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Clean Energy 101: Are hydropower, hydrogen, and nuclear power considered clean?
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This is the second in the series called Clean Energy 101 (you can find the first article here) and this article focuses on hydropower, hydrogen, and nuclear power. Are they truly considered clean energy resources? These three energy resources are the most expensive of all the resources discussed in the series because of the large amounts of infrastructure required to produce the energy from each resource.
Hydro-electric Power
The Rocky Mountains are the originators of many rivers in which many states to the west and east rely upon. When we think of rivers like the Colorado, San Juan, Arkansas, and Platte, we think of wild and powerful forces of nature. However Colorado relies little on this resource for energy.
Colorado is not known for using large scale hydro-electric power, even though many large rivers originate here. Colorado ranks 21st in hydro-electricity production. Most dams in Colorado are used for water storage and not to create electricity. Dams built for hydro-electricity (using large amounts of concrete) are expensive to build and require a great deal of energy to create. In addition, Colorado has some strict water laws that dictate how fresh water is used and collected.
While a dam for hydro power may create jobs in the short term, the cost to build a dam, maintain it, and its impact on the environment are very costly. Colorado probably won’t develop dams for hydro power but may continue to build more dams for water storage as we reside in a semi-arid region. Right now there is a study of the Chatfield Reservoir, which was originally built for flood control. The dam is now under consideration to be raised in order to increase water storage. This is due to an expected population increase in the metro area of about 2 million people by 2030. What will happen to the park and all the wetlands that fish, turtles, and other wildlife depend on?
Furthermore, well known dams at Lake Powell and Lake Mead along the Colorado River provide power to many in the Southwest, but the water levels in the lakes are decreasing at alarming rates, which decreases the amount of power produced. Continued drought and lower lake levels will make the dams useless for electricity production.
Small scale hydropower along streams using water wheels uses far less energy infrastructure than building an enormous dam, but it also less efficient. A water wheel or similar technology can supply a small amount of energy usually suitable for a single dwelling or two. Is this clean energy?
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is extracted from water through electrolysis by separating the two hydrogen atoms from the one oxygen atom to create HHO gas. There are many people experimenting with this in household labs and these household scientists claim that vehicles can run for thousands of miles on a gallon of water through Yull Brown’s method, (mentioned in a previous article). It sounds simple and could possibly be a clean energy alternative. The biggest concerns are the amount and type of energy to produce the hydrogen, transportation of the gas, and possibly some lingering concerns about the safe storage of this volatile gas.
Fuel cell technology is still being developed. Fuel cells require a number of materials, including some metals, and there is a significant cost to these. The biggest problem is that electrolysis corrodes metals and metal parts quickly from oxidation. The higher salt (electrical conductor) content in the water the faster and more efficient it is to separate the hydrogen gas. The drawbacks are that the higher the salt content the faster the components will corrode. Some other promising techniques are found here: http://www.nrel.gov/learning/eds_hydro_production.html
Fossil fuels used to extract hydrogen from water still emit carbon emissions, but there are renewable alternatives that will be discussed in the third part of this Clean Energy 101 series.
Fuel cell proponents picture the fossil fuel gas stations being replaced by hydrogen gas stations. These proponents speculate that fossil fuel refineries will become hydrogen production plants or can they? The infrastructure and energy costs are enormous. Many car manufacturers, like Ford, have scrapped the idea of fuel cell vehicles and are favoring electric vehicles instead. Hydrogen is not ready for the public yet, because of its heavy need for energy, new infrastructure, and resources. Will renewable energy help revive hydrogen?
Nuclear
Colorado experimented with nuclear power at the Fort St. Vrain plant by using an air (helium) and a steam cooled system from 1977-1992. It didn’t prove to be successful due to power failures and other technical problems so it was closed in 1989. All the remaining fuel was completely removed and the plant decommissioned in 1992. Fort St. Vrain is now a natural gas power plant. Xcel is looking to expand this plant further to “keep up with demand”.
The most successful nuclear power plants have been water cooled near large bodies of water. Nuclear power provides 20% of the country’s electrical needs. States located closer to the oceans and large bodies of water primarily found in the Eastern U.S. rely on this power source. However the largest nuclear power plant is found in Arizona with three nuclear reactors. This is a desert and remarkably it uses treated sewage water from Phoenix and other municipalities to cool its reactor core.
Some people consider nuclear power to be a clean energy resource and claim it has no GHG emissions. However nuclear energy is the costliest energy resource of all. The cost to mine, transport, refine, and build infrastructure to create nuclear power is astronomical, as will be elaborated later. Much like fossil fuels, uranium is not a renewable resource and once it runs out there isn’t anymore. In addition, uranium is radioactive and can cause radiation poisoning and cancers. It releases toxins for many years beyond its “usefulness”. The half life of Uranium 238 , which is the most abundant of the three types of uranium, takes approximately hundreds of thousands to 4.5 billion years for the radiation to decay. Will life even be in existence by then?
Colorado may not have a nuclear power plant but it does possess large amounts of uranium ore and there are 34 active mines in the state. Colorado ranks third in uranium ore reserves in the U.S. However there are proposals to mine more extensively for uranium in the following counties according to a 2008 state report from the Division of Reclamation: Weld, Summit, Fremont, Grand, San Miguel, Mesa, Montrose, and Moffat. This may create more jobs, but at what costs?
Currently Arizona is the leading uranium mining state in the U.S. Uranium has its hazards which are considerably more dangerous than mining for coal or other minerals. For instance in the 1950’s many Navajos mining in Arizona were poisoned by the radon gases emitted from the uranium and they contracted cancers.
In addition to the dangers of contracting cancers from mining of this hazardous energy resource, it uses a great deal of energy and money to transport across the country. Plus the excessive energy requirements to refine U-238 by using a four step process to produce it into fuel rods. Furthermore, the cost to construct a nuclear power plant is $1-5 billion and the time to build it takes 3-12 years, and it must be tested extensively before it can become active. The life of the nuclear power plant is 25-30 years and then it must be decommissioned. The average life expectancy of a nuclear fuel rod for energy production is six years. The waste created just for nuclear reactors is 12,000 metric tons a year globally. The waste must be transported long distances, where it is buried deep underground in concrete containers, and actively cooled using more energy.
Furthermore, security has to be very tight at both nuclear power plants and disposal sites because refined U-238 can have bomb making grade plutonium used in the making dirty bombs or used to pollute water supplies by terrorists.
Of course the government is always looking for new places to dump its waste. Would you like to be paid to have this buried in your backyard?
Fossil fuels are the biggest polluters to air, water, and soil and cause many more cancers than nuclear power does at this time. However, as mentioned above, nuclear power production from extraction to disposal requires a great deal of fossil fuels and has impacts on the health of our environment and the safety of our communities. Is this truly clean energy? Why use nuclear when there are so many other viable and easier solutions?
The final of the Clean Energy 101 series is on solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy resources.
Special thanks to Michael Haughey for his consulting work on this project.
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What’s new with Michele?
Michele is looking for people with green lifestyles. Write her if you are one of the following and live in Colorado: Are you a vegetarian because you are lowering your carbon footprint? Do you live totally off grid or have a net zero home? Did you give up all your automobiles to reduce your carbon footprint? Do you grow and raise all your own food and have little need to buy food elsewhere? Do you have a zero waste home or business? If you would like to be featured in an upcoming Green Living 101 article and answered yes to any of these questions, please contact Michele at mspencr@ix.netcom.com.
Upcoming green events:
"Flow Local”
Time: August 11, 2009 from 7pm to 9pm
Mercury Cafe, 22nd and California, Denver, CO
What are the most common contaminants in our tap water? How can I minimize my water use at home and in the garden? What's the difference between grey water and black water? Is it now legal to harvest rainwater in Colorado?
Find out the answers to these questions and more at our next Transition Tuesday! We'll have a panel of water experts on hand to offer sustainable solutions and clear up the confusion around water issues in Colorado.
(State-Wide)
The 2009 Colorado Renewable Energy Conference - "Clean Energy: Pathways to a Low Carbon Footprint" - will be held on the weekend of August 28-30 at The Colorado School of Mines in Golden. The Conference will feature tracks in Communities, Utilities, and Carbon Sequestration, Tours of advanced energy facilities in Golden, an Exhibit Hall (free and open to the public), and much more. Keynote Speaker Dr. Eric Barron (Director, National Center for Atmospheric Research) will discuss "Climate - State of the Science" on Saturday morning (free and open to the public). KMGH TV-7 Meteorologist Mike Nelson will speak during the Saturday dinner about "Wild Weather in the West." Discounted Early Registration Ends on Friday, August 14!
www.cres-energy.org/conference
(Local)
The 2009 Denver Tour of Solar Homes will be held on Saturday, October 3. Take a tour of your sustainable community by visiting "Real Places for Real People," featuring more than a dozen different homes in the West and Central Denver areas. An Exhibit Hall will showcase the latest & greatest in clean-energy and green-building products and services. This year's Denver Tour will also feature a Green Jobs Fair! This event is part of the National Solar Tour: Solar Tours will also be held on or around this date in several other communities throughout Colorado, and hundreds of other communities throughout America.
www.cres-energy.org/tour
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