PANKAJ KUMAR Department of Mechanical Engineering Annamalai University Present Energy Resources • Fossil fuels - coal, oil, gas are all of limited amounts. Cant be replaced.
• Nuclear fuels -limited amounts of uranium for
nuclear fission reactors but reprocessing of fuel possible.
• Difficult to estimate how long these fuels will
last - but is it sustainable economically or environmentally? Sustainable situation
• Renewable energy resources are being
replaced / generated at the same rate that they are being utilised.
• Hence they will last indefinitely.
History and Definition • First use as early as 5000 B.C. •Wind is a form of solar • First used to energy. generate •Caused by uneven electricity in heating of atmosphere Denmark as early as 1890. by the Sun, irregularities of the Earth’s surface, • Now, wind- generated and rotation of the Earth. electricity is very •The amount and speed close in cost to of wind depends on the the power from Earth’s terrain and other conventional factors. utility generation Renewable Energy • What is renewable energy? • Why is it needed? • Targets exist for renewable energy to generate 10% of electricity by 2010 and 20% by 2020! • Can these be achieved? • What forms of renewable energy will deliver these targets? The DTI List of Renewable Resources Wind, Wave and Hydro Power
Photovoltaics Active Solar Heating
Municipal and General Wastes
Landfill Gas Geothermal
Agricultural and Forestry Wastes
Energy Crops Fuel Cells
Forms of Renewable Energy
• All sources of energy ultimately come from the
sun. • This is particularly obvious in the case of renewable energies. Solar Radiation • solar heating panels/passive • solar power generation • solar cells / photovoltaic cells Solar cells • convert light into a small electrical output - milliwatts output. • need a bank/array of cells for useful output. • cost of cells is high but reducing. • efficiency of cells is up to 23%/ improving. Solar Panels • are situated on roof of building. • absorb heat in the form of radiation from sun. • basically system is like a domestic central heating radiator painted black/insulated. • provides “topping up” of domestic hot water. Solar Roof tiles (Solar Grants now available)
Roof mounted solar
panels (Solar century)
Integrated solar tiles installed by Solar Century
on a current development in Milton Keynes by English partnership and Bloor homes Innovative SunSlates installation by Solar century for Liang Homes Solar Power Generation • located in desert/high intensity/long sunlight hours • parabolic mirrors reflect/focus sun’s rays onto metal water pipe located along focal axis of mirrors. • High temperature produced - steam - electrical power generated Wind Turbines Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine Windpower • Each windturbine can produce between 1/4 and 2 MW of electrical power. • Windfarm needs to be located where there is a relatively high average wind speed. • Advantages? • Disadvantages? Calculation of number of households supplied by a windfarm • Assume 24 windturbines each generating 0.25 MW for 70% of time. • In a year this amounts to 3.66 x 107kwhr. • If this figure is divided by average amount of electricity used by a consumer ie 10,607 kwhr in a year, • Answer is 3600 consumers. • But 166 of these wind farms = 1000Mw power station! Offshore Wind Turbines Offshore Wind Cluster Features • Larger average wind speed than onshore
• Easier planning consent
• Technical expertise exists from oil rig experience
• Suitable location Advantages and Disadvantages • Wind is free, •Not always predictable. wind farms need •Price of land. no fuel. •Changing landscape. • Produces no •Can kill birds - waste or migrating flocks tend to greenhouse like strong winds. gases. •Can affect television • The land beneath reception if you live can usually still nearby. be used for •Noisy. A wind generator farming. makes a constant, low, "swooshing" noise day • Wind farms can and night. be tourist Hydroelectric Power
Renewable Energy Source
History and Basics • The earliest •Water flows from a reference from 4th high potential energy century BC Greek (high ground) to lower literature. “hydro” potential energy (lower comes from the ground), the potential Greek word for energy difference is “water.” partially converted into • By 1980, electric energy through accounted for 25% the use of a generator. of global electricity •There are two major and 5% of total designs in use that world energy use, utilize water to produce totalling 2,044 electricity billion kilowatt Hydroelectric • Currently largest source of electricity from renewables. • Needs guaranteed supply of water. • Kinetic energy of water rotates turbines which generate electricity. Hydroelectric Dam • Advantages: – The energy is •Disadvantages: virtually free. –Expensive to build. – No waste or –Environmental pollution concerns upstream – Reliable and downstream – Can cope with –Siting peaks in demand. – Can increase to full power very quickly, unlike other power stations. – Electricity can be generated constantly. Ocean Energies
Waves, tides, ocean currents,
ocean thermal energy General Information • 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by oceans • Huge potential: “a mere .1% of total energy potential in oceans would satisfy all of mankind’s energy needs five times over.” • United States faces siting challenges and economic obstacles • Europe: leader in ocean energies • Exploiting Location and natural geography – Winds blown across Atlantic (West -> East) create bigger waves -> more energy potential – Areas for underwater currents and tides Tidal Power • Damming estuaries, water flows through turbines – One method: ebb generation – High and low tides are very predictable – Can only produce electricity at certain times • Not many places in the world where it’s efficient – 5-10 meter difference between high and low tides • High costs to build deters private investors • Negative impact on estuarine ecosystems Tidal Power • Located at some coastal sites - usually estuaries and bays with large tidal range. • Shape of coastal site above and below sea level determines range eg Bay of Funday, Severn. • At high tide reservoir of water is created which is allowed to ebb through turbines located in dam. • Expensive construction. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) • Hawaii can exploit this technology because of its location near the equator • Sun heats water to depths of 100 meters to temperatures around 24-30 degrees Celsius – Flashing into steam – Cold water from deeper in ocean condenses the steam, produces desalinated water! • OTEC can serve much of Hawaii’s energy needs, but not really any of the contiguous United States Wave Power Land Installed Marine Powered Energy Transformer on Islay, West Coast of Scotland. Wavegen Co.
LIMPET provides 500kW of electricity
for the National Grid Three floating wave power stations at Lewis/1 MW each Geothermal
Exploiting Earth’s temperatures to
produce electricity and heat our homes. Advantages • Reliability – the Earth’s heat provides a constant source of energy • Low impact on environment • Room for improvement: 2,300 MW in 2004, D.O.E. estimates could be 15,000 MW by 2014 • Hot Dry Rock – How does it work? – If the technology works, we could tap geothermal energy ANYWHERE! Disadvantages • Depletion of water – Re-injecting water – Earthquakes…should plants be responsible? • Heat depletion – Natural cooling of Earth’s crust cannot be avoided – Plants become less and less efficient • Economics – Building costs: $1175-1750 per kW installed capacity – Geothermal areas aren’t always near electricity grids… Biomass • cycle of sunlight - photosynthesis - plant growth - absorption of CO2 - emission of O2. • combustion of wood - heat • some plants - alcohol • decomposition - methane/landfill gas/fuel for heating. Straw Burning Power Plant Lorry leaving plant after delivering straw
– Elean Power station near Ely,Cambridgeshire
generates 36MW of electricity and is the worlds largest such facility. It supplies 80,000 homes with electricity. Pollution Reduction
• Over 20 years, a 100-megawatt
plant avoids 3 million tons of carbon dioxide.
• 1000 kWh of solar power saves:
– 8 pounds of sulfur dioxide – 5 pounds of nitrogen oxide – 1,400 pounds of carbon dioxide