Tidal Power

Background information

The problem with the world today is the fact we need lots of energy (electricity) to do everything. Basically, this means we need as much energy as quickly and cheaply and possible. This is where we find ourselves turning to finite resources such as coal, oil and gas. However, this is not only doing great damage to the world we live in but; we are also running out very fast of these finite resources.

As you can see in the table above in my life time alone, we will probably run out of both oil and natural gas, which is shocking considering this makes up about 41% of our national energy; and we don’t want to have to rely on electricity imports because it is expensive and relies heavily on politics. This evidently shows that we need to put time and money into developing a more long term for both this generation and future generations; which the government are currently doing and aim to be reliant on 10% renewable energy by 2010 an aim to be 20% by 2020. To be able to achieve this they are going to need multiple ideas for renewable energy.
Possible Solutions
There are many solutions to this problem; here is a short list of some of them:
• Tidal power
• Wind power
• Hydro power
• Solar power
• Biofuel
• Geothermal energy

It is exactly the same as wind power but instead of wind it relies on the gravitational forces to push water to an throw. Tidal power has only just started to be used mostly still in the development stages. Even though it has shown a lot of promise in some places producing 25% more energy than predicted. The initial test was on single blade turbines which alone produced 375kW in one direction. Currently in development stages is a double rotor turbine that can work when the tide is going both in and out; which could end up producing about 2MW. Tidal farms are also in the thought process as these would have a usual output between 10MW and 25MW. This is very good considering the tide very rarely stops and is very predictable. The main downside to this source is the huge initial costs of about £8 million although the government has awarded a grant of £3.85 million to help along the project and designing of the new double rotor turbine. The political view is mixed because there is like above that it might disrupt some fish but not much upheaval so I can only presume if an affect is liable then it is minimal or lesser compared to other technologies such as wind power.

Wind Power

Wind power is when a turbine of some sort is erected and when the wind blows it turns the blades which in turn power a generator which converts this energy to electricity. This is mainly the use of wind turbines, the main uses are huge turbines placed in the most constantly windy places available such as offshore or on mountains. These are the fastest growing renewable resource, and they can produce between 600kW to 5MW. This type of turbine can cost in the region of over £1 million, although they can last 20 - 25 years. There are also smaller domestic wind turbines that can fit on top of a house or in someone’s back garden, these can generally produce between 2.5 and 6kW of energy but can be quite liable to breakages due to lack of clear paths for the wind to flow. These smaller turbines can cost you in the region of £2,500 to £5,000 per kW of energy although there is the possibility of government grants in the region of £1,000 to £5,000. However good this project there will always be the political tension associated with erecting one of these turbines due to the noise and visual pollution. This is because the places with the best wind is usually off shore or out in vast country sides, which tends to lead to the destruction of habitats and may disturb protected animals such as the red kite.

Hydro Power

Hydro power is achieved by building a dam across a river of some sort and letting the water pass through holes at the bottom turning generators which in turn convert the energy to electricity. This is the most widely used; in 2005 hydro power was producing 58.23% of the world’s renewable energy. The use of hydro power can vary massively from smaller projects within China, which produce up to 10MW or on a larger scale like the Hoover Dam which can produce up to 2,074MW. Although this resource is hugely expensive and can damage huge amounts of land, the expenses are usually gained back within 5 to 8 years which is phenomenal. Hydro power is extremely controversial mainly because when you build a large dam across a huge river you may have to flood whole villages not only destroying an huge habitat for animals but also can destroy villages therefore uprooting thousands of people who have spent their whole life living and surviving with the river.

Solar Power

Solar power is the turning of sunlight into useful energy which can be used both for heating water or creating electricity. This method of energy resource can be used both for home use and major scale. It is quite a popular renewable resource for home use because it can be used for both water heating to reduce gas bills or can be converted to electricity to reduce electricity bills. On a larger scale is less practical because of the area needed to produce enough energy to be worthwhile this is why it is only used to produce 0.04% of the world’s energy. Solar power is a good renewable resource politically because it is mainly used for domestic use so small scale on the top of someone’s roof so even out of the way and discrete because the photovoltaic cells are usually the same colour as many roofs.

Biofuel

Bio fuels are fuels that can be used instead of petrol and diesel to power vehicles (mainly). These can be in the form of ethanol, vegetable oil or even used chip fat oil which can be put into modified petrol tanks of cars. The cost of using these fuels is cheaper but not by much as in America they are about 12 cents less. Biofuels is also another good one because it is used from normal harvesting crops so as long as the farmers are prepared to produce such a crop then there are almost no political problems.

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy is received by pumping water into the ground by at least 10ft and because the ground is usually a couple of degrees above the temperature of the water the water heats up and can then be used to heat a house or the water being used for heating tap water. This is also another method that can both be commercially and domestically used. Can be put in a person’s back garden and produce more than enough heat to heat their house via a ground source heat pump. Or can be done on a larger scale to heat industrial buildings or even many buildings.
Another form of geothermal energy is when water is pumped hundreds of feet and returns as steam which turns a generator to produce electricity. This however needs to be on a large scale because a whole geothermal plant is needed but can easily supply lots of power.

The Answer

This graph above shows the most widely used renewable resources, and as you can see hydro power is the most popular of the lot. Tidal power is the only renewable resource I talked about that hasn’t been mentioned in the graph above this is because it is still mainly in the development stages and hasn’t been linked up to the national grid as of yet; but when tidal power is connected then if most tidal resources where used then tidal power alone could produce well over 200% of this graph increasing the percent of renewable resources used from a measly 4.5% to a larger 14.5%. And not only is it likely to produce this huge percentage more on top of what we are already doing but it is extremely reliable/ predictable.
In answer to the main question of the essay the graph above would show that it could be the answer to our problems because of such a vast increase of power. Although this is going on the basis that all of these other resources are being used to their maximum capacity which is not the case. So to answer the question, it isn’t the only way forward but it will be a huge help in the fight to be completely reliable on renewable, carbon neutral resources.

References
Viewed on 27/10/07, last updated Monday, 16 June, 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/2992996.stm
Viewed on 27/10/07, Last Updated on 10th January 2008 http://www.reuk.co.uk/Worlds-First-Open-Sea-Tidal-Turbine.htm
Viewed on 27/12/07 http://www.carbonfootprint.com/windpower.html
Viewed on 27/12/07 http://www.montanagreenpower.com/faqwind.html and there source was http://www.windustry.org/
Viewed on 27/10/07 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_power
Viewed on 27/12/07 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity
Viewed on 27/12/07 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
Viewed on 27/12/07 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel#Carbon_emissions
Viewed on 27/12/07 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power
Viewed on 27/12/07 http://www.bmpg.co.uk/protected.html
Viewed on 27/12/07 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/energy/energytypesrev4.shtml