Advantages And Disadvantages Of Geothermal Energy

* What do industries use to generate steam and hot water? All, boiler fuel, process heat, electricity

It has recently come to light that Glasgow and the West of Scotland have been using a great deal of our earth’s precious finite resources. To combat this we must take advantage of our valuable surroundings and look for long term replacements such as solar, wind and tidal power as well as geothermal and hydroelectric sources. In the interest of our planets wellbeing and our country’s economy, the engineers at SECC have created the following report. Our aim is to help you realise the potential of these alternative sources and push for them to replace the power plants burning through our finite resources.

Hydropower is a renewable resource that is clean, affordable and durable. This resource is clean due to the way you gather the energy from it. hydroelectric and coal-fired power plants produce electricity in a similar way. In both cases a power source is used to turn a propeller piece called a turbine, which then turns a metal shaft in an electric generator (the motor that produces electricity). A coal-fired power plant uses steam to turn the turbine blades; whereas a hydroelectric

The fossil fuel goes to a boiler, which burns the fuel implanted into it. The burned fuel transfers its kinetic energy into the water, increasing its heat and turning it into steam. The steam turns the blades of a turbine, which makes electricity.

The steam supply is cut off, then the cold water is sprayed into the cylinder and then the piston moves back down. James Watt the improver of the Early Steam Engine was born in Greenock on the 18th of January 1736. In 1775 he vastly improved the original concept of the steam engine. Watt and his partner Matthew Boulton set up a factory. The steam engine works like so: the heat was converted into mechanical energy. The way that Watt created the changes to the steam engine is adding two cylinders. The piston is at the bottom for the cylinder. The steam creates pressure which forces the piston upwards. The stream is then cut off just like it was before when Newcomen invented it. Then a pipe that leads to the second cylinder which is the condenser, is then opened and cools down the stream. Then it creates the negative pressure which forces the piston to come back down. Then the steam engine doesn’t have to cool down if we are using this process.

1b/process. “How do we harvest this lost energy,” you might be wondering? Well, nuclear energy receives its power from the fission, or splitting, of atoms in very dense radioactive metals. Once one atom is split, the halves separate into 2 or more less dense atoms, and remaining neutrons can be shot out at high velocities. If these neutrons slam into another atom and are captured by it, that atom has a chance that it too will undergo fission. This cycle of splitting atoms is a chain reaction. Nuclear fission requires power to start the chain reaction, and it needs a certain amount of Uranium, called a critical mass, before this chain reaction can support itself and create excess energy. This excess energy is released as heat, usually into water. This changes the water into steam and is used to turn turbines to produce electricity. According to an article written by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the first successful attempt at a self-sustaining nuclear reactor was on December 2nd, 1942.

Moreover, the author continues citing the benefits of geothermal energy. An evident point mentioned in the article is that geothermal energy is a clean, renewable, and dependable energy that can run 24 hours a day, all year round. The author moves forward to mention other real life examples of countries that adopted the usage of geothermal energy. Countries such as the United States, New Zealand, Italy, Iceland, japan, Mexico,and Indonesia are using this kind of energy right now which is so important to prove his argument as real usage applications are

For the 300 MW steam plant currently under analysis, steam is required at 723 K (450 0C), 10.34 MPa and a mass flow rate of 330 kg/s. The steam turbine extracts 312.5 MW of power at 84 percent adiabatic efficiency. With the generator loss at 4 percent, the electrical output is 300 MWe. A mechanical pump is used to pump the water into the heat exchanger where it absorbs the heat from the helium turbine exhaust before entering the steam turbine. Design point specifications are given in Table 4-1.

From the time when man invented fire, he has put his faith in one energy source or another. Energy plays a significant factor in our lives, providing luxury, swelling productivity and letting us to live the way we want too. Our lives are exactly surrounded by energy, but we do not habitually stop to think about why those energy sources are significant. Energy is the most discussed subject and has become a basic requirement for the societies. It is an important factor on to which economies depend and prevail. Independence in energy leads to prosperity and economic progress in the country. The significance of energy generation cannot be unrecognized due to its crucial share in the industrial practice and growth of the

Dry steam power plants draw from underground resources of steam. The steam is piped directly from underground wells to the power plant, where it is directed into a turbine/generator unit.

Through the centuries, steam was found to be useful and in 1698 Thomas Savery patented and built the first ever steam engine. (Encyclopædia Britannica 2009; Hawley, 2012) The steam engine has been adapted to modern days as steam power was expensive and time consuming to service. Boiler rebuild were required and they constantly needed to be cleaned. It was expensive and kept these engines out of service for a large portion of time. (Feldman, 2014,) Today, 95 per cent of nuclear power plants use steam engines to generate power. Electricity is

Since its opening in 1901, the Virginia Tech Central Steam Plant has played an integral part in producing electricity for the university and the greater Blacksburg area; however, over the past 113 years, the plant has shifted its primary focus from producing electricity to producing steam and hot water for the university. The plant, which uses a mixture of fuels including coal and natural gas, is classified as a “cogeneration” or “combined heat and power” plant. Simply put, this means the facility produces both electricity and steam/heat. Virginia Tech is one of the few universities in the commonwealth that helps to serve the electrical needs of its surrounding community; moreover, it is the only university that supplies the community via a

One of the most important aspects of the development of engineering is the harnessing of different energy sources and the world, today, is highly reliant upon this (Narendra Singh Rathore, 2007). This report will endeavour to

The idea using the power of steam to our advantage goes back nearly twenty-one centuries. A learned writer in ancient Alexandria, named Hero, wrote a manuscript describing various devices and ideas of the time. Although it is not proven that Hero was the inventor of any of these devices, he is given credit for the earliest mention of steam power. Hero describes a method to open the doors of a temple with the action of a fire on the alter at the front of the temple. A series of pipes runs between the alter and the temple doors. The force of the steam created by the fire on the alter is strong enough to open the temple doors. The essential principle that Hero used was to change heat energy into mechanical energy or work. Supposedly, Hero continued his work and ended up creating what is often called the "First Steam Engine." Hero's engine is featured on below on the right. The cauldron or bowl like portion AB holds water. There is a steam tight cover place over top of the cauldron. Two pipes extend from the lid and suspend a globe directly above the cauldron. The water is heated, causing steam to be created and forced through the pipes. The globe then fills with steam. Pipes K and H are located on opposite sides of the globe and allow the steam to escape when the pressure becomes uneven. The escaping steam then causes the globe to spin on its axis.

Geothermal Energy The human population is currently using up its fossil fuel supplies at staggering rates. Before long we will be forced to turn somewhere else for energy. There are many possibilities such as hydroelectric energy, nuclear energy, wind energy, solar energy and geothermal energy to name a few. Each one of these choices has its pros and cons.