Recently I just finished a project of the uses of radiation in science class. While I was researching about the project, a question came up “What is the best type of energy to produce electricity?” If so, under what circumstance is the “best”?
Before answering the initial question, I have some guiding questions: “What is energy?” “What are the existing types of energy?” Energy is the ability to make object moves. Nowadays, there are three main types of energy: renewable, fossil fuel, and nuclear. Next I am going to do a comparison between these energy types.
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is a type of energy that uses the nature occurrence to produce energy that can replace itself. Some of the common types of renewable energy are hydro, wind, solar, biomass, tidal, and geothermal. Hydro power uses the flow of water to turn a turbine in order to produce electricity. Wind power(uses the wind to power the turbine) can only work if the speed of the wind is at a range where the turbine can spin but not spinning at a high consistency. The technology that transfers sunlight to electricity by solar cell is solar photovoltaic, an application of solar power. Studies shown that 66% of total electricity production are renewable energy in Canada during 2016, so it is a common type of electricity production. After have a glimpse of what is renewable energy, let’s look at the good and bad sides of renewable energy.
Renewable energy is the cleanest energy since it has the smallest production of waste compared to other energy types. Also, renewable energy has the most stable supply chain because it can replace itself. In addition, most of the renewable energy doesn’t emit carbon dioxide after the station has finished building. However, the usage of renewable energy is restricted because some place doesn’t have rich natural resource for renewable energy to work effectively. Furthermore, it cannot produce a consistent amount of energy all the time due to inconsistency of the supply(equivalent amount of water, sun, wind).
Fossil Fuel
Fossil fuel energy is a type of energy generated by burning fossil to create steam and heat, then convert into electricity. There are three main types of fossil fuel energy: coal, natural gas, and oil. Since all types of fossil fuel use the same process the produce electricity, so they all use the same type of power plant. Studies shown, 19% of the total electricity production are fossil fuel energy in Canada during 2016. Next, let’s analyze the advantage and disadvantage of fossil fuel energy.
Fossil fuel energy is the cheapest because of the efficient tools to extract and the availability of resource. Additionally it is also a consistent energy source because it has a stable supply chain. Also, fossil fuel is the most well known type of energy production. In contrast, fossil fuel is a non renewable energy which means the supplies will run out in someday. At the same time it produces carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which leads to the issue of global warming and air pollution. Next oil spill are extremely damaging to the environment because there is not a real solution to clean up a oil spill completely.
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy can create electricity by the process of nuclear fission. The steps of this procedure is a neutron shoots into a radioactive isotopes(a element with “extra” neutrons), then break apart to two roughly equivalent isotopes plus three neutrons. There are massive energy release when the isotope is splitting. The application of nuclear energy is the nuclear power plant. Studies shown that 15% of total electricity production are nuclear energy in Canada during 2016.
The main pro of using nuclear power is that it is clean. It does not produce greenhouse gas. This will slow down the rate of global warming.
Nuclear energy can consistently provide the same amount of energy at all time. Nuclear energy is also more efficient in term of energy production. Studies have shown that nuclear power can be 10,000,000 times more powerful than fossil fuels energy. The biggest downside of nuclear energy is nuclear waste. Since the isotopes have a short usable life span, the rate of nuclear waste production accelerated. Another drawback from the using of nuclear energy is the potential threat of nuclear meltdown and spread of radioactive pollution. Nuclear meltdown happens when the cooling system(water cycle) fails due to lack of water resource, power outage, etc.
Conclusion
After the process of analyzing, I figure that there isn’t a best type of energy. However, there is a preferred choice depending on the situation. For countries that have rich natural resources, using renewable energy as a major energy source and fossil fuel/nuclear as a back up will be the ultimate choice. Using the maximum potential of natural resource while having a back up plan. On the other hand, using nuclear energy as the major energy source and some renewable energy is the preferred choice for countries that lack natural resources because nuclear is more efficient than fossil fuel.
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