Renewable Energy

Lecture 1
4th Year

Electrical Engineering
Department
University of Basrah
Section One

1. Overview of energy use:

Over the past few decades, energy has become the backbone of technology and economic

development. Not counting men, machines and money, ‘energy’ is now the fourth factor

of production. Without energy, no machine will run and electricity has become a necessity.

Hence, the energy requirements have increased in the years following the industrial

revolution. This tremendous increase in use of energy has created troubles of ‘demand and

supply’. If this mounting world energy demand is to be met with fossil fuels, they will not

be available for energy production in few years. It is a need of today’s world to concentrate

on renewable energy sources to satisfy the demand and conserve our finite natural

resources for the generations to come. This is an endeavor to present an overview of the

concerns about energy demand and supply ratio and how to conserve energy as well how

to make best use of renewable energy.

Today, fossil fuel industries drill or mine for these energy sources, burn them to produce

electricity, or refine them for use as fuel for heating or transportation. Over the past 20

years, nearly three-fourths of human-caused emissions came from the burning of fossil

fuels.

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Section One

Fig. Consumption of world energy,2008 by source.

Fossil fuels are stored solar energy from past geological ages. Even though the quantities
of oil, natural gas, and coal are large, they are finite, and for the long term of hundreds of
years, they are not sustainable.

1.2. Forms of energy

The different forms of energy are:

1. Mechanical energy (kinetic and potential)

2. Thermal (or) Heat energy

3. Chemical energy

4. Electrical energy

5. Nuclear energy

6. Electromagnetic energy

7. Gravitational energy

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Section One

Primary Energy Sources

Primary energy sources can be defined as sources which provide a net supply of energy

Coal, Oil, Uranium etc., are examples of this type. The energy required to obtain these

fuels is much use than what they can produce by combustion or nuclear reaction. The

supply of primary fuels is limited. It becomes very essential to use these fuels sparingly.

Examples

Coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear energy.

Secondary Energy sources

Secondary fuels produce no net energy. Though it may by necessary for the economy,

these may not yield net energy.

Secondary sources are like sun, wind, water (tides), etc. Solar energy can by used through

plants, solar cells, solar heaters and solar collectors.

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Section One

1.3. Energy sources and their availability

Introduction

Today every country draws its energy needs from a variety of sources. We can

broadly categorize these sources as commercial and non-

commercial. The commercial sources include the fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas),

hydro-electric power and nuclear power, while the noncommercial sources include wood,

animal waste and agricultural wastes. In an Industrialized country like U.S.A. most of the

energy requirements are met from commercial sources, while in an Industrially less

developed country like India, the use of commercial and non-commercial sources are

about equal.

1.4. Conventional and non-conventional sources energy

1.4.1. Conventional energy sources
Conventional energy sources are:

(a) Fossil fuel energy

(b) Hydraulic energy

(c) Nuclear energy

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Section One

(a) Fossil fuel energy

Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are called Fossil fuel as these are formed by the

decomposition of the remains of dead plants and animals buried under the earth for a long

time. These are non-renewable sources of energy, which, if exhausted, can not be

replenished in a short time. Their reserves are limited and are considered very precious.

These should be used with care and caution to let them last long. These are also

contributing to the global environmental pollution.

(i) Coal

Since the advent of industrialization coal has been most common source of energy.

In the last three decades, the world switched over from coal to oil as a Major source of

energy because it is simpler and cleaner to obtain useful energy from oil.

Coal is a complex mixture of compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Small

amounts of nitrogen and Sulphur compounds are also present in coal.

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Section One

Depending upon the carbon contents of coal, it is classified as follows:

Type of coal Carbon
content (%)
1. Peat 60
2. Lignite (soft coal) 70
3. Bituminous (house hold coal) 80
4. Anthracite (hard coal) 90

It is clear that peat is the most inferior quality of coal. Whereas anthracite is the most

superior quality of coal. Bituminous is most commonly used in households and industry.

On strong heating, coal breaks up to produce coal gas, ammonia, coaltar and coke.

Coke is 98% carbon, obtained after losing all its volatile constituents during destructive

distillation of coal. It can be used as smoke free fuel.

(ii). Petroleum
It is a dark coloured, viscous and foul smelling crude oil. The petroleum means

rock oil. It is normally found under the crust of earth trapped in rocks. The crude oil is a

complex mixture of several solid liquid gaseous hydrocarbons mixed with water, salt and

earth particles. It is a natural product obtained from oil wells.

The crude petroleum is refined by the process of fractional distillation to obtain more

useful petroleum products. The crude petroleum is heated to a temperature of about

400oC in a furnace and vapors thus formed are passed into a tall fractioning column from

near its bottom. As the mixture of hot vapours rises in the column, it starts getting

cooled gradually.

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Section One

The products obtained from basic petroleum as follows:

(A) Petroleum gas (below 40oC) .

(B) Petrol (40oC to 170oC) for light vehicles.
(C) Kerosene (170 to 250oC) for household and industrial use.
(D) Diesel oil (250 to 350oC) for heavy vehicles.
(E) Residual oil ; (a) Lubrication oils (b) paraffin wax and (c) asphalt
(F) Fuel oil (350 to 400oC) for boilers and furnaces.

(iii) Natural gas

It consists about 95% Methane and rest ethane and propane. It occurs deep under
the crust of the earth either alone or a long with oil above the petroleum deposits. It is a
product of petroleum mining.

(b) Hydraulic energy (or) Water power

Water power is developed by allowing water to fall under the force of gravity. It is used
almost exclusively for electric power generation, in fact, the generation of water power
on a large scale became possible around the beginning of the twentieth century only with
the development of electrical power plants or Hydro electric plants were usually of small
capacities usually less than 100 KW.

Potential energy of water is converted into Mechanical energy by using prime

moves known as hydraulic turbines. Water power is quite cheap where water is
available in abundance. Although capital cost of hydro electric power plants is higher as
compared to other types of power plants but their operating Costs are quite low, as no
fuel is required in this case. The development rate of hydropower is still low, due to the
following problems:

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Section One

1. In developing a project, it will take about 6-10 years time for planning, investigation
and construction.
2. High money investment is needed, and some parts of the investment have to be
designed from foreign sources.
3. There are growing problems on relocation of villages, involved, compensation for
damage, selecting the suitable resettlement area and environmental impact.

(c) Nuclear energy

According to modern theories of atomic structure, matter consists of small particles

known as atoms. Heavier unstable atoms such as U235, Th239, liberate large amount of
heat energy. The energy released by the complete fission of one Kg of Uranium (U235),
is equal to the heat energy obtained by burning 4500 tonnes of coal (or) 220 tons of oil.
The heat produced by nuclear fission of the atoms of fissionable material is utilized in
special heat exchangers for the production of steam which is then used to drive
turbogenerators as in the conventional power plants.

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Section One

1.4.2. Non-Conventional Energy Sources

The sources of energy which are being produced continuously in nature and are in
exhaustible are called renewable sources of energy (or) non-conventional energy.
Some of these sources are:
(a) Wind energy
(b) Tidal energy
(c) Solar energy

(a) Wind energy

Winds are caused because of two factors.
1. The absorption of solar energy on the earth’s surface and in the atmosphere.
2. The rotation of the earth about its axis and its motion around the Sun.

A wind mill converts the kinetic energy of moving air into Mechanical energy that
can be either used directly to run the Machine or to run the generator to produce electricity.

(b) Tidal energy

Tides are generated primarily by the gravitational attraction between the earth and the

Moon. They arise twice a day in Mid-Ocean. The tidal range is only a Meter.

Basically, in a tidal power station water at high tide is first trapped in an artificial basin

and then allowed to escape at low tide. The escaping water is used to drive water

turbines, which in turn drive electrical generators.

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Section One

(c) Solar energy

Brief history of solar energy (or) Importance of solar energy:

Energy from the sun is called solar energy. The Sun’s energy comes from nuclear

fusion reaction that take place deep in the Sun. Hydrogen nucleus fuse into helium

nucleus. The energy from these reactions flow out from the sun and escape into space.

Fig. shows the most important renewable and nonrenewable sources on planet earth

[source from internet]

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Section One

3. Greenhouse Effect

The atmosphere functions like a blanket, keeping the heat of the Earth from radiating
into space (Figure below). The atmosphere lets solar insolation in but keeps most of
ground infrared radiation from going out. The greenhouse gases are

a. water vapor.
b. carbon dioxide CO2.
c. Methane CH4 , and other trace gases.

A large atmosphere of carbon dioxide can drastically change temperature at which the
energy balance occurs, with Venus a drastic example.

The greenhouse effect is simply demonstrated on a sunny day by your car interior with the
windows closed. The incident light passes through the windows and is absorbed in the
material inside, which then radiates (infrared) at the corresponding temperature. The
windows are opaque to infrared radiation, and the interior becomes hotter until there is
again an energy balance.

Fig. shows an example of the Greenhouse Effect

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Section One

QUESTIONS Short Questions

1. Define energy?
2. What are the different forms of energy?
3. What are the compounds present in coal?
4. What products can obtain from crude oil?
5. What are the conventional sources of energy?
6. What are non-conventional sources of energy?

Essay Type Questions

1. What are the Conventional sources of energy and

explain briefly?
2. What are the non-conventional sources of energy

and explain briefly?

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