Abstract
Generation of electricity using turbine technology is very popular around the globe since most of the processes such as hydro energy are clean and renewable. Additionally, some do not pose a huge threat in human life and the environment. The traditional method of using turbine technology is very popular and wanted in many countries due to the economical cost of building and maintaining the generation plant. Additionally, the turbine technology is more efficient. This is because it can employ a number of fossil fuels, water, geothermal energy or wind to generate electricity. Hence, the country has a greater variety to choose from depending on the availability of the fossil fuel in the country. Thus, this gives any country an opportunity to open up as many electricity generation plants around the country where a certain source such fossil fuel, water, wind, solar or geothermal is available in abundance. However, changes in the human population and environmental changes. The turbine technology will be an inefficient source of energy. Since a large amount of power will be needed by the increasing population and the amount of fossil fuel is diminishing every single day due to its non-renewable/ non -recycle. Moreover, there is also much concern on relying on fossil fuel like coal that is a top pollutant of air in all the fossil fuel available. Therefore, there is increased demand to divert the generation of electricity from the fossil fuels and invest more on wind, solar, nuclear and natural gas especially in Ireland where the focus of this paper is.
Introduction
Most of the traditional methods of electricity generation relay mostly on the mechanism of converting the kinetic energy to the mechanical energy, which in turn changes to electrical energy. The humankind from the past has employed various methods that can cause movement of matter (kinetic energy). This movement is used to turn turbines that convert the initial energy to various forms to generate electricity. Thus, various techniques which use the fossil fuel, water (hydro-electricity), wind, solar and natural gas have been employed to generate electricity by using the kinetic energy to turn the turbines. The turbine technology is one of the oldest methods of producing electricity around the globe. The turbine technology mostly uses steam to turn the turbines to generate electricity. The fossil fuels are burned to produce this steam that is used on the turbines. It is estimated that over 70% of world’s electricity is generated using fossil fuel. However, there is much concerned on the pollution caused by the fossils fuels on the environment. Thus, there is widespread call and emphasis to move to clean energy like wind, solar and hydro power. Additionally, the fossil fuels are non-renewably hence these forms energy are becoming scarce, and the cost of production is escalating beyond most of the consumers reach. Moreover, the world population is increasing every single day hence there should be an alternative source of energy that can rely upon. The fossil fuels are becoming scarce; the water levels are diminishing and the pollutant nature of fossil fuel. The wind and solar energy are getting attention than before.
Essentially this paper will focus on the traditional electricity generation methods which are used all over the globe and their impact in general. The study will focus on Ireland as the key study area and examine how the country has been able to advance in the generation of electricity over time.
The generation of the electricity can be traced back to 1831. When a renowned scientist Faraday, made a discovery that when someone move a magnet between the coils of wire, electrical currents are generated which flows through the wire. Thus, it is from this discovery that the generator we know today were developed using Faraday’s discovery of the relationship of magnet and electricity.
A generator by using the mechanism of induction of electro- magnetic can convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. Hence from this discussion we clearly see electricity is a secondary energy which is generated when other primary energy sources which can be either renewable or non-renewable are converted by the generator. The generator is used to convert chemical or mechanical energy to electric energy. The generator has stationary cylinder with a series of insulated wire coils. Inside the cylinder, there is electromagnetic shaft that rotates hence creating (induces) electric current on each wire coil. They are combined to form a desirable current which is supplied to the consumers through the national grid since it cannot be stored.
Ireland has invested heavily in the fossil fuels (mainly gas), hydroelectricity and wind energy in the generation of electricity. In addition, the Ireland electricity supply board (ESB) has encouraged households and small companies to install solar panels and wind so that they can generate their power. They can also sell the excess power to the national grid through a program called micro-generation scheme. ESB is the main generator of electricity in Ireland although it has license private firms to produce and supply power in designated areas. Ireland has invested in gas power plants as the main source, but other sources exist. The electricity in Ireland and other nations are generated as explain briefly below (Rourke et al., 2009).
Hydroelectricity
The first hydropower plant was built in Cragside England in 1868 by Lord Armstrong. It is from this power station that other places in the world adopted the technology to produce electricity. Hydroelectricity is a renewable energy source which is a considered one of the most efficient green energy sources hence widely use globally in more than 150 countries. The generation of the electricity is through the hydropower that relies on the gravitational force of flowing water from a high ground. The power by which the water turns the turbines is the proportional to the amount of the electricity produced. The power of the water depends on the volume of the water and the height (the length of the penstock) between the reservoir and the turbine chamber (Asif et al., 2007).
The hydroelectric power station can be build around water mass such as river, lake or ocean as long as there is water flow that will allow the construction of a large reservoir to store water. The water from the reservoir is channel through penstocks to a turbine chamber which must be lower than the reservoir (preferably underground). The force and the pressure of the water turn the turbines to provide electricity as it passes to the outlet tunnel. Some of the water from the outlet is pumped back to the reservoir, and the rest is left to flow downstream. The largest hydropower station is “the three gorges dam” found in china producing a 22.5 GW power (Sims et al., 2003).
Analysis
The cost of building hydroelectricity power station is relatively low than fossil fuel. The hydro power eliminates the cost of fuels since it does not require any fuel to run its operations. Thus, they don’t pollute the environment with carbon dioxide. Additionally, the capacity of the electric generation can be adjusted depending on the demand. The hydro turbines number and the size of water storage can be increased to generate more electricity depending on the demand on the market. Furthermore, the water on the reservoir can b used for other economic source such as irrigation and water sports which can attract both domestic and foreign tourism (Sims et al., 2003).
However, the biggest disadvantage of hydropower station is the relocation of people and wild animals from their original settings to pave the way for the construction of the reservoir dam. This interferes with the ecosystem of the location and may lead extinction of certain species in a place due to the disruption of the food chain. It also leads to loss of arable land that was close to the source of water. Moreover, the dam can be filled with silt hence be unable to hold much water. This will result to flooding in the adjacent land next to the dam. This can result to death and loss of life due to flooding. Therefore, construction hydropower requires extensive feasibility studies to ascertain the viability of constructing a reservoir in a certain place and how to management it once it is complete (Asif et al., 2007).
Fossil fuel
These are non-renewable energy source which are burned to produce electricity. They are the remains of the living organism buried for millions of years. Due to high temperature and pressure they have been transformed coal, natural gas and oil we know today. The mechanism behind the fossil fuel power generation is converting chemical energy stored in the fossils to combustion energy (heat/ thermal) to mechanical energy to finally electrical energy. The turbines are moved by either stream or gas which from the combustion of the fossil fuel. The fossil fuels are useful especially in Ireland during the winter season when the lakes and rivers are frozen. The coal or other fossil fuels are used to burn water to produce steam or gas. The steam that is in high force turns turbines to give out electricity. Oil and gas are used to create a high pressure when they are mixed with air and ignited. This ignition creates a high temperature and high-pressure atmosphere which moves to low-pressure cool atmosphere. This flow is what turns the engine turbine to produce electricity (Asif et al., 2007).
Analysis
The coal energy source is one of the cheapest energy sources in the fossil fuel due to is abundance and availability. However, it is the most pollutant fossil fuel. Hence, many countries are abandoning it due its environmental concerns. Nevertheless, there is new technology is the market called ‘congestion.' This is reusing the steam that was initially used to run the turbines. The factories are also using scrubbers that treat the waste product before they are released to the atmosphere. Additionally, all the fossil fuels emit toxic gases (such as carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide), traces of toxic metals, ash and hot air into the environment. These gases contribute largely to the formation of acid rain and global warming (Sims et al., 2003).
Wind power
This is the generation of electricity using wind energy. This is a cleaner, inexpensive and renewable energy source which is not affected by weather changes or fuel shortages. Due to inexpensive in generation of power many nations are considering wind power to fossil fuel. This is because it does not use any fossil fuel in its operations. Additionally, it does not require huge tracts of land like other sources. The post with the turbines can be put along the road or in large farms where economic activities can go on such animal grazing. They can also be installed onshore and offshore where there is no too much traffic. Wind farm is a piece of land that is large where hundreds of wind turbine that are located in one place where each turbine is connected to one power transmission which is connected to the national grid. The logic behind wind power is whereby the kinetic energy of wind is transformed to mechanical which turns the wind turbine. The wind turbines are located on a mast post with three blades that rotates as the wind blow. It is an improved version of a windmill. They are installed with sensor to dictate the direction of the wind and turn when the direction of the wind changes. However, a single turbine cannot produce enough electricity. Hence, they are always installed in hundred to produce enough power like other any sources (Asif et al., 2007).
Analysis
Solar energy
The solar panels turn the photovoltaic in the sun energy to electricity. This is a clean and safe energy source. It can be used in a small area or a building. The heat from the sun apart from generating electricity it can be used to heating water and cooking at home. This power generating technique is efficient in remote areas where the power from the main grid is unreliable and expensive. However, the world is now changing. The solar energy is now produced in large scale where hundreds of solar panels are located in one location and act as power station (Sims, et al., 2003).
Geothermal
These power plants generate electricity from the steam that is harvested from the underground. They use the power of the high-pressure steam to turn turbines that produce electricity. However, there is wide environmental concerned on the waste air prom the geothermal that contains toxic gases and metals which cause acid rain and global warming (Asif, et al., 2007).
Conclusion
The electricity is an important element in human life since it powers industries which provide us with basic human needs. It lights our homes and helps us run the entrainment equipments. It is a source and sustainer of livelihood for people who work power industry. However, we should we be careful on the kind of the electricity source we choose to generate power. This is because some sources like fossil power have more harm to the environment we are living in than the benefit we reap from them. Therefore, it is high time we embrace clean energy that are renewable like hydropower and wind energy. Additionally, these sources are cheap and easy to maintain.
References
Asif, M., & Muneer, T. (2007). Energy supply, its demand and security issues for developed and emerging economies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 11(7), 1388-1413.
Rourke, F. O., Boyle, F., & Reynolds, A. (2009). Renewable energy resources and technologies applicable to Ireland. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13(8), 1975-1984.
Sims, R. E., Rogner, H. H., & Gregory, K. (2003). Carbon emission and mitigation cost comparisons between fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable energy resources for electricity generation. Energy policy, 31(13), 1315-1326.
