Jims site

Demand/Response is a system that electrical companies can use to prevent blackouts during events where the demand for power exceeds the grid’s supply.

One example of a Demand/Response system is the system used by Pacific Gas and Electrical, or PG&E for short. Thier system causes certain companies to make small reductions in their power usages during D/R events. Examples of the things they do is reducing nonessential lighting, especially in areas that dont need it, turning off decorative things like fountains that require alot of power, reducing the number of elevators working at once in an office, or running fewer machines in a factory. All these changes are relatively minor to the companies concerned, and the companies who chose to take part are given payouts from PG&E.

This system helps to prevent problems like blackouts which could be quite harmfull to the bussinesses mentioned above. For example, computer data could be lost, food would go bad, no products would be produced instead of slightly fewer, and an entire building could go dark instead of just some of the nonesential lights.

For a good look at what PG&E’s system is like, you can go to this link:

http://www.pge.com/demandresponse/

Purpose: To measure the voltage output of a small solar pannel under normal light at different distances and under different colors of light.

Equipment:

NXT and voltage probe

Solar cell

Flashlight

colored filters

ruler

Experiment 1: Distance of light source

For the first part of the experiment, we measured the voltage produced by the pannel as a function of the distance of the light source from the pannel.

graph of voltage vs distance

Data:

Result: The closer the light, the more voltage produced. This is logical.

Experiment 2: Effect of Color of light on voltage

For the second part of the experiment, we put colored filters over the flashlight and observed what changes they caused in the produced voltage.

Voltage vs Color Graph

Data:

Result: The unfiltered light produced the most voltage. Once again this is a logical result. Out of the colored light, green was strongest, followed by yellow, then red.

On March 11, 2011 at 2:46 PM a magnitude 9 earthquake hit Japan. The resulting tsunami knocked out power to the cooling systems of the Daiichi nuclear reactors. Without cooling, the reactors began to overheat and go towards meltdown. In an attempt to cool them down, the government ordered seawater to be pumped into the reactors, but they were to late.

Infographic on the events of the Daiichi nuclear disaster

A infographic showing how nuclear meltdown works

When we visited the Museum of Science a while ago, I saw a few interesting things that we could use for our project.

The coolest thing I saw that we could probably have done was in the sustainable energy exibit. It was a demonstration on the placement of solar pannels on a house and how it affected the amount of power they generated as the day goes by. The demonstration had a small model house with four possible positions to place the pannels. The solar pannels were in a case that could be placed on any of the four positions and would stick there using magnets. To simulate the sun’s changing position during the day, there were three lights, one for morning noon and night, above the house at different angles for the different times. When the pannel was placed and a light was turned on, a meter read the voltage produced by the pannel. The purpose of the exibit was to try the four different positions for each time of day and find out which produced the most electricity over the course of the day. I thought this was a really cool idea for a demonstration to show where solar panels should be placed for the best efficiency over the course of the day.

I think this would not be to difficult to demonstrate for the highschoolers. The house could be made out of legos from the NXT sets, as could a rigging to hold a flashlight. The power produced by the solar pannels could be measured by the NXT.

What exactly is hydrofracking?

– Hydraulic Fracturing is a method of extracting natural gas from shale deposits thousands of feet under ground

-Shale contains deposits of natural gas, which collect in small pockets in the rock

– Wells are drilled down to the shale layer of rock, then drilled horizontally through the shale

-Next, water mixed with sand and chemicals is pumped down the well into the shale, this creates large amounts of pressure and causes cracks (fracturing) in the rock

-The pressure pushes the natural gas in the pockets through the fractures and into the pipe, where it is carried to the surface and extracted.

-The “produced water” or mixture of chemicals and water is pumped out of the well

Pros of Fracking:

~The USA has abundant deposits of natural gas.

~The amount allows it to be cheaper than other fuel sources

~We do not have to rely on other countries for it

~It burns significantly cleaner than oil

~Reduces reliance on coal and nuclear power

Cons:

* Produced water is toxic and slightly radioactive due to heavy metals and radioactive materials in the shale layer

*Shallow drilling can leak methane into the groundwater

*Looks bad to the eye

What is being said about it?

Opponents say it contaminates ground water with dangerous chemicals, however experts on the process disagree. The chemicals would not penetrate up through thousands of feet of ground into the aquifer, and if they did then all of our water would probably be radioactive due to the abundance of uranium, radium, and other radioactive elements in the shale layer.

The Robot was made to measure the distance it travelled in one second.

The Robot’s wheel had a diameter of 5.5cm. The circumference was .1728 meters.

For all three tests, the time was one second.

For the first trial, the robot was set on 75% power. We measured a distance of 27cm using a ruler. The computer measured the distance to be 26.2cm. The percent error was 3.01%. The robots average velocity was .262 meters/s. The wheel turned 1.51 times (546 degrees).

For the second trial, the robot was set on 50% power. We measured a distance of 16.2cm using a ruler. The computer measured the distance to be 16.7cm. The percent error was 3.04%. The robots average velocity was .167 meters/s. The wheel turned .966 times (348 degrees).

For the third trial, the robot was set on 25% power. We measured a distance of 6.4cm using a ruler. The computer measured the distance to be 6.53cm. The percent error was 2.01%. The robots average velocity was .0653meters/s. The wheel turned .377 times (136 degrees).

Overall, the robot was pretty accurate.

Basic Stuff:

The Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz – EEG) is an act that was created to give priority to renewable energy sources. It changes energy tarifs so that renewable energy sources have the priority on the power grid.

Link to the act: Renewable Energy Sources Act

The main purposes of this law are:

1. To develop a sustainable supply of energy from renewable sources.

2. To protect the climate and environment.

3. To reduce the long term costs of an energy supply for the country.

4. To conserve fossil fuels.

5. To further develop renewable energy technology.

According to the law, Germany will rely on at least:

35% renewable power by 2020

50% by 2030

65% by 2040

and 80% by 2050.

Feed-in tariffs are paid for energy generated from the following sources:

-Hydroelectric

-Landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas, and mine gas

-Biomass

-Geothermal energy

-Wind power

-Solar radiation, soloar photovoltaic, solar thermal

The tarrifs vary based on what type of energy it is and the amount an instalation produces.

The German Energy Industry Act (Energiewirtschaftsgesetz – EnWG), legally obligates grid operators to provide access to the grid for any interested renewable energy generators. The cost from feed in tarrifs for these sources can be passed on to the customers.

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