Renewable Energy

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Renewable Energy

• Brandon Kanemori
• Uyen Do
• Patrick Baldwin

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What is renewable energy?

• The world today, specifically the United States,
  is relying heavily on coal, oil and natural gas
  for energy. All these are nonrenewable, which
  means they will eventually run out, becomes too
  expensive (supply and demand), or too
  environmentally damaging to extract.
• Solutions???? We need renewable energy.
• Renewable energy resources wind, solar energy
  will never run out. Most renewable energy comes
  either directly or indirectly from the sun.
• The most important feature of all renewable
  energy sources is their sustainability will
  never run out, at least for millions of years.

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Benefits

• Sustainability will never runs out.
• Compatible with both international and
  intergenerational justice.
• Friendly to the environment
• Cannot turn into military weapons, or produce
  catastrophes (nuclear plants)
• Drive down the dependence on oil world peace.

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Energy for our childrens childrens childrens
childrens..

• The world supplies of fossil fuels our current
  main source of electricity will start to run
  out from the year 2020 to 2060
• Shell International predicts that renewable
  energy will supply 60 of the worlds energy by
  2060.
• Renewable energy will never run out.
• Meeting the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs.
• Benefits many generations to come

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Energy Security

• Our nations energy security continues to be
  threatened by our dependency on fossil fuels
  political instabilities, trade dispute, and other
  disruptions.
• Our country imports more than 53 of its oil
• Est. to about 75 by 2010
• With renewable energy, we can decrease our
  dependency strengthen our energy security as
  well as economic, political and national security.

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Environmental

• Friendly to the environment
• No greenhouse effect (gasses surround the Earths
  atmostphere like a thermal blanket, trap the heat
  close to the Earths surface) , air pollution, or
  water and soil contamination
• Pollutions and global warming pose major health
  risks to humans lung diseases and extreme
  weather (temperature rise)

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Jobs and Economy

• We rely heavily on import fossil fuels local
  economy loses. With renewable energy develop
  locally thus creating more jobs at home and
  fostering economic growth.
• As one of the worlds leading manufacturers of
  renewable energy sources much more money.

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Hydroelectricity

• Water current creates energy that can be captured
  and turned into electricity hydropower
• Electricity generated from water power has been
  cheaper than other sources.
• Most common type use a dam on a river to store
  water in a reservoir. Water releases from
  reservoir flows through a turbine spinning it,
  activates a generator to produce electricity.
• 1/5 of the worlds electricity is water generated
• Large dams has some environmental costs harmful
  to fish migration and aquatic life, accumulation
  of sediments, possible of failure and flooding

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Hydroelectricity

•  The hydrologic cycle Water constantly moves
  through a vast global cycle, in which it
  evaporates from lakes and oceans, forms clouds,
  precipitates as rain or snow, then flows back to
  the ocean. The energy of this water cycle, which
  is driven by the sun, is tapped most efficiently
  with hydropower

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Most conventional hydropower plants include six
major components 1. Dam. Controls the flow of
water and increases the elevation to create the
head. The reservoir that is formed is, in effect,
stored energy.2. Penstock. Carries water from
the reservoir to the turbine in a power plant.3.
Turbine. Turned by the force of water pushing
against its blades.4. Generator. Connects to the
turbine and rotates to produce the electrical
energy.5. Transformer. Converts electricity from
the generator to usable voltage levels.6.
Transmission lines. Conduct electricity from the
hydropower plant to the electric distribution
system. 
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Solar Power

•  Solar Hot Water, Space Heating
• Most solar water heating systems for buildings
  have
• two main parts a solar collector and a storage
  tank.
• The south side of a building receives the most
  sunlight. Therefore, buildings designed for
  passive solar heating have large, south-facing
  windows. Materials that absorb and store the
  sun's heat can be built into floors and walls.
  The floors and walls will then heat up during the
  day and slowly release heat at night, when the
  heat is needed most.

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Biomass

• Organic matter (mainly woods, can also be plants,
  residues from agriculture or forestry, the
  organic component of municipal and industrial
  wastes, even the fumes from landfills)
  bioenergy sources
• Reduce greenhouse gas emission
• Bioenergy generates about the same amount as
  fossil fuels however every time a new plant
  grows, carbon dioxide is actually removed from
  the atmosphere.
• Biochemical, Biofuels, and Biopower

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Biochemical

• Converts biomass into chemical to generate
  electricity.
• Heat is used to chemically convert biomass into a
  fuel oil- this chemical conversion process is
  called pyrolysis heated in the absence of
  oxygen.
• Pyrolysis - Easy to transport and store than
  solid biomass material, and it can be refined in
  ways similar to crude petroleum oil.

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Biofuel

• biomass can be converted directly into liquid
  fuels biofuels for transportation needs
  (cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, and trains). The
  two most common types of biofuels are ethanol and
  biodiesel.
• Ethanol alcohol fermenting biomass in
  carbohydrates similar to brewing beers
• Biodiesel similar to vinegar - many vegetable
  oils, animal fats, or even recycled cooking
  greases are used to produce biodiesel. It can be
  used as diesel additive to reduce vehicle
  emissions or in its pure form to fuel a vehicle.
• Other biofuels include methanol and reformulated
  gasoline components.

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Biopower

• Burning biomass directly, or converting it into a
  gaseous fuel, to generate electricity.
• Burn biomass directly to produce steam captured
  by a turbine, generator generate electricity

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What is Wind Energy?

• Wind is used to generate mechanical energy or
  electricity

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Definition of Wind

• Wind is an indirect form of solar power
• It is caused by the uneven heating of the
  atmosphere by the sun

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History of wind use

• Evidence wind power began along the Nile River in
  5000 B.C.
• Chinese began using windmills for water pumps
  around 2000 years ago
• Use in the American west began in 19th century
• gtpumping water, grinding grain, etc.
• 1910-Wind turbine generators produce direct
  current

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Why Wind Power?

• Free and renewable
• Clean and non-polluting
• Domestic source of power

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Why Not Wind Power?

• Unreliable because wind is intermittent
• Most good wind sources arent located near areas
  of high electricity usage
• Form of energy which cannot be stored

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Could wind power become competitive?

• Electricity currently generated by turbines at
  windy sites costs 6 to 8 cents per kilowatt-hour.
  This cost is low enough to be competitive with
  current US utility costs

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Plans for greater usage of wind energy

• Wind industry has expanded the greatest in
  California, but has recently slowed
• Wind could potentially provide 20 of US energy
  consumption
• India plans to use over 10,000 turbines producing
  over 1000 megawatts

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Solar Thermal Electricity

• Sunlight concentrated by parabolic reflectors
  produce steam which drives an electric turbine,
  producing electricity

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Solar Thermal Electricity
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Pros

• Clean
• Efficient
• Renewable
• Relatively cheap after initial setup

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Cons

• Technology is relatively young and therefore too
  expensive to be competitive on the market
• Solar power is intermittent and only available at
  usable rates in arid regions

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Current and Future Use

• In California, 350 megawatts of solar thermal
  electricity are being produced at costs which are
  competitive with peak rates(8-9 cents per
  kilowatt-hour)
• This is still lower than nuclear rates
• Usage will increase greatly with larger, cheaper,
  more efficient units
• Still relatively new to the market

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Photovoltaic Cells

• photo gt light
• voltaic gt electricity
• First discovered in the 18th century
• Later developed at Bell Labs in the 1950s
  primarily for usage in space

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How do PV cells work?

• Sunlight photons free electrons from common
  silicon producing a direct electric current

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Photovoltraics are good because

• Easy to operate
• No moving parts / maintenance-free
• Lifetime of 20-30 years
• Non-polluting
• Renewable

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Current Applications

• Utilized on the Hubble Space Telescope
• Used on virtually all communications satellites

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Professional Issues

• Is research into renewable resource energy worth
  the expense?
• Is the use of renewable resources for power
  feasible?
• What will a switch in power generation do to the
  economy?
• How shall we begin to switch over?

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Legal/Policy Issues

• Pollution
• International politics
• How to encourage the switch

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Ethical Issues

• Our responsibility to the environment
• Our responsibility to future generations

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Stakeholders

• Future generations
• The environment
• Oil companies
• OPEC
• The government
• Consumers

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Possible Actions

• A halt to all research into renewable resources.
• Continuing to research with application only
  where economic
• A gradual push towards switching over
• An immediate switch over

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Consequences

• A future lack of energy production
• Damage to the environment
• Damage to the economy
• Increased price of living

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Individual Rights/Fairness

• Shall we burden ourselves economically to lessen
  the burden of those who follow?
• Jobs lost to a major change in the economy

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Common Good

• Leaving the world a better place than when you
  came
• A respect for the environment

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Final Decision

• A gradual push using government subsidies
• Will compete with fossil fuels to bring down
  prices.
• Smaller impact to the economy
• Gives more incentive for private research
• Will slow down fossil fuel consumption and
  pollution.
• Will supply a lasting energy resource.

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Links

• http//hydropower.inel.gov/more.htm
• http//www.pnl.gov/techguide/29.htm
• http//search.nrel.gov/query.html
• http//www.eren.doe.gov/RE/solar_passive.html
• http//www.nrel.gov/clean_energy/bioenergy.html