Showing posts with label Oil spill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oil spill. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Top 10 Energy Sources that are Renewable

Top 10 Energy Sources that are Renewable


Energy is an inevitable requirement where we want development to take place. Many naturally occurring phenomenons contribute to producing this energy without damaging the environment. They are called renewable energy sources and they help to avoid pollution; both in urban and inaccessible locations on large and small scales. They form a sort of cycle without the deduction of any resource to generate the energy.

10. Tidal Power


The tidal power is not a very popular energy source, but has immense potential of becoming one in the near future. Tidal stream generators and barrage generation make use of tidal power. It is Eco-friendly and does not harm the environment at all. It follows the same principle as wind turbines, but instead of air, the generators rotate in water. Unlike wind and solar energy, tides can be predicted. Since time immemorial, tide mills have been driven directly from the relative motions of the Earth–Moon system and to a lesser extent from the Earth–Sun system. Lunar Energy, a British company was the first to establish a tidal farm in the coast of Pembrokshire in Wales, providing electricity to thousands of houses.

9. Wave Power


Predicting the direction of ocean and wave is a very difficult job, but is not impossible. Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy for pumping or desalinating water and generating electricity. In Europe, wave farms have been introduced, using floating Pelamis Wave Energy converters. They use a floating buoyed device and generate energy through a snaking motion, or by mechanical movement from the wave’s peaks and troughs. Wave power is not the same as the diurnal flux of tidal power and the steady gyre of ocean currents, although it is confused to be so often. We have been pursuing this technology since 1890 and the world’s first commercial wave farm is based in Portugal, at the Aguçadora Wave Park, which consists of three 750 kilowatt Pelamis devices.

8. Solar Power


Producing electricity by making use of the sun’s energy and the photovoltaic (PV) cells is called the Solar Technology. Solar cells are becoming more efficient, transportable and even flexible, allowing for easy installation. Let it be a calculator powered by a single solar cell or off-grid homes powered by photovoltaic disarray; PV can power applications of all sizes.  The 1973 oil crisis stimulated a rapid rise in the production of PV during the 1970s and early 1980s. Steadily falling oil prices during the early 1980s, however, led to a reduction in funding for photovoltaic R&D and a discontinuation of the tax credits associated with the Energy Tax Act of 1978. These factors moderated growth to approximately 15% per year from 1984 through 1996. Since the mid-1990s, leadership in the PV sector has shifted from the US to Japan and Germany.



Read more...
Read more!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

What Countries Consume the Most Oil?

Oil is perhaps the most critical source of energy worldwide. Overall consumption is on the rise as more and more of the world industrialize and start utilizing modern machines. The United States is the largest consumer of oil and consumes over 25% of the world's oil! Here are the top 25 oil consuming nations as provided by the CIA World Factbook (2001 estimates); the values represent the number of barrels consumed per day.

country barrels/day
United States 19,650,000 United States oil consumption
Japan 5,290,000 Japan oil consumption
China 4,975,000 China oil consumption
Germany 2,813,000 Germany oil consumption
Russia 2,595,000 Russia oil consumption
Brazil 2,199,000 Brazil oil consumption
South Korea 2,140,000 South Korea oil consumption
India 2,130,000 India oil consumption
France 2,026,000 France oil consumption
Italy 1,866,000 Italy oil consumption
United Kingdom 1,710,000 United Kingdom oil consumption
Canada 1,703,000 Canada oil consumption
Mexico 1,507,000 Mexico oil consumption
Spain 1,497,000 Spain oil consumption
Saudi Arabia 1,452,000 Saudi Arabia oil consumption
Iran 1,277,000 Iran oil consumption
Indonesia 1,045,000 Indonesia oil consumption
Taiwan 988,000 Taiwan oil consumption
Netherlands 895,300 Netherlands oil consumption
Australia 796,500 Australia oil consumption
Thailand 785,000 Thailand oil consumption
Singapore 700,000 Singapore oil consumption
Turkey 619,500 Turkey oil consumption
Belgium 595,100 Belgium oil consumption
Egypt 562,000 Egypt oil consumption

Read more...
Read more!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Oil spill worsens, offshore drilling plans in dire straits?


Oil spill worsens, offshore drilling plans in dire straits?



deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-from-space

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill keeps getting worse—now gushing more than 200,000 gallons per day, according to NOAA estimates—five times more than original estimates and more than BP's absolute worst case scenario in disaster plans filed with the government. That may not change any time soon. The last big blowout, at Ixtoc off Mexico in 1979, took almost a year to stop and spilled some 140 million gallons of oil before it was through, making it still the second largest oil spill ever (Saddam Hussein's intentional opening of the Kuwaiti and Iraqi wells during the first Gulf War remains, by far, the largest oil spill at roughly 1 billion gallons.)

Read more...
Read more!