The demand for an efficient renewable energy source is a driving force in ongoing research. Thermal energy conversion is one such potential source that is under constant investigation and has endless avenues of possibility. The two requirements of energy production are efficiency and renewability. Many possibilities exist for energy production including: Fossil Fuels (natural gas, oil, coal, oilshale), nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and wastes, & hydroelectric. Efficiency of the use of these resource are directly related to the location and the demand in that location. For example Hawaii is a prime candidate for the use of the oceans mechanical wave action, the thermal gradient of the ocean, wind, and biomass from the high levels of plant growth. The demand for another energy source comes from Hawaii's dependence on oil that has to be transported there.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion(OTEC) is the utilization of the energy stored in the world's oceans by the thermal gradient created. The thermal gradient is the difference of the surface temperature of the ocean that is heated via solar energy and the water at depths of significantly colder temperatures. This thermal gradient is the energy source that is converted to usable energy by OTEC plants. The idea for using the oceans thermal energy is credited to several visionaries including Jacques D'Arsonval, a French Engineer, in 1881. The temperature difference needed for an OTEC plant is about 36 deg F (20 deg C). Temperature differences of this amount are readily available in many locations in the world. The areas depicted in red on the above map produce the best areas for OTEC sites due to the stablility of warm weather throughout t...
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...ntially be exploited for one of the municipalities that stand beside the pipeline?
Arctic North Slope Borough - 179.2 mi.
Fairbanks North Star Borough - 89.1 mi.
City of Delta Junction - 5.5 mi.
City of Valdez - 20.8 mi.
Could the pipeline at least help to power one of the ten pump stations located along its winding path?
It is not likely that the heat exchange in either of the two above systems would produce a sufficient enough amount of energy to produce electricity. The temperature of the oil as it is extracted is approximately 160 ° F and the flow temperature approximately 140 ° F. These temperatures need to be maintained for the oil to remain in a viscous enough state to be transport with some amount of efficiency. This inquiry into the potential use of excess heat being produced as a by-product does however open the door to other possibilities.
As we all know from the memorable song, in 1492 Columbus sailed to find the New World, commonly known as the Americas. Many idolize Columbus for his accomplishment in colonizing the Americas and starting the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange is the sharing of plants, animals, diseases, human populations, technology, and ideas between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres as a direct result of Columbus’ arrival to the Americas. However, we often oversee the downfalls of the Columbian Exchange. Some consequences of the exchange are the spread of disease to the Native people and settlers, the destruction of the Native population, and the disappearance of the Natives custom’s, beliefs, and way of life.
The Columbian Exchange is a global exchange of goods and ideas between the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa) and the New World (America). When Columbus first discovered America, Spain wanted to set up colonies. Columbus found some people that he named “Indians.” They colonies started to trade with each other, and by doing do, they started the Columbian Exchange. Many countries were involved in this trade, including China, Africa and Italy. This exchange of new ideas, traditions, food, religion and diet changed cultures everywhere.
“As European adventurers traversed the world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries they initiated the “Columbian Exchange” of plants, animals, and diseases.”(P. 26). The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of exchanges between the New and Old Worlds. The exchange of plants, animals, diseases and more modernized technology, beginning after Columbus landing in the Americas in 1492. It lasted through the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Domesticated animals such as cattle, horses, sheep and pigs were introduced to the Americas. The Americas introduced to Europe many new crops such as potatoes, beans, squash, and maize. In time Native people learned to raise European livestock and European and Africans planted American crops. This was the positive effect of the encounter and it was largely responsible for the doubling of the world’s population in the next three hundred years. There were also many negative effects to the “Columbian Exchange” A major consequence was the spread of disease in the New World. Diseases carried by Europeans and Africans devastated the population of the Americas. As Europeans traveled through the Americas epidemics came with them. Typhus, diphtheria, malaria, influenza, cholera, and smallpox killed many of the native people. One example was
Columbian Exchange or the big exchange was a great exchange on a wide range of animals (Horses, Chickens, sheep, swine, Turkey), plants (Wheat, barley, corn, beans, tomatoes), people and culture, infectious diseases, and ideas, technology (Wheeled vehicles, iron tools, metallurgy) all these things happened between Native Americans and from Europe after the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Resulting in communication between the two cultures to initiate a number of crops that have led to the increase in population in both hemispheres, where the explorers returned to Europe loaded with corn, tomatoes, potatoes, which has become one of the main crops in Eurasia with the solutions of the eighteenth century. At the same time, the Europeans crops, cassava and peanuts to Southeast Asia with a tropical climate.
As certain types of pollution damages our atmosphere, our natural protection from the sun weakens and as a result the Earth gets warmer with time, impacting the temperature of our seas. The unfortunate results of global warming and the co...
The Columbian Exchange is the exchange of plants, animals, food, and diseases between Europe and the Americas. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus came to America, he saw plants and animals he had never seen before so he took them back with him to Europe. Columbus began the trade routes which had never been established between Europe and the Americas so his voyages initiated the interchange of plants between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, which doubled the food crop resources available to people on both sides of the Atlantic.
Although the Columbian Exchange allowed for the beneficial exchange of cultures, ideas, foods, and animals around the world during the 1450-1750 time period, it also had a dark side. One detrimental result of the Columbian Exchange would be the spreading of smallpox from Europe to the New World.
The Columbian exchange was the widespread transfer of various products such as animals, plants, and culture between the Americas and Europe. Though most likely unintentional, the byproduct that had the largest impact from this exchange between the old and new world was communicable diseases. Europeans and other immigrants brought a host of diseases with them to America, which killed as much as ninety percent of the native population. Epidemics ravaged both native and nonnative populations of the new world destroying civilizations. The source of these epidemics were due to low resistance, poor sanitation, and inadequate medical knowledge- “more die of the practitioner than of the natural course of the disease (Duffy).” These diseases of the new world posed a serious
Columbian Exchange, which also call the Grand Exchange, is an exchange of animals, crops, pollution (European and African), culture, infectious diseases and ideology between the eastern and western hemisphere in 15th and 16th centuries. Alfred W. Crosby first proposed this concept in his book “ The Columbian Exchange”, which published in 1972.
Concluding, the significance of the Columbian exchange greatly impacted what we know of life today. The major impacts that have shaped what we know of the world today happened during the Colombian exchange. The major impacts of the Colombian exchange was Christianity that led to the rise of the Catholic Church, new food crops and domesticated animals that improved the Europeans and American living, new military technology such as weapons and horses, slavery of the natives and Africans and diseases that drastically harmed the different ethnic groups. Colombian Exchange between the old world and the new world still holds a drastic impact on the world today. If we didn’t have these influences then the world would be completely changed. Trading still continues today and has made an impact all over the world.
The current use of energy in the United States, especially California, is foreshadowing catastrophe in our environment. Due to high demand of fossil fuels, the air is filled with more pollution every day. In addition to, it can increase the chances of having global warming. Since fossil fuels are generated from raw materials which are easy and cheap users are becoming extremely dependent on them. The main problem with fossil energy is that the supply of fossil fuels is not continuous. However, alternative energy is continual and harmless to the environment. Biomass does not pollute the atmosphere as much as natural gas. One of the most convenient alternative energies that are currently used for minor purposes is biomass. From the significant results of recent and past use of biomass, it can be considered trustworthy as the main source of energy in the future.
90 percent of the effects of global warming are attributed to rising temperatures and heat. This heat tends to affect our oceans due to the ...
The use of non-renewable resources is rampant in our modern society the world over. These fossil fuels, petroleum, oil, gas and coal, are refined and processed into useable forms that are then used to fuel automobiles and airplanes, power electricity plants, and even heat our water and homes, (nm...
Energy is the basic necessity of daily life. Nowadays, dependence on fossil fuels for energy needs becoming lower in numerous countries due to the potential of renewable energy to supply sustainable energy to the huge populations in many developing countries who are short of clean and continues energy. Generally, renewable energy can be defined as energy that is derived from natural resources which are constantly replenished and theoretically inexhaustible. Fossil fuels on the other hand can be described as energy that cannot be renewed and will eventually diminish. Thus, in many developing countries renewable energy is the alternative energy to replace non-renewable energy or commonly known as fossil fuels. In addition, according to Sorensen (2004), there is a greater demand for renewable energy sources nowadays due to the uncertainty of fuel price rise in living expenses. Commonly, there are many types of renewable energy available in our world such as wind power, biomass energy, solar energy, hydroelectric power and geothermal energy. However, the main three example of renewable energy are hydroelectric power, solar and biomass energy (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
The race for a sustainable efficient power source has been an ongoing problem for the world. Global users are now waking up to the facts that these will not sustain us forever as they have made a large human footprint upon the earth that we so desperately depend on. This race has resulted in a very positive effect on the global pursuit of greener more sustainable energy and has helped in developing new technologies. These technologies range from wind powered turbines, solar paneled power stations and harnessing and using the heat from the molten layer of rock below the surface called geo thermal energy. This article is going to be focusing on the renewable natural energy of geo thermal, from the history to what is geothermal energy, and even what the advantages and disadvantages are.