Other types of power plants
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Wind
Text 3
Modern biomass
Text 2
Biomass simply means fuel produced from organic sources. Traditional biomass such as wood, charcoal, and other plant matters has been fuel of choice for thousand years, and it remains so in many parts of the world. Modern biomass, however includes other types of fuel derived from plants, such as the residuals of existing agricultural, lifestock and lumber industry, from forests planted and harvested renewably, and from farms dedicated to this purpose, from the processing of pulpwood residues, cereals and logging operations, which can be processed into gas or burned in bio gas power plants to generate electricity. Methane from urban landfills and from animal and human wastes is another potential type of fuel derived from biomass. Modern biomass may have the greatest potential for growth, especially in transportation and powering vehicles. For example, Brazil has been a leading nation in the use of ethanol (alcohol-based fuel) for automobiles. It is derived from sugar cane and grains grown specially to produce ethanol. Biomass also looks promising as a fuel source for electricity in small, local power stations.
Answer the following questions:
1. What is biomass?
2. What does modern biomass include?
3. Can methane be derived? How?
4. Does biomass have potential for growth?
5. What country has been a leading nation in the use of ethanol (alcohol-based fuel) for automobiles?
The use of wind energy is growing faster then any other type of renewable energy because of improvements in the wind turbine technology over the past 30 years. The best locations for wind as an energy source are coasts, mountains, and plains. Like solar rays, wind is also a form of intermittent renewable energy, available only about 30 % of the time. Often when the sun isn’t shining, the wind is blowing; so many users rely on wind turbines to complement solar panels. Most of the world's wind generation capacity is located in the United States, Denmark (the pioneer in wind generation), the Netherlands (famous for its use of windmills), Germany, and India. While wind generation of electricity is clean, some disadvantages include the noise of blades of windmills and the appearance. A large wind farm on a hillside is clearly visible, in the same way that large arrays of solar panels are.
Answer the following questions:
1. Why is the use of wind energy growing faster than any other type of renewable energy?
2. Where can we locate
3. Is wind a form of intermittent renewable energy?
4. Why do many users rely on turbines?
5. Where is most of the world's wind generation capacity located?
- What are the disadvantages of the use of wind energy?