Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

ENERGY (Energy sources (Are natural resources from which we obtain…

- - - - At this type of power plant, water is heated in a boler by the heat generated from the combustion of a fossil fuel, usually natural gas or coal. The steam that is generated moves the turbine connected to the generator.
  - - - This type of power plant uses the potential energy provided by the height of the stored water in a dam, converting it into kinetic energy. This energy moves the blades of the turbine.
        
        Depending on the destination of the water, hydraulic power plants are divided into two types: gravity or pump.
  - - - This type of plant includes a nuclear fission reactor that produces the pressurised steam needed to move the turbine rotor.
- - - - Solar power plants
        
        These plants use the energy from the sun.
        There are two main types:
        
        Photo-thermal power plant: the heat generated by solar radiation produces steam that is used to move the rotor in the generator.
        
        Photovoltaic power plants: solar radiation is transformed directly into electricity by panles of photovoltaic cells.
    - - These power plants use the kinetic nergy of the wind to move the blades of a rotor at the top of a tower; this is referred to as the wind turbine.
    - - These plants use the heat found at deep levels in the earth. This heat may reach the surface in the form of steam, gases of hot water.
    - - Biomass consists of all organic compounds that are produced through natural processes.
        They may come from the following sorces:
        
        Forestry and agricultural waste.
        
        Specific crops, such as sunflowers and sugar beet.
        
        Waste from agri-food industries.
    - - These power plants use the energy from the seas and the oceans. There is three types of energy from the sea:
        
        The mechanical energy from the tides.
        
        The mechanical energy from the waves.
        
        The energy from the ocean's thermal gradient.
- - - - Electric power plants are usually located far away from the points where the energy is used, for safety reasons, space requirements or physical and geographical considerations.
        Electricity cannot be stored; therefore, it must be transported to consumption centres.
    - - Are facilities where primary or secondary energy is transformed into electricity and then it must be transported to towns, cities or industrial parks.
        Electrical power plants use an external source of energy to produce electricity, they rely on a turbine-alternator system.
- - - - Environmental impact assessment
        
        As part of a technical project, it's mandatory to carry out an environmental impact assessment to find out what changes it would provoke in the environment.
    - - Extraction of natural resources
        
        The exploitation of fossil and nuclear power means the depleation of resources, which makes it necessary to find new ones.
      - Fuel transport
        
        Oil is transported by means of oil pipelines and oil tankers.
      - Electricity generation
        
        Large hydroelectric power plants
        
        Conventional thermal power plants:
        
        They produce air pollution
        
        They emit large amounts of CO2
        
        They emit sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide
        
        The water used in the cooling system is returned to the environment
        
        Nuclear thermal power plants
      - Final energy use
        
        The fuel we use in vehicles and heating systems emit gases and particles similar to those generated by conventional thermal power plants.
    - - To reduce the waste generated by thermal power plants, as well as their effects, several measures can be taken.
        
        Waste from nuclear power plants is stored in drums with thick sides that do not let the nuclear radiation escape. These are then stored in ocean trenches and underground.