Professional Documents
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For Sir Frank Whittle's similarly named firm of the 1930s and 40s, see Power Jets.
PowerJet
Type
Joint venture
Industry
Aeronautics
Founded
2004
Headquarters
Paris, France
Products
Aircraft engines
Parent
Snecma (Safran)
NPO Saturn
Website
powerjet.aero
SaM146
PowerJet is a 50-50 joint venture held by Snecma (Safran) and NPO Saturn, created in July 2004.
The company is an engine manufacturer in charge of the management of the SaM146 program
including studies, production, marketing and after-sales support. It delivers a complete propulsion
system, comprising the engine, nacelle and equipment.
The SaM146 is the sole powerplant for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100), entered into service in
2011.
Building on the experience and resources of its two founding companies, PowerJet has developed a
dedicated SaM146 support organization called PowerLife, ensuring fast and reliable access to
information and assistance under any circumstances. PowerJetaims to set a new standard in
customer support for regional jet engines by delivering local service to customers anywhere in the
world. Through Powerlife label, the company provides a Customer Support Center, technical
assistance from both parent companies, and a strong network of field representatives, based on
resources already deployed by Snecma and NPO Saturn.
PowerJet has two operational units dedicated to production: one in Villaroche (France) and the other
in Rybinsk (Russia).
History[edit]
Snecma (Safran) and NPO Saturn began to work together in 1998, when Snecma subcontracted the
production of CFM56 engine parts to NPO Saturn.
In 2004, the creation of the PowerJet joint venture for the SaM146 engine took the collaboration a
step further. The SaM146 development program proceeded very smoothly, reflecting the successful
collaboration a first between Western and Russian engine manufacturers. It is the result of both
confidence in the market and the longstanding mutual trust between the two partners.
In 2005, the state-of-the-art production plant VolgAero was founded in Rybinsk in order to make
parts for the SaM146, as well as parts and assemblies for other engines produced by the two parent
companies.[1]
In 2007, Snecma and NPO Saturn built an open-air test cell in Poluevo, Russia (near Rybinsk) to
handle certification tests for the SaM146. It is the only open-air test facility for this type of engine in
Europe and it also provides test services for other engines.
On 23 June 2010, it was announced that EASA certified PowerJet for its SaM146 engine. [2] It gained
Russian certification in August 2010 and the SSJ100 entered into service in 2011.
In 2013, the Mexican airline Interjet has received its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. With an order
for 20 aircraft, Interjet is the first western customer to take delivery of the SSJ100 powered by the
SaM146.[3]
Biodiversity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Biodiversity, a contraction of "biological diversity," generally refers to the variety and variability
of life on Earth. One of the most widely used definitions defines it in terms of the variability within
species, between species and between ecosystems. [1] It is a measure of the variety
of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem
variation, or species variation (number of species)[1] within an area, biome, or planet. Terrestrial
biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator,[2] which seems to be the result of the
warm climate and high primary productivity.[3] Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. It is
richest in the tropics. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific,
where sea surface temperature is highest and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans. There
are latitudinal gradients in species diversity.[4] Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots,[5] and
has been increasing through time,[6][7] but will be likely to slow in the future.[8]
The number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It
is an essential component of nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food,
fuel, shelter, medicines and other resources to mankind. The richness of biodiversity depends on the
climatic conditions and area of the region. All species of plants taken together are known as flora
and about 70,000 species of plants are known to date. All species of animals taken together are
known as fauna which includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, molluscs, etc.
Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions.[9][10][11] More than 99 percent of all
species, amounting to over five billion species,[12] that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct.
[13][14]
Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million,[15] of
which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described.
[16]
More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth
currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described. [17] The total amount of
related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037 and weighs 50 billion tonnes.[18] In
comparison, the total mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC (trillion tons
of carbon).[19] In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal
Common Ancestor (LUCA) of all organisms living on Earth.[20]
The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old.[21][22][23] The earliest undisputed evidence of life on
Earth dates at least from 3.5 billion years ago,[24][25][26] during the Eoarchean Era after a
geological crust started to solidify following the earlier molten Hadean Eon. There are microbial
mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia.[27][28][29] Other early
physical evidence of a biogenic substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary
rocks discovered in Western Greenland.[30] More recently, in 2015, "remains of biotic life" were found
in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia.[31][32] According to one of the researchers, "If life
arose relatively quickly on Earth .. then it could be common in the universe."[31]
Since life began on Earth, five major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large
and sudden drops in biodiversity. The Phanerozoic eon (the last 540 million years) marked a rapid
growth in biodiversity via the Cambrian explosiona period during which the majority
of multicellular phyla first appeared.[33] The next 400 million years included repeated, massive
biodiversity losses classified as mass extinction events. In the Carboniferous, rainforest collapse led
to a great loss of plant and animal life.[34] The PermianTriassic extinction event, 251 million years
ago, was the worst; vertebrate recovery took 30 million years.[35] The most recent, the Cretaceous
Paleogene extinction event, occurred 65 million years ago and has often attracted more attention
than others because it resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs.[36]
The period since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing biodiversity reduction and an
accompanying loss of genetic diversity. Named the Holocene extinction, the reduction is caused
primarily by human impacts, particularly habitat destruction. Conversely, biodiversity impacts human
health in a number of ways, both positively and negatively.[37]
The United Nations designated 20112020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity.
Contents
[hide]
1Etymology
2Definitions
3Distribution
o
3.1Latitudinal gradients
3.2Hotspots
5.1.1.1Provisioning services
5.1.1.2Regulating services
5.1.2Services with mixed evidence
5.1.2.1Provisioning services
5.1.2.2Regulating services
5.1.3Services for which biodiversity is a hindrance
5.1.3.1Provisioning services
5.1.3.2Regulating services
5.1.3.3Provisioning services
5.1.3.4Regulating services
6Number of species
8Threats
o
8.1Habitat destruction
8.3Overexploitation
8.5Climate change
8.6Human overpopulation
10Conservation
o
11.1National parks
11.2Wildlife sanctuary
11.3Forest reserves
11.3.1Steps to conserve the forest cover
11.4Zoological parks
11.5Botanical gardens
12Resource allocation
13Legal status
o
13.1International
14Analytical limits
o
15See also
16References
17Further reading
18External links
o
18.1Documents
18.2Tools
18.3Resources
Etymology[edit]
The term biological diversity was used first by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond F.
Dasmann in the year 1968 lay book A Different Kind of Country[38] advocating conservation. The term
was widely adopted only after more than a decade, when in the 1980s it came into common usage in
science and environmental policy. Thomas Lovejoy, in the foreword to the book Conservation
Biology,[39] introduced the term to the scientific community. Until then the term "natural diversity" was
common, introduced by The Science Division of The Nature Conservancy in an important 1975
study, "The Preservation of Natural Diversity." By the early 1980s TNC's Science program and its
head, Robert E. Jenkins,[40] Lovejoy and other leading conservation scientists at the time in America
advocated the use of the term "biological diversity".
The term's contracted form biodiversity may have been coined by W.G. Rosen in 1985 while
planning the 1986 National Forum on Biological Diversity organized by the National Research
Council (NRC). It first appeared in a publication in 1988 when sociobiologist E. O. Wilson used it as
the title of the proceedings[41] of that forum.[42]
Since this period the term has achieved widespread use among biologists, environmentalists,
political leaders and concerned citizens.
A similar term in the United States is "natural heritage." It pre-dates the others and is more accepted
by the wider audience interested in conservation. Broader than biodiversity, it includes geology and
landforms.[citation needed][43]
Definitions[edit]
A sampling of fungi collected during summer 2008 in Northern Saskatchewan mixed woods, near LaRonge is
an example regarding the species diversity of fungi. In this photo, there are also leaf lichens and mosses.
"Biodiversity" is most commonly used to replace the more clearly defined and long established
terms, species diversity and species richness. Biologists most often define biodiversity as the
"totality of genes, species and ecosystems of a region". [44][45] An advantage of this definition is that it
seems to describe most circumstances and presents a unified view of the traditional types of
biological variety previously identified:
functional diversity which is a measure of the number of functionally disparate species within
a population (e.g. different feeding mechanism, different motility, predator vs prey, etc.) [46]
Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) for the 1982 World National
Parks Conference. Wilcox's definition was "Biological diversity is the variety of life forms...at all levels
of biological systems (i.e., molecular, organismic, population, species and ecosystem)...". [48] The
1992 United Nations Earth Summit defined "biological diversity" as "the variability among living
organisms from all sources, including, 'inter alia', terrestrial, marine and other aquatic
ecosystemsand the ecological complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within
species, between species and of ecosystems".[49] This definition is used in the United
Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.[49]
One textbook's definition is "variation of life at all levels of biological organization". [50]
Genetically biodiversity can be defined as the diversity of alleles, genes and organisms. They study
processes such as mutation and gene transfer that drive evolution.[48]
Measuring diversity at one level in a group of organisms may not precisely correspond to diversity at
other levels. However, tetrapod (terrestrial vertebrates) taxonomic and ecological diversity shows a
very close correlation.[51]
Distribution[edit]
Biodiversity is not evenly distributed, rather it varies greatly across the globe as well as within
regions. Among other factors, the diversity of all living things (biota) depends on temperature,
precipitation, altitude, soils, geography and the presence of other species. The study of the spatial
distribution of organisms, species and ecosystems, is the science of biogeography.
Diversity consistently measures higher in the tropics and in other localized regions such as the Cape
Floristic Region and lower in polar regions generally. Rain forests that have had wet climates for a
long time, such as Yasun National Park in Ecuador, have particularly high biodiversity.[52][53]
Terrestrial biodiversity is thought to be up to 25 times greater than ocean biodiversity.[54] A recently
discovered method put the total number of species on Earth at 8.7 million, of which 2.1 million were
estimated to live in the ocean.[55] However, this estimate seems to under-represent the diversity of
microorganisms.
Latitudinal gradients[edit]
Main article: Latitudinal gradients in species diversity
Generally, there is an increase in biodiversity from the poles to the tropics. Thus localities at
lower latitudes have more species than localities at higher latitudes. This is often referred to as the
latitudinal gradient in species diversity. Several ecological mechanisms may contribute to the
gradient, but the ultimate factor behind many of them is the greater mean temperature at the equator
compared to that of the poles.[56][57][58]
Even though terrestrial biodiversity declines from the equator to the poles, [59] some studies claim that
this characteristic is unverified in aquatic ecosystems, especially in marine ecosystems.[60] The
latitudinal distribution of parasites does not appear to follow this rule. [61]
Hotspots[edit]
A biodiversity hotspot is a region with a high level of endemic species that has experienced
great habitat loss.[62] The term hotspot was introduced in 1988 by Norman Myers.[63][64][65][66] While
hotspots are spread all over the world, the majority are forest areas and most are located in
the tropics.
Brazil's Atlantic Forest is considered one such hotspot, containing roughly 20,000 plant species,
1,350 vertebrates and millions of insects, about half of which occur nowhere else. [citation needed] The island
of Madagascar and India are also particularly notable. Colombia is characterized by high biodiversity,
with the highest rate of species by area unit worldwide and it has the largest number of endemics
(species that are not found naturally anywhere else) of any country. About 10% of the species of the
Earth can be found in Colombia, including over 1,900 species of bird, more than in Europe and North
America combined, Colombia has 10% of the world's mammals species, 14% of the amphibian
species and 18% of the bird species of the world.[67] Madagascar dry deciduous forests and lowland
rainforests possess a high ratio of endemism.[citation needed] Since the island separated from
mainland Africa 66 million years ago, many species and ecosystems have evolved independently.
[citation needed]
Indonesia's 17,000 islands cover 735,355 square miles (1,904,560 km2) and contain 10% of
the world's flowering plants, 12% of mammals and 17% of reptiles, amphibians and birdsalong
with nearly 240 million people.[68]Many regions of high biodiversity and/or endemism arise from
specialized habitats which require unusual adaptations, for example, alpine environments in
high mountains, or Northern European peat bogs.[citation needed]
Accurately measuring differences in biodiversity can be difficult. Selection bias amongst researchers
may contribute to biased empirical research for modern estimates of biodiversity. In 1768,
Rev. Gilbert White succinctly observed of his Selborne, Hampshire "all nature is so full, that that
district produces the most variety which is the most examined."[69]
Evolutionary biology
Key topics[show]
Natural history[show]
Social implications[show]
Category
Book
Related topics
Biodiversity is the result of 3.5 billion years of evolution. The origin of life has not been definitely
established by science, however some evidence suggests that life may already have been wellestablished only a few hundred million years after the formation of the Earth. Until approximately 600
million years ago, all life consisted of archaea, bacteria, protozoans and similar single-celled
organisms.
The history of biodiversity during the Phanerozoic (the last 540 million years), starts with rapid
growth during the Cambrian explosiona period during which nearly every phylum of multicellular
organisms first appeared. Over the next 400 million years or so, invertebrate diversity showed little
overall trend and vertebrate diversity shows an overall exponential trend. [51]This dramatic rise in
diversity was marked by periodic, massive losses of diversity classified as mass extinction events.
A significant loss occurred when rainforests collapsed in the carboniferous. [34] The worst was
the Permian-Triassic extinction event, 251 million years ago. Vertebrates took 30 million years to
recover from this event.[35]
[51]
The fossil record suggests that the last few million years featured the greatest biodiversity in history.
[51]
However, not all scientists support this view, since there is uncertainty as to how strongly the fossil
record is biased by the greater availability and preservation of recent geologic sections. Some
scientists believe that corrected for sampling artifacts, modern biodiversity may not be much different
from biodiversity 300 million years ago.,[71] whereas others consider the fossil record reasonably
reflective of the diversification of life.[51] Estimates of the present global macroscopic species diversity
vary from 2 million to 100 million, with a best estimate of somewhere near 9 million, [55] the vast
majority arthropods.[72] Diversity appears to increase continually in the absence of natural selection. [73]
Evolutionary diversification[edit]
The existence of a "global carrying capacity", limiting the amount of life that can live at once, is
debated, as is the question of whether such a limit would also cap the number of species. While
records of life in the sea shows a logistic pattern of growth, life on land (insects, plants and
tetrapods)shows an exponential rise in diversity. As one author states, "Tetrapods have not yet
invaded 64 per cent of potentially habitable modes and it could be that without human influence the
ecological and taxonomic diversity of tetrapods would continue to increase in an exponential fashion
until most or all of the available ecospace is filled." [51]
On the other hand, changes through the Phanerozoic correlate much better with
the hyperbolic model (widely used in population biology, demography and macrosociology, as well
as fossil biodiversity) than with exponential and logistic models. The latter models imply that changes
in diversity are guided by a first-order positive feedback (more ancestors, more descendants) and/or
a negative feedback arising from resource limitation. Hyperbolic model implies a second-order
positive feedback. The hyperbolic pattern of the world population growth arises from a second-order
positive feedback between the population size and the rate of technological growth. [74] The hyperbolic
character of biodiversity growth can be similarly accounted for by a feedback between diversity and
community structure complexity. The similarity between the curves of biodiversity and human
population probably comes from the fact that both are derived from the interference of the hyperbolic
trend with cyclical and stochastic dynamics.[74][75]
Most biologists agree however that the period since human emergence is part of a new mass
extinction, named the Holocene extinction event, caused primarily by the impact humans are having
on the environment.[76] It has been argued that the present rate of extinction is sufficient to eliminate
most species on the planet Earth within 100 years.[77]
New species are regularly discovered (on average between 510,000 new species each year, most
of them insects) and many, though discovered, are not yet classified (estimates are that nearly 90%
of all arthropods are not yet classified).[72] Most of the terrestrial diversity is found in tropical
forests and in general, land has more species than the ocean; some 8.7 million species may exists
on Earth, of which some 2.1 million live in the ocean[55]
bEcology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ecology
Ecology addresses the full scale of life, from tiny bacteria to processes
that span the entire planet. Ecologists study many diverse and complex
relations among species, such as predation and pollination. The
diversity of life is organized into different habitats,
from terrestrial(middle) to aquatic ecosystems.
Ecology (from Greek: , "house", or "environment"; -, "study of"[A]) is the scientific analysis
and study of interactions among organisms and their environment. It is an interdisciplinary field that
includes biology, geography, and Earth science. Ecology includes the study of
interactions organisms have with each other, other organisms, and with abiotic components of
their environment. Topics of interest to ecologists include the diversity, distribution, amount
(biomass), and number (population) of particular organisms, as well as cooperation and competition
between organisms, both within and among ecosystems. Ecosystems are composed of dynamically
interacting parts including organisms, the communities they make up, and the non-living components
of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, pedogenesis, nutrient
cycling, and various niche construction activities, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an
environment. These processes are sustained by organisms with specific life history traits, and the
variety of organisms is called biodiversity. Biodiversity, which refers to the varieties
of species, genes, and ecosystems, enhances certain ecosystem services.
Ecology is not synonymous with environment, environmentalism, natural history, or environmental
science. It is closely related to evolutionary biology, genetics, and ethology. An important focus for
ecologists is to improve the understanding of how biodiversity affects ecological function. Ecologists
seek to explain:
Ecology is a human science as well. There are many practical applications of ecology
in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource
management (agroecology, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries), city planning (urban
ecology), community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction
(human ecology). For example, the Circles of Sustainability approach treats ecology as more than
the environment 'out there'. It is not treated as separate from humans. Organisms (including
humans) and resources compose ecosystems which, in turn, maintain biophysical feedback
mechanisms that moderate processes acting on living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of
the planet. Ecosystems sustain life-supporting functions and produce natural capital like biomass
production (food, fuel, fiber, and medicine), the regulation of climate, global biogeochemical
cycles, water filtration, soil formation, erosion control, flood protection, and many other natural
features of scientific, historical, economic, or intrinsic value.
The word "ecology" ("kologie") was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel (1834
1919). Ecological thought is derivative of established currents in philosophy, particularly from ethics
and politics.[1] Ancient Greek philosophers such as Hippocrates and Aristotle laid the foundations of
ecology in their studies on natural history. Modern ecology became a much more rigorous science in
the late 19th century. Evolutionary concepts relating to adaptation and natural selection became the
cornerstones of modern ecological theory.
Contents
[hide]
1.1Hierarchical ecology
1.2Biodiversity
1.3Habitat
1.4Niche
1.5Niche construction
1.6Biome
1.7Biosphere
1.8Individual ecology
1.9Population ecology
1.10Community ecology
1.11Ecosystem ecology
1.11.1Food webs
1.11.2Trophic levels
1.11.3Keystone species
2Ecological complexity
2.1Holism
3Relation to evolution
o
3.1Behavioural ecology
3.2Cognitive ecology
3.3Social ecology
3.4Coevolution
3.5Biogeography
3.5.1r/K-Selection theory
3.6Molecular ecology
4Human ecology
5.4Physical environments
5.4.1Water
5.4.2Gravity
5.4.3Pressure
5.4.5Fire
5.4.6Soils
6.1Early beginnings
6.2Since 1900
7See also
8Notes
9References
10External links
collective properties where the sum of the components explain the properties of the whole, such as
birth rates of a population being equal to the sum of individual births over a designated time frame. [5]
Hierarchical ecology
See also: Biological organisation and Biological classification
System behaviors must first be arrayed into different levels of organization. Behaviors corresponding to higher levels
occur at slow rates. Conversely, lower organizational levels exhibit rapid rates. For example, individual tree leaves
respond rapidly to momentary changes in light intensity, CO2concentration, and the like. The growth of the tree
responds more slowly and integrates these short-term changes.
O'Neill et al. (1986)[6]:76
The scale of ecological dynamics can operate like a closed system, such as aphids migrating on a
single tree, while at the same time remain open with regard to broader scale influences, such as
atmosphere or climate. Hence, ecologists classify ecosystems hierarchically by analyzing data
collected from finer scale units, such as vegetation associations, climate, and soil types, and
integrate this information to identify emergent patterns of uniform organization and processes that
operate on local to regional, landscape, and chronological scales.
To structure the study of ecology into a conceptually manageable framework, the biological world is
organized into a nested hierarchy, ranging in scale from genes, to cells, to tissues, to organs,
to organisms, to species, to populations, to communities, to ecosystems, to biomes, and up to the
level of the biosphere.[7] This framework forms a panarchy[8] and exhibits non-linearbehaviors; this
means that "effect and cause are disproportionate, so that small changes to critical variables, such
as the number of nitrogen fixers, can lead to disproportionate, perhaps irreversible, changes in the
system properties."[9]:14
Biodiversity
Main article: Biodiversity
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life and its processes. It includes the variety of living organisms, the genetic
differences among them, the communities and ecosystems in which they occur, and the ecological
and evolutionary processes that keep them functioning, yet ever changing and adapting.
Noss & Carpenter (1994)[10]:5
Biodiversity (an abbreviation of "biological diversity") describes the diversity of life from genes to
ecosystems and spans every level of biological organization. The term has several interpretations,
and there are many ways to index, measure, characterize, and represent its complex organization. [11]
[12][13]
Biodiversity includes species diversity, ecosystem diversity, and genetic diversity and scientists
are interested in the way that this diversity affects the complex ecological processes operating at and
among these respective levels.[12][14][15] Biodiversity plays an important role in ecosystem
services which by definition maintain and improve human quality of life.[13][16][17] Preventing species
extinctions is one way to preserve biodiversity and that goal rests on techniques that preserve
genetic diversity, habitat and the ability for species to migrate.[citation needed] Conservation priorities and
management techniques require different approaches and considerations to address the full
ecological scope of biodiversity. Natural capital that supports populations is critical for
maintaining ecosystem services[18][19] and species migration(e.g., riverine fish runs and avian insect
control) has been implicated as one mechanism by which those service losses are experienced.
[20]
An understanding of biodiversity has practical applications for species and ecosystem-level
conservation planners as they make management recommendations to consulting firms,
governments, and industry.[21]
Habitat
f
If we want to boil the water in these two beakers, we must increase their temperatures
to 100C. You will notice that will take longer to boil the water in the large beaker than
the water in the small beaker. This is because the large beaker contains more water and
needs more heat energy to reach 100C.
Everything around you is made up of tiny objects called atoms. Most of the mass of each atom is
concentrated in the center (which is called the nucleus), and the rest of the mass is in the cloud of
electrons surrounding the nucleus. Protons and neutrons are subatomic particles that comprise the
nucleus.
Under certain circumstances, the nucleus of a very large atom can split in two. In this process, a
certain amount of the large atoms mass is converted to pure energy following Einsteins famous
formula E = MC2, where M is the small amount of mass and C is the speed of light (a very large
number). In the 1930s and 40s, humans discovered this energy and recognized its potential as a
weapon. Technology developed in the Manhattan Project successfully used this energy in a chain
reaction to create nuclear bombs. Soon after World War II ended, the newfound energy source found
a home in the propulsion of the nuclear navy, providing submarines with engines that could run for
over a year without refueling. This technology was quickly transferred to the public sector, where
commercial power plants were developed and deployed to produce electricity. Read more about
the history of nuclear energy.
Featured Pages
Nuclear Overview
Nuclear Energy
Reactors Molten Salt Reactors Thorium Nuclear Fuel Radiation on Airplanes History of
Nuclear First-hand Chernobyl Memories Fukushima Fish The Age of Earth
Fission is the energetic splitting of large atoms such as Uranium or Plutonium into two
smaller atoms, called fission products. To split an atom, you have to hit it with a neutron.
Several neutrons are also released which can go on to split other nearby atoms, producing a
nuclear chain reaction of sustained energy release. This nuclear reaction was the first of the
two to be discovered. All commercial nuclear power plants in operation use this reaction to
generate heat which they turn into electricity.
Fusion is the combining of two small atoms such as Hydrogen or Helium to produce heavier
atoms and energy. These reactions can release more energy than fission without producing
as many radioactive byproducts. Fusion reactions occur in the sun, generally using Hydrogen
as fuel and producing Helium as waste (fun fact: Helium was discovered in the sun and
named after the Greek Sun God, Helios). This reaction has not been commercially
developed yet and is a serious research interest worldwide, due to its promise of nearly
limitless, low-pollution, and non-proliferative energy.
Material
Energy Density
(MJ/kg)
Wood
10
1.2 days
Ethanol
26.8
3.1 days
Coal
32.5
3.8 days
Crude oil
41.9
4.8 days
Diesel
45.8
5.3 days
5.7x105
182 years
3.7x106
1,171 years
Natural Uranium
(breeder)
8.1x107
25,700 years
Thorium (breeder)
7.9x107
25,300 years
Table 1 Energy densities of various energy sources in MJ/kg and in length of time that 1 kg of each
material could run a 100W load. Natural uranium has undergone no enrichment (0.7% U-235),
reactor-grade uranium has 5% U-235. By the way, 1 kg of weapons grade uranium (95% U-235)
could power the entire USA for 177 seconds. All numbers assume 100% thermal-to-electrical
conversion. See our energy density of nuclear fuel page for details.
Ecological
In operation, nuclear power plants emit nothing into the environment except hot water. The classic
cooling tower icon of nuclear reactors is just that, a cooling tower. Clean water vapor is all that comes
out. Very little CO2 or other climate-changing gases come out of nuclear power generation (certainly
some CO2 is produced during mining, construction, etc., but the amount is about 50 times less than
coal and 25 times less than natural gas plants. Details coming soon). The spent nuclear fuel (nuclear
waste) can be handled properly and disposed of geologically without affecting the environment in
any way.
Theyre safe too. In March, 2013 the former NASA scientist James Hansen (of the 350 ppm limit
fame) published a paper showing that nuclear energy has saved a total of 1.8 million lives in its
history worldwide just by displacing air pollution that is a known killer 2. That includes any deaths
nuclear energy has been responsible for from its accidents.
Independent
With nuclear power, many countries can approach energy independence. Being "addicted to oil" is a
major national and global security concern for various reasons. Using electric or plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles (PHEVs)powered by nuclear reactors, we could reduce our oil demands by orders of
magnitude. Additionally, many nuclear reactor designs can provide high-quality process heat in
addition to electricity, which can in turn be used to desalinate water, prepare hydrogen for fuel cells,
or to heat neighborhoods, among many other industrial processes.
Dramatic accidents
Three major accidents have occurred in commercial power plants: Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and
Fukushima. Chernobyl was an uncontrolled steam explosion which released a large amount of
radiation into the environment, killing over 50 people, requiring a mass evacuation of hundreds of
thousands of people, and causing up to 4000 cancer cases. Three Mile Island was a partial-core
meltdown, where coolant levels dropped below the fuel and allowed some of it to melt. No one was
hurt and very little radiation was released, but the plant had to close, causing the operating company
and its investors to lose a lot of money. Fukushima was a station black-out caused by a huge
Tsunami. Four neighboring plants lost cooling and the decay heat melted the cores. Radiation was
released and the public was evacuated. These three accidents are very scary and keep many people
from being comfortable with nuclear power.
Cost
Nuclear power plants are larger and more complicated than other power plants. Many redundant
safety systems are built to keep the plant operating safely. This complexity causes the up-front cost
of a nuclear power plant to be much higher than for a comparable coal plant. Once the plant is built,
the fuel costs are much less than fossil fuel costs. In general, the older a nuclear plant gets, the more
money its operators make. The large capital cost keeps many investors from agreeing to finance
nuclear power plants.
References
1. Office of Air Quality, "Study of Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions from Electric Utility Steam
Generating Units -- Final Report to Congress," EPA-453/R-98-004a, 1998 (Online)
2. P. Kharecha and J. Hansen, "Prevented Mortality and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from
Historical and Projected Nuclear Power," Environ. Sci. Technol., 2013, 47 (9), pp 4889
4895 (Press release)
3. A. Gabbard, "Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger," (online).
Hydroelectricity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Three Gorges Dam in Central China is the world's largest power producing facility of any kind.
Part of a series about
Sustainable energy
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Environment portal
1History
2Generating methods
2.1Conventional (dams)
2.2Pumped-storage
2.3Run-of-the-river
2.4Tide
3Sizes, types and capacities of hydroelectric facilities
3.1Large facilities
3.2Small
3.3Micro
3.4Pico
3.5Underground
4Properties
4.1Advantages
4.1.1Flexibility
4.2.4Relocation
4.2.5Failure risks
4.3Comparison with other methods of power generation
7See also
8References
9External links
History
See also: Hydropower History
Museum Hydroelectric power plant Under the Town in Serbia, built in 1900.[4][5]
Hydropower has been used since ancient times to grind flour and perform other tasks. In the mid1770s, French engineer Bernard Forest de Blidor published Architecture Hydraulique which
described vertical- and horizontal-axis hydraulic machines. By the late 19th century, the electrical
generator was developed and could now be coupled with hydraulics.[6] The growing demand for
the Industrial Revolution would drive development as well.[7] In 1878 the world's first hydroelectric
power scheme was developed at Cragside in Northumberland, England by William George
Armstrong. It was used to power a single arc lamp in his art gallery.[8] The old Schoelkopf Power
Station No. 1 near Niagara Falls in the U.S. side began to produce electricity in 1881. The
first Edisonhydroelectric power station, the Vulcan Street Plant, began operating September 30,
1882, in Appleton, Wisconsin, with an output of about 12.5 kilowatts.[9] By 1886 there were 45
hydroelectric power stations in the U.S. and Canada. By 1889 there were 200 in the U.S. alone. [6]
At the beginning of the 20th century, many small hydroelectric power stations were being
constructed by commercial companies in mountains near metropolitan areas. Grenoble, France held
the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism with over one million visitors. By 1920 as
40% of the power produced in the United States was hydroelectric, the Federal Power Act was
enacted into law. The Act created the Federal Power Commission to regulate hydroelectric power
stations on federal land and water. As the power stations became larger, their associated dams
developed additional purposes to include flood control, irrigation and navigation. Federal funding
became necessary for large-scale development and federally owned corporations, such as
the Tennessee Valley Authority (1933) and the Bonneville Power Administration (1937) were created.
[7]
Additionally, the Bureau of Reclamation which had begun a series of western U.S. irrigation
projects in the early 20th century was now constructing large hydroelectric projects such as the
1928 Hoover Dam.[10] The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was also involved in hydroelectric
development, completing the Bonneville Dam in 1937 and being recognized by the Flood Control Act
of 1936 as the premier federal flood control agency.[11]
Hydroelectric power stations continued to become larger throughout the 20th century. Hydropower
was referred to as white coal for its power and plenty.[12] Hoover Dam's initial 1,345 MW power station
was the world's largest hydroelectric power station in 1936; it was eclipsed by the 6809 MW Grand
Coulee Dam in 1942.[13] The Itaipu Dam opened in 1984 in South America as the largest, producing
14,000 MW but was surpassed in 2008 by the Three Gorges Dam in China at 22,500 MW.
Hydroelectricity would eventually supply some countries, including Norway, Democratic Republic of
the Congo, Paraguay and Brazil, with over 85% of their electricity. The United States currently has
over 2,000 hydroelectric power stations that supply 6.4% of its total electrical production output,
which is 49% of its renewable electricity.[7]
Generating methods
Conventional (dams)
See also: List of conventional hydroelectric power stations
Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water
turbine and generator. The power extracted from the water depends on the volume and on the
difference in height between the source and the water's outflow. This height difference is called
the head. A large pipe (the "penstock") delivers water from the reservoir to the turbine.[14]
Pumped-storage
Main article: Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
See also: List of pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations
This method produces electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water
between reservoirs at different elevations. At times of low electrical demand, the excess generation
capacity is used to pump water into the higher reservoir. When the demand becomes greater, water
is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine. Pumped-storage schemes currently
provide the most commercially important means of large-scale grid energy storage and improve the
daily capacity factor of the generation system. Pumped storage is not an energy source, and
appears as a negative number in listings.[15]
Run-of-the-river
Main article: Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity
See also: List of run-of-the-river hydroelectric power stations
Run-of-the-river hydroelectric stations are those with small or no reservoir capacity, so that only the
water coming from upstream is available for generation at that moment, and any oversupply must
pass unused. A constant supply of water from a lake or existing reservoir upstream is a significant
advantage in choosing sites for run-of-the-river. In the United States, run of the river hydropower
could potentially provide 60,000 megawatts (80,000,000 hp) (about 13.7% of total use in 2011 if
continuously available).[16]
Tide
Main article: Tide power
See also: List of tidal power stations
A tidal power station makes use of the daily rise and fall of ocean water due to tides; such sources
are highly predictable, and if conditions permit construction of reservoirs, can also be dispatchable to
generate power during high demand periods. Less common types of hydro schemes use
water's kinetic energy or undammed sources such as undershot water wheels. Tidal power is viable
in a relatively small number of locations around the world. In Great Britain, there are eight sites that
could be developed, which have the potential to generate 20% of the electricity used in 2012. [17]
Solar Projects with Power Producers
o 5.1Landfill
o 5.2Incineration
6Recycling
7Re-use
o 7.1Biological reprocessing
o 7.2Energy recovery
o 7.3Pyrolysis
o 7.4Resource recovery
o 7.5Sustainability
8Avoidance and reduction methods
9International waste movement
10Benefits
11Challenges in developing countries
12Technologies
13Scientific journals
14See also
15References
16External links
Journal of Environmental
Economics and Management
See also[edit]
Biomedical waste
Co-processing
Curb mining
Landfarming
List of waste disposal incidents
List of waste management
acronyms
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Milorganite
Solid waste policy in India
Solid waste policy in the United
States
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Zabbaleen
References[edit]
1. ^ a b Glossary of Environment
Statistics : Series F, No. 67 /
Department for Economic and
Social Information and Policy
Analysis, United Nations. New
York: UN, 1997.
2. ^ Waste Management
(2013). "Editorial Board/Aims &
Scopes". Waste Management. 34:
IFC. doi:10.1016/S0956053X(14)00026-9.
3. ^ Davidson, G. (2011). "Waste
Management Practices".
Retrieved
from http://www.dal.ca/content/d
am/dalhousie/pdf/sustainability/W
aste%20Management
%20Literature%20Review
%20Final%20June
%202011%20(1.49%20MB).pdf. E
xternal link in |publisher= (help);
4. ^ a b c d e f g United Nations
Environmental Programme
(2013). "Guidelines for National
Waste Management Strategies
Moving from Challenges to
Post-consumer waste
Radioactive waste
Sewage
Toxic waste
Wastewater
Anaerobic digestion
Biodegradation
Composting
Garden waste dumping
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