There are several Energy Sources on the planet, that human beings, as they advance in the knowledge of new technologies for their exploitation, have been able to take advantage of them. At present the Main Sources of Energy are used to produce electricity mainly. These energies are transformed into electrical energy that is used by humanity through different pathways. Learn about the Main Sources of Energy that exist.
Energy sources
The largest and main source of energy available to the Earth is produced by the Sun. This star is the one that originates the evaporation of surface waters, the illumination of the hours of the day and the terrestrial heating, the formation of the northern lights , is the cause of chemical reactions in plants for the production of oxygen and sugars for the nutrition of plants and living beings can breathe. Likewise, it is an indirect generator of other energy sources such as fossil fuels, such as oil and coal formed from the energy transformation of animal and vegetable remains over millions of years.
According to the universal law of conservation of energy, energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is transformed. Due to this, if energy is required, it has to be obtained from some body or object that has it retained or stored and can be transformed. These bodies or objects are called Energy Sources. According to the above, any natural or artificial system from which its energy can be transformed is called a Source of Energy.
The usable amounts of energy from these sources is what is called an energy resource. On planet Earth, energy resources are found in enormous quantities, one of the inconveniences that humanity has to solve is the disposal and transformation of them in a rational way, to avoid their overexploitation.
The most exploited Energy Sources are those that concentrate a large amount of energy (a large amount of energy per unit mass). These concentrated energy sources are coal, oil, natural gas, among others. Unlike these Energy Sources, there are other bodies that emit diffuse energy because it is more difficult to obtain and concentrate, such as solar energy and wind energy.
For the exploitation of the contained Energy Sources, the precaution must be taken that in addition to extracting the contained energy, the materials contaminated with impurities are extracted, the location of the deposit where the Energy Source is located, the difficulty and ease of extraction energy, technological progress, factors that directly affect or condition the investment for the extraction of energy and therefore the cost of exploitation.
The difficulty for the use of diffuse energy is not the extraction of this energy but its concentration, storage and transformation. Variables that affect the economic cost of enjoying diffuse energy that is concentrated from Energy Sources such as wind, solar, tidal, hydraulic and others.
Each of these energies is important. However, given its particular utility, each one of the sources may or may not be substituted for one another. As is the case, obtaining energy for the production of electricity. To produce electricity, it can be obtained from coal, oil, natural gas, water, or uranium and other energy sources. On the other hand, for a steel project, uranium cannot replace coal. Likewise, fuels from petroleum derivatives such as kerosene, gasoline, cannot be replaced by coal, wood and uranium.
Classification
The different Energy Sources can be classified according to various aspects: they are renewable or non-renewable, depending on their incidence and according to their economic utility in a country. Energy Sources that are inexhaustible are called Renewable Energy Sources. If existence is limited in nature, they are called Non-Renewable Energy Sources. According to their incidence, they are classified as: Conventional Energy Sources and Non-Conventional Energy Sources and according to their use, the Energy Sources are: Primary or Secondary.
- Renewable Energy Sources. According to its availability and potential, it is inexhaustible because the earth receives it constantly from the radiation of the sun's rays and also by the gravitational action of the planet and other planets in the solar system. Renewable Energy Sources are: Solar, Wind, Hydraulic, Tidal and Biomass Energy.
- Non-Renewable Energy Sources. Their availability in nature is restricted, because their renewal is very long term, due to this they can be depleted when they are used without control. The current demand for energy in the world is being supplied by this type of energy, such as coal, natural gas, oil and uranium.
- Conventional Energy Sources, are called in this way those energy sources that impact the energy contributions of industrialized countries, here you can name those energy sources most used in socio-economic projects, such as: nuclear, natural gas, hydraulic power, coal, oil.
- Non-Conventional Energy Sources. These Energy Sources are being incorporated little by little as technological development changes, they are also called new energies. As it is still in the experimentation phase, its use has not been extended and it has little impact on the energy demand of the countries. For example, solar, wind, biomass and tidal energy.
- Primary Energy Sources. Primary sources come from nature, such as coal, oil, natural gas, and other sources. This source of energy is a stored energy.
- Secondary Power Source. They are also called useful or final energies, and are obtained from the technological process of primary energies, resulting in electricity or fuels, natural gas or other secondary energies.
hydraulic energy
The Source of Hydraulic Energy is the Sun, this is because the heat energy of the sun, when the temperature increases, evaporates the water of the seas and oceans, it helps the formation of clouds, in the clouds the hot air that rose from the sea melts the droplets of water that form it and is transformed into rain that falls back to the land and seas, in this way the cycle of rain and therefore of water is fulfilled again.
Hydraulic energy is generated by the waterfalls in the dams that by their force move a series of turbines that help produce electricity. Dams are complex hydraulic engineering structures that seek to dam a large amount of water from rivers artificially. This is achieved by closing the water inlet of a valley by means of a dike or dam that allows retaining the flow of water from a river. The stored water is used to irrigate agricultural fields, provide drinking water and also to generate electricity in a hydroelectric complex.
The construction of these hydraulic complexes and dams have the objective of generating electrical energy. The countries that have many rivers with abundant flows of water, have hydroelectric power potential and produce a large part of the electricity in their countries in hydroelectric plants due to their advantages of being a renewable and inexhaustible resource that is renewed cyclically in nature, their surpluses can be used for other social projects.
However, hydraulic energy has some disadvantages as it is an energy whose permanence does not depend on technologies designed by man but rather on unpredictable environmental factors such as rainfall cycles and, consequently, the years with more or less precipitation condition it by these environmental factors.
These hydroelectric plants are usually built in places far from towns or human settlements, due to this the electrical energy that is produced must be transferred through expensive electrical networks. Likewise, another disadvantage is the negative environmental impact is the construction of the hydraulic complexes (the reservoir and the hydraulic power plant), where the natural channels of the rivers are affected, loss of the fauna and vegetation of the impacted area, erosions, soil loss , loss of jobs at the end of the projects and others.
In addition to these disadvantages, the following are added: the high investment cost for the construction of these hydraulic complexes, the selection of a good place to build them, therefore this makes it impossible to further expand projects to take advantage of this type of Energy Source. Despite this, hydraulic energy continues to be the most widely used of the Renewable Energy Sources to produce electricity.
Harness Solar Energy
The main source of energy on earth is the sun, this energy comes in the form of electromagnetic radiation generated by the sun, which produces it from a process of nuclear fusion. In the sun, fusion reactions occur all the time between hydrogen atoms and produce helium atoms, in this process a large amount of solar energy is released. This solar energy that is released, only a small portion reaches the ground, and the other percentage of energy is reflected into outer space, because the earth's atmosphere prevents its entry to the earth.
This solar energy reaches the earth's surface through two ways, be these: Through direct radiation to affect objects and illuminate them through solar. As well as through diffuse radiation, that is, the reflection of solar radiation that is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere and atmospheric dust. Direct radiation can be used directly and instead the second, that is, diffuse radiation is used in part by means of photovoltaic cells and flat collectors.
The advantages of the Solar Energy Source are several, among these is that it is an inexhaustible Energy Source and that it cannot be polluted. It can be used immediately since it cannot be stored, other advantages are:
- In order to take advantage of solar energy, nuclear engineering projects have been developed with the aim of designing useful concentration processes. Temperatures of up to 3.000 °C can be obtained from this energy, which once achieved can start thermodynamic cycles with good results. returns.
- It can be used immediately because it cannot be stored, therefore it has to be transformed into heat energy, electricity and biomass.
- To make good use of this Solar Energy Source, it has to be carried out by means of large-scale collection systems and part of its parts and components are of high economic cost.
- It is an intermittent and random Energy Source.
Although the Solar Energy Source is a free source, due to the technology that is currently available, its use is expensive and is still in the monitoring and experimentation phase. The technological projects through which to take advantage of this Energy Source are carried out in two ways: through thermal and photovoltaic energy.
- Through the thermal path, the energy that reaches the earth from the sun is transformed into heat energy, at different degrees of temperature, low, medium and high.
- Thermal pathway transformed at low temperature. This energy is used to use it as heating for homes, heating of commercial premises, for water heaters in swimming pools and assistance centers. To be able to dispose of solar energy in this way, you have to have several flat collectors that can absorb solar radiation and then transmit it in the form of heat, in order to support the heating system. The temperatures at which they take advantage of solar energy are around 35 to 90 °C, in Spain it is the main way of capturing thermal energy from the sun.
- Thermal pathway transformed at medium temperature. The temperature at which this thermal energy is captured ranges from 90°C to 200°C. To capture thermal energy at medium temperature, devices such as energy concentration collectors are used in different ways: By means of a Cylindrical- parabolic, this allows to capture solar energy and take it in the form of heat to an acethermal fluid. As well as by a Heliostat, built with adjustable mirrors so that the radiation that arrives is reflected in a red point. It is used in industrial facilities.
- Thermal pathway transformed to high temperature. This transformation is carried out by thermoelectric plants. It is carried out at temperatures that range to more than 400 ° C. This type of installation is made up of a large area of heliostats supported by various supports that allow solar radiation to be reflected and this allows it to be concentrated in a small receiving point.
This receiving point transmits solar radiation as heat energy to a fluid (water, air, liquid metals), and circulates through a primary circuit. Then it is transformed into water vapor to pass through a steam generator and circulate through a secondary circuit, this drives several turbines and alternators and produces electrical energy. These installations have a yield of 20%.
Photovoltaic conversion. This type of photovoltaic solar energy transformation system is made up of a set of solar or photovoltaic cells placed in panels that have the function of transforming solar energy into electrical energy. The energy carried by sunlight arrives in the form of a stream of photons.
When these photons hit certain materials and under certain conditions they generate an electrical current. This is what is known as the photovoltaic effect. These photovoltaic or solar cells are a series of small elements made of a semiconductor crystalline material, based on silicon-germanium (Si-Ge). Upon coming into contact with this energy, the photons cause a movement of electrons in the internal part of the cell and a potential contrast occurs at its ends that transforms it into a small electrical producer.
The economic impact of this type of equipment is very expensive and its performance is very low. These equipments were developed simultaneously with the construction projects of artificial satellites. In principle, due to their operating characteristics, low weight and low maintenance requirements, these systems were designed to meet the energy demands of the satellites.
Energía eólica
The wind is the Wind Energy Source, this is one of the first Energy Sources that humans developed, building windmills and sailing ships that allowed them to use this Energy Source. At present, systems have been developed and built that benefit from the kinetic energy of the wind and transform it into electrical energy through wind turbines.
The advantages and disadvantages of this Wind Energy Source are as follows: Its main source of energy is solar, which is inexhaustible, unpolluted, ecological. In addition, once it has been installed to store it, it is free. Its disadvantage is that it is a scattered energy, not constant and its intensity is variable. The equipment for capturing wind energy, most used in those regions where the wind arrives with great intensity and continuously are:
- Its design allows raising the water level, for this they use wheels with six to fifteen blades, these pump between 500 to 600 liters per hour, both amounts are more than enough to cover the requirements of small agricultural projects.
- This system consists of the installation of a tower, to which a rotor with several blades oriented following the direction of the wind is placed on top. The rotor works in conjunction with a generator that allows the production of electrical energy.
- Isolated wind turbines. These wind turbines are installed in remote places where the conventional electricity network does not reach. These can produce powers of 10 to 100 Kw.
- wind plants. They are built with several generators that reach a power of about 100 to 600 Kw.
The equipment for capturing wind energy is constantly being reviewed as it is still in an experimental phase. In order to be more efficient in capturing this type of energy, models of electrical energy producing equipment have been designed that are smaller in size, more durable and easy to maintain, as well as more economical in construction, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact. negative produced by wind turbines.
biomass energy
This type of biomass energy is obtained from Energy Sources from organic compounds during natural processes. The energy obtained through this Energy Source is achieved by obtaining:
- From a certain crop of plant species, from which its production can be obtained and transform the biomass that is harvested.
- To obtain this type of energy, forest, domestic and agricultural residues are used and then converted into fuel or residual biomass.
- Taking advantage of the chemical composition of certain plant organisms and transforming their biomass into fuel either based on methanol or ethanol.
This biomass that is harvested is used to generate heat through a combustion process. To fulfill this objective, both herbaceous and woody stem plants are chosen, selected and collected in their natural or wild state and also in crops planted for this type of agro-energy projects. Projects with agricultural crops to obtain biomass energy are in the experimentation phase. These projects are being developed to offer in the future this Harvested Biomass Source of Energy as the Main Source of Energy in the society of the future.
These residual biomass projects, is a project in which there are great expectations regarding the possibility of energy contribution. Residual biomass is obtained from residues produced in forestry, agricultural and livestock projects, as well as those generated in urban centers from solid residues and residual waters in principle.
However, expectations are limited by the inconvenience of pollution that is generated by achieving the elimination of this waste and to date, many times the production of energy from waste is less than the pollution that is produced. That is why, until now, this type of biomass to produce energy is used in the places where it is produced, such as agricultural farms, urban sewage treatment plants, forestry or forestry projects, since it allows them to obtain energy and lower costs. by disincorporation of waste.
Another source of biomass energy is from liquid biofuels that are provided by vegetable oils. The objective of developing this type of energy is to supply gas oil in vehicles with diesel engines, as well as bioethanol obtained by the fermentation of biomass and supply gasoline in vehicles whose engines run on this type of fuel. The purpose is that these biofuels can be used in internal combustion either, in compression ignition and spark ignition, this type of biofuels are a transition from the use of fossil fuels and potential fuels from biomass.
Geothermal Energy
The Geothermal Energy Source comes from the energy found in the subsoil of the earth and is stored in the form of heat, it has basically originated from the disintegration of the planet's radioactive components. Heat spreads inside the earth and escapes through the earth's surface. If this energy could be used, it would supply the energy demands in the world, but this geothermal energy is a diffuse energy that is difficult to take advantage of.
This energy is not uniform everywhere in the earth's crust, but varies according to the region. This is because magma pockets from deeper regions move to regions with lower pressure. As the rocks move, they melt and emit large amounts of gases that come out of the cracks and crevices of the earth's surface through volcanic eruptions, hot gases that come out of fumaroles and solfataras, boiling water vapor out of the geysers and outlets of hot water such as hot springs, and very few are usable.
This Geothermal Energy Source has been used by man since ancient times. Projects are currently being carried out to make the most of this type of energy that the earth stores in the form of thermal energy and that in specific cases is lost. In some regions of the planet, it can be said that they have benefited from being able to take advantage of this type of geothermal energy source, such as Iceland and Landerello in Italy. The use of geothermal energy can be obtained at different temperatures.
- Low temperature geothermal energy. At low temperatures, it is possible to take advantage of the heat that rises to a temperature below 100°C and use it in different ways: to use it in domestic and sanitary hot water, in heating, swimming pools, dryers, greenhouses and in other uses. . However, this use has a series of disadvantages to consider, and this occurs due to the low temperatures in which this energy is used, so the place of consumption and the deposit must be close or also, it must be used in direct heat applications.
- Geothermal energy at medium and high temperature. In order to take advantage of this geothermal energy source that is concentrated in the earth's lithosphere, the use of an intermediate geothermal fluid such as ammonium or freon is required, so that they act as a vehicle that allows geothermal energy to be transferred. Once the energy is captured and brought to the surface, it has to go through a series of phases to be able to use it.
Geothermal energy fluids obtained with temperatures above 150°C are used directly to produce electricity, through different cycles. This type of energy is used in industrial processes when the temperature of the geothermal fluid ranges between 100°C and 150°C.
This type of Energy Source is currently being studied, with the aim of carrying out projects for better transformation of this type of energy at low temperature, which allow less investment and less deep search drilling, to reduce risks. geological and extraction drawbacks and business technology.
Seawater energy
The tides are the consequence of the gravitational source of energy exerted by the Sun and the Moon on planet Earth, and tidal energy is the energy produced by the tides of the sea. In some areas of the planet, the differences in the level of the tides often reach several meters in height, which are different between low tide and high tide, that is, low tide and high tide.
The Tidal Power Source can be obtained at an industrial level in those coastal regions in which certain topographic and maritime conditions are observed in which the difference in unevenness between the tides is of such magnitude that it can be compared with the size of a hydroelectric plant. of low height of waterfall, and of considerable volume of water.
Sometimes the tide can pass through a small strait, by means of dikes, it is a matter of letting the rising tide enter through it and make the water pass through the turbine when the tide recedes. It is in these steps that the concentration of the tidal energy source is based by means of the tidal power plants. Obtaining this type of Tidal Power Source is quite difficult to grasp and due to this, the technology developed to obtain this type of energy is still in the experimental phase.
The energy is obtained through the use of an alternator that allows a system to be used to produce electricity, helping to transform tidal energy into renewable energy, resulting in safer and more available energy. The advantage is that it is a renewable energy, so the Primary Energy Source is inexhaustible, it is also a clean energy because during the transformation of this type of energy, it does not generate polluting by-products in gaseous, liquid and solid states.
The development of projects to take advantage of this type of energy is very expensive with the technology that is available at the moment, as well as the environmental and economic cost to install the equipment to process it, if compared to the amount of energy that can be obtained in the present. A project to use tidal energy is being studied by the government of Cantabria in Spain and the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), the objective is to supply energy for domestic consumption by around 250.000 homes.
In addition to tidal energy, another way of harnessing the energy of marine waters is: wave energy, which is through the waves; by the difference in thermal gradient of water at the surface and in the depths of the ocean, called the oceanic thermal gradient; through salinity, from ocean currents called offshore wind energy.
Wave energy
Wave energy is the Source of Wave Energy, which is produced from the waves of the oceans. It is a renewable energy that can produce energy in the coastal regions of many countries and can also be the way to produce energy for a nation and help to be less dependent on fuel brought from abroad. The disadvantage is that producing wave energy causes a negative impact on marine ecosystems and affects the navigation of commercial and private ships. The transformation of energy is conditioned by the wavelength and produces visual and noise pollution.
Charcoal
The Coal Energy Source comes from fossil fuels, this has been the final result obtained from the final decomposition of plant remains stored in swampy places, lagoons and river deltas, during the carboniferous period of the Earth. This carbon is produced as a result of different chemical reactions and temperature in different periods of time, during those long periods of time they are transformed into carbon through a process called carbonization.
When trees die or their branches fall and accumulate in places with high humidity and begin to decompose, anaerobic bacteria begin to act on the cellulose and lignin of the bark of these dead trees or branches. The changes that occur on the wood of trees are of two types: chemical and structural.
In the chemical transformation of wood to produce charcoal, hydrogen and oxygen are released, their proportion is direct with the amount of charcoal produced. Sometimes, as in the case of anthracite, almost all of the resulting product is obtained. In addition to the chemical transformation, the changes are also structural.
These structural changes occur in the wood fiber that is transformed into a different microcrystalline structure for each plant species and therefore the resulting carbon has its variations and its color varies, from brown to black. According to the type of transformation, the duration and conditions of pressure and temperature through the raisin during the carbonization process and the plant species, different types of charcoal are produced.
- This is a fairly hard coal, because it is produced carbonized in its entirety. Its appearance is very compact and bright. It has a pearly shine and is black in color.
- This resulting carbon is hard, also carbonized in its entirety and is different because its color is shiny black and also has a pearly shine with bright and matt bands.
- This coal is blackish in color and has a soft consistency similar to peat, it belongs to recent times or after the Carboniferous period, due to this evolutionary factor it has not undergone the complete carbonization process. Its appearance resembles that of burnt wood and shine in pieces.
- It is the coal produced in more recent times with respect to the rest of the fossil coals. Its consistency is soft, it is brown and matte, its weight is low and remains of vegetables are observed.
The amount of caloric energy that these coals reserve ranges from 7.000 to 2.000 kcal/kg, ranging from anthracite and coal to lignite and peat. Its percentage of humidity varies between 3% to 40% and its volatile compounds can vary from 8% to 50%. Sulfur and nitrogen can be found as elements that remove purity, these minerals when burned volatilize and react forming SO2 and NOX that binds with water vapor present in the atmosphere and produces acid rain.
Coal Energy Sources are used as: as a renewable fossil fuel to generate domestic and industrial gas, as a reducing energy in the steel industry, to use as a raw material in the production of gas for lighting and as a fuel to be used in power plants. thermal.
The Energy Source from coal, in its Anthracite type representation, is used for domestic and industrial use. When coal is passed through dry distillation, it produces four fractions, namely: ammonia, tar, gas and coke. In metallurgy, coke, a hard, resistant material with a porous texture, is used in the industrial process of the iron and steel industry. The source of energy from coal transformed into lignite is initially used in thermal power plants to produce electricity. Peat is used to produce domestic fuel.
natural gas
The Natural Gas Energy Source is obtained from the combination of several gases, formed in greater quantity by methane gas, in an approximate percentage of 75% to 95% of the total volume of this combination of gases that originates natural gas. Due to the proportion of methane gas that forms part of natural gas, natural gas is commonly called methane gas. The other gases that make up natural gas are ethanol, propane, butane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, helium, and argon.
The natural gas industry developed after the modernization of oil exploitation. At the beginning of the development of oil exploitation, the natural gas that was produced during the different processes of this industry, natural gas was considered waste and was burned like the other waste of this industry.
However, natural gas, which has a high calorific value, was initially not used due to the inconvenience it had in storing and transporting it. This was resolved by the search for new Energy Sources, which led to the study of new gas liquefaction techniques and pipe welding procedures to withstand high pressures, in order to store natural gas and other energy resources. Natural gas can be used for: domestic and industrial fuel and for raw material in the petrochemical industry.
- Natural gas for domestic and natural use. Natural gas has a high calorific value. It is low-polluting and its combustion can be regulated.
- Natural gas as raw material in the petrochemical industry. In the petrochemical industry, natural gas is used to decompose it and obtain natural gases of methane, ammonia, ethylene, butadiene and propylene.
The oil
The etymology of the word petroleum indicates "petro" which means rock and "oleum" oil, which means oil rock. This rock is made up of Carbon and a combination of sulphur, oxygen and nitrogen mixed in different amounts with Hydrogen, which are called Hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons can be gaseous, liquid, semi-solid and solid, depending on how they appear in different places on the earth's surface, or gases and liquids as they are found in geological formations in the subsoil. It is very dark to black in color, less dense than water, and has a pungent odor.
The Energy Source of oil comes from raw material originating basically from the remains of biotic compounds such as: aquatic organisms of both plant and animal origin, which inhabited aquatic ecosystems such as: seas, lagoons, river mouths, and nearby regions to coastal regions near the sea. The decomposition of the remains of living beings occurs due to the presence of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria, which in the decomposition process release gases formed by hydrogen and various amounts of carbon and oxygen, called hydrocarbons.
The large masses of sediment exert pressures that lead to the expulsion of the oily liquid, that is, the oil, which is between the layers of sedimentary rocks. The oil moves along slopes at different distances, being stored in rocks with a porous texture. Oil is made up of various hydrocarbons and various amounts of them. From the simplest hydrocarbon, methane (CH4) to hydrocarbon compounds formed by bonds of 40 carbon atoms.
Oil as it is stored in nature is difficult to use, due to this it must go through several refining processes, in order to dispose of it and its derivatives. During its refining process, fractional distillation is carried out. Obtaining different commercial products to distillates at various temperatures and from crude oil. These commercial products are: tar, paraffin, kerosene, methane, ethanol, propane.
The location of the oil fields is far from the towns where their derivative products are consumed during industrialization processes, so the oil is transported through pipelines that run from the well to the refinery or to the ports where they are shipped in tankers or oil tankers, to transfer them by sea to different refineries.
Oil is used for domestic and industrial combustion, lubricant, fuel and raw materials in the petrochemical industry. The industry has been developing techniques to transform the structure of the products obtained in fractional distillation, and as a consequence obtain products that citizens demand. The most important fractional distillation techniques are cracking and polymerization.
During the fractional distillation technique called cracking, it is achieved with the breaking of the heavy molecule that has many bonds with carbon atoms, producing the "fuel", producing products with fewer carbon bonds such as gasoline. Through polymerization, a molecule of lower molecular mass called monomer, joined to other molecules of small molecular mass by means of chemical bonds producing compounds such as "ethylene", until forming macromolecules called polymer.
Oil is used as a raw material in the petrochemical industry, 60% of the chemical products that are marketed are produced and 80% are products such as chemical fertilizers, plastics, antifreeze, dyes, rubbers, solvents and others are obtained from oil. Petroleum. Because of this, oil plays a leading role in the chemical industry and also in the field of energy supplies.
Hydrogen Energy
Hydrogen is the most available chemical element on the planet because it is part of the water molecule (H2O), it contains two thirds of Hydrogen and can also be found forming other chemical compounds together with other elements. By separating the hydrogen atom from these compounds, electrical energy can be generated. The Hydrogen Power Source can be a way to provide energy for navigation, vehicles, houses, industries and others. It is a renewable and non-polluting energy, which can offset energy demand.
Atomic Energy
In the year 1911, Rutherford discovered the nucleus of atoms through the analysis of particles.alpha” scattered by atoms. However, it is from the year 1932, when Chadwick discovers the neutron and the work of the Joliot-Curie spouses, that the nucleus is given relevance. The atomic nucleus is quite small and is located in the center of the atom, in the nucleus the positive charges of the atoms and almost the total atomic mass are concentrated. It is made up of protons and neutrons, it has particles called nucleons.
Protons have a positive charge equal to that of the electron, equivalent to (1,602 x 10-19 C). While neutrons are electrically neutral. The particles are united by nuclear forces, which allows the rejection of the electrostatic force between the protons, by this force that occurs inside the nucleus.
nuclear energy and atomic energy
Atomic energy and nuclear energy mean the same thing, the alternative use of both terms or this double denomination is related to the beginnings of studies on the energy of radioactive elements. The pioneer countries where studies began to identify the energy emitted by "radioactive" elements and thus also the other elements identified as "users" of this energy.
The pioneer countries that began to study radioactivity were the United Kingdom and France, where the investigations of the Curie spouses, the researchers Becquerel, Rutherford and their associate researchers, communicated and discussed the progress of their analyzes on the Atomic Energy of radioactive compounds. and the results of his studies of large amounts of energy stored in radioactive atoms.
Other countries that also began studies on radioactivity, such as Spain, began to use the term Nuclear Energy in a punctual and firm manner. An attempt has been made to expand the use of the term Nuclear Energy to all parts of the world. As a result, it is hard to substitute the term Atomic Energy for Nuclear Energy, in view of the number of institutions or official bodies, as well as different regulations in the world, that use the term Atomic Energy.
nuclear fission
Nuclear fission is a term used in nuclear physics to describe the nuclear reaction that occurs in the nucleus of the atom. Nuclear fission occurs when a heavy nucleus splits into smaller nuclei, as well as by-products of the atomic nucleus such as free neutrons, photons such as gamma rays, and other parts of the nucleus identified as alpha (helium nuclei) and beta particles. (high energy electrons and positrons) and many energy charges. Nuclear fission was discovered by Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner, the Nobel Prize for its discovery was awarded only to the first.
The multiplying effect that occurs during nuclear fission was given the name "chain reaction". This is because in a small fraction of seconds, when the fission of the nucleus occurs, the number of fissioned nuclei emits an energy 106 times more intense than that produced when a block of coal is burned or a stick of dynamite is exploded with same mass. This is because of the speed with which a nuclear reaction occurs, so energy is projected faster, compared to a chemical reaction. According to this aspect the atomic bomb is based.
Contrary to this, it can be seen that only one of the neutrons released where a late fission occurs, in this case the number of fissions that occur per second is constant and the reaction is controlled. According to this type of controlled fission, it is based on the operation of nuclear reactors. Nuclear reactors are controllable sources of nuclear fission energy.
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion occurs when two nuclei of light atoms react, such as hydrogen and its isotopes deuterium and tritium, and when they join they form a heavier and more stable nucleus, during this union energy is released. For this type of reaction to occur, the positively charged nuclei have to be close and beat the repulsive electrostatic forces. In order to overcome the interactions, kinetic energy must be obtained and in this way the nuclei can overcome these interactions, the kinetic energy can be provided in the form of thermal or caloric energy through a particle accelerator.
The most viable nuclear fusion is thermal fusion, during this type of reaction thermonuclear reactions occur, which occur in fusion reactors and mainly with hydrogen isotopes (protium: 11H, deuterium: 21H, and tritium: 31H). During fusion, any of the following reactions can occur:
21H + 21H→3 1H + 11H + 4MeV
21H + 21H→32He + 10n + 3,2 MeV
21H + 31H→42He + 10n + 17,6 MeV
Human beings can use fusion energy, when they can advance in the investigations and establishment of technologies that achieve two basic requirements: heating and cloistering. When heating, the aim is to obtain a superheated gas (plasma) in which the electrons leave their orbits and the nuclei can be controlled by the magnetic field. Likewise, the requirement to confine or cloister to maintain matter in a state such as plasma or ionized gas, within the cavity of a reactor for the estimated time for it to react.
At the moment, research on nuclear fusion is being directed towards achieving the fusion reactions of the isotopes of hydrogen: deuterium-tritium, because it releases more energy at a lower temperature, compared to the temperature reached by other nuclear fusions. The realization of this type of projects because these types of reactions are very attractive as an Energy Source, given that deuterium is not radioactive and is found in nature in practically unlimited quantities. And tritium is radioactive not naturally present.
Energy
To continue you have to know the concept of energy. Energy cannot be seen or weighed and does not take up space. This can only be measured by the effects it causes on matter, that is, in some way it is known what energy is when you want to move an object. Because when you want to move a thing that has a large mass at a certain speed and a certain distance, you have to use more energy than when you want to move a smaller mass.
energy concept
Energy has different definitions that associate it with the action of performing, arising, converting or setting in motion. Its definition depends on the area of study, namely: in technology and economics, energy is related to a natural resource, which even includes the technology used to extract it, transform it and be able to give it an industrial or economic use. In physics, the concept of energy is the ability to carry out work.
That is, energy is the ability of matter to do work and generate changes in themselves or in other bodies. According to the above, the concept of "energy" is the ability to make objects work. The measurement is measured by its unit of measure, which is the joule (J), in homage to the physicist James Prescott Joule, of English origin. The word energy comes from the Greek ἐνέργεια enérgeia, activity, from ἐνεργóς energós “force of action”.
In physics, "energy" is defined as... the ability that bodies have to perform mechanical work, produce heat, emit light and others. Having a common variable in all these manifestations, which is energy, which each body and system contains, its energy content varies when its state is transformed. According to these energy can be presented in different ways: potential, kinetic, chemical, electrical, magnetic, nuclear, radiant, and otherwise. Being able to change between themselves, always respecting the Law of conservation of energy.
Law of conservation of energy
The Universal Law of Conservation of Energy is the basis of the first law of thermodynamics, which refers to the fact that the energy attached to an isolated system remains constant over time. This means that for many classical physical systems, the sum of mechanical energy, electromagnetic energy, kinetic energy, thermodynamic energy, and other types of potential energy is a constant number.
This is illustrated according to the way of measuring the different energies, kinetic energy is weighted by the movement of matter, thermal energy by its heat capacity, potential energy by its characteristics such as the state of imbalance or the position in which it is finds matter with respect to forces acting on it and chemical energy according to chemical composition.
energy measurement
Given that the energy that a body has can be appreciated depending on the work performed, then the value of this work will indicate a measure of the energy it has. On the other hand, work is done on a body and it stores it in the form of energy, energy can be measured by the value of the work carried out on a mass or body, it will give us the value of the energy that was stored in the mass . Therefore, the energy released or stored will have the same units as the dimension of work.
According to the International System of Units (SI) the unit of work and energy is the joule (J) defined as the work carried out by the force of 1 newton when it moves its point of application 1 meter.
In nuclear physics, the unit used is the electron volt (eV) and it is defined as the energy acquired by an electron when passing from one point to another between which there is a potential difference of 1 volt. Comparing with the unit of the International System is:
1 eV= 1,602 x 10-19 J
To measure electrical energy, the kilowatt-hour (kWh) is used as a production unit. This is defined as the work done for 1 hour by a machine that has a power of 1 kilowatt. Its correspondence with the unit of the International System is:
1 kWh = 36x 105J
If the aim is to evaluate the energy quality of the different Energy Sources, some units are adjusted based on the calorific power of each of the Energy Sources. The most used in energy economy are kcal/kg, tec and toe. The kcal/kg formula applied to a fuel allows us to determine the number of kilocalories that we would obtain in the combustion of 1 kg of that fuel.
1 kcal = 4,186 x 103J.
The unit tech = equivalent tonne of coal. It represents the energy released by the combustion of 1 ton of coal (coal).
1 tec = 29,3 x 109J
The unit tep= tonne of oil equivalent. It is equivalent to the energy released in the combustion of 1 ton of crude oil.
1 toe = 41,84 x 109J
The equivalence between these units =
1 toe = 1,428 tec
The power
Power is the work done by a system in a unit of time. According to the International System (SI) it is the Watt. The Watt is the power of a machine that carries out the work of 1 joule in a time equal to 1 second. The symbol for power is “W”. Multiples of this unit are often used, these are: Kilowatt (kW) and horsepower (CV or HP). For example:
1kW = 103W
1 CV or HP = 735,5 W
1 MeV.s-1 = 1,602 x 10-13 W
sources of energy in history
Since the man in the Prehistoric Era discovered the fire and knew how to use it to warm up, illuminate at night and cook the food produced and obtained in the hunts. Humanity has been looking for different Energy Sources for their benefit and to improve their quality of life. Leading him to build the windmills, to grind the grain harvested during the Middle Ages. Just as in the Contemporary Age, he has managed to carry out studies that have led him to fission the atomic nucleus and produce fuels so sophisticated that they are used in aerospace propulsion.
In addition to producing food through the development of agriculture, human beings also procured raw materials to use in the different existing industries, especially textiles for the manufacture of dresses and shoes with the skins of captured animals. Trying to obtain energy sources from the forests to process these raw materials and also heating. Humanity's lifestyle during the Middle Ages depended on renewable energy from the sun and from forests. Around which developed a system of economic exchange.
The discovery of fossil fuels directed the economic development of humanity towards industrial revolutions, starting with the First Industrial Revolution, by incorporating coal to feed the boilers of steam engines, which were initially used to pump water of the mines, later to give power to the mechanical loom and from then on to almost all of the mechanical industrial processes of that time. Including transportation (rail, steamship), metallurgical processes such as steel and blast furnaces. Also for chemical and domestic processes such as heating and domestic kitchens.
In the Second Industrial Revolution, the Source of Energy from oil exploitation took the baton, by using its derivatives in the different industrial processes and in transportation, which led to the creation of the combustion engine for automobiles and airplanes. Until then, humanity lived with the use on a smaller scale of the Energy Sources known until then during the pre-industrial economy, such as wind power for sailing and windmills. Hydraulic energy for waterwheels and hydraulic mills, and Biomass Energy Source for using wood and charcoal.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the development model characteristic of industrial society uses fossil resources without taking great care that they are non-renewable resources and that their replacement can take millions of years. Through the search for other sources of energy and the attempt of developed countries to improve their national economies by reducing the dependence on fossil fuels in their own countries, he directed the exploitation of these energy resources in foreign territories.
In view of the depletion of their own fossil resources, industrialized countries have directed their efforts towards the study of nuclear energy and, in turn, to develop projects to take advantage of the Hydraulic Energy Source to generate electricity from large flows of water. from the rivers.
However, at the end of the XNUMXth century and the beginning of the XNUMXst century, due to the problems of environmental pollution, generated by the combustion of fossil fuels, which initially affected the purity of the air in large cities such as London and Los Angeles, where observe the smog, and that years later became a global problem for generating climate change caused by the activities of human beings. United States, to the risks of using the Nuclear Power Source, evidenced in accidents such as the Three Mile Island in the United States, as well as Chernobyl in the Soviet Union and Fukushima in Japan.
In the search for new sources of energy, the latest studies are focusing on the use of alternative energies, such as wind, solar, hydraulic, biomass, tidal and geothermal energy, to exploit on an industrial scale. However, the industrial development of these Energy Sources is being highly questioned by different research groups and even by environmental groups, due to the negative environmental impacts of their facilities and their energy distribution networks on virgin natural spaces.
Socio-economic aspects
The area that studies the distribution of Energy Sources, the distribution of energy products, energy and its consumption is the geography of energy. In developing countries, the highest percentage of energy consumed is of animal and human origin. On the other hand, in industrial countries, mechanical energy is supplied by devices such as motors, turbines and others; that manages and transforms the energy of natural energy sources from waterfalls, tides, wind, solar radiation, geothermal, and the very organization of matter.
In accordance with the above, energy consumption per inhabitant can be a good value to determine the economic development of a country. Given that due to its volume and distribution by different sectors of the economy, the level of energy consumption is determined in a specific geographical framework, due to its distribution according to the different natural energy sources to which they resort, which determines the energy system.
The value of a nation's energy consumption and its distribution capacity of the different energy sources are not directly proportional to their importance or the composition of their natural energy potential. A high value of energy consumption is simply related to the potential for industrialization and quality of life of the inhabitants. It is always related to a capital wealth that allows the acquisition abroad of required energy products.
For many years, the industrialized countries have been importing large amounts of energy inputs, which were purchased at low prices in view of controlling their production, as well as their energy balance, which was becoming increasingly scarce. With the energy crisis of 1974, it makes a cut in this mode of energy acquisition. This was due to the impact caused by the increase in prices of the Source of Energy from oil, in the fall of 1973 and also in 1979 and not so much due to its potential depletion of this resource.
Coupled with a possible economic crisis, which indicates a slowdown in projects and global demand for energy. The high price of oil that importers have to pay significantly affects their trade balance and their economy. Due to this, there is a slowdown in its consumption and a greater increase in energy savings.
The effect of high oil prices has led to an increase in the studies and development of projects with other Energy Sources, controlled by the established oil companies in the world, resuming the exploitation of coal, natural gas, nuclear energy and different industrialized renewable energy sources.
This has led to a decrease in oil consumption to lower levels than before the crisis. This decrease in oil prices came to question the profitability of large investments for studies and projects to take advantage of other sources of energy, resulting in great instability in the energy market.
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