Climate change: the culpability of electricity generation

The science of our grandmothers have failed and the natural laws of our fathers have become desolate. In those beautiful days, our ancestors knew the climate patterns like the lines of their palms. They could easily predict the onset of harmattan, rainy season, dry season, heat and cold; they needed no weather forecasters as we have them nowadays. They passed this supreme knowledge to generations after generations, they wanted us to become the weather forecasters of our own selves.

However, the reverse has been the case. Their theory of "time and season of everything" have failed, we can no longer depend on the valid knowledge they depended upon. The climate has become so erratic to the extent that weather forecasters can be mistaken as liars. Global warming has changed the climate and made the traditional science of our forefathers a fairy tale.

^{NASA, fair use}

Global warming and the erratic nature the global climate has become as a result, has been and will continue to be a major concern to scientists who have been doing all they could to heal the earth from the shackles of excessive warmth and the evils associated with it. Some will call it a conspiracy but the true scientists know that the recent heat waves that engulfed almost the whole of Europe and the recent wildfire in Greece and California have a lot to do with global warming, albeit indirectly.

Mitigating global warming will require that we cut down on the emission of gases that are capable of absorbing solar radiation and causing an increase in the atmospheric temperature as a result. These gases, otherwise known as greenhouse gases (GHGs) are emitted into the atmosphere largely as a result of anthropological activities.

Combustion of carbon compounds in the quest for electricity generation is one of the major cause of global warming. According to the data released by the United State Environmental Protection Agency in 2016, electricity generation is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gases emission, a little behind transportation. Findings also revealed that about 68% of electricity generation in the United State comes from the burning of carbon compounds in form of fossil fuels.

In 2010, electricity generation and associated processes were the largest contributors to the emission of greenhouse gases worldwide. The process was responsible for about twenty-five percent of all the greenhouse gases emitted in that year. Also, according to the data released by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the amount of carbon dioxide produce globally equates to about 27 gigatonnes of which electricity generation processes is responsible for about 10 gigatonnes, culminating to 37% of the total emission.

With the recent trend in the global population increase and advancement in technology (take the blockchain evolution for example), the global consumption of electricity has been projected to increase by almost 50% in the next few years. If you ask for my personal opinion, I would say the figure will double in the next few years.

In order to mitigate the ugly trend of global warming, scientists are exploring alternatives to all the technological processes that are promoting emission and increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. With electricity generation been a leading contributor to emission, all hands are on deck to explore alternatives that will either eliminate or significantly limit electricity generation-related emissions.

Could wind-generated electricity really be the answer?

Wind is generated in the atmosphere as a result of air movement from the region of higher pressure to the region of lower pressure. Air expansion as a result of heat energy from the sun increases pressure and forces air molecules to move down the pressure gradient. As the air molecules travel to and fro in search of areas with lower pressure, wind results. This simply means as far as heat keeps coming from the sun, the earth will always have wind. Hence, wind is always referred to as renewable energy and scientists have been trying to tap into its blessings.

The law of conservation of energy emphasized that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can only be transformed from one form to the other. In an electric fan, electric energy is converted to wind kinetic energy as the blades of the fan rotates, the reverse of this is also possible, that is, wind energy can be transformed back to electrical energy in what is generally known as a reversible reaction in chemistry.

In order to convert wind energy into electrical energy, a device that can respond to the effect of the wind's kinetic energy would be utilized. Hence, a wind turbine comes into play; a wind turbine is basically a device that spins or rotates in reaction to the presence of the wind force. The device uses the wind's kinetic energy to drive an electricity generator. In order to generate a significant amount of electricity from the wind, a combined effort of several turbines is needed. This is why an array of wind turbine popularly known as wind farm is usually needed.

In a wind farm, many wind turbines are arranged in a close proximity to each other. As the wind blows, the blades of the different wind turbines in the rotate in the same direction as the wind(clockwise or counter-clockwise). The torque or turning effects of the turbine blade is affected by the speed of the wind and the surface area of the blades.

The energy resulting from the wind farm is converted to an electrical energy using an alternator component of the generator. An alternator has a rotor and stator and works based on the principle of electromagnetic induction. The rotor is magnetic while the stator is made up of turns of armature windings. The energy from the wind farm causes the rotor of the alternator to rotate. This rotation causes what is known as voltage induction in the armature windings of the stator in concordance with Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. The induced voltage(AC) can either be connected to a step-up transformer and connected to the grid or be rectified and stored for use at the appropriate time.

How environmentally friendly is this process?

Generating electricity through the use of wind is one of the most environmentally friendly ways of generating electricity. The process has zero greenhouse gas emission (at least not directly). Although like every other technology, the process is not without its own demerit, even though they are not emission related. The noise produced by the movement of the turbine blades, visual impacts and occasional death of birds/bats as a result of them passing through the blades are some of the issues associated with the technology.

Conclusion

Generating electricity through wind can help reduce global warming significantly by cutting down the emission associated with other forms of electricity generations.

References

• EPA

• world nuclear

• Electromagnetic Induction From Principles of Physics by M. Nelkon

• Electrical Energy and Power From Principles Of Physics by M. Nelkon

• How wind turbine works

• working of alternator