This unit is undertaking understanding of benefits and drawbacks of renewable energy source such as hydro power and non renewable energy sources such as nuclear fission.
- Understanding of hydro power which is source of renewable energy.
- Understanding of nuclear fission which is a source of non renewable energy.
- Cost benefit analysis of hydro power used as electricity generation.
- Advantages and disadvantage of nuclear power.
INTRODUCTION
Energy is considered as the power which used for transportation, for heat and light. These sources are classified into renewable energy sources and non-renewable energy sources. These energy sources can be transformed into secondary energy sources such as electricity and hydrogen. There are various benefits and drawbacks with different types of energy resources and in this context, this report will focus on the analysing the cost and benefits of different energy sources by taking one renewable (hydro power) and one non-renewable (nuclear fission). Hydro power refers to the water power which is the source of energy that derived from falling or fast running water. Nuclear fission is non-renewable source of energy as it involves uranium which is being mined or extracted from its source. The background of both the source of energy will be explicitly defines in the study. In results and discussion section, researcher will provide quantitative justification, graphs, tables and figures relevant with the study.
MAIN BODY
BACKGROUND
Hydro power
Hydro power is considered as the generation of power by means of water that is either running very fast or is falling. This is also classified as a very renewable source of energy and also, there are various advantages of using the same because there is no emitting and along with that, it makes involvement of a lower range of budget for producing electricity. As there are various benefits of generating electricity by means of hydro power plants but at the same time, there are various factors that needs to be considered as well such as costs etc. Different benefits of using the hydroelectric energy involves the fact that it is not promoting any sort of pollution. While the implementation of the power plants only, there is a possibility of some pollution (Rahi and Chandel, 2015). Rather, after the implementation phase, it does not support any sort of pollution. Also, maintaining these hydro power plants is safe and simple because water flow has to be adjusted sometimes and it is easy enough.
Even if the flow of electricity is low, then the level of water is reduced as well till the electricity is achieved at the required range. Although maintaining the hydro power plant is easy enough but the initial implementation of the plant is quite costly. The whole process till the time of the implementation of the hydro power plant for generating the electricity is expensive. After the implementation of the plant, the other maintenance is relatively less. Although it is quite expensive but the generation of power from means of hydroelectric power plants is considered as one of the most efficient ways of producing electricity. There are different costs associated with the generation of power plants. It depends on their size. Also, the involvement of hydro power plants can throw an impact on some factors, which can be termed as some of their costs as well. A very common example of this can be considered as the fact that hydro power plants are only suitable for the places and areas having large quantity of flowing water because in an area having less quantity of flowing water or having shortage of it, can result in the decrement in the electricity as well.
Nuclear Fission
In nuclear physics, chemistry nuclear fission is considered as nuclear reaction or a radioactive decay which is the process where nucleus of atom divided into smaller parts. Fission is considered as nuclear transmutation as it is the outcome fragments which are not identical element as the original atom. Nuclear reactions that releases nuclear energy is considered as nuclear power (Bird and et.al., 2014). It is used to generate heat which is most prominent when utilised in steam turbines for generating electricity in power plant of nuclear. There are several forms of nuclear energy which identified in the environment and fission energy was constantly perceived as aggregate product of human integrity. In 2017, Australia has no working nuclear power plants and establishment of such facilities are prohibited in the country. Australia contains 33 per cent of uranium deposits in the world and is 3rd largest extractor of uranium. Nuclear fission and energy has been greatly used worldwide to generate electricity (Schmidt, 2016). United States of America is the largest producer of nuclear power whereas France is the largest share of electricity producer which is generated through nuclear power. Since the evolution and growth in technologies, several developed and developing countries have implemented nuclear power plants and reactors which has been used to produce energy. Around 11 per cent of world's electricity is generated by about 450 nuclear power reactors (Niven, 2015). The amount is rapidly increases as nuclear fission source of energy is considered as efficient source of providing and producing electricity. In similar manner, there are certain benefits associated with nuclear energy such as it helps in reducing the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil which limits the emission of CO2 and other harmful greenhouse gases in the environment. Another benefit associated with nuclear power is that it requires less input of fuel and generate abundant amount of energy. Thus, it assists in saving raw materials and saves the transportation cost in delivering those raw materials. Though, establishing nuclear power plant in populous vicinity can be a huge risk as gases generated from fission process are harmful for human beings. Another drawback of nuclear fission is management of nuclear waste (Sueyoshi and Goto, 2015). It is considered one of the major disadvantage where scientists were not able to identify precise and appropriate method to manage the waste generated after nuclear fission. It takes many years to eradicate its radioactivity and risks.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Hydro power
The results can involve various factors involving the implementation of the hydro power plant, cost implementation, power expense etc. So, analyzing some aspects with the help of demonstrations below :
From the statistics, it is clearly analyzed that the hydro power plants have a lesser power production expense as compared to others such as the nuclear fission, gas turbines etc. It is because no fuel is used in the hydro power plants. Water is the only source which helps in generating the electricity. More is the level of water, higher is the rate of electricity produced. Its maintenance is not so expensive but involves an efficient range of cost. Also, the portioning after the implementation is not so costly but at the time of the implementation of the plant, the operational costs are higher enough.
UPTO50%
Avail The Benefit Today!
To View this & another 50000+ free
