Month: October 2015

Tesla

Tesla was founded in 2003 in Silicon Valley as a worthy option to compete with gasoline-fueled vehicles. Currently, there are more than 50,000 Tesla cars in use around the world. Most recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed Tesla’s newest model, Model X, and it has gained popularity especially in the light of the recent Volkwagen scandal. Volkswagen has admitted to cheating emission guidelines in its vehicle manufacturing. Regardless, many experts argue that electric cars are still a luxury due to their cost. Electric cars such as Tesla use something called lithium-ion batteries to run the car for a period of time. These batteries operate similarly to the ones used in smartphones and laptops. However, the vehicle batteries are much more powerful. Since these are battery powered vehicles, they need to be charged. There are a variety of ways to charge the battery in the cars. Many owners choose to install either chagrining stations or solar panels at home while some choose public chagrining stations. These public stations are becoming more frequent especially in California. One of the biggest problems with these charging stations is the confusion with the payment system. Some require cards with sensitive identification chips while each network has a different system. Therefore, companies such as Tesla are investing in building their own chagrining stations.

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffwald/tesla-the-american-dream-_b_8201710.html

http://www.teslamotors.com/about

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/30/tesla-model-x-electric-car-launch-falcon-wings-suv

http://mashable.com/2013/01/17/tesla-electric-car/#wLDY9Mzmd5ku

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-05-30/electric-car-owners-face-confusion-at-the-charging-station

 

Electricity Generation

There a variety of methods by which electricity can be generated. One of these methods is through coal-fired plants. Coal is crushed into a fine powder in order to burn quicker. Then, the powder coal is blown into combustion chambers using high temperature. The high temperature and gasses is converted to water which converts to steam. Electricity is generated when this steam is passed into a turbine. One of the advantages of this method is that with recent changes more electricity can be generated from less coal which increases cost-efficiency.

Another source of electricity is natural gas. In fact in 2015, natural gas surpassed coal as the top source of electric power in the U.S. In order to generate electricity from natural gas, there is a compressor to draw in the air into its engine and feed it to the combustion chambers. The combustion system injects the fuel into the combustion chambers and mixes it with air. The mixture is burned at a high temperature which produces high temperature gas stream into the turbine. The turbine produces electricity by spinning a generator with that hot gas. When the temperature is higher, the efficiency increases. Also, in order to increase efficiency, turbines can use generators that can recover energy from the turbine’s exhaust.

Finally, nuclear power plants are another significant source of electricity. The generation process of nuclear power plants is similar to the other plants, water is turned into steam that goes into the turbines and turns into electricity with the help of generators. However, here, the heat to drive the process is produced when the uranium atoms split, and there is no combustion.

References:

http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-of-coal/coal-electricity/

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/14/natural-gas-tops-coal-as-top-source-of-electric-power-generation-in-us.html

http://energy.gov/fe/how-gas-turbine-power-plants-work

https://www.duke-energy.com/about-energy/generating-electricity/nuclear-how.asp

Fracking:

 Fracking is the process of drilling down into the rocks in the earth to release the natural gas. This is done by using a high-pressure water mixture. In fact, this technique was first used in the 1940s to release gas from wells. Later, a driller named Mitchell started using this technique on earth formation. Fracking has become widespread in the past few years and sparked controversial debates. One of the main cons of fracking is its negative environmental effects. First, the amount of water that is needed to carry out the process is significant. Second, there is the fear that the chemicals that are used during the process could potentially contaminate the groundwater which could lead to major environmental disasters. Finally, some experts state that fracking can contribute to small earthquakes and earth movements.

On the other hand, there are some pros that come from fracking. One of the main advantages of fracking is the significant energy resource that comes from it. For instance, domestic oil and gas production has increased in the U.S. due to fracking projects. Overall, fracking can be a significant source of Energy especially in places in Europe that have a shortage of natural gas and oil.

 

 

References:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14432401

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/14/fracking-hell-live-next-shale-gas-well-texas-us

http://environment.yale.edu/envy/stories/fracking-outpaces-science-on-its-impact

 

 

 

Energy Grid

An energy or electric grid is a network of power plants and transformation lines that carry more than 450,000 miles of high-voltage transmission to consumers. After the electric power is generated at different power plants, these transmission lines move it to different substations. Then, a local system of lower-voltage transmission lines brings that energy to householders, businesses, and etc.

Additionally, a smart grid is a computerized network of electricity distribution and transmission. One of the main features of the smart grid is automation technology that enables control centers to adjust each individual device remotely. One of the advantages of the smart grid is the possibility of raising efficiency in the energy sector. Typically, monitoring of energy distribution requires many workers that need to go to different consumers, read meters, and record data manually. Smart grids give experts the option of gathering and analyzing such data in a faster, more technological way. Smart grids could also eliminate and significantly decrease blackouts and offer more reliability to the consumers.

On the other hand, one of the cons of smart grids is the significant cost associated with rebuilding these centers. Experts estimate that it would cost millions of dollars in federal funds to change the systems and turn them into smart grids.

 

References:

http://energy.gov/articles/top-9-things-you-didnt-know-about-americas-power-grid

http://energy.gov/oe/services/technology-development/smart-grid

https://electrical-systems-lighting.knoji.com/pros-and-cons-of-the-smart-grid/

http://smartgrid.ucla.edu/