Sources of Energy

Why Conservation of Energy?

Energy and its sources

Energy is the ability to do work or the total power derived from our natural resources.
The energy exists in many forms and can be converted from one form of energy into
another. Energy in usable form is dissipated to the surroundings as less usable form.
Energy is mainly derived from natural sources like the sun, oceans, fossil fuels, wind
etc and is converted into electrical energy that we consume for our daily needs and
benefits.

What Is a Good Fuel?

A good source of energy

Sources can be classified as renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy.

Any source of energy that does not get depleted or gets exhausted is considered a
good source of energy and are usually called as renewable.

Good fuel

A good source of energy/fuel should be:

Easily available
(Easy to store and transport
Able to perform large amounts of work per unit mass and volume
Economical

Fossil Fuels and Thermal Energy

Conventional sources of energy

Sources of energy that have been in use for a very long time or have been used
extensively worldwide are known as conventional sources. Eg: wood as a common
source of heat energy or the usage of coal after the Industrial Revolution.
Examples: Fossil Fuels, Hydro Power

Fossil fuels

Fossil fuels are formed due to compression of dead organic matter over millions of
years, buried deep under the earth. Eg. coal or natural gas.
We rely heavily on fossil fuels for most of our work.
Fossil Fuels are non-renewable sources of energy as they have limited reserves and
hence finding alternative sources is essential to avoid an energy crisis.
Disadvantages of burning fossil fuels

Fossil fuels also produce byproducts due to combustion which causes air pollution.
Burning coal and petroleum produces harmful oxides of carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur
which pollute the air leading to acid rain and greenhouse effect.
Gases emitted by the combustion of fossil fuels are the main contributor to global
warming.

Thermal power plants

Thermal power plants use steam produced by burning fossil fuels (mainly coal) to
move the turbines to generate electricity.
The burning of coal heats up the water and forms steam that is used to run the
turbine.
Usually, Thermal power plants are located near coal or oil fields as it is easier to
transmit electricity than transport coal.

Hydropower Plants
Turbines

A turbine is a rotatory mechanical device that extracts kinetic energy in various forms
and converts it into useful work. It uses a dynamo to convert this mechanical energy
into electrical energy.
Various uses of this have been implemented in power plants where the shaft of the
dynamo is made to rotate by mechanical means.

Hydropower plants

Another traditional source of energy is from the kinetic energy of flowing water or
harnessing potential energy of water falling from a height.
The falling/flowing water moves the turbine, which with the help of a dynamo
converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.
Hydropower plants are usually constructed near dams or waterfalls.
Dams

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. The water is ejected upon
requirement by the power plant to generate hydroelectricity.

Fuels
Biomass

Biomass is the source of energy derived from living things (organic matter). For a long
time, we relied on wood for the source of heat energy. In India, we make fuel out of
biowaste such as cow dung due to the availability of a thriving population of livestock.
When wood is burnt in a limited supply of oxygen and water until volatile materials are
removed, the residue left behind is charcoal. Charcoal has good heat generating
efficiency. It also burns without flames.

Electricity generation through biomass

 Electricity generation through biomass

Bio-gas plant

In India cow dung, sewage waste, plant matter are decomposed in absence of oxygen
to produce biogas. Since it has cow dung it is often termed as gobar gas.
A biogas plant is a dome-like structure built with bricks where cow dung and other
biowaste are mixed with water to form a slurry and put into a digester.
The digester is a sealed chamber with anaerobic bacteria which breaks down the
slurry.
This decomposition process releases gases like methane, CO , hydrogen sulfide and
2

hydrogen.
These gases are drawn via pipes which are transmitted to a turbine for the production
of electricity.

Bio-gas plant

Wind Energy
Wind energy

Environment-friendly efficient source of energy.

Wind is the natural phenomenon caused by pressure differentials due to unequal
heating of land and water masses on the surface of the earth. It is harnessed in the
form of kinetic energy.

Windmill

Wind Energy is harnessed by rotatory structures known as windmills.

 They have huge blades or fans attached very high on a rigid support that is attached to
turbines that rotate due to high speeds of wind and generate electricity.
A single windmill has a low output and therefore, the wind farms are built that
comprises of several windmills.

Advantages and limitations of wind energy

Advantages: Environment-friendly, efficient, renewable source, with no recurring cost for

production of electricity.

Limitations:

Wind speeds should be constant and > 15 km/h.

Must have back up storage facilities like cells.
Requires large land area.
High initial cost and regular maintenance are required.

Solar Energy
Solar energy

Light energy and heat energy from the sun are known as solar energy.
Sun has been radiating energy from the past 5 billion years and will continue to do so
at the same rate for another 5 billion years or more.
We must find ways to harness the energy with maximum efficiency, although only a
small fraction of the solar energy reaches the earth’s surface.

Solar cooker

Solar cookers and water heaters use solar energy to operate.

Black surfaces absorb more energy than other surfaces and solar cookers use this
property by coating their insides black.
They use reflecting surfaces like mirrors to focus the sun’s rays.
The device is covered with a glass plate thereby establishing the greenhouse effect by
trapping heat inside the cooker.

Solar cell

A device that converts solar energy into electricity is known as a solar cell.
A typical solar cell produces a voltage of 0.5 1 V and 0.7 W of electrical power. A large
number of such cells can combine to form a solar panel which can generate power
large enough for practical uses.
Advantages: (i) no moving parts (ii) require little maintenance (iii) can be set up in
remote areas without the hassle and expenses of transmission lines.
 Disadvantages: (i) Requires a special grade silicon which is not easily available (ii)
Usage of silver for interconnections makes it expensive.
Uses: traffic signals, calculators, artificial satellites and space probes.

Cross section of a solar cell

Energy From the Sea

Energy from sea

The seas and oceans and other water bodies are a source of kinetic and potential energy
due to the immense volume of water and the motion of waves.

Tidal energy

Tides are variations in the level of water due to the gravitational pull of the moon.
The phenomenon of rise and fall of water level or high and low tide gives tidal energy.
Tidal energy is obtained by constructing dams near the narrow openings of the sea.
When the tide sets in, it moves the turbine which directly produces electricity.
It is limited to places near the sea.

Wave energy

Waves possess a lot of kinetic energy that can be harnessed to produce electricity.
Waves are produced by strong winds blowing over the sea.
Limited to places with strong winds. Devices have been designed to capture this
energy.

Ocean thermal energy

 The difference in surface temperatures of water and water at a certain depth in
oceans is exploited to harness this form of energy.
Temperature difference must be 20 between the surface and water up to depths of 2
∘

km.
Warm water is used to boil volatile ammonia to form vapours that move the turbine.
Cold water is used to condense the vapour back to liquid.

Extraction of Ocean thermal energy

Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy

There is a huge amount of heat trapped inside the earth. Molten rocks from Earth’s
core sometimes come up due to geological changes and get trapped in hotspots.
Harnessing this heat energy is called geothermal energy.
Any underground water present gets heated due to the hotspots and gets converted to
steam which escapes from the surface of the earth as hot springs.
This steam is used to rotate turbines and generate electricity.
 Geothermal Power Plant

Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy

Nuclear energy can be used to generate electricity by means of nuclear fission.

In a nuclear reactor, the nuclear fuel is used to carry out sustained fission chain
reaction to produce electricity at a controlled rate.

Nuclear fission

Nuclear fission is the process where a heavy atom (uranium or plutonium) is bombarded
with neutrons that split the atom to give lighter nuclei. This process releases tremendous
amounts of energy. For example, Fission of 1 atom of uranium gives 10 million times the
energy of combustion of 1 atom of carbon from coal.

Nuclear Fission

Disadvantages of using nuclear energy

Nuclear waste is hazardous as heavy atoms decay into harmful subatomic particles.
High setup and maintenance cost
Limited availability of uranium
Can be used for destructive purposes
Nuclear fusion

Fusion means combining lighter nuclei to produce a heavier nucleus, usually

hydrogen or hydrogen isotopes to create helium.
It releases a huge amount of energy.The mass deficit between the product and
reactants are given by Einstein’s equation. E = mc
2

Nuclear Fusion