How it works: Solar (thermal) collectors Solar panels convert sunlight harvest the sun’s heat energy Solar energy is the energy we into Direct Current (DC) and use it to heat a liquid such receive from the sun in the form electricity. as water, oil, or molten salt. of heat and light. The hot liquid can be stored for SOLAR PANELS We can use solar energy to later use or used immediately make electricity. to make steam to power an electric Solar panels are made from turbine/ special materials which can INVERTER BREAKER BOX generator convert sunlight into electricity. PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM SCHEMATIC or to The electricity made by solar provide An inverter contains electronic panels can be used to help heat. circuits that convert the DC power our homes and even cities. electricity into AC electricity SOLAR THERMAL PARABOLIC TROUGH which can be used in our homes. The heat energy we get from the sun can also be used to PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANT produce electricity. It can also be used to heat water for our SOLAR THERMAL POWER TOWER homes. www.cactusmooneducation.com
The wind turns When the sun heats up the the Rotor, ground, the air close to the How it works: which turns ground gets warm and rises. As In a wind turbine, the turbine the mechanical the warm air rises, cooler air blades are connected to a shaft gears and an moves in to that turns when the wind electric generator take its makes the blades move. The inside the place. It is shaft is connected to a gearbox Nacelle. this moving and an electric generator that air that makes electricity. makes the “wind” that we feel Wind turbines can be grouped on our faces. A modern wind turbine has together to make wind farms three sections, the Tower, the especially in areas where the Wind has been used for Nacelle, and the Rotor. wind blows strongly and hundreds of years for sail continuously. boats, windmills, and more The Tower supports the recently to power large Nacelle and the Rotor turbines to make electricity. and holds them high in the air where the wind blows more strongly. Tower Verde Resources wind farm in Kingman, AZ www.cactusmooneducation.com
How it works: One of the earliest turbines Hydroelectric energy comes The flow of current in a river can was the water wheel that used from the energy in moving be used to power a reaction water flowing in a river as the water. turbine and a generator source of energy. The The water can be a flowing submerged in the river to make “undershot” water wheel uses river, the up and down motion electricity. the water flowing in the river of ocean waves, the water CURRENT under a wheel that is released from a dam, or the REACTION FLOW connected to mechanical water currents caused by ocean TURBINE equipment to grind grain. The tides. “overshot” water wheel is This energy can be used to The up-down motion of the where the river is diverted and operate machinery, such as in a ocean surface can be used to made to flow over a wheel. flour mill or make electricity power wave using an electrical generator. machines. In a dam, the potential energy of the water behind the dam is con- verted into kinetic energy by let- ting the water fall down towards a turbine. The flowing water spins the turbine UNDERSHOT WATER WHEEL which is connected GLEN CANYON DAM, AZ to an electric generator www.cactusmooneducation.com
How it works: Biomass is material that comes squeezed from plants such as soy Digestion - Biomaterial such as from living or recently dead plants beans and algae. The oil can be manure from a Concentrated and animals. Some examples are processed to make fuels and other Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) is grass, wood from trees, and waste chemicals. put into a from humans and other animals. tank and microbes digest the Biomass can be used as a fuel ALGAE solid directly or can be converted into Direct Burning - Biomass can be material which produces a gas bio-gas or liquid fuels which can burned in a boiler, where water is called methane. be burned to provide heat for boiled to make cooking, to warm our homes, to steam, which generate electricity, to power our can be used to cars, to create food additives, and power a turbine/ to manufacture plastics and other Household waste is also digested in generator to make electricity. materials. a landfill. The methane can be collected and used as a fuel. Fermentation - A process in which the sugars in biomass material Gasification and Pyrolysis - Dry react with yeasts to produce material is heated and turned into a ethanol . Ethanol can be used as a gas mixture of carbon monoxide The five methods of using Bio-Fuel fuel for (CO) and and hydrogen (H 2 ) called automobiles. are: Digestion, Gasification and Syn-Gas . Pyrolysis, Lipid Oil Extraction, Direct Burning, and Fermentation. Lipid Oil Extraction - Oil can be www.cactusmooneducation.com
Geothermal Energy is the heat How it works: Flash Steam: High pressure hot contained in the earth. Indica- A hole is drilled deep into the water comes out of the drilled tions that geothermal energy is earth and geothermal hot water hole and flashes to steam at the close to the earth’s surface are “flashes” into steam when it earth’s surface. volcanoes, mud reaches the earth’s surface. The Binary Cycle: The hot water pots, fumaroles, steam powers a turbine/ coming out of the drilled hole is geysers, and hot generator to make electricity. used to vaporize an organic liq- springs. The used water is put back into uid with a low boiling point. the earth to get hot again.. Hot Dry rock: Cold water is in- The most active geothermal ar- jected into the drilled hole and eas on earth are in the “ Pacific is heated by the hot rock in the Ring of Fire”. earth. Not all Geothermal resources are hot enough to make elec- tricity. Greenhouse farming uses warm geothermal water to heat Different technologies are used the green- in geothermal power plants de- Geothermal energy can heat or house, so vege- pending on the temperature of cool a building, be used in tables can be the geothermal resource. greenhouses for agriculture, or grown in the Hot Dry Steam: Steam comes be used to generate electricity. winter. directly out of the drilled hole. www.cactusmooneducation.com
Recommend
More recommend
