Energy Generation and Environmental Pollution:

Clearly, environmental pollution is unavoidable so informed decisions must be made.

Forms of Pollution:

• Atmosphere - Global: --> Greenhouse gases
• Atmosphere - Global: Acid Rain
• Atmosphere - Local: --> Smog
• Groundwater - Local: --> Nuclear Waste
• Surface Water - Local: --> Oil spills
• Thermal Pollution - Local and Global: Waste Heat
• Local Land Use: NIMFBY --> Not in My Back Yard --> build that thang over thar

Global Impact of Sources of Energy Generation:

• Fossil Fuels --> totally disrupts the Carbon Cycle and is non-equilibrium. Eventually, enough Carbon Dioxide will be in the atmosphere to effect things seriously. We may, in fact be there already

• Solar Energy --> Intensive use of Land Area due to low efficiency. Significant thermal pollution. For instance, a 1000 MW solar facility would dump 10,000 Megawatts of heat into the local atmosphere. Its unclear what the effects of this would be but this is like an Urban Heat Island

• Hydro --> The world or the US's potential has not been fully tapped. No pollution for this just serious alteration of free flowing waterways.

• Windpower --> structural pollution but not much else

• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion --> waste heat discharged at depth in the ocean; surface floating platform (could be good for birds)

  Air Pollution:

  Normally the carbon content of fuels (which is high) oxidizes during the combustion process to form CO2 (carbon dioxide)

  Incomplete combustion leads to the formation of CO:

  2C + 02 --> 2CO

  Sources of CO pollution:

  Motor Vehicles ------------->  54 million tonnes per year
  Aircraft ------------------->   2
  Coal -----------------------> 0.7
  Fuel Oil -------------------> 0.1
  Industrial Wood Processin --> 8.8
  Forest Fires ---------------> 6.5
  

  Automobiles dominate because the combustion of gasoline under conditions of high pressure is quite incomplete

  Some Internet Resources on Pollution:

• Pollution Prevention Home Page
• Major listing

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The Electronic Universe Project

e-mail: nuts@moo.uoregon.edu