When considering energy sources one of the most important issues to consider is

Question

When considering energy sources one of the most important issues to consider is the efficiency of production. ie. How much waste is produced in the process of making energy. This is a crucial but difficult measure to evaluate. Most energy sources have efficiencies which are quite low (many are well below 20% efficient, that means that 4/5 of the energy used is wasted). There are other considerations as well.

Waste is produced at all levels of energy production starting with mining and refining.

The kind of waste could be a consideration, for instance, there is a lot of CO2 involved with fossil fuels which is an important greenhouse gas. While for nuclear fission there is long-lived radioactive waste.

Solar photovoltaics are not as clean as they may seem. Some of the older manufacturing methods are quite dirty. They also don't last forever.

There are also considerations of the availability of materials, this can be a geo-political issue. For instance, the so-called rare-earth metals are only mined in certain areas. China and Afghanistan to name two, there are others, Canada has some but not all, the U.S. has none. They are crucial for many high-tech devices. Also needed for breakthrough battery, solar or wind technology. China recently announced export restrictions. Also, a ton of low-level radioactive waste is produced in the process of refining a ton of rare-earth metal from ore. The one that is important for wind turbines is Neodymium (Nd) which is used to make strong permanent magnets.

There may also be siting issues. With NIMBYism blocking new projects.

3. When considering energy sources there is a question about whether a particular source is a "good" one for transportation as opposed to sources that work well for homes and business locations. Considering the choices that you made for the first question, write 300-400 words about whether the particular energy sources are better for transportation or for larger scale operations. Are there ways to adapt transportation systems so that the larger scale sources become more usable?

No need to write that much, just trying to get a good start. Please and thank you!

Explanation / Answer

Transpotation of energy is a big issue. Some countries waste around 40% of electric energy in transpotation. We should have such a medium which can transfer energy without lossing.

We have to select proper source of energy , if our requirement is less then we can depend on renewable energy sources but if our requirement is high, that time we would not interested in renewable energy because for more energy we have to expense more, now we want to take enegy , come from some conventional sources like coal because these will be cheaper.

These days some batteries or some grid systems are used to collect the energy from large scale sources

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse W
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.