Harnessing and Storing Electrical Energy

Abstract:

Each person on this planet consumes electrical energy in day-to-day life in any form. Throughout centuries plenty of methods are discovered to harness energy from natural sources. Conventional sources to produces electricity includes coal, natural gas and petroleum. The problem with these sources is that during the production of electricity through these sources cause air pollution and many times water pollution. Pollution results into global warming and climate change. Global warming results into the production of holes in the Ozone Layer. Due to this, harmful radiations from the sun enter the earth’s atmosphere. “In the United States, about 67% of total electricity generation in 2016 was produced from: fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), materials that come from plants (biomass), and municipal and industrial wastes. (US Department of Energy, Electricity Explained. Electricity and Environment)”.
Abstract:

Each person on this planet consumes electrical energy in day-to-day life in any form. Throughout centuries plenty of methods are discovered to harness energy from natural sources. Conventional sources to produces electricity includes coal, natural gas and petroleum. The problem with these sources is that during the production of electricity through these sources cause air pollution and many times water pollution. Pollution results into global warming and climate change. Global warming results into the production of holes in the Ozone Layer. Due to this, harmful radiations from the sun enter the earth’s atmosphere. “In the United States, about 67% of total electricity generation in 2016 was produced from: fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), materials that come from plants (biomass), and municipal and industrial wastes. (US Department of Energy, Electricity Explained. Electricity and Environment)”.
From the above data we can see that we are producing majority of electric city using conventional energy sources causing high amount of pollution. We can also see that factories and different industries can produce huge amount of pollution by

burning fossil fuels. If we wat to save the environment we need to develop new innovative sources for electricity production.

Introduction:

In this paper we are going discuss different innovative ways to harness electricity and innovative ways to store it. First, we will discuss already known ways to harness renewable energy and their process. Then we will discuss new innovative (practical and/or hypothetical) ways emerging now-a-days to harness and store electric energy. We want to discuss these methods because all them produce clean energy

According to US Energy Information Administration “In 2017, about 4,034 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) (or 4.03 trillion kWh) of electricity were generated at utility-scale facilities in the United States. And about 17% was from renewable energy sources (What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?)”. Following is a table determining percentage of renewable energy provided by different sources.

Here we can see that hydropower, wind, biomass and solar are top 4 sources for the renewable energy. In this paper we will discuss about hydropower, wind and solar energy.

Firstly, lets us explore energy produced by wind. Wind energy is kinetic energy of moving air, also called wind. We know from the law of conservation of energy that ‘Energy cannot be created or destroy, it can only transform from one form to another’. So, to convert kinetic energy of air to electrical energy we need wind turbine. Wind turbine is giant structure with huge propeller like rotor which are connected to the main shaft. Wind turbine converts kinetic energy of air into mechanical energy when wind collides with the propeller which results in to mechanical rotational motion and the main shaft starts spinning. Due to this motion the shaft generates electricity using the law of electromagnetic induction. Law of electromagnetic induction says that changing magnetic fields can cause current to flow in wires.

Now let us analyze hydropower used to harness electricity. “Water constantly moves through a vast global cycle, evaporating from lakes and oceans, forming clouds, precipitating as rain or snow, then flowing back down to the ocean. The energy of this water cycle, which is driven by the sun, can be tapped to produce electricity or for mechanical tasks like grinding grain. Because the water cycle is an endless, constantly recharging system, hydropower is considered a renewable energy (OFFICE of ENERGY EFFICIENCY & RENEWABLE ENERGY)”. Hydropower uses similar concepts that were used in harnessing the electricity using the wind turbine. Here it uses turbine but instead of using kinetic energy of air it uses motion of flowing water or water falling from water fall as

source of kinetic energy and converts it to mechanical energy. Then generator converts that mechanical energy in to electricity.

Now let’s examine solar energy which uses sun light as source of energy to harness electrical energy. Solar energy offers a clean, climate friendly, very abundant and inexhaustible source of energy. Solar energy can be converted to electrical energy in mainly two ways through photovoltaic cell and solar thermal energy. “Photovoltaic Systems (PV systems) – These are panels made from materials that, when exposed to sunlight, use heat and light to shake electrons loose and create an electric current in a process called the photovoltaic effect. A typical commercial PV cell has an efficiency of about 15%, which yields consistent renewable energy for years (Young,2018)”. Electricity produced by this method is clean as no fossil fuel is burned and pollution occurs using this method. Clean electricity can also be produced using solar thermal energy which is also known as ‘Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)’. “CSP technology uses lenses and mirrors to focus (concentrate) sunlight from a large area into a much smaller area. This intense area of radiation heats a fluid, which in turn generates electricity (Morse and Turgeon,2012).” Here the heated fluid is used to run turbine which generates electricity.

Sofar, we have discuss how clean electrical energy is harness using different natural sources like wind, water and solar ower. Now we are going to discuss some other innovative ways to harness and store clean electrical energy that makes enviornment better. Now let us discuss how human energy can be usefull to generate a decent amount of electricity. Now a days gym owners have taken a very innovative towards saving environment by using energy produced by human workout. “The Terra Hale gym in Fulham, London is powered by renewable energy; and not just any renewable energy - human-made energy. The gym generates electricity from eco-bikes that use the power of pedaling as a source of energy. A 50-minute spin class with 6 participants and an instructor can generate up to 3300 watts. (BENZAKEN,2018).” They uses

eco-bikes and those bikes have moter near paddles that generates electrity using the law of magnetic induction. Additionally, this gym emmists only 10 percent of the carbon emmision which uses 85 percent electrity. Here we can see that one principal can be applied innotavitly in many ways to produce electricity.

There are plenty of other method to harness and store electritrical energy through solar power. And a car company called Tesla is finding out innovative ways to utilise solar energy to produce electricity. One of the way it uses solar power by creating solar roofs. In this method the roof of a house is sovered by solar panels that used to convert solar energy. “At $21.85 per square foot, the Tesla solar roof price for a 2,500 square foot home is around $54,000. Early estimates say the average return for a 1,800 square foot home in California is nearly $88,000 in saved energy costs over 25 years (Sendy,2018)” . Here figures suggests that instaling solar roofs would be costly but in long term the return will be greater than the initial investments. Tesla is mainly known for electric cars which uses electrical energy. These cars are self-contained a battery, solar pannel and electric motor to generate electricy. Similarly, Tesla operates Gigafactory 2 for the development of photovaltic cells that are used in solar roof(utilised by Solar City) and Tesla’s cars to produce clean energy from solar power.

There is one of the most innovative way to store electricity produced by solar power and it is by installing solar bricks-block on highwaysand parking lots. It could be done by “ replacing current asphalt surfaces with modular Solar Road Panels: structurally-engineered solar panels that can be driven upon. The roadway will generate electricity, become our nation's power grid, make all-electric vehicles practical, and transport rainwater to desired locations. Collecting solar energy for just four hours/day would produce three times more electricity than our nation uses and allow the road to pay for itself (Brusaw ,2009)” . These roadway uses “tempered-glass panels offer asphalt-like traction, support the weight of semi-trucks, include LEDs for signage,

and contain heating elements to melt snow and ice(Koch ,2016)”. Here we can see that how these solar roadway can be useful to produce more elctricty and be helpful to gain more profits. It also helps in different ways by melting snow using heating elements. Let us just think that this technology can also be used to create heating center for homeless people to protect them from cold. Harnessing and storing solar energy to electricity can be very usefull.

Lastly, it is concluded that there are many mays to harness and store electricty without burning fossil fuels or using other sources that can cause pollusion. So, instead of using primitive sources we should try to develop innovative ways to produce electrictiy using natural green energy sources.

Work Cited Page

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2. “U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis.” What Is U.S. Electricity Generation by Energy Source?, www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3.

3. “Wind Turbine Generator Used for Wind Power Generation.” Alternative Energy Tutorials, www.alternative-energy-tutorials.com/wind-energy/wind-turbine-generator.html.

4. “How Hydropower Works?” Water power technologies office, https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/how-hydropower-works

5. Young, Julia. “5 Powerful Ways to Harness Solar Energy by Guest Contributor-Ms. Julia Young.” United States Renewable Energy Association, 23 Feb. 2018, www.usrea.org/5-powerful-ways-to-harness-solar-energy/.

6. Morse, Elizabeth, and Andrew Turgeon. “Solar Energy.” National Geographic Society, 14 Nov. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/solar-energy/.

7. BENZAKEN, HILLA. “This Eco-Friendly Gym Uses Human Power to Keep the Lights On.” Goodnet, 22 May 2018, www.goodnet.org/articles/this-ecofriendly-gym-uses-human-power-to-keep-lights-on.

8. Sendy, Andrew. “Are the Tesla Solar Roof Tiles Worth It?” Solar-Estimate, Solar-Estimate, 13 Nov. 2018, www.solar-estimate.org/news/2018-11-06-are-the-tesla-solar-roof-tiles-worth-it.

9. Brusaw, Scott. “Solar Roadways.” About STTR | SBIR.gov, 2009, www.sbir.gov/sbirsearch/detail/355952.

10. Koch, Wendy. “Will We Soon Be Riding on Solar Roads? The Idea Gains Traction.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 22 Dec. 2016, news.nationalgeographic.com/energy/2016/03/1603