Christopher Stewart (279349)

P4.2 Compare and evaluate the different forms of alternative energies.

The assignment given was to investigate two sustainable sources of renewable energy, water and geothermal
energy. Firstly water;
Water as a renewable energy comes in more than one way, the main source would be hydro-electric power,
Hydro-electric power supplies around 20% of the worlds electricity , the most common way to build electricity
would be to use a dam, usually in a valley where there is an existing lake or river, dams like these can be built
on a large scale like Niagara falls or a smaller scale set in the rapids of a fast moving stream, meaning any
steady current flow of water from a river or any water way can be converted into power. It starts by water
flowing through tunnels in the dam which turns turbines and drive generators, the water is pushed down pipes
and into large turbines where the water spins the wheels of the turbines which are attached to large electrical
generators stored in the dam. When the water is let out of the dam it turns the turbines. The turbines turn a
giant magnet inside a huge coil of copper wire which creates the electric charge, a large amount of energy is
stored in the water above the dam ready to cope with the demands, because of the huge height in water when
the water arrives at the turbines a great deal of energy can be formed, once the water has passed through the
turbine it then flows downriver as normal, sun and rain will put the water back to let this process repeat time
and time again. The dam would be built much thicker at the bottom than the top because as water increases
the pressure gets greater at the bottom of the dam. Hydro-electric power stations are excellent to produce
power very cheaply, this is the reason why there are many sites around the world, although they are very
expensive to build, but once built the water is free of charge and electricity can be generated constantly they
can be up to %95 efficient on large scale dams and between 80-85% on smaller dams. When in use, electricity
produced by dam systems does not produce greenhouse gases. They do not pollute the atmosphere;
furthermore there is also no waste. Dams do have lots of disadvantages other than being expensive to build,
they have to rely on the weather, they can flood large areas upstream causing problems for animals that once
use to live in the area and also water quality and quantity downstream can be affected and have a massive
effect on plant life. The high cost of dam construction means that they must operate for many decades to
become profitable. The building of large dams can cause serious geological damage. For example, the building
of the Hoover Dam in the USA triggered a number of earth quakes and has depressed the earths surface at its
location.
Another type of hydroelectric power plant is called a pumped storage plant this can even store power. The
power works by sending the power to a power grid into the electric generators. The generators then spins the
turbines backward, this causes the turbines to pump the water from a river or lower reservoir to an upper
reservoir, where the power is stored. When the power is needed, the water is released from the upper
reservoir back down into the river or lower reservoir. This then spins the turbines, causing the generators to
produce electricity when needed. The advantages of an hydroelectric power plant are that they are long
lasting and easy to maintain, It is a renewable source of energy and free of pollution also they are less
expensive unfortunately they can cause major problems because they store so much water they can cause
ecological imbalances, small pieces of earth get trapped in the still water of the reservoir as these build up the
capacity reduce also building these large hydroelectric power plant means damaging wild life and other areas
of untouched land.

The second source of renewable energy is geothermal energy this comes from reservoirs and hot water under
the earths surface, it is basically the earth as an energy source .Geothermal is one of the most least explored
sources of renewable energy. Geothermal energy works when extremely hot magma from deep in the earth
comes close to the surface, it then heats underground water and traps it in cracks and porous rock. This in turn
creates reservoirs of very hot water and steam, deep wells can tap the high energy content of this water and
steam to drive various energy outlets. The Earth's core maintains temperatures of around 6000K because of
the heat generated by the gradual radioactive decay of the elements it contains, the supply of geothermal
energy is constant and doesn't vary with the time of day or change with the weather. There are two possible
ways of extracting geothermal energy firstly hydrothermal systems which dates back to 1904, a hydrothermal
explosion is created resulting in ejecting boiling water, steam, mud, and rock fragments from source craters
that come in different sizes from a few meters up to more than 2 km in diameter. Hydrothermal explosions
happen where shallow interconnected reservoirs of steam and liquid-saturated fluids with temperatures at or
near the boiling point underlie thermal field this causes reduction in confining pressure that causes fluids to
flash to steam, resulting in significant expansion and rock fragmentation. In recent times since 1970,
technology has been developed to extract the heat from hot rock by artificially circulating cold water through
the rock to produce heated water or steam to drive the generators. For cost efficient electricity generation,
temperatures for hot water and steam range upwards from 120C to 370C,but these hydrothermal resources
are not widely available and are found in only a few parts of the world where the Earth's crust is very thin.
Geothermal electricity generating plants have been installed in over twenty countries so far. Another way is
using geothermal aquifers a more conventional hydrothermal system this uses the natural occurring
formations of permeable rock or gravel, sand or clay in which water may build up, between layers of
impermeable rock. Where these aquifers happen in fractured volcanic rocks where temperatures are high near
the surface or in non-volcanic areas where the crustal heat flow is very high, the water temperature may be
high enough to provide steam for powering electricity generator, Energy from geothermal aquifers is not
completely renewable because the heat is extracted faster than it is replenished by the surrounding rocks.
Geothermal power has many advantages its really environmentally friendly and doesnt pollute, it can be used
directly to the source , maintance of the power plants is very cheap also geothermal doesnt take up a lot of
space and isnt dependent on the weather conditions. The disadvantages of geothermal are that there isnt
many sites with the potential to create enough power and site that are , are usually not close to cities, there
isnt always guarantee that you will gain enough power to make it worthwhile building and can also disturbed
volcanos enhancing the chance of eruption