FOSSIL FUELS

FOSSIL FUELS

Figure 14.1: Pie-chart showing the major sources of energy for our requirements in India

In ancient times, wood was the most common source of heat energy. The energy of flowing water and wind was also used for limited activities. Can you think of some of these uses? The exploitation of coal as a source of energy made the industrial revolution possible. Increasing industrialisation has led to a better quality of life all over the world. It has also caused the global demand for energy to grow at a tremendous rate. The growing demand for energy was largely met by fossil fuels – coal and petroleum. Our technologies were also developed for using these energy sources. But these fuels were formed millions of years ago and there are only limited reserves. The fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy, so we need to conserve them. If we were to continue consuming these sources at such alarming rates, we would soon run out of energy! In order to avoid this, alternate sources of energy were explored. But we continue to be largely dependent on fossil fuels for most of our energy requirements (Fig. 14.1).

Burning fossil fuels has other disadvantages too. We learnt in Class IX about the air pollution caused by the burning of coal or petroleum products. The oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur that are released on burning fossil fuels are acidic oxides. These lead to acid rain which affects our water and soil resources. In addition to the problem of air pollution, recall the green-house effect of gases like carbon dioxide.

The pollution caused by burning fossil fuels can be somewhat reduced by increasing the efficiency of the combustion process and using various techniques to reduce the escape of harmful gases and ashes into the surroundings. Besides being used directly for various purposes – in gas stoves and vehicles, do you know fossil fuels are the major fuels used for generating electricity? Let us produce some electricity at our own small plant in the class and see what goes into producing our favourite form of energy.

Activity 14.3:

*  Take a table-tennis ball and make three slits into it.

*  Put semicircular fins cut out of a metal sheet into these slits.

*  Pivot the tennis ball on an axle through its centre with a straight metal wire fixed to a rigid support. Ensure that the tennis ball rotates freely about the axle.

*  Now connect a cycle dynamo to this.

*  Connect a bulb in series.

*  Direct a jet of water or steam produced in a pressure cooker at the fins (Fig. 14.2). What do you observe?

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Figure 14.2: A model to demonstrate the process of thermoelectric production

This is our turbine for generating electricity. The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor-blade assembly. The moving fluid acts on the blades to spin them and impart energy to the rotor. Thus, we see that basically, we need to move the fan, the rotor blade, with the speed which would turn the shaft of the dynamo and convert the mechanical energy into electrical energy — the form of energy which has become a necessity in today’s scenario. The various ways in which this can be done depends upon the availability of the resources. We will see how various sources of energy can be harnessed to run the turbine and generate electricity in the following sections.

Think it over

How would our lives change if we could no longer get electricity supply?

The availability of electrical energy to each individual in a country is one of the parameters to measure the growth of the country.

Questions

1.  What are the disadvantages of fossil fuels?

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

THERMAL POWER AND HYDRO POWER PLANTS

THERMAL POWER AND HYDROPOWER PLANTS

Thermal power plants

Large amount of fossil fuels are burnt every day in power stations to heat up water to produce steam which further runs the turbine to generate electricity. The transmission of electricity is more efficient than transporting coal or petroleum over the same distance. Therefore, many thermal power plants are set up near coal or oil fields. The term thermal power plant is used since fuel is burnt to produce heat energy which is converted into electrical energy.

Hydropower plants

Another traditional source of energy was the kinetic energy of flowing water or the potential energy of water at a height. Hydropower plants convert the potential energy of falling water into electricity. Since there are very few waterfalls which could be used as a source of potential energy, hydropower plants are associated with dams. In the last century, a large number of dams were built all over the world. As we can see from Fig. 14.1, a quarter of our energy requirement in India is met by hydropower plants.

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Figure 14.3: A schematic view of a hydropower plant

In order to produce hydel electricity, high-rise dams are constructed on the river to obstruct the flow of water and thereby collect water in larger reservoirs. The water level rises and in this process, the kinetic energy of flowing water gets transformed into potential energy. The water from the high level in the dam is carried through pipes, to the turbines, at the bottom of the dam (Fig. 14.3). Since the water in the reservoir would be refilled each time it rains (hydropower is a renewable source of energy) we would not have to worry about hydroelectricity sources getting used up the way fossil fuels would get finished one day.

But, the constructions of big dams have certain problems associated with it. The dams can be constructed only in a limited number of places, preferably in hilly terrains. Large areas of agricultural land and human habitation are to be sacrificed as they get submerged. Large eco-systems are destroyed when submerged under the water in dams. The vegetation which is submerged rots under anaerobic conditions and gives rise to large amounts of methane which is also a greenhouse gas. It creates the problem of satisfactory rehabilitation of displaced people. Opposition to the construction of tehri dam on the river Ganga and sardar sarovar project on the river Narmada are due to such problems.

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK