the photovoltaic cells. CSP essentially uses large arrays of mirrors to focus sunlight onto a single point. Sometimes this concentrated sunlight is directed onto photovoltaic module, but the vast majority of the time, it is simply used for its thermal energy. The mirrors all focus sunlight onto a single reservoir of a working fluid, oftentimes simply water. the water is then heated, creating steam, which can then activate massive turbines, creating electricity. This process is called solar thermoelectricity. Currently, the Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS), a cluster of nine plants in the Mojave Desert of California, spanning 1600 acres, is the largest solar power plant in the world. It is capable of cranking out 354 MegaWatts of power and powers 232,500 homes. Furthermore, as the technology of CSP improves, it is clear that solar power will soon dominate the electricity needs of mankind.

Solar power looks pretty darn impressive, to be blunt. It is virtually completely renewable, and very efficient. However, it does have some drawbacks. For one thing, it is an intermittent energy source, meaning that it is not available 24/7. Obviously, the sun is only available half the time, as only one half of the earth can face it at a time. Furthermore, it is significantly less effective when it is cloudy, or direct sunlight is otherwise obstructed. However, methods are being developed to predict periods of highest efficiency, thus preventing time and energy from being wasted. Also, other methods are being devised to store energy during times of ample sunlight to be saved for a rainy day, to use a truly atrocious pun, if I may. Another drawback is the sheer cost. PV cells are downright expensive to install. However, after the initial installation, maintenance is fairly minimal. Also, many governments are creating incentives to create "green energy" sources in various communities, making solar power more readily accessible to regular suburbanites. A third drawback is the fact that all photovoltaic cells, the kind that can be most easily used by the aforementioned suburbanites, can only create direct current electricity. Naturally, this DC electricity must be converted to alternating current electricity through a power inverter, which leads to lowered efficiency, more complex machinery, and unfortunately a loss of energy, simply to make it usable in homes, as everything from microwaves to curling irons run off alternating current. However, I personally feel that solar power rises high above its few drawbacks, and certainly has the potentially to become the leading source of energy in the world of the future.

So you're probably asking yourself...

Well that last post was pretty good at laying down an explanation of what this blog is, but I suppose that the average reader might still have a fair number of questions milling about in his or her noggin. Hopefully, I'll be able to clear all that nonsense up with this post, and we'll all be able to hop into the wonderful world of alternative energy with my next post. (This post will probably be updated, as I think of other things that would be helpful to mention ahead of time, before embarking on the epic adventure that is this blog).

So you're probably asking yourself "Who is this kid, who claims to be an expert on all things energy?" First off, I never claimed to be an expert. Furthermore, I'm sure you already know that my name is Bryan, but what you may not know is that I'll probably be dealing with the issue of energy, particularly the eternal hunt for new better sources, for the rest of my life. I hope to be an engineer, one who works with some kind of energy source, and as far as I know, there will always be a demand for energy for as long as there will be people. There's excellent job security in it, and frankly, it interests me. Granted, I don't know a whole lot about it, but by the end of this blogging adventure, I'm sure I will.

So you're probably asking yourself "Where do you get all of your information?" I use several internet sources, but the one that I use the most is definitely Wikipedia. Now before you hop up on your pedestal and start bashing my precious Wikipedia, I'd just like to say that Wikipedia is a perfectly reliable resource that has roughly the same error rate as Britannica (3 errors per 100 facts). So for every person that spouts off how Wikipedia can't be trusted, I'd just like to say that the vast majority of them are simply regurgitating what their seventh grade English teacher told them when they started writing a research paper. Furthermore, for the record, I have never found an erroneous fact on Wikipedia, and until I do, I will continue to trust the well-cited information I find there.

So you're probably asking yourself "What exactly is alternative energy?" Alternative energy is essentially just a general term that describes any source of usable energy that is intended to replace a preexisting source that has negative consequences. In this case, it would most likely refer to more easily renewed sources of energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, or even alcohol. Through the course of this blog, I'll be exploring these various sources, and unearthing their pros and cons.

So you're probably asking yourself "Why do you write so much?" This is an English project. That's the point. Furthermore, that's also the reason why I punctuate and spell everything properly. Get used to it.

So you're probably asking yourself "What should I do until you post again?" Go listen to the song "Inis Mona" by Eluveitie. I like it. Meanwhile, you may feed my Rasta-fish if you like.

FIRST!

This is essentially my first real foray into the wide, wondrous world of blogging, so I suppose I'll start with explaining what this blog is, and what it's supposed to do.

The world today is run primarily on oil, and various other fossil fuels. Oil (specifically, mineral oil) forms from the breakdown of organic material over millions and millions of years, and is widely considered to be the most effective and efficient energy source ever harnessed by mankind. Think about it: a gallon of gasoline, produced from oil, contains the power to push a 3000 pound car twenty or thirty miles. However, the world is running out of this substance. The earth cannot replenish the supplies of oil nearly as quickly as human beings are using them up. Furthermore, the burning of oil and gasoline releases harmful toxins into the atmosphere.

Clearly, human beings must find an alternative source of energy, one that is renewable and doesn't pollute the planet. The planet's oil supply is gradually approaching zero, a concept referred to as "peak oil," and when it does, humanity had better be able adjust to life without it.

Therefore, the purpose of this blog is to analyze the various alternative sources of energy, and attempt to discern the most effective, safe, renewable, and efficient energy source that can take the place of oil in today's society.