Museum blog
For one of our classes, we headed off to the Museum of Science to explore different exhibitions and get a better understanding of contemporary science. As a group, we explored a variety of scientific displays such as catching the wind, energy innovations, mechanical energy, and renewable and nonrenewable energy. While all of the exhibits were fascinating, one particular one stood out to me.
The tradeoff exhibit was an interesting one because it explained where our main source of everyday energy comes from. It demonstrated how there are seven sources of energy: wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, coal, nuclear power, and natural gas. Personally, I was not familiar with the specifics of renewable and nonrenewable energy. However, this exhibition gave me a clear understanding of different sources. For instance, the Catching the Wind exhibit demonstrated the mechanics of wind turbines and how they generate electricity. Wind turbines work in a different way than the other devices that generate energy. The reason why wind turbines are in the shape of high towers is to generate the most energy and take advantage of faster and less turbulent wind. Wind turbines generate energy using the wind. The wind turns the blades that are located on top of the device and connected to a generator. This process is repeated and electricity in generated. It also explained what trade-off we make in choosing a specific energy resource. It was interesting to see that the Museum itself has conducted its own case study regarding the wind turbines that are used in Massachusetts. Furthermore, the Museum had many different interactive exercises to get a closer glimpse of the inner workings of different devices where you could choose a location for a wind turbine and see whether it would be able to generate enough electricity for everyday use.
More importantly, the exhibit put our everyday lives in context by showing which sources of energy produce the most household electricity, which is about 920 kWh. Also, wind turbines can bring electricity to a single dwelling or be connected to a distribution system such as the ones on the wind farms. Overall, the different information offered by the Museum was very encouraging because it showed that we have many different options to satisfy our energy needs in the future.
Resources:
http://energy.gov/eere/wind/how-does-wind-turbine-work