Energy Resources: Switzerland
Electricity production:
Hydropower and nuclear energy account for 95% of Switzerland’s electricity production with 56% of electricity production coming from hydropower and 39% from nuclear power.
Hydropower, obtained from the energy produced by moving water, is widely used in Switzerland due to the country’s topography and high levels of rainfall. There are 556 hydropower plants in Switzerland with the majority of hydroelectricity production coming from mountainous cantons such as, Grisons and Uri.
The principal component of a hydropower plant is a dam, which holds back the water, creating a reservoir. The water in the reservoir has potential energy, which turns into kinetic energy as it flows through the intake and penstock. The water then hits the turbine, turning its blades, which are attached to the generator, where a series of magnets begin rotating past copper coils, producing alternating currents through induced electron movement. The current is then converted into a higher voltage one by transformers, after which it flows through power lines.
Nuclear power involves the use of exothermic nuclear procedures to create electricity. Switzerland has a total of 4 nuclear power plants with 5 operational reactors.
Nuclear power plants generate electricity through nuclear fission with Uranium-235 atoms. The process involves a free neutron hitting a U-235 atom; rendering it unstable and making it split into two nuclei, which also emit neutrons that hit other nuclei creating a chain reaction. This releases heat that warms up the water, turning it into pressurised steam, which turns a turbine generator that creates electricity. To maintain this chain reaction, moderators (wat...
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Works Cited
• http://www.bfe.admin.ch/themen/00490/00491/?lang=en
• http://www.swissgrid.ch/swissgrid/en/home/reliability/energy_sources.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydropower
• http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/hydropower-plant.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
• http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power2.htm
• http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/nuclear/problems
• http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/issues/nuclear-energy-&-waste/nuclear-energy-fact-sheet.php
• http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/hydr2.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
• http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/solar-cell.htm
• http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/solar7.htm
• http://www.ecovillage.org.in/ecopedia/alternate-energy/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-biogas/
• https://www1.eere.energy.gov/wind/wind_ad.html
After World War II, nuclear power became the world’s shining energy hope. Technically it is produced when neutrons split the nucleus of uranium atoms releasing heat which is used to boil water and produce the steam that drives a plant’s turbines. Nuclear...
Nuclear Power comes from the process of splitting Uranium Atoms (also called fission), which in turn releases copious amounts of energy in the form of heat. When the atoms are arranged in a reactor, the splitting of an atom will cause nearby atoms to split, forming a chain reaction. As the energy is released, it is sent through coolant tanks full of water, which is then heated into steam. The steam is channeled and used to spin a turbine, which in turn powers a generator,
Nuclear power, or nuclear energy, is the use of exothermic nuclear processes,[1] to generate useful heat and electricity. The term includes nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion. Presently the nuclear fission of elements in the actinide series of the periodic table produce the vast majority of nuclear energy in the direct service of humankind, with nuclear decay processes, primarily in the form of geothermal energy, and radioisotope thermoelectric generators, in niche uses making up the rest. Nuclear (fission) power stations, excluding the contribution from naval nuclear fission reactors, provided about 5.7% of the world's energy and 13% of the world's electricity in 2012.[2] In 2013, the IAEA report that there are 437 operational nuclear power reactors,[3] in 31 countries,[4] although not every reactor is producing electricity.[5] In addition, there are approximately 140 naval vessels using nuclear propulsion in operation, powered by some 180 reactors.[6][7][8] As of 2013, attaining a net energy gain from sustained nuclear fusion reactions, excluding natural fusion power...
Nuclear energy is energy that is released by reactions within the atomic nuclei, through nuclear fission or fusion. Nuclear energy is also called atomic energy (dictionary.com, 2013). Nuclear energy is produced in nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants create electricity by heating water to create steam. The steam runs a generator that creates the electricity. Many types of fuels can be used to create heat and generate steam. Nuclear power plants create the heat by splitting atoms. Nuclear power plants use a radioactive element found in rocks called enriched uranium. Enriched uranium is used because when it breaks down in nature it heats Earth’s crust. In nuclear power plants enriched uranium heats water to create steam. Power plants create energy by splitting the nuclei inside each granule of uranium. This process is called nuclear fission (How does energy work, 2013).
Nuclear power plants make up 15% of the world’s electricity production. The US produces the most nuclear power, with France and Japan following second and third. Nuclear reactors are used in nuclear power plants to produce heat that will create steam to produce energy. Nuclear power plants convert thermal energy released from nuclear fission. The core of a nuclear reactor builds up heat and this heat needs to be controlled and filtered out somewhere. The reactor needs to remain cool—usually by water but is sometimes cooled by a gas or a liquid metal.
Next, hydro-electricity is electricity produced by moving water, flowing past a turbine connected to a generator (“Hydropower”). According to Nationalgeographic.c...
Nuclear power has grown to be a big percentage of the world’s energy. As of January 18, 2013 in 31 countries 437 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of about 372 GW are in operation and 68 plants with an installed capacity of 65 GW are in 15 countries under construction. As of end 2011 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 69,760 billion kWh. The cumulative operating experience amounted to 15, 15,080 years by end of 2012. (European Nuclear Society) The change that nuclear power has brought to the world has led to benefits in today’s energy’s usage.
Nuclear energy is energy inside the nucleus of an atom and it is the energy that is holding the proton and neutrons together. Nuclear energy can be converted by a power plant into electrical energy and the power plant is called nuclear power plant. There is two ways to obtain the energy. There is nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion is where atoms are combined together to form a larger atom and nuclear fission is where the atoms are split to produce the energy. In fact, nuclear power plant only can use nuclear fission to produce energy.
Hydroelectricity uses the power of flowing water to generate electricity.(“National Geographic”) It is a form of renewable energy as the system only utilises renewable resources and does not directly produce hazardous waste. It is an alternative to the generation of electricity using fossil fuels. Although it does not produce as much electricity compared to fossil fuels, it produces enough electricity to “prevent the burning of 22 billion gallons of oil or 120 million tons of coal each year.” As of 2012, Hydroelectricity produces estimating to around ⅕ of the world electricity. (“Alternative Energy”) The main concept of hydropower plants is when water flows through a dam built in a river. Numerous basic components of a hydropower plant include a dam, which holds back water and creates a reservoir. When the gates on the dam open, the water flows through a connected pipe that leads to the turbine. Pressure increases as it flows through the pipe and turns large blades of the turbine, which is attached to a generator. As the turbine blades turn, magnets in the generator rotate past copper coils and produce alternating current by moving electrons. The transformer inside a powerhouse takes the alternating current and conver...
Nuclear Energy is a method of creating electricity by heating water from nuclear reactions. The process allows for large quantities of electricity to be created from very little nuclear fuel. Nuclear Energy creates only a fraction of the world’s energy production; this is because many people are fearful of the possibility of a meltdown or any other form of a nuclear disaster. However, even with all the disadvantages and hazards Nuclear Energy creates, it could become the most beneficial form of energy in the future.
How exactly does hydropower work, though? As it turns out, dams are the main source of harvesting energy via hydropower. There are about 80,000 dams in the United States, although not all are active producers of power. There are four main types of hydropower facilities, which all require turbines: impoundment, diversion, run-of-river, and pumped storage. Also, there are two main types of hydro turbines: impulse turbines and reaction turbines ("Hydropower…”).
A power plant that uses radioactive material has the ability to turn heat into electricity similar to a gas fired plant. In the picture below it is shown that works. When the reactor become hot it heats up ...
The first type of renewable energy is hydroelectric energy or well known as hydropower. In greek word, hydro means water and thus hydroelectric energy refers to electricity generated using flowing water at high velocity. Lutgens and Tarbuck (1992, p. 163) stated that “running water is of great importance to people as we depend upon rivers for energy, travel and irrigation”. Continuous availability of water in universe made water to be the main source of hydroelectric energy. Water has been widely utilized by mankind since the beginning of civilization and wate...
Hydroelectric Power Plant is when electricity is generated when water in an uphill reservoir flows downhill. The gravitational potential energy of the water changes to kinetic energy of the flowing water which drives the turbines to generate electricity. The efficiency is more than 90%. The environmental impact is Floods large area and affects the ecology of the area, May cause drought downstream if not managed properly, does not cause ai...
There are three parts to a typical hydropower plant. The first part is an electric plant where electricity is produced. The second is a dam that open and closes to control the flow of water. Water behind the dam goes into an intake and is pushed against blades in a turbine which causes them to turn. Then the turbine rotates a generator to create electricity.