Energy Sources There Have Been

¶ … Energy Sources

There have been a lot of efforts directed towards taping of the green or renewable sources of energy with the aim of maximizing the natural resources within the environment as well as saving the ozone from the continued depletion. However this has been elusive for long hence many resorts have been made to the primary sources in general. Primary energy sources targeted are the sun, water, wind fossil fuels and radioactive minerals. From these primary sources comes generation of secondary sources of energy like electricity which can be used in the day-to-day lives.

Of interest within the scope of this paper are the nuclear power as well as the coal energy sources. Nuclear power production is achieved through a process known as nuclear fission that generates heat. Continuous nuclear fission results in a chain of reaction that in turn releases heat. The released heat is then used for turning water into steam which in turn spins turbines and generating electricity. Uranium is mined in many parts of the world and is used to generate nuclear energy.

Coal is composed mainly of carbon and hydrocarbons and is an abundant fossil fuel used in energy production. The energy from coal comes as a result of stored energy from plants that lived millions of years ago. Over time, the dead plants are covered in layers and trap energy found within the dead plants. Pressure and heat on the top part turns the plant remains into coal. Coal that is mined is taken to coal-fired plants for power production and consequent electricity generation. Coal undergoes combustion so that it can boil water for steam production which in turn operates steam turbines that produce electricity.

Purpose of research

The research aims at determining the human sustainability of major primary sources of energy. The primary energy sources that will be on focus are nuclear power and coal. It will determine between the two energy sources coal and nuclear power which is better for human sustainability, giving the salient reasons as to the environmental as well as economical aspect of the source of energy.

Hypothesis

Taking into account the rate of depletion and the economic input vs. The economic output, coal has proven to be a fast disappearing source of energy which proves to be expensive to gather and process usable energy from it, let alone the limited energy levels it produces. This therefore means the reliable primary source with an ourput worth the input is nuclear energy.

Sustainability of coal vs. nuclear power

Most of the electrical power is generated from either uranium or coal. Each of these has a long history of electricity production in power plants however they provide some environmental challenges which can be easily compared. Through research on the risks that come with uranium and coal for energy plants, there can be determination of which among the two is better for human sustainability.

Green house gases

Electricity plants that use coal for electricity production release large amounts of greenhouse gases and other pollutants that are harmful to the environment, bearing that coal is packed with high levels of hydrocarbons. Among these gases is sulfur dioxide that results in acid rain formation and consequent depletion of environment and even property that is reactive to sulfuric acid. Nitrogen oxides are also produced and together with VOCS result to smog formation. Mercury is also produced alongside Carbon dioxide which are direct contributors to negative climate change (Matthews, 2012).

On the other hand, in the nuclear power plants there is no production of gases such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon dioxide, mercury or such other toxic gases. If nuclear power plants are managed properly they do not have a direct contribution to climatic change (Lamb & Brain, 2010). There is however release of water vapor into the atmosphere from cooling towers found in these nuclear plants. In coastal plants, there can be discharge of the heated water into lakes and seas and eventually the released heat can be radiated back into the surface causing heating. If temperatures of water are raised there can be alteration of carbon dioxide exchange with air in the ocean bodies that result to shifts in weather patterns (Matthews, 2012).