Renewable and non-renewable Energy Resources for Technology Education
 Worlds Energy Consumption
Energy is one of the seven resources of Technology. It is essential to our society and to meet most of our current needs and wants. Since the days of Thomas Elva Edison and Nicola Tesla our need for energy has grown at an outstanding pace. Power companies on the East and West sea boards of the United states struggle to meet demands and sometimes even fail during heat waves. Brown or black outs tend to occur when air-conditioners are in high use. This problem is not only here in the states but around the world. With our sources of energy being gobbled up at an alarming rate and pollution topping our worlds major concerns we are forced to look at where our energy and power supply comes from and the impact it has on us. Below you will read about some of the most popular energy sources and then play a learning game that will help you remember if it is a renewable or non-renewable energy source.
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Natural Gas
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Natural gas is one of our top energy supplies. It is found deep in the ground usually in rocky areas or where organic matter has been buried and compressed over a long period of time. It is commonly used for cooking, heating of homes and businesses, and power generations plants. Do not confuse natural gas with gasoline. However there are a few vehicles that do use CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) as a fuel source, the most common one is a fork lift. Natural gas is categorized as a non-renewable energy source because it takes 1,000's of years for natural gas to form on it's own.
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Oil
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Petroleum Oil is commonly refined into gasoline for engines and refined even more for jet engines. It is also used to heat homes that are outside of the natural gas network of pipe lines. Oil is used in the makings of asphalt for our roads and plastics that are used daily. Oil was once was so cheap that gas stations would give gasoline away just bring customers to their stores. Those days are long gone. As a matter of fact the price of a barrel of oil has a large impact on our economy. It is estimated that the world consumes nearly 90 million barrels of oil a day. Making it a large factor when looking into the reasons for global warming. Oil is a non-renewable energy source.
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Bio-Fuel
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Bio-fuel is a fuel that is made from living things like plants and algae. Plants like corn and switch grass are very popular in the production of bio-fuel. These plants are used in the distilling process resulting in bio-ethanol, more commonly know as ethanol. In the united states there is about 10% ethanol in gasoline. This is there to help lower the amount of gasoline (made from petroleum oil) thus reducing our dependence on oil from other countries and reduce air pollution as bio-fuels burn cleaner and pollutes less. Bio-Diesel is made from vegetable oils and animal fat. In fact a small group of college students made from California to NY using nothing but the strained grease from McDonald's used fryer oil. People driving behind the car said it smelled like french fries.
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Coal
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Coal is type of rock that is primarily of carbon, it also contains other ignitable elements. It is formed by compressing plant mater and other materials for thousands of years under the weight of the earths surface. Coal is one of the leading sources of fuel for generating energy. Coal is used as a heat source for generating power, and heating buildings. It was determined that pollution from coal just about doubled the pollution from natural gas while generating the same amount of power. Coal is gathered from the ground either by mining the surface or digging tunnels and hauling it out.
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Geo Thermal
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Geo-Thermal is a way to use the temperature of the ground to generate power or heat and cool buildings. This is done by pumping water through pipes in the ground. For example. In the winter a house would pump cold water through the pipes in the ground. As that water passed through the pipes it would pickup some of the heat that is found in the ground which is around 55 degrees. Now that water is heated by another source to 70 degrees or so to heat the house. By preheating the water with the temperature in the ground it reduces the total amount of energy used for heating.This process can be reversed to cool the house. Large geothermal power plants can produce a lot of electricity. They do this using the same process but at a much larger scale. These plants extract extremely hot water from the ground that is turned into steam. That steam powers an electrical generation plant . Geo-Thermal Energy is a renewable source of energy.
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Hydroelectric
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Hydroelectric is using the flow of water to spin a turbine that is connected to a generator to produce electricity. Hydroelectric plants can be formed anywhere there is a flow of water from high to low. Typically a dam is created to hold back water and this creates pressure on the back side of the dam. The water is directed threw specialized pipe called the pen-stock. That water rushes by and spins the turbine. Hydroelectric is a renewable source of energy.
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Nuclear Power
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Nuclear Power is generated by capturing the heat of a controlled nuclear reaction by running water around it. This heated water is highly contaminated with radiation and now called dirty water. The heat of the dirty water is transferred to water in a different set of pipes through a heat ex-changer. Now the heated clean water is allowed to turn into steam which is then run through a steam turbine. The turbine spins a generator to produce power. Nuclear power is very efficient source of power but does have a lot of hazards associated with it. Nuclear power is a non-renewable source of energy.
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Solar Power
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Solar Power is a renewable resource of power. The sun hits a photoelectric panel also know as a PV cell. The absorbed light from the sun excites electrons and creates an electric flow. The electric flow or electricity will then be used or stored in batteries for later use. Solar panels are becoming more popular as the cost of them are becoming more affordable. Even at an affordable price it still takes a homeowner quite some time to recoup the cost of investment. Another down fall of solar power is that they only work well under clear skies, this limits it's ability to be a cost effective investment. Solar panels can be used in locations where power is not available which is a nice feature.
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Windmill
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Wind Power is a rapidly expanding field. A well placed windmill can power around 500 homes. Large wind farms are going up around the world at an amazing rate. These wind farms sometimes have over 100 windmills that are up to 20 stories tall with blades that are as long as 200 feet each. Smaller windmills are available for home and business owners. With very little impact on the environment wind power continues to grow. The only problem is when the wind stops blowing so don't the blades.
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Wood
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Wood burning is a renewable resource of energy. This usually confuses people but I will explain. Trees replenish themselves in a relatively short time when comparing them to our fossil fuels that take thousands of years to be created. All of the fossil fuels are in the non-renewable category. Like many of the other fuel sources burning creates heat, that heat boils water and the steam turns a turbine that is connected to a generator. And yes that burning releases CO2 into the air.
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Renewable and Non-RENEWABLE energy Game
(chrome or Internet Explorer 11 RECOMMENDED)
Below is an educational game that will help you remember the which category the energy source is part of. Simply drag the Icon and drop it into the appropriate catago
Directions: Place the image in the correct category. Press the submit button when finished.
Solar
Nuclear
Coal
Hydro-electric
Natural Gas
Oil
Wind
Bio-Fuel
Geo Thermal
Wood
© Content copyright 2013 TechEd LLC
Renewable
Non-Renewable
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Review Questions.
1. What are the two major classifications of energy? 2. What is the main difference in these two categories? 3. Which of the above examples are renewable and which are non-renewable? 4. What are the three major energy resource of the world? 5. How can we reduce pollution in our world? |
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