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Fuel

Energy conservation is all about altering our behaviour in such a way that we become less wasteful with our resources. However, equally important issues to consider are the origins of our fuel and the subsequent energy we use in our everyday lives. Where does it all come from? How long will the resources last? What kind of damage do we cause by extracting them and using them? Can they be replaced by some other type of resource? These are just a few questions worth considering when we turn the kettle or the light switch on.

There are two groups of fuel source: fossil fuels and renewable source of energy.

Fossil fuels

There are three main fossil fuels, coalnatural gas and oil.

Coal: The World Coal Institute reckons that there is enough coal to last for another 122 years. They also predict that the use of coal will rise by 60% over the next 20 years and they say that their new coal plants are 40% more efficient in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. The UK Coal Mining Authority offers all sorts of information about the environmental projects related to mine water treatment, news and various publications including the Gazetteer. The United Kingdom Quality Ash Association provides a list of coal fired power stations.

Natural GasThe Department for Business, Innovation and Skill has an extensive database of statistics related to natural gas. It is a bit of a daunting task to search through so much data but if you are interested to find out more about the issues, such as export and import, it is a great place to start. Sadly the Oil and Gas UK (the voice of the offshore industry) haven’t updated their gas related pages since 2004 and thus are alarmingly out of date. The Interconnector is the UK’s natural gas pipeline company and their pipelines link the UK with the rest of Europe.

OilThe Oil UK has some great information on everything you might like to know about oil including marine oils, agriculture products, automotive products and more. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has some statistics on oil and gas production and the state of our reserves.

Nuclear Energy: a somewhat controversial issue. Some nuclear energy is the answer to producing carbon dioxide free energy, whilst others are worried about the pollution problems associated with the energy production and waste storage. The World Nuclear Association and the Nuclear Industry Association provide information of the state and evolution of nuclear power industry in the UK.

Solar Energy

The amount of solar radiation received at the earth's surface depends on geographical location as well as local conditions such as cloudiness and turbidity and will vary according to the season and time of day. Useful solar radiation sources are either direct radiationscattered radiation or radiation that is reflected from various surfaces. The solar radiation can be converted into electricity by photovoltaics or into hot water using solar water heating.

Solar energy is absorbed by the ground and remains fairly constant the deeper you go. This heat can be harnessed by the use of ground source heat pump.

Wind Energy and Biomass

Wind is a renewable source dependent on solar energy. Global winds are caused by differential heating over the earth’s surface, which sets up pressure gradients that leads to a flow of air. This flow of air can be converted to a useful form of energy using wind turbines. Some important factors to remember are that while doubling wind speed increases the power generated by a wind turbine eightfold, doubling the size of the wind turbines only doubles the power. Modern, large, electricity generating turbines are designed to reach maximum output at a wind speed of between 10-15 m/s. Disturbances and turbulence can affect energy output as turbines work best at constant fixed wind speed. Wind turbines start operating at wind speeds of around 5m/s and at wind speeds over 25m/s wind turbines shut down. Although available for urban areas, roof mounted turbines perform best in remote areas with consistent, undisturbed wind.

Biomass energy is harvested from energy crops such as short rotational coppice or miscanthus. Biomass can be used in wood burning stoves, biomass combine heat and power or a biomass boiler. However the production of biomass, especially energy crops, has been criticized for the taking over of useful agriculture land and producing crops for other than food production.

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Did You Know?

There are 1.6 billion people in the world with no access to electricity at all.
The UK is committed to cutting carbon dioxide emissions to 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.
When incandescent bulbs first hit the market, people didn't like them because they had difficulty adapting to the glare of the light.

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