Inquiry 2015

Chapter 1: Introduction

• How do you think clean energy will change the world?
• How do you think your lifectyle will change?

Chapter 2

Solar

What is solar power?

• Solar energy is a type of clean energy that gets its power from the sun.
• A common method to convert sunlight into electricity is using photovoltaic cells.

What types of solar power are there?

• Photovoltaics
• Passive solar heating

What is the most efficient type of solar?

• Photovoltaics
• Scientists in the University of New South Wales developed a type of photovoltaic cell that converts up to 46 percent of the incoming sunlight into electricity.
• This is higher than the normal 33-40% we are seeing today.
• This means we could have up to 60+% efficiency

How good is solar power compared to others?

• Solar energy is extremely versatile.
• Zero carbon emissions.
• High efficiency.
• This means that it is a popular choice if you want to convert to clean energy.

Does solar produce any waste?

• It doesn't, but
• During production it uses sulphur hexaflouride
• Sulphur hexaflouride is 25,000 times more damaging to the environment than CO2.
• 1 ton of sulphur hexafluoride is equivalent to 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Does solar run constantly?

• No, due to a number of factors.
• Day cycles
• Clouds
• Weather

In summary, how good is solar?

• Versatile
• Very efficient
• Can be easily installed
• Does not run constantly
• Can be expensive now, but will get cheaper

Geothermal

What is geothermal?

• Geothermal is a energy source that harnesses the heat of the earth
• A common method is to pump water or brine down deep into the earth to heat it up
• Or, you can drill into a underwater reservoir and use the gas/water from there.

How does it work?

• Geothermal works by heating up water to make steam, which turns turbines
• A common way is to use a pre-existing geothermal hotspot to heat up the water
• Newer processes include drilling into the earth to reach magma

Which types of geothermal are the most efficient?

• In Iceland, there is a geothermal plant that drilled into molten lava, which evaporates water more easily, thus making is more efficient.
• This has only happened twice before, in Hawaii, but they covered up the hole instead.

Does geothermal produce any waste?

• Indirectly, yes
• This is because of the process of drilling
• During this process, gas that can be greenhouse gasses are released from the underground reservoir.

Does geothermal run 24/7?

• Yes, (apart from the scheduled checkups) geothermal runs constantly
• This is because geothermal is not affected by fluctuating forces, such as daylight, and wind.

Pros and cons of geothermal

• Runs constanly
• Not very versatile
• Requires drilling
• Easy to set up
• Generates lots of power
• Efficient

Wind Power

What is wind power?

• Wind power is power from the wind.
• Wind power harnesses the power generated from the wind blowing.
• The wind turns turbines, which generate electricity.
• Turbines use magnets, which rotate around copper wire to generate electricity.

What different types of wind power are there?

• The most common is the HAWT
• The Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine is like the ones in Makara, and are the most efficient
• The Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) is less efficient, more versatile, and smaller. They look like the one in the background.

Does wind power produce any waste?

• No, but like any other clean energy source, there is always waste produced during production.

Does wind power run constantly?

• No, due to meteorological changes, such as temperature, wind speed, humidity, et cetera.
• These changes can stop the wind turbines from turning, due to wind stopping.

Pros and cons of wind power

• Versatile
• Efficient
• Makes a lot of sound
• Does not require too much space

Conclusion

Which one is the most efficient/effective?

• Solar 1st
• Geothermal 2nd
• Wind 3rd

Why is this?

• Solar is first due to being extremely versatile and efficient.
• Geothermal came second due to its ability to generate lots of power.
• Wind came third due to it making lots of sound, and not having an easy installation.

Fun facts to know

• Solar power was invented in 1839 by Alexander Edmond Becquerel
• It was very popular back then, and practically everything was solar powered.
• Africa could be irrigated using solar power.
• Only when oil became cheaper, due to fracking, did solar power get abandoned.

Chapter 3

Nuclear Fusion

What is nuclear fusion?

• Nuclear fusion is a type of clean energy that works in the opposite way to nuclear fission.
• Instead of splitting atoms apart, it fuses them together.
• Stars do this with hydrogen.
• It releases much more power than nuclear fission would.

How efficient is it?

• Nuclear fusion is the second most efficient clean energy source (second to antimatter-matter annihilations)
• Nuclear fusion releases 3-4 times more energy than nuclear fission.

What are the advantages?

• Runs 24/7
• Extremely efficient
• Utilizes the most common element in the universe (hydrogen)

What are the disadvantages?

• Fusion reactor can be expensive and hard to build
• We won't see them for another decade or so
• We may see them from Lockheed Martin quite soon, but quite unlikely.

What type of dangers or risks are there?

• There will be NO thermonuclear explosion if the fusion reactor stops working.
• There is only a small amount of radiation that is generated, and can be easily stopped.
• There won't be a runaway reaction like in Fukushima. This is because the reaction can't sustain itself.

What waste does nuclear fusion produce?

• It only produces helium and neutrons.
• Neutrons are radioactive, but barely any are produced. These are short-lived, and stop producing when the process stops.
• Helium is not a greenhouse gas, so will not affect the atmosphere.

How long will it be before we can get this?

• The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, also coincidentally latin for 'the way') will begin functioning and testing in 2027, although Lockheed Martin says they can get one in 2019. This is unlikely though.

Buoyant Air Turbine

What is a BAT?

• A Buoyant Air Turbine is a wind turbine that is suspended wind turbine that gets more powerful wind due to being further up in the atmosphere.

What are the advantages to a BAT?

• Higher, which means more efficiency (such as more powerful wind, and more wind)
• They could be anle to attach solar panels, whcih means that they could generate even more power.
• They can also have WiFi modules installed so that remote communities can get internet as well.

What are the disadvantages?

• Disadvantages include:
• Needing a refuel of helium every few years.
• Having the wires as birds and/or planes could get tangled up in them, so planes would need a no-fly zone around the area the BAT is in.

How long until this product is available?

• Communities in Alaska are already using/testing this product.
• It is estimated to be a few years.

Algae and future biophotovoltaics

What are algae and future biophotovoltaics?

• Algae biofuel is biofuel from algae.
• Biophotovoltaics is like solar, except it uses plants and utilizes photosynthesis.
• Algae is 50% oil, so is more efficient than normal biofuel crops.

How do they work?

• Algae can be used to filtrate water, absorb carbon dioxide, then be converted into petrol and fertilizer.
• Biophotovoltaics can be used to generate electricity directly. The cells are engineered to output electricity, and then put into towers, which then generate electricity.

What are the advantages?

• Algae can do a lot of things and are low maintenance.
• Biophotovoltaics are self regulating, but still need some minerals.

What are the disadvantages?

• Algae biofuel still produces greenhouse gasses.
• Biophotovoltaics are hard to develop, and probably never will be.

Does it produce any waste?

• Algae only produces biofuel and clean drinking water.

How long until we have these technologies?

• We will probably never have biophotovoltaics.
• Algae is already used in many places all over the world.

Where are algae biofuels used?

• BIQ
• Alabama

What is the BIQ?

• The BIQ House by Arup, the same company that created the Sydney Opera House, has made an apartment building in Hamburg, Germany, that is powered mainly by biofuels. This building extracts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, uses biofuels, it is a prototype of what Arup thinks the world might look like in 50 or so years.

How does Alabama use algae biofuels?

• Alabama has recently started to connect pipes full of algae to their wastewater treatment facility.
• The algae can clean the water so much, it can be safely drunken without any filtering needed.
• The algae can then be used for biofuel, which can fuel cars, planes, or can be converted into fertilizer for plants.

Conclusion

Which one is the most efficient/effective?

• 1st Nuclear Fusion
• 2nd Algae Biofuels
• 3rd BAT
• 4th Biophotovoltaics

Why is this?

• Nuclear fusion came first due to its efficiency.
• The algae biofuel came second due to its already widespread use.
• The BAT came third due to needing a refuel every few years, which is becoming more and more expensive.
• Biophotovoltaics came 4th because it will likely never get past prototypes.

Chapter 4

More/different types of jobs

How will this affect the economy?

• It will be good for the economy, due to the fact that there will be more money being pumped in.

What jobs will there be?

• Installing solar panels
• Engineering solar panels
• Salesmen
• Kickstarter projects

Different lifestyle

Different house/backyard

• There might be solar panels on your roof, wind turbines in your garden.
• More trees.
• Maybe having a buoyant air turbine attached to your property.

New government agencies and laws

What type of laws?

• There might be tax subsidizing for buying specific products like electric cars.
• Enforcing recycling.

What type of agencies?

• Helping the environment by spreading awareness, and doing events.
• Negotiating with other countries.
• Getting more people to be eco-friendly.
• Making more energy companies use clean energy.

Different vehicles and public transport

Tesla

• Tesla is a company that makes specifically high-end electric cars.
• These are also quite affordable and have the latest equipment onboard (some even have been implemented, but not used because the car is so far in the future!).
• They are extremely safe.

New trains

• Maglev trains are electric trains that use magnets.
• Maglev trains are currently the fastest in the world.
• The fastest (a L0) goes at 603 kph!

Fun fact

• A person stealing a car managed to crumple the car, and was so badly damaged, if it was a petrol car, it would've exploded. But since batteries aren't spontaneously combustable, like petrol, he survived with minimum injuries.

Chapter 5

Atmosphere

How will this be affected?

• New machines have been designed to remove smog.
• Less greenhouse gasses will be dumped into the atmosphere.
• Soon enough, the amount of greenhouse gasses dumped into our atmosphere will be negative.

Rainforests

How will they be affected?

• Rainforests will be replanted.
• This will mean more species will flourish.
• There will be less acid rain, so rainforests will not have to suffer.

Oceans

How will they be affected?

• Oceans will not be affected too largely.
• However, the waste in oceans may be rounded up to be used as a clean energy source.
• This means less species will die from plastic.

Other Habitats

How will other habitats be affected?

• Venice would probably stop sinking.
• Polar caps would start to freeze again, which means lower sea levels.

Chapter 6

Clean energy is already changing the world.

• People are starting to put more solar panels on their roofs.
• Even Pope Francis says to priests all around the world to change our habits. (he's swux)
• More people are recycling and riding bikes as well.

More governments are changing their actions

• Governments are making pledges to use more clean energy.
• They make clean energy cheaper, and take off tax if you use them.
• Energy companies are now recommended to pay back customers if they install solar panels, as these solar panels give electricity back to the grid, cutting costs on electricity.

More people are buying electric cars.

• More and more people are buying electric cars for their safety rating, and are getting more and more affordable.

Green roofs

• There will be roofs with plants and trees on top of them.
• This reduces the grey factor in cities, and sucks up carbon dioxide.

Smarter cars and roads.

• Soon, electric cars will own the road.
• They will become smarter, and soon be autonomous.
• Tesla cars are already fitted with the technology to make it autonomous driving possible, thus increasing the chance that cars will someday become autonomous.

More fusion reactors.

• We are getting closer and closer to this goal.
• ITER is already being built, and soon we will be able to harness this powerful energy source.
• We might even see antimatter being used!
• Antimatter-matter annihilations are the most efficient.

Antimatter-matter annihilations

• This is the most efficient due to releasing all the energy from the particles.
• It has 100% efficiency.

The world is already changing

• The world is already changing, and we just need other people to join as well.
• We need to use more clean energy, recycle more, even just drive our cars less, or use public transport more.
• This is the only way to an utopian future, and it is our job to ensure it.

We have a front row seat to the change from dirty fossil fuels to cleaner sources. It is only going to happen once, and it is going to happen now.

We are in a very exciting era,

We will change only once, and for forever.

Interview.

• With Simon Ngawhika, sustainablity advisor of Contact Energy.

Acknowledgements

• Thank you to Mr. Brodie, Mr. Parkes, my parents, Simon Ngawhika, Ted Talks, Google Images, Haiku Deck, epi.yale.edu, and YouTube.

Dankeshön