Download Science Summary: -Eden Connor -Andre Fournier

Science Summary:
-Eden Connor
-Camila Cespedes
-Hugh Hines
-Andre Fournier
-Christopher Liddell
Generation of Energy from Wind & Volcanoes in Costa Rica…
Generation of Energy from Wind:
Most generation of energy from wind comes from what we all know and call
windmills & wind turbines. The energy produced by windmills & wind turbines is
called helical energy. We use wind turbines to make electricity & wind mills for
mechanical power. Windmills are machines that convert energy of wind into
rotational motion by vanes called sails. A wind turbine is a rotary device that
extracts energy from wind. Energy from windmills is mainly used for machinery
such as pumping water, cutting lumber, or grinding stones. Energy from wind
turbines is usually converted into electricity. Costa Rica obtains wind power from
windmills in Tilaran & Guanacaste. An example of a wind project in Costa Rica is
a plant founded on April 17,2010 called “Planta Eolica Guanacaste”, created
in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. This plant is the biggest plant in the whole
country that produces electricity through wind. The aerogenerators create
electricity that equals 2 percent of the capacity installed in the national
electric system. This plant is working on creating 3 more plants in the
country…!
Generation of Energy from Volcanoes:
A volcano is an opening in a planet’s surface, which allows hot magma, ash &
gases to escape from below the surface .The generation of energy from
volcanoes comes from heat stored in the earth. The product of this is called
geothermal energy. This type of energy is power extracted from heat stored in
the Earth. Geothermal energy is reliable, cost effective, & environmentally
friendly. Geothermal energy is limited to places near tectonic plate boundaries.
Geothermal energy is used for things like home heating. Geothermal energy
releases greenhouse gases trapped within the Earth. The gases have a lower
amount of joules than fossil fuels. Costa Rica gets geothermal energy from
volcanoes in Guanacaste, volcanoes in the Central Valley, and some volcanoes
in southern Costa Rica. An example of a geothermal energy is in SAN JOSE
(Tierramérica). The government of Costa Rica bid to raise power
generation from deposits of volcanic steam and promote a bill to drill in
national parks volcanoes, which arouses resistance.
Miravalles Volcano!
How a Geothermal Power plant Works…
Geothermal power plants use superheated fluids from the Earths geothermal
resources to generate electricity. The natural heat of the earth creates
geothermal resources. This heat comes from molten rock called magma, located
at the Earths core deep below the geothermal resource.
Over thousands of years, rainwater seeps though cracks in the Earth’s surface &
collects in underground reservoirs. The magma heats the water until it becomes
a superheated fluid. To reach the superheated fluid, wells are drilled 5000 to
10000 feet below the surface of the Earth. These wells, called production wells,
bring the superheated fluid to the surface where it is used to generate electricity
for homes & businesses.
Some geothermal plants use crystallizer-reactor clarifier technology, a process
that turns the geothermal energy superheated fluid into steam while removing
solids from it. The steam is used to drive a turbine & generate electricity. All
remaining geothermal fluids are injected back into the reservoir for reuse.
Under its own pressure, superheated fluid from the geothermal resource flows
naturally to the surface through production wells. As the liquid flows toward the
surface, the pressure decreases, causing a small portion of the fluid still within
the well to separate or “flash” into steam. At the surface, the superheated fluid &
steam mixture flows through surface pipelines & into a wellhead separator. Inside
the separator, the pressure or the superheated fluid is reduced. This causes a
large amount of the superheated fluid to rapidly vaporize & flash into high pressure steam. The geothermal fluid that is not flashed into steam in the
wellhead separator flows to a second vessel, called a standard-pressure
crystallizer, where in additional amount of standard pressure steam is produced.
The flash process continues in the low- pressure crystallizer. The remaining fluid
is again flashed, this time at a lower pressure, to produce low- pressure steam.
All of the low pressure, standard pressure, & high- pressure steam is delivered to
a turbine. The fluid that is not flashed into steam flows into the reactor clarifier
system & is then returned to the geothermal reservoir through injection wells.
Turbines are the primary piece of equipment used to transform geothermal
energy into mechanical energy. Pressurized steam created from the geothermal
superheated fluid flows through pipelines to large steam turbines. The force & the
energy in the system is used to spin the turbine blades. The turbines turn a shaft
directly connected to an electrical generator. An electrical charge is created when
magnets rotate within the generator. Large copper bars carry the electrical
charge to a step up transformer outside the plant. Within the transformer, the
voltage is increased before the power is sent to the power lines that carry it to
homes & businesses.
Geothermal energy is a sustainable resource because, with proper management,
a geothermal resource can remain a renewable source of energy. Water trapped
deep within the Earth will naturally will naturally replace the superheated fluid that
is drawn from the geothermal resource through surface wells. However, it is
possible to deplete the geothermal resource by removing fluid faster than It can
be naturally replaced. To help prevent this the steam used in the geothermal
power plant passes through a condenser that turns it back into fluid. At this stage
it is possible to recover minerals from the geothermal fluid before it is injected
back into the Earth. This condensed fluid along with the fluid that did not flash to
steam, is injected back into the underground reservoir. Magma naturally reheats
the fluid so it can de used again.
Youtube= How a geothermal plant works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjpp2MQffnw&feature=player_embedded#!