The binding factor in nearly all kinds of power plants is how the power is actually produced: something heats water, turning it into steam, which then turns a turbine that generates electricity. The differentiating factor in the differents forms of power plants is how that water is heated. Nuclear plants fancy splitting atoms, coal plants burn coal, and geothermal plants skip the middle man, let Earth do the heating, and simply reap the benefits. Below the surface of Earth is a layer of rock so hot that it has been liquified; in some areas a more common liquid, water, seeps into the crust and is then heated by the magma flowing below the surface. The water is quickly heated and the steam shoots back out of the crust in the form of geysers in
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But instead of using heat energy to create steam to turn a turbine, hydroelectric dams use the energy generated by gravity on liquid water to turn the turbine. On one side of the dam is a reservoir which holds water at a higher elevation than the river on the other side of the dam. This relatively higher elevation is what gives the water the potential energy to turn the turbine when it begins to flow ("Hydroelectric Energy."). Potential energy is calculated by the force due to gravity multiplied by the change in height of the matter. So, a reservoir of just 10 cubic meters of water that is 50 meters above the river on the other side and flowing at just 1 meter per second, has a potential power of 49,000 watts for every second that it flows. Under these conditions this damn would theoretically produce 4,233,600 kilowatts in a single day. In 2013 the average home used 10,908 kilowatt-hours annually ( "FAQ.") Of course, this model is just the potential energy of that volume of water under the specified conditions. In the real world a large amount of that potential energy is lost through inefficiencies of the system and that particular damn wouldn’t actually produce that much power. Hydroelectric dams do still remain an incredibly clean, renewable, and fairly efficient form of energy, …show more content…
So it makes sense to harness the very essence of energy and use it as an alternative energy source, and wave generators aim to do just that. Like all generators, a wave generator works by converting mechanical energy into electrical energy via electromagnetic induction. In 1831 Michael Faraday discovered that moving a wire through a magnetic field induces a voltage in the wire that is proportional to the movement (Jones). Essentially this means that mechanical movement can result in electrical output given a proper generator. This is the concept upon which all generators operate on. The end goal of every fuel or energy source be it clean, green, and renewable, or filthy, black, and depleted, is to, in some manner or another, move some wire around some magnets. Waves have enormous potential to do this. According to calculations by the Electrical Power Research Institute, wave energy around the U.S. coast alone is 2,640 terawatt-hours every year. That is enough to power nearly a quarter million U.S. households annually. Now not all of that energy is able to be exploited: much of it is lost to other commercial interests and environmental concerns within the area. What can be harnessed, though, falls just short of ⅓ of the entire sum of energy used by the 318.9 million people living
But instead of using heat energy to create steam to turn a turbine, hydroelectric dams use the energy generated by gravity on liquid water to turn the turbine. On one side of the dam is a reservoir which holds water at a higher elevation than the river on the other side of the dam. This relatively higher elevation is what gives the water the potential energy to turn the turbine when it begins to flow ("Hydroelectric Energy."). Potential energy is calculated by the force due to gravity multiplied by the change in height of the matter. So, a reservoir of just 10 cubic meters of water that is 50 meters above the river on the other side and flowing at just 1 meter per second, has a potential power of 49,000 watts for every second that it flows. Under these conditions this damn would theoretically produce 4,233,600 kilowatts in a single day. In 2013 the average home used 10,908 kilowatt-hours annually ( "FAQ.") Of course, this model is just the potential energy of that volume of water under the specified conditions. In the real world a large amount of that potential energy is lost through inefficiencies of the system and that particular damn wouldn’t actually produce that much power. Hydroelectric dams do still remain an incredibly clean, renewable, and fairly efficient form of energy, …show more content…
So it makes sense to harness the very essence of energy and use it as an alternative energy source, and wave generators aim to do just that. Like all generators, a wave generator works by converting mechanical energy into electrical energy via electromagnetic induction. In 1831 Michael Faraday discovered that moving a wire through a magnetic field induces a voltage in the wire that is proportional to the movement (Jones). Essentially this means that mechanical movement can result in electrical output given a proper generator. This is the concept upon which all generators operate on. The end goal of every fuel or energy source be it clean, green, and renewable, or filthy, black, and depleted, is to, in some manner or another, move some wire around some magnets. Waves have enormous potential to do this. According to calculations by the Electrical Power Research Institute, wave energy around the U.S. coast alone is 2,640 terawatt-hours every year. That is enough to power nearly a quarter million U.S. households annually. Now not all of that energy is able to be exploited: much of it is lost to other commercial interests and environmental concerns within the area. What can be harnessed, though, falls just short of ⅓ of the entire sum of energy used by the 318.9 million people living