Nuclear energy which is defined as one of the cleanest way of creating has many negative side associated wit it. From history the very idea of using a nuclear plant was a terrifying idea. Many people feared this source of energy without taking their time to really look into it. Most of them had been influence by the media (television shows, movies, China Syndrome) and other had experience the end of World War 2 and the use of nuclear as a weapon. Competitor energy provider industries such as oil companies also created feared by making false allegation to the public.

One condition that enables people to start accepting nuclear as a source of energy is the work of scientist who first created water reactors and submarine powered by nuclear energy. Also, the production of dioxide carbon increasing in the atmosphere pushed people to for cleaner ways of producing electricity such as nuclear power. The technology not being ready to efficiently produce energy from renewable energy and the action of naturalists getting bigger a midway between fossil fuel and renewable energy was nuclear energy.

With the word population increasing, the need of power of the world also increase. And with the death rate of coal in the United States 13,000 and world wide 3,000,000 , people needed new ways that killed less and can generate enough energy for the growing population.

As people start looking more into nuclear energy, the discover that a person can receive more radioactive exposure from a banana compare to drinking of a day of water out a nuclear plant.

As we learn, using nuclear power is not a problem if the proper measures are taking. Some of the negative attitude toward this nuclear use is that people need to know more about it and we should stop thinking of nuclear as a weapon.

Cutting the production of polluting gas is a very important matter that the Obama administration has set as a goal. The president has promise to make policies and take other measures to cut back on the emission of harmful gas, the creation of new jobs, a more reliable and cost effective energy sector. To achieve these goals, the president with the help of his administration has taken many steps in different areas. Some of these areas are:

Policies and rules:

Power plants are responsible for one-third of all the greenhouse emission in the United States. To be able to cutback the emissions, the administration has set some emission limit and rules such as “the carbon pollution standard for new power plants”. It has also created programs for local governments and companies. A direct result is that more than 35 states have renewable energy target in place, and more than 25 have set energy efficiency targets.

Standard for hydroelectric power plants have been set by using “Red Rock Hydroelectric Plant” to design the standard for high-priority projects.

Federal agencies are also conducting surveys to track progress and facilitate the sharing of best practices.

A draft of a solicitation was issued. This solicitation would make up to $8 billion in loan guarantee authority available for wide array of advance fossil energy projects. It will also support investments in innovative technologies that can cost-effectively meet financial and policy goals, including the avoidance, reduction or sequestration of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases.

A Quadrennial Energy review is also on schedule.  This review led by the White House Domestic Policy council and Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Secretariat will establish the engagement of federal agencies and outside stakeholders.

The Energy Sector:

In 2012, thanks to the permits issues by the administration, we were able to see  a 10 gigawatts of renewable energy being produced and a goal to produce 10 more by 2020.

25 utility-scale solar facilities, 9 wind firms, and 11 geothermal plants were created since 2009. These plants have already provided 4.4 million homes and created 17,000 jobs.

The largest consumer of energy in the United States (The department of Defense) is committed to deploying 3 gigawatts of renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal) on military installations by 2025.

The standards set by the Department of Energy  will, by 2030, cut consumers’ electricity bills by hundreds of billions of dollars and save enough electricity to power more than 85 million homes for 2 years.

Transportation Sector:

An economy standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and vans was finalized in 2011. The standards will reduce greenhouse gas emission by 270 million metric tons and save 530 million barrels of oils . One requirement for these standards is that the performance of car produced must be 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, this will enable drivers to save more than $8,000 in fuel costs and eliminate 6 billion metric ton of carbon pollution.

The use of Biofuels and natural gas has increase.  The Departments of Energy and Agriculture are working with private sector to accelerate the development of cost-competitive advanced biofuels for use by the military and commercial sectors. This will enable the country to deploy cleaner fuels, including batteries and fuel cell technologies, in every transportation mode.

With these policies in place and the actions taken by the President Obama administration, we will be able to have a cleaner way of life and be able to leave a less polluted planet to the future generations.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf

The MIT plasma tour was very very educative because we got to learn more about fusion and see an actual fission reactor.

Fusion is the method use to combine two light elements to make a heavier element, the process produce energy which can be used to generate other form of energy as opposed to fission which is the process of breaking a heavy element into smaller element. With fusion, theoretically we will not have any loss and critical failures in the engine. The elements used in fusion are H1 (deuterium) and H2 (tritium).

We also learn that for fusion to happen, we need to have the elements at a temperature of 100 million Kelvin and keep them together log enough for them to bond. Keeping them together is the challenge. At this temperature the hydrogen elements become plasma (the fourth state of matter which happens when a gas is heated) making it difficult to keep the elements together because there is no real container for plasma. Yet, some methods are used to solve this problem. Some of the methods used so far are:

– Inertia confinement: method used to compress the plasma

– Electrostatic confinement: the emptiness of the space, make the elements flow toward the center of the space making it possible for them stay together long enough

Another method that had been used to actually make fusion occur is gold fusion where instead of heating the elements, we freeze them but this method was never confirm. No matter how much and long scientists tried to recreate the experiments, none of them were able to get to desire result.

The second part of the tour was dedicated to the facility of a fission reactor. We did not get to see the inside of the reactor for it is very small but we got to see what it looks like:

We got to see the control room where the scientists work and learn that the actual experiment time is about 5 seconds (about 4 second for theengines to start and shut down and 1 seconds for measurements). This time seems low but multiples measurements are during the short time.

Fukushima Daiichi was a nuclear power plant in Japan that was damage by a 15-meter tsunami which cause the cores of the plant to melt and release high radioactive contamination.

One of the reason the problem escalated is that the Japanese downplay the dangers by increasing the the safe radiation exposure level from 1 mSv (millisievert which is the radiation exposure of an individual for 1 year which is 1mSv) to 20 mSv per year which prevented the evacuation of many contaminated areas.

The areas far from the plant were also contaminated because of the rain, snow, and flow of water from the tsunami because of these unfortunate events, the decontamination failed.

Some of the consequences are that the radioactive waste enters the ecosystem, polluting water, soil, plants and animals. The consumption of any items contaminated accumulate in the heart, kidneys, small intestines, pancreas, spleen and liver. This accumulation is more rapid and dangerous for children.

The contamination was not only limited to land but also to the ocean. Months after the incidents, fish caught near Japan coast were found to be also contaminated,

Here is video about the current situation of the plants:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bg6ScmnRI

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Fukushima-Accident/

http://www.psr.org/environment-and-health/environmental-health-policy-institute/responses/costs-and-consequences-of-fukushima.html

http://www.world-nuclear.org/Features/Fukushima/Situation-at-Fukushima/

Geothermal energy is the use of the heat energy generated from the earth. Geothermal energy is convenient in  that it is renewable and sustainable. This works by drilling into the ground to heated area, where water is pumped to create steam, the steam is then used to turn turbine and generate electricity.

Another way is to use the  magma. In 2009, researchers in Iceland, after accidentally drilling into a chamber of molten lava,  used the steam escaping the magma to generate electricity. The generated approximately 36 Megawatts of electricity.

Another way is to use geothermal plants which create approximately 5% of the carbon dioxide, 1% of sulfur dioxide, and less than 1% of the nitrous oxide emitted by coal-fire plant of equal size. There are certain types of geothermal plants that produce near-zero emissions.

Here is a video explaining how Geothermal-energy works in Iceland:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs6n0baLQ6w

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/04/3241811/iceland-geothermal-magma-energy/

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-geothermal-energy-works.html#.VQ2BYY7F_Yw

http://geothermal.marin.org/pwrheat.html

A Peltier cooler is a a type of cooler that uses the peltier element. The peltier element is a tool composed of no moving elements that can used to heat, cool, or generate electricity.  The solidity of these elements make the device last long. The device is most of time made from two side (hot and cold). The difference between the side (70 degree Celsius) make it easy to cool devices.

Here is a video on how Peltier cooler works:

http://www.survival-manual.com/electricity/peltier-elements.php

http://www.heatsink-guide.com/peltier.htm

A Stirling engine is a heat engine that works by compressing and expending air and other gases in regularly cycle. The way a Stirling engine works is comparable to that of a car but the difference is that it has the potential to be much more efficient in using gasoline and the risk of a boiler explosion is existent. The process is mostly use where we need the engine operating to be as silent as possible (For example in a submarine). Because the engine can run using heat, it is suitable for alternative fuels engines, solar power, and other source of energy.

The engine is composed of two-cylinder where one is kept hot and the other is kept cool. The gas (air or any other type of gas) in the hot cylinder is heated which cause it to expand and move the pistons of the engine (Expansion). As the pistons moved, it creates a gap on the other end which is filled by the gas expansion (transfer). The gas then is being cooled in the second cylinder causing it to compress and occupy less room, making the pistons move back to their original position (compression). As the process is repeated, we have a working engine that can perform the desire work.

here is a video explaining the process:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine.htm

http://www.animatedengines.com/vstirling.html

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-stirling-engines-work.html