24. Parabolic Dishes and Troughs Because they work best under direct sunlight, parabolic dishes and troughs must be steered throughout the day in the direction of the sun. Collectors in southern CA.
78. Production in 2000 Source: http://www.world-nuclear.org/search/index.htm Canada 10,682 Australia 7,578 Niger 2,895 Namibia 2,714 Uzbekistan 2,350 Russia (est) 2,000 Kazakhstan 1,752 USA 1,456 South Africa 878 China (est) 500 Ukraine (est) 500 Czech Republic 500 India (est) 200 France 319 others 422 Total world 34,746 company tonnes U Cameco 7218 Cogema 6643 WMC 3693 ERA 3564 Navoi 2400 Rossing 2239 KazAtomProm 2018 Priargunsky 2000
95. At Princeton University's plasma physics laboratory in New Jersey, scientists have produced a controlled fusion reaction at the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor there. During these reaction the temperature in the reactor surpassed three times that of the core of the sun.
Reduce text and add an image. Put in active Absorbed + reflected + transmitted = 1
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Turbine can spin on a vertical axis or a horizontal axis
This section talks about the history of wind turbines and the modern devices.
Stuctures, tree anything in the path of the wind will create turbulence which can negatively affect wind turbines. This is why horizontal wind turbines should not be near your house, on your roof or in the middle of cities…too much turbulence.
This is the equation for the power in the wind. (Don’t fear – there are only 2 equations in this presentation.) Each of the terms in this equation can tell us a lot about wind turbines and how they work. Lets look at wind speed (V), swept area (A), and density (Greek letter “rho,” ) one at a time. First, let’s look at wind speed, V. Because V is cubed in the equation, a small increase in V makes for a increase in power. (illustrated on next slide) (Click on the links at the bottom to get the values of both k and .)
First windmills were found in Persia. They were vertical axis and were used to grind grains and seeds. They were kind of like a waterwheel turned on its side. Most of the paddles were covered by a wall and wind would run through a narrow opening to push the blades.
Many have seen the Dutch windmills. Used to grind grains, seeds, pump water, saw lumber…these were fairly sophisticated devices. Used to cover much of New England coastline.
In 1888, Charles F. Brush invented a large wind turbine which created electricity. This enormous windmill produced enough electricity for about 10 homes. Brush’s invention was soon adapted and copied all over the world. Electricity generating wind turbines spread throughout Europe in the early 1900’s, and they soon appeared in the United States as well. In the 1930s Marcellus Jacobs producing an affordable small turbine called the Jacobs that provided electricity for homes and farms throughout rural America. However, these small American turbines faded away with the widespread installation of power lines through the end of the 1930s.
Close Up of a Bergey XL 1 a 1kW wind turbine. Produces 1000w at peak output. For more info www.bergey.com
Wind farms are like powerplants…we wire a bunch of them together transform the current and put it on the power lines. Some wind farms are very large 700MW that is as big as coal or nuclear power plant.
Wind Farm in the MidWest
Windfarm in VT called Searsburg…one of the first windfarms in the Northeast. Wind farm development in VT is very contentious now in VT.. Notice the black blades. Why do they do that……to reduce ice build up in cold weather. More info head tohttp://www.gmpvt.com/whoweare/searsburg.shtml
Many developers would like to move windfarms offshore because the wind are faster, smoother and they can be close to major population centers on the coast. This is very controversial in the US….we have a few planned offshore farms…CapeWind and Long Island…but nothing installed. Major complaints about offshore are related visual impact, navigation impact and lack of history. Check http://www.capewind.org/
There are quiet a few offshore wind farms in Europe near Holland, England, Ireland, Sweden and the Denmark. This one is off the coast of Copehagen.
The lack of cheap and easy lesson plans, kits and material is kind of strange as wind energy is the fastest growing energy resource in the world. For the last five years it has been growing at rate of 20-30%. A bit misleading b/c when you start with a small amount it easy to grow fast. Nuclear, Coal and Oil could never grow at those rates takes too long to build and there is too much generation out there.
Many people think wind turbines are noisy. While this may have been true in the past (it is still somewhat true on older smaller devices)…newer larger devices are much quieter.
Wind Incentives: Most of the incentives from the Federal Level are for large utility sized sytems…nothing is really enacted at the small wind at the federal level. The Wind Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), is a per kilowatt-hour tax credit for wind-generated electricity. Available during the first 10 years of operation, it provides 1.5 cents per kWh credit adjusted annually for inflation. The adjusted credit amount for 2005 is 1.9 cents per kWh. Enacted as part of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the credit has gone through several cycles of expiration and renewal. The inconsistent nature of this tax credit has been a significant challenge for the wind industry, creating uncertainty for long term planning and preventing steady market development. In July 2005, the PTC was "seamlessly" renewed for the first time when an extension through December 31, 2007 was included in the federal Energy Bill. Just recently is was extended until 12/31/08…some legislators are looking for a 5 year extension on top of that. The tax credit also is primarily useful for corporations and is difficult (but, not impossible) for other entities (farmers and individuals, schools, municipal utilities, etc.) to use effectively. (from Windustry). States have varying levels of support from tax incentives, buydown, etc depending on where you live…
US installed capacity has fluctuate due to incentive that come into affect and then expire…hard to run a highly capitalized industry in this kind of environment. Things have been getting a little better. Last round of incentives will expire in December 2008. Some in congress want to extend this another 5 years. One thing to explain here… 1 Megawatt of wind will generate enough power for about 300 homes. This depends on the type of device and where it is located. Most large turbines that you see today are rated at 1.5 Megawatts…meaning that at peak output (high winds) it will be producing about 1.5 Megawatts
One major complaint about wind is that its power is intermittent. It comes and goes without notice…well this is not true…we can predict the weather and wind… To deal with that issue wind engineers have teamed up with meteorologists to help improve the accuracy of predicting the windspeed so they can predict power output 2,4,8, 24 hours ahead of time. While not perfect this science is getting better and due to the nature of the grid if wind power plants can accurately predict power output the will act more like power plants.