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Apple Imperialist
I'm not going to talk politics here, but today's entry is actually one of the major areas of focus where politics comes in. I'm talking the environment. But what part of the environment? The answer - how we get our electricity.
There are 11 energy resources that we get electricity from. They are:
Of the 11 resources, five of them are more focused on than the others, especially oil. The thing here is that all of them are flawed, but they have benefitted us in some way. The question is, which one is the best one?
Let's focus on the bad news first. Two of the five major resources (coal and oil) are problematic. When we burn them, it creates carbon dioxide. Burning coal and oil causes serious CO2 emissions, which leads to global warming. Not to mention, but they are non-renewable resources. Once gone, they will never come back until another million years. Solar and Wind are problematic too. While they emit no pollution as they never run out, they are not cost effective. They are expensive. Solar energy is more expensive than burning coal and it doesn't produce as much electricity. Wind energy is bad for the economy too. You have an opportunity cost between saving the environment or preserving the economy. Finally, uranium has its ups and downs. Yes, it is expensive, but it produces more electricity than the others at their price. So it is highly cost effective, but the waste it produces is extremely dangerous. The waste has to be sealed in barrels for thousands of years for it to decay.
But there is a bright side. Coal and oil are cost effective and easy to transport. They aren't as expensive as solar or wind as they produce more. Solar and wind cause no air pollution. Energy is very safe too. Uranium causes no air pollution while it is cost effective.
I will go over these five resources, talk about how they work, facts, advantages, and disadvantages:
I won't go over the other energy resources, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't be used. They're just not as focused on as much.
There are 11 energy resources that we get electricity from. They are:
- Coal
- Oil
- Natural Gas
- Uranium
- Biomass
- Wave Energy
- Tide Energy
- Geothermal
- Hydroelectric
- Wind
- Solar
Of the 11 resources, five of them are more focused on than the others, especially oil. The thing here is that all of them are flawed, but they have benefitted us in some way. The question is, which one is the best one?
Let's focus on the bad news first. Two of the five major resources (coal and oil) are problematic. When we burn them, it creates carbon dioxide. Burning coal and oil causes serious CO2 emissions, which leads to global warming. Not to mention, but they are non-renewable resources. Once gone, they will never come back until another million years. Solar and Wind are problematic too. While they emit no pollution as they never run out, they are not cost effective. They are expensive. Solar energy is more expensive than burning coal and it doesn't produce as much electricity. Wind energy is bad for the economy too. You have an opportunity cost between saving the environment or preserving the economy. Finally, uranium has its ups and downs. Yes, it is expensive, but it produces more electricity than the others at their price. So it is highly cost effective, but the waste it produces is extremely dangerous. The waste has to be sealed in barrels for thousands of years for it to decay.
But there is a bright side. Coal and oil are cost effective and easy to transport. They aren't as expensive as solar or wind as they produce more. Solar and wind cause no air pollution. Energy is very safe too. Uranium causes no air pollution while it is cost effective.
I will go over these five resources, talk about how they work, facts, advantages, and disadvantages:
- Coal:
- How it works
- Coal can be burned to produce more power.
- Burning coal is very hot. It evaporates a lot of water.
- The water evaporated turns into steam, and the steam goes to the turbine.
- When the steam spins the turbine, it powers up the generator, which produces electricity.
- Interesting Facts
- 50% of the electricity in the US is produced by burning coal.
- Coal can also be used for manufacturing of goods such as paper, plastics, steel, and other stuff.
- It can act as a heating source for brick and cement production.
- Advantages
- Most cost effective resource.
- Provides a lot of electricity.
- Can be used anywhere.
- Disadvantages
- Coal mining is dangerous.
- Produces the heaviest pollution.
- Non-Renewable.
- How it works
- Oil:
- How it works
- Like coal, oil can be burned to produce electricity.
- Coal and oil are fossil fuels, the energy resources that take millions of years to build up.
- Oil works the same way coal works, but in different power plants.
- Interesting Facts
- While coal is the most used for electricity production, oil is the biggest resource.
- The majority of all goods use oil for production.
- Even if it's an energy resource, most of it is used as gasoline.
- Advantages
- Easier than coal to extract.
- Cost-effective resource.
- Easy to transport since it can flow through pipes.
- Disadvantages
- Heavy pollutant.
- Non-renewable.
- Highly flammable when transporting.
- How it works
- Solar:
- How it works
- While most energy resources require heating water to spin the turbines, solar panels have no turbines.
- Solar panels are made of semi-conducting materials such as silicone. The sun's rays can pass through and get absorbed by the solar panels.
- Electrons get knocked off from the atoms when the sun's rays get absorbed. The loose electrons produce electricity.
- Interesting Facts
- Solar energy is the only energy resource to not have a turbine.
- Solar energy is also one of the two energy resources that can be used for both private and public.
- Solar cells can be seen on regular devices too.
- Advantages
- Produces no waste. No fuel is required either.
- Very safe energy. Causes no pollution.
- Renewable.
- Disadvantages
- Cost ineffective.
- Requires large equipment.
- Doesn't work at night or on cloudy days.
- How it works
- Wind:
- How it works
- Like most resources, there is a turbine. Unlike most resources, it doesn't depend on water to spin the turbine.
- Wind can blow on the windmill blades. When it spins fast enough, the turbine spins and the generator is powered.
- Interesting Facts
- Texas is the largest producer of wind energy in the US.
- Windmills alone don't produce as much power, so they're mostly in wind farms. Windmills like socializing with other windmills anyway.
- Wind energy is the oldest form of energy.
- Advantages
- Renewable.
- No air pollution or waste produced.
- No fuel required.
- Disadvantages
- Windmills are loud.
- Cost ineffective.
- Dangerous for birds.
- How it works
- Uranium:
- How it works
- Nuclear power depends on creating heat from nuclear fission.
- Even if the heat boils a lot of water, there are control rods to maintain the heat produced by nuclear energy. The reason being is that nuclear energy produces intense heat.
- Interesting Facts
- Nuclear power is one of the two methods of producing heat that doesn't require burning things.
- Uranium is neither renewable nor non-renewable.
- 75% of all the power in France comes from nuclear power.
- Advantages
- Clean air.
- Cost effective.
- Produces little waste.
- Disadvantages
- Possibility of a meltdown.
- Produces dangerous waste, and needs to be sealed in barrels for radioactive material to decay.
- Very expensive.
- How it works
I won't go over the other energy resources, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't be used. They're just not as focused on as much.
