PDS AP Environmental Science 8th Period 2010-11

Jim Thompson is currently the head of young biodiesel production company called Southeast Biodiesel, and Mr. Thompson is also a strong advocate for the potential biodiesel has as a fuel source in automobiles. To start his presentation, Mr. Thompson outlined the differences between a standard gasoline engine and a diesel engine. While gas engines mix [...]

Hydrogen Energy Hydrogen energy uses hydrogen ions and a process called electrolysis to create electrical energy. Heres a diagram and  two short videos describing this process: How Electrolysis Works What this video doesn’t show you is that the energy needed to break apart these molecules must come from another source (e.g. coal, natural gas, or renewables like [...]

-Solar energy has become a very popular way to provide energy or electricity for many different buildings and homes. There are two main ways to make use of solar energy: 1. Passive Solar Energy – Uses the light and heat from the sun without using and collectors or solar panels. This technology mainly deals with [...]

Wind energy is considered a distant form of solar energy because wind is caused by the sun’s uneven heating of the earth. It is, therefore, perpetually renewable. We are able to use wind as a form of energy by utilizing wind turbines. In a very basic sense, wind turbines use the wind to generate kinetic energy [...]

Geothermal Energy is essentially using the earth’s natural heat for power. The way the process works is the heat from the earth warms water, which evaporates to steam. The steam is then used to turn turbines that then generate electricity. Geothermal energy is a good clean way to power and heat the world’s towns and [...]

China began planning to build the Three Gorges Dam along the Yangzi River in 1919 by Sun Yatsen. Although planning took decades, this monumental dam (the world’s largest hydroelectric dam) is finished with most construction, and hopefully it will be in maximum use within a couple of years. In a hydroelectric dam, the flow of water [...]

NUCLEAR POWER Nuclear Power is often talked about as the new “clean” energy to replace some of our dependencies on fossil fuels. But people are also afraid of nuclear power. The word nuclear carries associations with bombs, disasters, cancer, and danger. Neither of those previous statements are fully accurate, and it is important to understand [...]

To understand what biomass energy is, first one must know what biomass is. Biomass is defined as the total mass of living matter in a given unit of environmental area. biomass examples Biomass energy is simply the taking of that biomass or any organic material and using it as fuel by combusting it, turing it [...]