Geothermal Energy: The Ground's Not Getting Any Cooler

Looking around the internet, I found this article which gives a little blurb about a new geothermal project on a little island in the Caribbean. It will be capable of producing 8.5 MW of power. While that not might seem like a lot to us here in the US, that could provide a lot for a little 36 square mile island.

Aerial Shot of Nevis

From my earlier post on geothermal energy, one of the reasons that geothermal energy isn't expanded upon that was brought up by a reader was that geothermal can only be utilized at "hot spots" around the globe, which are places where high temperature geothermal resources are available near the surface. The island where the project is being planned, Nevis, is a little to the southeast of Puerto Rico. It is the dormant remnant of an ancient volcano, which is why it has a multitude of hot springs and why the geothermal project is being planned for it.

After looking up all of this info on Nevis, I started wondering if the US had any geothermal plants in Hawaii, where volcanic activity is very present resulting in a lot of geothermal potential. I then researched that and found that they do indeed have one geothermal plant on the big island that only produces energy for the big island. It produces about 20% of the island's energy needs, so it is very useful and helpful.

Hawaii's Geothermal Plant

While they are doing some things with geothermal energy, I feel like they could do a lot more in Hawaii. There has to be a lot more places where they can build geothermal plants around the different islands, instead of just having the one on the big island, but that's just ideal speculation. I remember reading at one point something about Hawaii wanting to go green and have a majority of their energy come from renewable sources, so I think geothermal can definitely help them reach their goal.

A Look Back At That Corny Fuel

With gas prices going up and looking like they won't be going down really anytime soon, a lot of people's wallets are going to be hit pretty hard at the gas pumps around the nation. In previous posts I have talked about a couple of remedies to high oil prices: electric cars and ethanol-mixed fuel.

I recently found this article that gives the ethanol outlook report regarding ethanol. The report involves findings from the International Energy Agency that say biofuels will provide 27% of fuel sources by 2050, up from the 2% it is currently. They attribute this increase to the reason that the current trends in energy supply are unsustainable, so other forms will be utilized in the future to meet the energy demands. They also address the food vs. fuel issue, by saying that they support the use of using food crop waste and cellulosic and algae biofuels instead of corn.

The one part of this article that I found the most interesting was the price difference between gasoline and ethanol, which is at $1.20 when the government tax credit is included. With such a discount, demand for ethanol will most likely increase. I mean I would go for it if I could save around $10 at the pump each time I filled up.

I found this video about ethanol production from Modern Marvels that I liked a lot. It seems a little pro ethanol skewed, but it is still very informational and a good watch.

Water and Electricity: Perfect Combination??

Hoover Dam

For any kid that has ever played Pokemon in their life, the combination of water and electricity is a no go. Everyone knows that electrical attacks are "Super Effective" against water pokemon, so why would anyone ever want to mix the two??

Hydroelectricity, that's why!! Hydroelectricity uses water to turn a turbine, which then generates electricity to be sent out through transmission and distribution lines to the consumer. As a student in electrical engineering, I had the pleasure of actually touring a Hydro plant up in Boulder, so I have a little more experience and knowledge in this area.

Most hydro plants, including the Boulder Hydro we toured, use gravity to generate the energy to turn the turbine. They transport water from a higher level down pipes using only gravity to build up energy. It then goes through a penstock, which gets narrower as it gets closer to the turbine, increasing the pressure of the water. The water is then forced through a needle valve, which makes the water into a high-powered stream. This stream is what is then used to turn the turbine. At the Boulder Hydro, they used a Pelton Wheel Turbine, which has these buckets all along it that are shaped like two concave ovals welded together, and they have a sharp ridge in the middle of them that splits the water from the needle.

ENERGY IN MOTION!!

Here is a video/song that I wrote and made entitled "Energy," and it is based off the smash single by Rebecca Black, "Friday." I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing and making it!!

I Hope This Brightens Your Day

After the earthquake in Japan and the crisis with the Fukushima Power Plant, I bet you thought I would talk about nuclear power in this post, but I decided to go a different route and talk about solar power. The article I found that prompted this week's post, actually talks about the Fukushima incident, but in respect as to how it affected solar energy.

If you have ever driven down 6th Avenue towards Denver, then you may have seen the photovoltaic cells, or solar panels, to your right, in front of the Federal Center. These panels convert the solar radiation from the sun shining on them into electrical current using semiconductors along their surface that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. This effect refers to the photons of light from the sun knocking electrons into a higher energy state, which creates the electrical current and, thus, electricity.

Since Fukushima, unease about nuclear energy has risen, resulting in an increased interest in solar and wind energy. Stocks in many solar companies have risen in the last few weeks, marking the added interest in the area, rising an average of 3.6% in the last week alone. Germany has also taken action to promote solar energy instead of nuclear, by planning on installing enough solar cells to generate 7.5 gigawatts in 2011. Also, they recently elected a Green party-led coalition over a Conservative party in one of their states as a result of anti-nuclear voters.

Hot Energy!!

I've been looking to write about geothermal energy for a while, but just haven't been able to find a good article to start it off, but today I found this article that I found pretty interesting. It is about Iceland's geothermal production, and how they plan to export the energy to mainland Europe. I knew that Iceland was a big user of geothermal energy, but I did not know that they used it to produce 81% of their electricity!!

Geothermal energy works by using the natural heat from Earth to heat water or another working fluid, and then the fluid is used to turn a turbine which turns a generator to produce electricity. It is not very efficient, only being at 10-25%, but as it uses heat from the Earth's core, it is a renewable source of energy, which makes it appealing. The figure to the left shows the basic dry steam plant, which takes geothermal steam directly to turn the turbines and produce electricity.

Currently, the United States is the world's largest producer of geothermal energy with a capacity of 3,086 MW per year, but it only accounts for 0.3% of the electricity produced in the U.S. Hopefully some of the money attributed to renewable energies in the budget, so that we can expand even more with geothermal energy.

More "Shocking" News

After last week's post on electric cars, I was looking at this one blog I've been following called Potential Energy, and it had a post about the money that the Obama administration has set aside for electric cars.

Obama wants to have one million "advanced technology vehicles" on the road by 2015, which includes hybrid vehicles as well as strictly electrical vehicles. To help achieve this number, the budget has allocated two billion dollars for factories to build batteries and other components for electric cars, as well as $300 million to make electric cars more appealing to the public and money to increase research and development for them. Rebates are also going to be offered for anyone that buys an electric car or hybrid for up to $7,500.

Do you think that this money is being budgeted appropriately? Is it worth appropriating this much money to electric vehicles?

Plug and Drive

So I've been following this blog called Potential Energy from Technology Review. It's kind of like this blog in that it talks about different types of energy, and lately they've had a lot of posts on electric cars, so I figured I'd jump on in and talk about them as well.

Electric cars seem to be the thing of the future, having a car you can plug in and then drive around town. Electric vehicles have batteries in them that get charged when you plug them in that power an electric motor in the car, allowing you to drive where you will up to a certain distance before you need to charge up again.

Electric vehicles have many benefits, including their electric motors have only 5 moving parts compared to the hundreds of moving parts in the typical internal combustion engine that most other cars have, providing easier maintenance. Also, the car, itself, does not have any tailpipe emissions like the combustion engine cars. They are also more efficient at converting stored energy to driving power than their counterparts.

Wind Power Video

Here is just a video I found that explains the basics of how power is generated from wind, enjoy!!

That's Not Smoke I'm Blowing Up Your @$$

I was walking to one of my classes the other day, when I saw our school newspaper, The Oredigger, and this headline: "Emission savings from wind power generation," so I naturally thought of N.E.R.G. and here I am writing about the next form of energy production: wind power.

If you have ever driven down 93 on your way to Boulder, you have most likely seen the wind turbines along the road. Wind power generation is currently the most rapidly growing renewable energy source in the United States, supplying 2% of its power. Like the Oredigger article states, one of the most appealing aspects of wind power is that it is a clean source of energy, saving on sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide by the millions of pounds and tons.

Also, the American Wind Energy Association has provided the point that wind generation saves the country over 200 billion gallons of water that would otherwise go to cooling down power plants or lost in the form of steam.

From a clean energy stand point, wind power seems like a definite win. The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions alone is a major benefit in these times where global warming has become such a hot topic, so hopefully this n.e.r.g. (energy) can take off and soar!!

Blog Self-Interview

The purpose of N.E.R.G. is to inform the public on the various types of energies out there in the world, like solar or geothermal or hydro. I am trying to write this for anyone and everyone to read so that they can learn more about energy. I believe that as of now I have succeeded in doing what I set out to do and have lived up to the purpose I set for this blog. It is possible that I have been overlooking some of the more learned people out there, as I have made my posts fairly easy to follow, and maybe too easy, not really delving into the more technical aspects behind energy.

I would really like readers to respond more to my posts, which I can help facilitate by asking for their opinion on a certain matter instead of just telling my side. In order to expand my audience, I will start diversifying the subjects I tackle and talk about some lesser known energy productions out there.

More Corny News

So I went into deeper research about ethanol to find all the facts and answers to the questions you posed in your comments, and I can safely say that I am no closer to finding out the truths...

I first went to the U.S. Department of Energy's website and found an article on the facts and myths of ethanol. It starts out by talking about the environmental benefits of ethanol, saying it sends less harmful gases out into the atmosphere. Then it talks about using the corn for ethanol will not have significant effect on the corn supply in the US, and it will be able displace 30% of gasoline consumption by 2030. The next myth/fact combo addresses the point that ethanol produces more energy than it takes TO produce it. Finally, the website talks about how ethanol burning in a engine actually enhances engine performance, which disputes the original article I found.

So after reading all these benefits, I felt it was a no-brainer that ethanol was the real deal: the way to get out of the dependency from gasoline and deserved all of the economic subsidies it was receiving. It won't disrupt the food supply, it actually makes engines perform better, decreases air pollution, and produces more energy than it requires. Then I found another article...

This article from Forbes.com addresses the issue of the amount of subsidies that ethanol it receives, and basically refutes everything the Department of Energy said.

I honestly don't know who I should believe, they both seem to be a little biased, but I still feel that ethanol is a fairly good substitute for our dependence on gas. If only there was a non-biased scientist that could just deliver the facts and let the public decide for itself whether or not they want to continue using ethanol... Maybe I just found a possible job for myself...

Framing the Window of Energy

In class we have talked a bit about framing issues.  Framing an issue means making it relatable to a certain audience by shedding light on it from a particular perspective, like talking about climate change in terms of an energy problem that provides additional jobs in the "clean" technology industry instead of a pollution problem.

By addressing the issue from a different point of view, the scientist can speak to a larger audience or strike a note with a different audience and get more people concerned with the topic. I plan to do the same in this blog that I am writing, talking about the different energies from different areas: political, economical, and social effects.

So I hope you enjoy reading my later posts, and see you later!!

A"maize"ing Fuel Source?

I was looking around the internet today, and I found this interesting article from the Washington Post concerning ethanol as a fuel source: EPA Approves More Ethanol in Fuel for Cars. For those of you who don't know, ethanol is a fuel source usually made from corn, but can also be made from other grains. As of now it is used in a mixture with gasoline to help power cars, and the EPA just approved of an increase in the amount of ethanol that can be mixed with gasoline from 10% to 15%.

I feel that ethanol is a viable and economic alternative to using just gasoline. It reduces our dependency on foreign companies for all of our fuel, since we grow the corn needed here in the United States. However, this increase in the amount of ethanol might not be entirely beneficial.

Only cars made since 2001 will be able to support this increase in the ethanol mixture, according to the article, so people that have cars older will have to make sure they are going to the correct gas stations. Also, the increase in demand for using corn for ethanol will drive up the price for corn.

Overall, I feel this decision by the EPA is beneficial to the US as a whole because it helps reduce our dependency on foreign oil and oil in general.

Welcome All!!

Thank you for visiting NERG, a blog devoted to informing people on the various forms of energy out there. I also plan on addressing in any interesting news stories I find and relaying my opinions on the matter. Feel free to comment on any of my posts, especially if you have differing views. It's always enlightening to hear how other people feel about a particular issue. Again, thank you, and I hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as I enjoy posting them.
-Nick