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Physics 6 Schedule
Lab Friday
Just because youre paranoid doesnt mean they
arent out to get you.Anonymous
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Your Talks
April 24 (9 students) April 26 (5 students) 1.
Jau, Whitbeck (15) Blue, Wuest (15) Reinagel,
Cotita, Majdili (20) Bonar (10) Gott, Tekle
(15) Hardy (10) Killian (10) Smith
(10) Towrey (10) 70 minutes 45 minutes
The class period is 75 minutes (300-415). You
are allotted 10 minutes if presenting alone, 15
minutes if two are presenting, 20 minutes if
three are presenting. If talks end early, I will
lecture.
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Your Talks
May 1 (6 students) May 3 (9 students) Burgdorf
(10) Durso (10) Glaude, Green (15) Heath
(10) McCarthy (10) Lurhsen, Wilburn
(15) McDuffee (10) Neyland, Payne (15) Salley
(10) Reilley (10) Stites, VanWagner
(15) 55 minutes 75 minutes
Uncommitted (1) Butler (10 minutes April 26 or
May 1.
The class period is 75 minutes (300-415). You
are allotted 10 minutes if presenting alone, 15
minutes if two are presenting, 20 minutes if
three are presenting. If talks end early, I will
lecture.
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Grading Your Talks
Tentative grading sheet environment-related
topic (0-3) scientific evidence presented
(0-5) effort by presenter to evaluate evidence
(0-4) talk organized and flowed logically
(0-5) evidence of thought on part of presenter
(0-5) good effort and enthusiasm (0-3) total
(0-25)
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Times Beach, Missouri
Any comments on the video?
Guess where I went last time I taught Physics 6?
Meramec River
ex-Times Beach
remember the protesters along the highway?
If I were glowing green when I returned, what
would you do?
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Dioxin
One of the most toxic compounds known to man?
Dioxins
TCDD (dioxin) furan pcb
There are several hundred compounds in the dioxin
family. Perhaps 10-15 of them have dioxin-like
toxicity.
Dioxins dont decompose readily. They live for
a long time. Remember the food chain.
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Sources of dioxin
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Times Beach dioxin (from Verona, MO?) Agent
Orange, facial cleanser production
(hexachlorophene).
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Dioxin one of the most toxic compounds known to
guinea pigs.
One millionth of a gram can kill a guinea pig.
The video suggested dioxin killed horses and
birds (birds falling out of the sky) and
impaired squirrel jumping ability.
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Detailed information on effects of dioxin is
available from the EPA. See their September 2000
draft documents. Maybe too much information for
the average person.
Dioxins affects different species in different
ways. Some (guinea pigs) are extremely sensitive.
Others not so sensitive. Humans seem to fall in
the middle or the sensitivity range.
According to the FDA, people exposed to dioxin
suffer chloracne (really nasty), skin rashes,
excessive body hair, possibly liver damage, and
increased cancer risk.
Long-term exposures to low levels of dioxin, or
short-term exposures during sensitive times,
might result in reproductive or developmental
defects.
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Diseases the VA has acknowledged are associated
with (but not necessarily caused by) Agent
Orange exposure ? chloracne (a skin disorder) ?
porphyria cutanea tarda ? acute or subacute
peripheral neuropathy (a nerve disorder) ? type 2
diabetes ? numerous cancers non-Hodgkins
lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, Hodgkins disease,
multiple myeloma, prostate cancer, and
respiratory cancers (including cancers of the
lung, larynx, trachea, and bronchus) ? chronic
lymphocytic leukemia being added to list ? also
perhaps spinal bifida and other birth defects
This list is telling, because it is where the
government puts its money where its mouth is.
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How could we learn about the effects of dioxin
exposure on humans?
Run a big experiment, and expose volunteers to
varying amounts of dioxin?
It will always be possible to claim that there is
no proof that dioxin is harmful to humans.
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In my opinion, dioxin is not good stuff for
humans, but not the most toxic (to humans)
chemical. Do you think the people of Times Beach
overreacted to the presence of dioxin?
? Would you mind if someone paved the roads of
Route 66 State Park with asphalt that contained
dioxin?
? Would you mind if someone paved some Rolla
streets with asphalt that contained dioxin?
? Would you mind if someone paved the street in
front of your house with asphalt that contained
dioxin?
? Would you eat a clump of dirt laced with parts
per thousand of dioxins?
? Would it concern you if there were streets
within 10 or 15 miles of Rolla that were
contaminated with dioxin?
? How would you feel if men in moon suits showed
up one morning and started digging in your yard?
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Times Beach, Missouri
You can read the town history here, or read an
article by the last mayor of Times Beach here.
Times Beach was founded in 1925 as a result of a
newspaper promotion (subscribe to our paper, get
a great deal on a vacation lot). The newspaper is
now defunct.
Times Beach started out as a summer resort, but
turned into a low-income community during the
Great Depression.
It was a lower middle-class city of about 2200
when it died.
According to Marilyn Leistner, on December 23,
1982, the residents received what we now call our
Christmas message. If you are in town it is
advisable for you to leave and if you are out of
town do not go back.
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Russell Bliss
Russell Bliss, the Johnny Appleseed of Dioxin
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch), not to be confused
with the 50 or so other Russell Blisses in the
US, was a breeder of show horses.
He also had a business hauling waste oil. He
found that one spraying of oil kept dust down for
as long as 6 months. See here.
Naturally, he spread the good word. In 1971 he
sprayed dioxin-containing oil on Shenandoah
Stables, owned by Judy Piatt. You saw the results.
A student term paper from an industrial
chemistry class. Lots of interesting information.
I wish he had cited sources.
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Bliss told the Piatts the oil was just engine
oil, but after the entire family (including
children) had to be hospitalized, and horses kept
getting sick months later, Piatt started
tailing Bliss, noting where he got oil and
where he sprayed.
8 years after the Piatt Stables spraying, the EPA
finally had to get involved when a former
employee of NEPACCO (more later) told them about
buried drums containing 1 part dioxin per 500
parts oil. (The safe level was then calculated by
the EPA to be 1 part dioxin per 1,000,000,000
parts everything else.)
Your last homework assignment how many guinea
pigs could you kill with a 55-gallon drum that
contains 0.2 by weight of dioxin?
Just kidding, although it is an interesting
question.
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It wasnt until mid-1982 that the EPA, using
Piatts information, started visiting Blisss
sites. They picked Times Beach because it had the
greatest concentration of people.
1971 spraying. 1982 site visits. You cant accuse
the EPA of jumping in willy-nilly, now, can you?
Or perhaps it is only hindsight that makes some
people wonder why something wasnt done earlier.
Keep in mind that most science problems are
really very easyonce somebody has figured out
how to solve them.
Anyway, men in moon suits showed up in Times
Beach one day and started digging in residents
yards.
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But this section is about Russell Bliss.
What do you think of Russell Bliss?
The St. Louis Post Dispatch calls him a charming
rogue, with folksy charm and smooth sales
skills.
Would you buy a used car from Russell Bliss?
The Post Dispatch also points out that in the
waste oil business of Blisss time, haulers had
to pay for oil that was not hazardous.
Haulers only got paid if they oil was hazardous.
Lets seedid Bliss get paid? Whose idea was it
that he get paid?
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Bliss was never convicted of wrongdoing regarding
dioxin, but with all the attention focused on
him, the Feds noticed some funny business in his
tax returns, and he ended up spending a year in
prison for tax fraud (early 1980s).
None of what I am putting in these notes is
personal first-hand information. I am trying to
credit most of my sources. Most of the
information is out there if you keep your ears
open.
Now for some hearsay.
That means the good stuff.
When I taught this course in 2001, I had two
young ladies in class who knew Bliss personally.
They said he had a used-car business somewhere
near St. James.
They said he had a used-car business somewhere
near St. James. They also called himfor the
whole class to heara .
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Can anybody verify that for me?
No, the used car bit, not that other piece of
information about him.
I like this hearsay. Got any more?
One of the students in my 2002 Physics 6 class
(also a young lady) told me that you could drive
some of the back roads the other side of St.
James and come across fenced-off, locked roads
with hazardous waste signs warning you away. My
memory says she claimed the signs contained
warnings about dioxin.
Can anybody verify that for me?
One more bit of hearsay (dont want to put it in
writing).
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The next four slides are from Kathy Ks Physics 6
talk, April 28, 2004.
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My family in the 1980s

• Lived in Arnold, MO, 20 miles away from Times
  Beach
• Owned 5 acres in a large subdivision that had
  gravel roads

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My family in the 1980s

• In 1984, when the Globe-Democrat folded, we moved
  to Connecticut
• High cost of living here, so tried to sell land
  and house in Arnold.
• No one would buy it because they feared Times
  Beach could have affected Arnold too.
• Voluntary foreclosure, and a new start

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Government action

• Superfund act and nationwide attention
• When my parents tried to get help from the state
  and national governments, they were refused.

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• Ironically, 2 years later, my parents got a call
  from the bank who originally foreclosed on the
  property.
• The bank could not find anyone to buy the land
  either, and they got tired of wasting their
  money.
• They tried to get my parents to buy back the land
  from them.

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A Tangled Web?
Some of you have written that companies should be
held responsible and made to pay for problems
they cause.
If you think it over carefully, you might be less
willing to hold company owners criminally
responsible, except in the most extreme cases.
It starts, maybe, in Verona, Missouri.
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Oh, dang. I drove through Verona once when I
visited a school in Monett.
(Took the scenic route.)
Am I looking a bit green these days?
Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company
(NEPACCO) in Verona, Missouri, made an
antibacterial chemical. Dioxin was a byproduct.
It went into contaminated tanks.
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NEPACCO partnered with Hoffman-Taft, also in
Verona, which made Agent Orange, to share
facilities. Dioxin from agent orange production
also went into the contaminated tanks.
The contaminated byproducts were initially sent
to Louisiana for incinerationwhich destroys the
dioxinbut that was expensive.
Agent Orange and the bactericide production were
halted in the early 1970s. Shortly after (as far
as I can tell), Hoffman-Taft was taken over by
Syntex Agribusiness.
Syntex contracted with their chemical supplier,
Independent Petrochemical Corporation, IPC, to
dispose of their waste.
Would it make a difference to you if you knew
that Syntex is a Mexican company?
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Remember from the videoIPC got a quarter from
Syntex for every (gallon?) and paid Bliss a
nickel to haul it away.
The real story is a bit more complicated. You can
read about it here and here.
Now, heres the question who knew what?
A NEPACCO employee knew enough to turn
whistle-blower in 1979.
Supposedly, Syntex never told IPC that their
waste contained dioxin, so IPC couldnt have
alerted Bliss.
It is not clear that the above statement
represents the truth.
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It has also been claimed that Bliss got waste
oil, known to be dioxin contaminated, from a big
chemical company in the state, but far from
Verona. In fact, Judy Piatt documented Blisss
pickups from this company. This company did
produce dioxin as a byproduct of their work. (I
dont want to name the company.)
So heres the big questionwho gets sued?
Lots of lawsuits (thousands?). In the end, only
Syntex lost and had to pay.
As far as I can tell, Syntex paid 10 million.
The total cost of the Times Beach incident was
over 200 million. I wonder who paid the rest?
Just because youre paranoid doesnt mean they
arent out to get you.
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A couple of loose ends
The 1.5 million award the video mentioned was
for a dioxin-related cancer death having nothing
to do with Times Beach.
Vernon Houkthe CDC person with the industry
connections who kept defending dioxin
I have seen it stated that he claimed chemicals
dont harm people. I cant verify that right now
from primary sources. I have seen it stated that
he led a Federal agency responsible for hundreds
of junk science studies used to show various
chemicals are not a risk to humans.
Houk died in 1994 of cancer of the larynx.
The Vernon Houk Award recognizes unsurpassed
leadership in preventing lead poisoning.
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In general, accurate, trustworthy information is
hard to come by.
Rumors and innuendos are abundant.
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Times Beach the Aftermath
Would you trust this person?
He says the dioxin contamination was generally
limited to the top twelve inches of soil
surrounding roads, road shoulders, and drainage
ditches.
Approximately 13,600 cubic yards of soil at
concentrations above 20 ppb dioxin as well as
105,000 cubic yards of structures and debris were
contaminated. No detectable levels of dioxin were
found in the groundwater or surface water at the
site.
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An incinerator was built on the site to burn
contaminated soil and building materials.
Incineration destroys the dioxin. You hope there
are no power failures while incineration is
taking place. Such was not the case.
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The remedial action was demolition and onsite
disposal of all structures and debris remaining
at the site excavation of dioxin contaminated
soil exceeding 20 ppb and thermal treatment in a
temporary on site thermal treatment unit with
onsite disposal of incinerator ash
and placing of clean soil cover and
revegetation over all areas with residual dioxin
levels between 1 and 20 ppb.
The incinerator burned about 265,000 tons of
contaminated soil and debris from Times Beach and
28 other sites in eastern Missouri.
The incineration cost itself was about 110
million (of which Syntex paid 10 million).
The Superfund paid much of the cost of cleaning
up Times Beach.
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According to the EPA, in 2003 there were 791
completed or in-progress Superfund projects.
Industry has contributed about 70-80 of the
Superfund money. The Superfund trust fund has
gone from 3.8 billion in 1996 to a few tens of
millions at the end of FY 2004.
Industry used to pay a tax to support the
Superfund. That is no longer the case.
The US Chamber of Commerce position is that the
states should respond to contaminated sites and
there should be no reinstatement of the Superfund
tax.
The majority of US voters agrees with this
position.
The American Council of Engineering Companies
believes cleanup of contaminated sites should be
voluntary.
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You are invited to visit Route 66 State Park.
The 419-acre park is a boon to park visitors who
want to enjoy nature and see interesting
historical displays showcasing Route 66.
Bridgehead Inn, a 1935 roadhouse, serves as Route
66 State Park's visitor center. It houses Route
66 memorabilia and interprets the environmental
success story of the former resort community of
Times Beach, which once thrived on the location
of the park.
The environmental success story of the former
resort community of Times Beach!
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(No Transcript)
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A Neverending Story?
How would you feel if men in moon suits showed up
one morning and started digging in your yard?
Dioxin found in Ellisville, 1997.
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1998, McDonnell Park, near St. Ann, found
contaminated by dioxin.
There are others. The links in this lecture may
direct you to them.
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The Big Joke?
Now, are you ready for the punch line to this
38-slide story?
Are you sure?
Times Beach was not incineratedbecause horses
were dying, birds falling out of the sky, and
squirrels missing their jumps.
It wasnt incinerated because city workers were
getting sick.
It wasnt incinerated because residents were
suffering chloracne, skin rashes, liver damage,
or reproductive or developmental defects.
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Times Beach was incinerated because the dioxin
levels exceeded (just barely) the EPA threshold
enough to cause 1 excess cancer per 1,000,000
population.
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Emc2
We saw earlier that matter is the stuff the
universe is made of.
Einstein says No, the stuff of the universe is
mass-energy.
Mass and energy are two different manifestations
of one phenomenon.
Energy is not conserved. Mass-energy is conserved.
Energy content of one gram of mass E(1x10-3
kg)(3x108 m/s)29x1013 joules E90,000,000,000,000
joules
Enough energy to last you several thousand years!
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The Sun
Every day, the sun radiates (sends out) an
enormous amount of energy in fact, it radiates
more energy in one second than the world has used
since time began. (Sorry, I closed the web page
before I copied the link.)
Optimistic, but useless trivia. Ill explain.
This is more useful
The fraction of the energy from the sun that
reaches the earth in just one day is still more
than enough to cover the energy use of the world
in a whole year.
However, not all the energy of the sun that
reaches the earth can be used effectively.
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Alternative Energy Sources
Forces Do Work
Strong
Nuclear
Weak
Electromagnetic
Gravitational
Most of the energy we usethat I can think ofis
nuclear in origin.
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Emc2
gravity
solar
nuclear
geothermal
geothermal
wind
fission
wind
tidal
tidal
fission
fossil
solar thermal
solar thermal
Solar energy comes from nuclear reactions in
the sun!
solar electricity
solar electricity
biomass conversion
biomass conversion
Renewable e.g., we use energy from the sun
today, and it gives us more tomorrow.
hydroelectric
hydroelectric
ocean thermal
ocean thermal
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Remember this figure?
Renewable means we use energy from the sun
today, and it gives us more tomorrow. The fuels
for the other energy sources are finite! (So is
the suns fuel, but not on the scale of human
lifetimes.)
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Past and projected world energy consumption (DOE)
Here today, gone tomorrow.
Here today, here tomorrow.
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Todays lecture is not about energy were using
up.
Its about energy that is replenished by the sun.
Lets talk about some sources of that renewable
energy.
Ill bet if you answered the question What do
you think of when you hear the term solar
energy? you would think of something like this
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Or maybe the International Space Station.
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Solar Photovoltaic Energy
If so, you were thinking of solar photovoltaic
energy.
According to the DOE Photovoltaic devices use
semiconducting materials to convert sunlight
directly into electricity.
Solar radiation, which is nearly constant
outside the Earth's atmosphere, varies with
changing atmospheric conditions (clouds and dust)
and the changing position of the Earth relative
to the sun.
Nevertheless, almost all U.S. regions have
useful solar resources that can be accessed.
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(No Transcript)
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Solar photovoltaic energy involves direct
conversion of sunlight into electricity. April
2006 go to slide 56.
When a photon of light strikes a conductor, it
may provide enough energy to liberate an
electron from an atom.
If the conductor is a metal, the extra free
electron will rapidly be consumed by an atom
has lost an electron.
If the material is a semiconductor, an
electron-hole pair may be formed.
From howstuffworks.
55
If you connect this semiconductor material to an
external circuit, it delivers an electric
potential, just like a battery.
If you get the feeling I didnt explain this very
thoroughly, I didnt. You need to study quantum
mechanics to understand.
I think that I can safely say that nobody
understands quantum mechanics.Richard Feynman,
Nobel Prize-winning quantum theorist
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If you connect this semiconductor material to an
external circuit, it delivers an electric
potential, just like a battery
except as long as the sun shines, the solar cell
supplies energy.
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The solar cell voltage depends on the solar cell
material.
1.1 V (silicon) 1.6 V
About 1.5 volts is typical. Go to slide 59.
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You have to maximize the amount of light that
reaches layers D and E.
59
Difficulties to overcome
The obvious one you only generate electricity
while the sun shines.
You have to find a way to store your energy.
Batteries? Passive storage?
Net metering (discussed in a couple of slides)
lets you use the nations electrical grid like a
giant battery.
You put energy into the grid while the sun shines
on you, and use somebody elses energy when the
sun shines on them. Go to slide 64.
The Laursens 57 kW residential system.
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Difficulties to overcome
This is an approximation to the actual solar
spectrum.
Silicon (common solar cell material) needs 1.1
eV photons.
The wavelength of such a photon is about 1100
nanometers.
Lower-energy photons cant deposit their energy
in silicon.
Higher-energy photons waste all of their energy
except for the 1.1 eV.
Efficiency also decreases with temperature (and
these things are going to get hot.
61
From http//www.solarserver.de/lexikon/solarzelle-
e.html
Efficiency of a solar cell made of single-crystal
silicon about 24 (laboratory) and 14 to 17
(production). (expensive) Efficiency of a solar
cell made of polycrystalline silicon about 18
(laboratory) and 13 to 17 (production).
(cheaper) Efficiency of a solar cell made of
amorphous silicon about 13 (laboratory) and 5
to 7 (production). (cheapest)
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Solution stack solar cells made of different
materials.
Silicon, gallium, arsenic, phosphorus, indium,
aluminumdo any of these chemical names make you
nervous?
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Solution find a full-spectrum solar photovoltaic
material.
http//www.lbl.gov/msd/PIs/Walukiewicz/02/02_8_Ful
l_Solar_Spectrum.html
http//www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/MSD-fu
ll-spectrum-solar-cell.html
64
Net Metering
In 34 states, consumers can install small,
grid-connected renewable energy systems to reduce
their electricity bills using a protocol called
net metering. (http//www.ases.org/)
You plug your energy system into the power grid
and start charging the electric companies for
your power.
Actually, your electric bill is reduced by the
amount of energy you providedor maybe some
fraction thereof.
Remember, I told you about this when we were
talking about perpetual motion machines? Its not
quite as good as selling power, but it still is
worth money.
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From http//www.dsireusa.org/
Missouri House Bill 1402, passed in 2002,
provides for the interconnection of wind,
biomass, fuel cell and photovoltaic systems up to
100 kW.
Although the bill refers to this arrangement as
net metering, this is not actually the case.
Rather, it is net billing Any generation that
that is fed back to the grid is credited on the
next bill at the avoided cost rate, not the
retail rate as in true net metering.
Net excess generation at the end of the month is
also credited at the avoided cost rate on the
following months bill. A utility does not have
to enroll qualifying customer-generators beyond
10 MW or 0.1 of the utility's peak load for the
previous year.
66
Solar Photovoltaic Power Plants
See this web page for a list of the 50 largest,
which range in output from 500 kW (0.5 MW) to 4
MW.
The top 3 Germany, California, Arizona.
For comparison, a large power plant has an
output of 1000 MW, or 250 times the largest solar
photovoltaic power plant.
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Solar Thermal Energy
Heat for your home
68
25 kW dish system
69
Solar towers.
Pilot plant in Manzanares, Spain, operated for
seven years between 1982 and 1989, and
consistently generated 50kW.
70
A 200 MW power plant, enough to power 200,000
homes, with no fuel required and no emissions.
Planned for Australia.
Hot air flows up through the tower, past
turbines, generating electricity.
71
Biomass Conversion
My opinions (briefly stated) on this
The idea is to convert plants into some kind of
fuel (e.g. ethanol).
This is an example of harvesting solar energy.
It will require energy to grow, harvest, and
process the biomass.
The laws of thermodynamics say you will never get
as much energy out as you put in.
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If you can minimize the fraction of energy
expended by humans, it might become worthwhile.
There will be emission questions related to the
processing of biomass.
I see this as a method of producing alternative
transportation fuels
which could save our economy
but I have not seen the data which tells me it
will be a net source of energy.
I am touching this topic only briefly because of
lack of time... but I never promised that I would
be unbiased.
73
Hydroelectric and Geothermal Energy
Remember this graph
74
Why is hydroelectric energy projected to be flat?
When California had its electricity shortage, why
couldnt the Northwest states come to the rescue?
They were raising their electricity prices
because they were experiencing a shortage of
electricity.
Hydroelectricity requires a location where
flowing water experiences a large decrease in
height over a short distance.
Weve already dammed most of the good sites. The
tree-huggers will fight to prevent dams elsewhere.
How is this solar energy?
75
For anybody not in my class who happens to be
reading these notes
How you interpret the term tree-huggers depends
on your own personal baggage, doesnt it?
Dont automatically assume that I carry the same
baggage!
me
76
There are a few places on earth where thermal
energy from below the ground escapes in large
enough quantities to make it available for
large-scale use.
What do you consider appropriate uses for these
locations?
77
Wind Energy
Why do I classify wind energy as a subcategory of
solar energy?
Five of the sixteen windmills at the Havøygavlen
windmill park in Norway.
This windmill park generates about 40 MW of power
(1/25 of a 1000 MW power plant).
78
Altamont (Patterson Pass) Wind Farm, California.
79
(No Transcript)
80
The creator of the web site where I borrowed
these pictures says
The dangerous wind power plant is surrounded by
fencing, warning signs, and locked gates. Deadly
high voltage electric lines run under foot and
over head. Windmills can be seen lining the hills
in the distance.
Clearly, the natural shape of the hills has been
sacrificed for terraced foundations for the
decrepit windmills. No one who sees this can
claim they are better for the land, or much
different in appearance, than oil derricks, which
would be fewer and farther apart, and produce
more energy.
Something else to think about Local wildlife
researchers have received 2 million to find ways
to reduce the number of birds killed each year by
wind turbines. (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
81
Here come some of my opinions again
If there is coal or oil in the earth somewhere,
humans will eventually go get it. Coal and oil
are too valuable to leave in the earth.
If there is wind to be farmed, humans will
eventually farm it. Its too valuable not to
farm.
I would rather not consider the scenarios under
which coal is not mined and wind is not farmed.
Remember, my personal values may have something
to say about coal mining and wind farming, but
they are not relevant to the present discussion.
82
http//rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/maps/chap2/2
-01m.html
83
(No Transcript)
84
I can picture a giant windmill farm stretching
across the Great Plains from Texas to the
Canadian Border. Skip to slide 87.
Borrowing heavily from the wonderful (although
slightly old) Physics 162 course material at the
University of Oregon
Power that can be extracted from wind is
proportional to wind speed cubed.
KE proportional to V2.
Amount of air proportional to V.
Power proportional to amount of air times KE, or
V3.
27 more times energy in 60 mph wind than in 20
mph wind!
85
Windmill efficiency is not 100. Large structures
impede wind flow (bad). High wind speed actually
lowers mechanical efficiency.
86
To generate 10,000 KWH annual from a 20 mph wind
that blows 10 of the time windmill area
10,000 KWH/220 KHW per sq. meter 45 sq
meters this is a circular disk of diameter about
8 meters this is not completely out of the
question for some homes even a small windmill (2
meters) can be effective 20 mph 10 of the
time --gt 2500 KWH annually 40 mph 10 of the
time --gt 20000 KWH annually 20 mph 50 of the
time --gt 12500 KWH annually 4 small windmills
at 20 mph 10 of the time --gt 10000 KWH
annuallywould keep you powered up!
87
The hypothetical Great Plains Energy
Project One turbine tower per square mile
stretched out from Texas to Canada. 300,000
total towers. Each tower 850 feet high.
(Important so as to get above friction induced by
ground based obstacles.) Each tower has 20
generators and is powered by a two blade
propellor of diameter 50 feet. Capacity of
single tower is 500 KW capacity so total capacity
is 150,000 Mega Watts (1/2 the US
consumption--1998). Note, we already have
600,000 oil wells in the US and no one seems to
mind.
88
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
Underwater windmills!
Out of time for today!
Hydrogen Power
Hydrogen
It's the most abundant element in the universe.
It promises limitless supplies of pollution-free
energy.
As long as you dont worry about the laws of
thermodynamics.
89
H2 is a good way to transport energy from one
place to another.
But the hydrogen in the limitless supplies in
the ocean is in the form of H2O.
How are you going to get the H2 out of the H2O?
It takes energy. More than you get back when you
burn the H2. Answer nuclear power plants.
Hydrogen is not a source of new energy. It is a
potentially good way to transport energy that is
abundant in one location to another location
where energy is less abundant.
90
http//www.enviromission.com.au/index1.htm solar
tower
http//zebu.uoregon.edu/1998/phys162.html good
links
http//carto.eu.org/article2489.html graphs
http//www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/edc/
http//www.ases.org/ American Solar Energy Society