The Energy Matrix
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Water Falls Two large ducts carry some of the
water from this river to a generating plant near base of fall. When the
river is near flood stage most of the water goes over the fall and the energy is
dissipated. Some estimate that the United States is only exploiting a
fraction of its potential hydro-electric
Cheap Oil, Jan.19,2007 Bad news for clean alternative
energy, oil drops to about $50 a barrel. If your trying to sell or develop alternative energy, cheap oil is bad news, because it undercuts
alternative products.
Cogeneration growing. Central heating systems date back to the days
of DC power generation in lower Manhattan during the Edison/Telsa Era. High
Pressure Steam Plants provided steam
Heat Storage Heat storage are an important element of solar
power systems. Power plants that use concentrated solar heat to generate
steam to drive turbine driven electric generators, require heat storage to
maintain steady power output. See
reference article, Click here . Heat stored in super heated water can provide
steam to meet sudden changes in load.
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Heat Storage (Continued) Large tanks of water are heated with excess steam generated by solar heaters during peak daylight hours. When power grid requires a sudden surge of power, steam can be bleed of super heated water in these storage tanks. Water is used both as the working medium and heat storage medium resulting in short reaction times in response to turbine demand. The greater the drop in turbine steam pressure, the faster the the superheated water will boil. These system are are referred to as buffer system. Superheated water is unstable and boils over rapidly when pressure is reduced. It can also be extremely dangerous in the event of tank rupture. In case of rupture water at 200 degrees centigrade will transform into water at 100 centigrade and a large volume of steam at one atmosphere of pressure. This transformation is so rapid that boiler explosions have frequently resulted in the the destruction of large buildings. Charging water buffer units is also a rapid process. When steam bubbles are injected in relatively cool water, the steam condenses at vapor liquid boundary causing bubbles to collapse. The initial velocity and rapid collapse of steam bubbles makes the process very turbulent. This results in rapid vapor condensation and heating of water. Medium term storage systems are used to provide power for periods of several hours. Oils with high boiling points are frequently used to store high sensible heat. Salts with high melting points can be us for both sensible and latent heat storage. Heat transfer is relatively slow in medium storage system. Since working fluid (water) must be kept separate from storage fluid ( oil or molten salt), the heat transfer is accomplished by conduction through tubes or plates. Efficient conductive heat transfer requires large metal surface areas between mediums. This makes these heat exchangers expensive. Of course steam water systems require expensive tanks to safely contain high pressure steam. I see no reason why these heat storage system should be limited to alternative energy systems. They could be distributed throughout major energy grids in order to prevent brownouts. They could be heated by electricity during non-peak load periods and used to provide power to an over loaded power grid during peak periods. Solid-media storage and latent-heat storage systems give more capacity and . pressurized vessels are limited in size. Water pressure increases exponentially with temperature; therefore, the size of pressurized vessels is limited.
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/terr-sequ.html
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What is the Matrix? In the future we will consider questions such as "Is corn a better solar collector than silicon"
Nuclear Energy and HVDC The safety of nuclear energy is
hotly contested in the US. High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission
will not effect nuclear plant safety. It could make worst case scenario
nuclear accidents economic impact less severe. HVDC
Practical Electric Cars by 2010 By 2010,Japan will have electric cars with
50 mile range and capability of being recharged in 15 minutes. The cars
will use lithium battery packs that will last
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