Magazine for APES

Energy Types and Their Importance By: Bailey Thompson

Types of Resources Renewable: Renewable energy is energy that can be naturally replenished. However they don't produce as much energy per unit of time. Some of the most well known renewable energy types are:solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectric. Renewable types of energy are more environmentally friendly and are increasing in popularity. Inexhaustible: Inexhaustible resources are a type of renewable resources, but unlike some renewable resources they can never be depleted. Some examples are geothermal, solar, and water energy. Nonrenewable: A nonrenewable resource is a resource that is used for economic benefits, but does not reproduce as quickly as it is being used. Most fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal are considered nonrenewable resources. Nuclear energy is also a nonrenewable resource. These resources provide a lot more energy then renewable and inexhaustible energies do, but they have a negative impact on our envirment through pollution and other things.

Wind Energy Wind energy is the process of creating electricity using the wind, or air flows that occur naturally throughout earth’s atmosphere. People use wind to capture kinetic energy that creates electricity. There are three main types of wind energy: 1. Utility-scale wind- Ranging from 100 kilowatts to several megawatts these wind turbines are all connected to a grid. They can power multiple buildings b 2. Distributed or \"small\" wind- Small wind turbines are below 100 kilowatts that are used to directly power a home, farm, or small business. They are not connected to a grid. 3. Offshore Wind- Wind turbines are in large bodies of water and along coasts. They produce a lot of energy that regular land turbines cannot. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EYYHfMCw-FI#

Hydroelectric Energy Hydroelectric energy has been in use for thousands of years. Before the industrial revolution hydroelectric was created by turbines and water wheels. However, after the industrial revolution hydroelectric power plants and dams became a lot more effective. Dams are created for harnessing energy through water flow. To create a dam, a large reservoir is created, usually by damming a river to create an artificial lake, or reservoir. Water is channeled through tunnels in the dam. Engineers control the amount of water let through the dam to create energy. For example, when a lot of energy is needed, most of the tunnels to the turbines are open, and millions of gallons of water flow through the A hydroelectric power plant has a generator that the water goes through to create electricity. A lot of hydroelectric power plants are by dams which create a lot of power. Hydroelectricity is creates a lot of power, but has some negative environmental side effects. The damming of water, changed water flow and the construction of roads and power lines. Hydroelectric power plants may affect fish is a complex interaction between numerous physical and biological factors.Feb 21, 2014

Solar Energy Solar power is energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy. It is the cleanest and most abundant renewable resource available to us. It is also an inexhaustible resource because we will always have the sun for solar energy. Solar technologies can harness energy for a variety of uses. Examples include: generating electricity, providing light or a comfortable interior environment, and heating water for domestic, commercial, or industrial use. The way we harness solar energy is mainly through solar panels. There are many sizes of solar panels. From as small as power a watch to as large as a power plant that can power an entire neighborhood. Some benefits of solar energy are that they don’t produce air pollutants or carbon dioxide.and have minimal effects on the environment. While some downsides are that sunlight is not always constant. Also, the amount of sunlight reaching a square foot of the earth's surface is relatively small, so a large surface area is necessary to absorb or collect a useful amount of energy.

Geothermal Energy Geothermal energy has been used for thousands of years to mainly heat building and use for cooking. In essence, geothermal energy is just power derived from the Earth’s internal heat. Geothermal energy and be created in a couple ways. To just heat a building, people mainly use a geothermal heat pump system which takes advantage of the constant temperature of the upper ten feet of the Earth's crust. Another way to produce a greater amount of geothermal energy is to produce geothermal-generated electricity. Wells, sometimes a mile deep or more, are drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that drive turbines linked to electricity generators. There are three types of geothermal power plants: dry steam, flash, and binary. Dry steam, the oldest geothermal technology, takes steam out of fractures in the ground and uses it to directly drive a turbine. Flash plants pull deep, high-pressure hot water into cooler, low-pressure water. The steam that results from this process is used to drive the turbine. In binary plants, the hot water is passed by a secondary fluid with a much lower boiling point than water. This causes the secondary fluid to turn to vapor, which then drives a turbine.

Biomass Biomass is one of the most plentiful and well-utilised sources of renewable energy in the world. Broadly speaking, it is organic material produced by the photosynthesis of light. The chemical material (organic compounds of carbons) are stored and can then be used to generate energy. The most common biomass used for energy is wood from trees. It has been used for thousands of years and is still a very commonly used resource. There are two issues that affect the evaluation of biomass as a viable solution to our energy problem: the effects of the farming and production of biomass and the effects of the factory conversion of biomass into electricity. However, there are advantages and disadvantages to biomass. For example, using coal instead biomass could result in \"a considerable reduction in net carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect.\" On the other hand, the use of wood and other plant material for fuel may mean deforestation. We are all aware of the problems associated with denuding forests, and widespread clear cutting can lead to groundwater contamination and irreversible erosion patterns that could change the structure of the world ecology.

Coal Coal, one of the most important primary fossil fuels, a solid carbon-rich material and most often occurs in stratified sedimentary deposits. It is a nonrenewable resource that is used for many different things. Coal is formed by deposited sediments that take thousands of years to form it. Coal has been used for thousands of years as a form of energy. Today coal is a major source of energy in the production of electrical power using steam generation. In addition, gasification and liquefaction of coal produce gaseous and liquid fuels that can be easily transported (e.g., by pipeline) and conveniently stored in tanks. While coal is good because it provides a lot of cheap energy that will last longer then a renewable resource, it does have some downsides. It's biggest downside of it are that it releases Greenhouse gas emissions, can cause mining destruction, and generates millions of tons of waste. Also, coal takes thousands of years to make more, so if we run out of coal we're basically out.

Oil Oil or crude oil is a non renewable resource, composed primarily of hydrogen and carbon and contains trace elements of sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen.Oil is found in specific underground rocks called reservoirs. The rocks have tiny spaces in them that allow them to hold water, natural gas and/or oil. Impermeable rocks called cap rocks surround the reservoir and trap oil in its place. Oil is extracted from the reservoir by drilling a well and pumping it up the well. Once recovered, oil is transported by pipeline, ship, rail, or truck to a refinery where it undergoes a complex process that produces petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, jet-fuel, home-heating fuel, lubricating oil and asphalt While oil is a great energy source economically, it has a lot of environmental downsides. It causes air pollution and drilling can cause pollution and even endanger people’s lives.

Natural Gas Natural gas is a nonrenewable resource. It was formed millions of years ago and over long periods of time, the remains of plants and animals built up in thick layers on the earth’s surface and ocean floors, sometimes mixed with sand, silt, and calcium carbonate. Over time, these layers were buried under sand, silt, and rock. Pressure and heat changed some of this carbon and hydrogen-rich material into coal, some into oil (petroleum), and some into natural gas. We can find natural gas all throughout the world. It is a nonrenewable resource and produces a lot of energy. It also helps our economy tremendously. However, it can cause pollution and kills a lot of animals due to waste left over from drilling for natural gas. Overall, while natural gas is a cheap, Effie t way to get energy, it’s disadvantages outweigh the benefits b

Nuclear Energy Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat, which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plant. As a nuclear technology, nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay, and nuclear fusion reactions. It produces over 20% of the US’s energy. Uranium is the fuel most widely used by nuclear plants for nuclear fission. Uranium is considered a nonrenewable energy source, even though it is a common metal found in rocks worldwide. Nuclear power plants use a certain kind of uranium, referred to as U-235, for fuel because its atoms are easily split apart. Although uranium is about 100 times more common than silver, U-235 is relatively rare A problem with nuclear power is that we don’t really have a way to deal with the nuclear waste. The waste has radiation that can be very bad for our Earth and it’s inhabitants. We put the waste in cabasters and are just gonna let them sit there until the next generation can figure something out.

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