Basic concepts. Energetic resources. Description

Energetic resources

(a. energy resources; n. Energieressourcen; f. ressources energetiques; and. recursos energeticos) - all available for prom. and household use of various types of energy: mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, nuclear.
Science and technology rates progress, intensification of societies. production, improvement of working conditions and the decision of many. social problems mean. measure are determined by the level of use E. p. The development of the fuel and energy complex and energy is one of the most important foundations for the development of the entire modern. material production.
Among the primary energy resources, non-renewable (non-renewable) and renewable (reproducible) energy resources are distinguished. P. To the number of non-renewable E. p. are primarily organic. types of mineral fuels extracted from the earth's interior: natural gas, oil shale, other bituminous g. p.,. They are used in modern times. world x-ve as a fuel and energy. raw materials are especially wide and, therefore, are often called. traditional E. p. K renewable (reproducible and practically inexhaustible) E. p. include hydropower (hydr. energy of rivers), as well as the so-called. unconventional (or alternative) energy sources: solar, wind, energy of the Earth's internal heat (including geothermal), thermal energy of the oceans, and low tides. Especially should be allocated nuclear or atomic energy, attributed to non-renewable E. p., Because its source is radioactive (mainly uranium) ores. However, over time, with the gradual replacement of nuclear power plants (NPP), operating on thermal neutrons, nuclear power plants using fast breeder reactors, and in the future thermonuclear energy, the resources of nuclear power will become practically inexhaustible.
The rapid development of world energy in the 20th century. relied on the widespread use of mineral (fossil) fuels, especially oil, natural gas and coal, the extraction of which to cep. 70s was relatively inexpensive and in tech. respectable. The share of oil and gas in the world consumption of e. P. reached 60% and the share of coal - St. 25% (in 1950 the share of coal was 50%). Consequently, St. 85% of the total consumption of E. p. in the world at that time accounted for non-renewable organic resources. fuel and only approx. 15% - for renewable resources (hydropower, wood fuel, etc.). Since the 70s, when the complexity and cost of oil and gas production began to increase sharply due to the depletion or so. the reduction of their reserves in easily accessible deposits, the need arose for their strict economy and strictly limited use as fuel. Ch. the field of application of oil and gas resources as the most valuable technology. raw materials became chemical. and petrochem. industry, incl. production of synthetic materials and motor fuels. An important primary energy resource for the power industry is becoming in the end. 20th century and in the future nuclear power. B cep. 80s at the nuclear power plants of the world, St. 12% of all electricity produced on the planet, and at the beginning. 21 c. its share in the global electric balance will increase by another 2-2.5 times. A large role in the production of electricity belongs to hydropower. resources, the source of which is the constant flow of rivers; in cep. 80s Hydroelectric power plants accounted for 23% of all electricity generated in the world. The role of such renewable non-traditional e. P. As solar energy (the energy of solar radiation arriving at the surface of the Earth), the energy of the internal heat of the Earth itself (primarily geothermal energy), the thermal energy of the World approx. (due to large differences in temp-p between the surface and deep layers of water), the energy of marine and oceanic. tides and wave energy, wind energy, biomass energy, the basis of a cut is the mechanism of photosynthesis (biowaste from c. x-va and animal husbandry, industrial organic waste, use of wood and charcoal). According to available forecasts, the share of renewable e. P. (hydropower and listed non-traditional) will reach in the 1st quarter. 21 c. approximately 7-9% in the global total use of all types of primary energy resources (over 20-23% will be accounted for by atomic nuclear energy and approximately 70% will be reserved for organic fuels - coal, gas and oil).
To compare the thermal value decomp. types of fuel and energy. resources, a unit of account is used, called Conditional fuel. G. A. Mirlin.


Mining encyclopedia. - M .: Soviet encyclopedia. Edited by E. A. Kozlovsky. 1984-1991 .

See what "Energy Resources" is in other dictionaries:

    energetic resources- Non-renewable minerals, renewable organic resources and a number of natural processes (energy of flowing water, wind, tides, etc.) used to generate energy. Syn .: fuel and energy resources ... Geography Dictionary

    Energy reserves in nature that can be used in the economy. To E. p. include various types of fuel (coal and brown coal, oil, combustible gases and shale, etc.), the energy of falling water, sea tides, wind, solar, nuclear. ... ... Geographical encyclopedia

    energetic resources- Anything that society can use as a source of energy (Terms of the ERRA Legal Regulation Working Group). [English Russian ERRA Energy Glossary] EN energy resources Everything that could be used by society as a ... ... Technical translator's guide

    For millennia, the main types of energy used by humans have been chemical energy from wood, potential energy from water at dams, kinetic energy from wind and radiant energy from sunlight. But in the 19th century. the main sources ... ... Collier's Encyclopedia

    energetic resources- energijos ištekliai statusas Aprobuotas sritis Energetika apibrėžtis Gamtiniai ištekliai ir (ar) jų perdirbimo produktai, naudojami energijai gaminti ar transporto sektoriuje. atitikmenys: angl. energy resources vok. Energieressourcen rus. ... ... Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

    fuel and energy resources- fuel and energy resources: A set of natural and produced energy carriers, the stored energy of which is available for use in economic activities at the current level of development of technology and technology. A source …

    secondary fuel and energy resources- 37 secondary fuel and energy resources; VER: Fuel and energy resources obtained as waste or by-products of the production process. Source: GOST R 53905 2010: Energy Saving. Terms and Definitions… … Dictionary-reference book of terms of normative and technical documentation

    renewable fuel and energy resources- 39 renewable fuel and energy resources: Natural energy carriers, constantly replenished as a result of natural processes. Source: GOST R 53905 2010: Energy Saving. Terms and definitions original document 3.9.8 renewable ... Dictionary-reference book of terms of normative and technical documentation

    secondary energy resources- 2.21 reclaimable resource: Materials of artificial origin that are absent in the natural environment, which can be renewed, processed and used as an input to the technical energy system. ... ... Dictionary-reference book of terms of normative and technical documentation

    The reserves of fuel and energy in nature, which, with the current level of technology, can be practically used by humans for the production of material goods. Fuel and energy resources include: various types of fuel: stone and brown ... ... Financial vocabulary

Books

  • Water and energy resources of "Greater" Central Asia. Water scarcity and resources for overcoming it, E. A. Borisova. The monograph is devoted to the consideration of issues related to water and energy resources in the countries of Central Asia (the term "Greater Central Asia" is proposed to include in the field ...

Fuel and energy resources are considered the basis of modern economic activity in any country. At the same time, this is the main pollutant. In particular, opencast coal has a strong negative impact on the environment.

The energy resources of Russia are considered the leading in the country. Advanced technologies in the extraction and processing of hydrocarbon raw materials were applied at all stages of the development of this industry. In modern conditions, it is impossible to do without them. This is due to the high level of competition, which is why it is necessary to constantly look for more efficient forms of the production processes themselves, and methods of their regulation.

Energy resources refer to a complex inter-sectoral system of production and extraction of raw materials, their transportation, use and distribution.

The technical and economic values, scales, dynamics of social production, industry in the first place, depend on the development of this industry. In accordance with the requirements for the territorial organization of the area under consideration, the proximity to the sources of raw materials is the main criterion by which the formation of the industry is carried out. Efficient energy resources are considered the basis for the formation of various industrial complexes, determining their specialization in energy-intensive industries. The main consumers are located in the European territories of Russia. At the same time, about eighty percent of geological reserves are located in the eastern regions. This determines the distance of transportation, which, in turn, affects the cost of production.

Energy resources are endowed with a significant district-forming function. So, close to their sources, a powerful infrastructure is being developed, which has a beneficial effect on industry, the development of villages and cities. At the same time, about ninety percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a third of harmful compounds entering the water, falls on this particular industrial sector.

The energy complex is characterized by a developed one presented in the form of main pipelines. They are designed for the transportation of petroleum products.

Energy resources are closely related to many areas of the national economy. Their extraction, distribution is carried out using the products of metallurgy and mechanical engineering. About thirty percent of the funds are spent on the development of the fuel and energy complex. The branches of this sphere of management, in turn, give about 30% of industrial production.

The well-being of the country's citizens is also directly related. The development of this industry makes it possible to cope with such problems as unemployment and inflation. Today in Russia more than two hundred enterprises are involved in it, employing more than two million people.

MINISTRY OF BRANCH OF RUSSIA

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education

"Vologda State University"

Civil Engineering Faculty

Department of Heat and Gas Supply and Ventilation


Test

Discipline

"Internal energy resources of industrial production"

“Classification of fuel and energy resources. Types of renewable energy resources "


Completed

student of group ZST-32

Yuretskaya E.A.

Checked, accepted

Sytsianko E.V.


Vologda - 2015


INTRODUCTION


Currently, the issue of economical use of resources is one of the key issues both in the activities of individual enterprises and in the functioning of the entire state as a whole.

In a broad sense, resources can be defined as a set of means of labor that an enterprise uses to achieve its own goals and satisfy needs. Material resources are one of the key items in the cost structure.

All the variety of material resources, designated in the economy of the national economy as objects of labor, can be conditionally subdivided into raw materials and materials and fuel and energy. In the energy sector of the world economy, the leading role is played by fuel and energy resources - oil, oil products, natural gas, coal, energy (nuclear, hydropower). Oil and natural gas occupy a special place among the fuel and energy resources. This group of goods retains the role of leaders among other commodity groups in international trade, second only to mechanical engineering products.


1. CLASSIFICATION OF FUEL AND ENERGY RESOURCES

fuel energy fuel thermal

Fuel and energy resources (FER) - a set of all natural and converted types of fuel and energy used in the republic.

Fuel and energy resources - a set of natural and produced energy carriers, the stored energy of which is available for use in economic activities at the current level of development of technology and technology.

Fuel and energy resources are divided into primary and secondary.

Primary energy resources include those resources that people receive directly from natural sources for subsequent conversion into other types of energy, or for direct use. Often, primary resources must be extracted and prepared for further use. Primary resources are divided into renewable and non-renewable.

Secondary energy resources - energy resources obtained in the form of by-products of the main production or being such products.

Fuel and energy resources include not only energy sources, but also produced energy resources: thermal energy (primarily the energy of hot water and steam) and electric current.

The produced energy resources are obtained using the energy of primary and secondary energy resources. Electrical energy can subsequently be converted back into other forms of energy.

The main types of energy resources are presented in the diagram shown in Fig. 1.

Secondary fuel and energy resources are divided into three main groups:

Rice. 1 - Types of fuel and energy resources


combustible (fuel), which include the energy of technological processes of chemical and thermochemical processing of raw materials, namely, combustible gases, solid and liquid fuel resources that are not suitable for further technological transformations;

thermal - this is the heat of waste gases from fuel combustion, heat of water or air used to cool technological units and installations, waste heat of production;

energy resources of excess pressure (head) is the energy of gases, liquids and bulk solids leaving technological units with excess pressure (pressure), which must be reduced before the next stage of using these liquids, gases, bulk solids or when they are released into the atmosphere, reservoirs, containers and other receivers. Overpressure energy resources are converted into mechanical energy, which is either directly used to drive mechanisms and machines, or converted into electrical energy.

Non-renewable are reserves of substances naturally formed and accumulated in the bowels of the planet, capable, under certain conditions, of releasing the energy contained in them. But the formation of new substances and the accumulation of energy in them is much slower than their use. These include fossil fuels and products of their processing: coal and brown coal, shale, peat, oil, natural and associated gas. Fissionable (radioactive) substances found in the bowels of our planet are special types of non-renewable energy resources.

Of the two possible natural sources of nuclear energy - uranium and thorium, so far only uranium is in practical use. Thorium may also be needed in the future.

The total resources of uranium used in the nuclear power industry cannot be estimated by the amount of its production from the subsoil. As you know, some of it was used for other purposes, in particular for the production of weapons. However, the main part of the uranium mined today is stored in the storage facilities for irradiated nuclear fuel (SNF), because The efficiency of using the energy contained in uranium, unfortunately, does not exceed 1%. So far, the world uses mainly light-water thermal neutron reactors in an open fuel cycle, without the use of SNF recycling technologies.


RENEWABLE ENERGY TYPES


According to the Energy Strategy of Russia until 2020, the economically feasible potential of renewable energy sources is 270 million tons of fuel equivalent. At the same time, excluding large hydropower, the use of water energy resources in Russia is 32 kg of fuel equivalent. for 1 person per year, which is 10 times less than in the United States and 70 less than in Finland.

Latvia has increased the share of RES in the country's fuel balance to 36%. Better out of European countries, only Switzerland, where this figure reached 41%. According to the proposal of the European Commission, the share of foreign energy resources by 2020 should be increased to 20% for each member of the EU. In the electric power industry of Russia, this indicator does not exceed 1%, and for heat energy it is less than 5%.

Reasons for the need to use VER:

reserves of other energy resources are not unlimited;

when fossil fuel is burned, it turns into waste that exceeds the primary fuel in mass;

with mass mining, landscapes (quarries, displaced soil, ash dumps, etc.) change, the level of groundwater changes;

oil and gas production can lead to irreversible deformation of the earth's crust;

negative impact on flora and fauna;

global warming.

The use of renewable energy resources, even without reducing the volume of consumption of heat and electricity, will reduce the consumption of primary fuel.

In everyday life, we rarely think about gigantic thermal processes inside the earth, about its rotation, attraction to other planets and stars, about gigantic cosmic energy flows that defy simple everyday comprehension. At the same time, even the usual renewable energy resources that can be used from the surface of the earth will be enough for the development of mankind for many more generations.

In the traditional sense, WER includes:

energy of sun;

wind energy;

energy of water streams;

energy of sea tides and waves;

high potential geothermal energy;

low-potential energy of land, air and water;

biomass;

biogas, landfill and mine gas,

as well as industrial and domestic waste generated as a result of the activities of the main pollutant of the planet - man.

Solar collectors

Resources: solar radiation. Location: everywhere. Scope of use: heating, hot water supply. Capacity range: 1.5 to 200 MWh / yr, with no upper capacity limit in the long term. Heat production costs today are: 20 - 50 pfennig / kWh.

Wind energy

Resources: kinetic wind energy. Location: Worldwide, mainly on the coast and mountain tops. Scope of use: electricity production. Power range: from 0.05 kW to 2.5 MW per installation, wind farms of 100 MW or more. Electricity production costs today are: 8 - 30 pfennig / kWh.

All windmills work on the so-called drag principle: by resisting the wind with their wings, they can convert a maximum of 15 percent of the wind's strength. Modern wind turbines operate on the lift principle, where, like an aircraft, the lift force of a headwind is used.

Energy of water

Resources: the energy of water when it moves and falls from a height. Location: mountains, rivers. Scope of use: electricity generation, energy storage. Capacity range: pumped storage hydroelectric power plants and hydroelectric power plants with unregulated flow up to 5,000 MW. Electricity production costs today are: 5 - 10 pfennig / kWh.

Hydro resources provide about 4% of the electricity produced in Germany. Today, there are about 5,500 HPPs in operation with a total capacity of 3,500 MW.

Biomass

Resources: timber, grain crops, sugar and starchy plants, oil plants. Location: Worldwide with biomass availability. Scope of use: heat production, combined heat and power generation, in the form of fuel. Power range: from 1 kW to 30 MW. Costs: for heat generation 4 - 20 pfennig / kWh; when receiving a current of 12 - 20 pfennigs / kWh.

There are many options for using biomass for energy production. In this case, plants with a high content of metabolic energy and wood are of paramount importance.

Resources: organic waste. Location: worldwide subject to waste availability. Scope of use: heat production, combined heat and power generation. Power range: 20 kW - 10 MW. Costs for today: when generating heat 5 - 15 pfennig / kWh; when receiving electricity 12 - 30 pfennig / kWh.

Biogas occurs when organic matter is decomposed by special methane bacteria.

Geothermal energy

Resources: warmth of the earth's interior. Location: everywhere. Scope of use: heating and cooling, seasonal accumulation of cold and heat, process heat, power generation. Power range: near the surface: 6 - 8 kW; in deep seams: up to 30 MW. Production costs: for heat generation 4 - 12 pfennig / kWh; when receiving a current of 15 - 20 pfennigs / kWh.

Geothermal energy is heat that makes its way from the interior of the Earth to its surface. The usable heat depends on the depth at which the geothermal energy is extracted. Every 100 meters, it gets warmer by about 3 ° Celsius. The principle of using the heat from the bowels of the Earth is quite simple: water is pumped under the Earth, there it is heated and then fed upward. Natural thermal waters are also partially used. Due to the high costs of installing equipment, geothermal energy is still rarely used.

All of the above types of energy do not potentially belong to anyone on the territory of the country. Therefore, they can be used for personal purposes by any citizen or company. At this stage of development, society does not yet think seriously about the use of all these types of energy. Nevertheless, certain developments in this direction are already underway. So, at present, the production of cars with hybrid engines, which have the ability to run on hydrogen, has begun. This is the first step towards starting to rebuild energy production cycles.

The peculiarity of renewable resources is that they are formed regardless of human activity. Regardless of whether a person finds the use of all this potential or not, independent sources of energy will exist and increase. This advantage pushes humanity to begin large-scale development in terms of the use of these types of energy for economic and industrial purposes.


CONCLUSION


Developing, mankind begins to use all new types of resources (nuclear and geothermal energy, solar, hydroelectric power of the ebb and flow, wind and other unconventional sources). However, the main role in providing energy to all sectors of the Economy today is played by fuel resources. This clearly reflects the “income” of the fuel and energy balance. The fuel and energy complex is closely linked with the entire industry of the country. More than 20% of the funds are spent on its development. The fuel and energy complex accounts for 30% of fixed assets and 30% of the value of industrial products in Russia. It uses 10% of the products of the machine-building complex, 12% of the products of metallurgy, consumes 2/3 of the pipes in the country, provides more than half of the Russian Federation's exports and a significant amount of raw materials for the chemical industry. Its share in transportation is 1/3 of all cargo by rail, half of sea transportation and all transportation by pipelines.

The fuel and energy complex has a large district educational function. The well-being of all citizens of Russia is directly related to it, such problems as unemployment and inflation. The greatest importance in the country's fuel industry belongs to three branches: oil, gas and coal, of which oil is especially distinguished.

The role of fuel and energy resources is that they are necessary for the production cycle and production of the enterprise. Energy resources directly affect the cost price and competitiveness of manufactured and sold products.


LIST OF SOURCES USED


1.Arnov R.I. Composition and structure of fuel and energy resources of an industrial enterprise. - M: Inform, 2007.

Aprizhevsky A.A. Energy saving and energy management. - Minsk: Higher. shk., 2005.

Zaitsev N.L. The economics of an industrial enterprise. - M .: INFRA-M, 2005.

Petronev S.I. Use of fuel and energy resources in industry.- SPb: Press, 2008


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ENERGETIC RESOURCES
For millennia, the main types of energy used by humans have been chemical energy from wood, potential energy from water at dams, kinetic energy from wind and radiant energy from sunlight. But in the 19th century. The main sources of energy are fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. With the rapid growth of energy consumption, numerous problems have arisen and the question of future energy sources has arisen. Progress has been made in the area of ​​energy conservation. Recently, there has been a search for cleaner forms of energy, such as solar, geothermal, wind power and fusion energy. Energy consumption has always been directly related to the state of the economy. The increase in gross national product (GNP) was accompanied by an increase in energy consumption. However, the energy intensity of GNP (the ratio of used energy to GNP) in industrialized countries is constantly decreasing, while in developing countries it is increasing.
FOSSIL FUELS
There are three main types of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. The approximate values ​​of the calorific value of these fuels, as well as explored and industrial (i.e., allowing economically viable development at the given prior art) oil reserves are presented in table. 1 and 2.

Oil and natural gas reserves. It is difficult to calculate exactly how long the oil reserves will last. If the existing trends continue, then the annual consumption of oil in the world by 2018 will reach 3 billion tons. Even assuming that industrial reserves will increase significantly, geologists come to the conclusion that 80% of the world's proven oil reserves will be depleted by 2030.

Coal reserves. Coal reserves are easier to estimate (see Table 3). Three quarters of its world reserves, which are roughly estimated at 10 trillion. tons, accounted for by the countries of the former USSR, the USA and the PRC.
Although there is much more coal on Earth than oil and natural gas, its reserves are not unlimited. In the 1990s, world coal consumption was over 2.3 billion tons per year. In contrast to oil consumption, coal consumption has increased significantly not only in developing but also in industrialized countries. According to existing forecasts, the coal reserves should be sufficient for another 420 years. But if consumption continues to grow at the current rate, then its reserves will not be enough for 200 years.
NUCLEAR POWER
Uranium reserves. In 1995, more or less reliable world reserves of uranium were estimated at 1.5 million tons. Additional resources were estimated at 0.9 million tons. The largest known sources of uranium are in North America, Australia, Brazil and South Africa. Countries of the former Soviet Union are believed to have large quantities of uranium. In 1995, the number of operating nuclear reactors worldwide reached 400 (in 1970 - only 66) and their total capacity was about 300,000 MW. In the United States, only 55 new nuclear power plants are planned and under construction, while 113 others have been canceled.
Breeder reactor. The nuclear breeder reactor has the wonderful ability to generate energy while also producing new nuclear fuel. In addition, it works on the more common isotope of uranium, 238U (converting it into fissile material plutonium). It is believed that when using breeder reactors, uranium reserves will last for at least 6,000 years. This appears to be a valuable alternative to the current generation of nuclear reactors.
Nuclear reactor safety. Even the most severe critics of nuclear power cannot but admit that a nuclear explosion is impossible in light-water nuclear reactors. However, there are four other problems: the possibility (explosive or resulting in leakage) destruction of the reactor containment, radioactive releases (low level) into the atmosphere, transportation of radioactive materials and long-term storage of radioactive waste. If the reactor core is left without cooling water, it will quickly melt. This can lead to an explosion of steam and the release of radioactive "fragments" of nuclear fission into the atmosphere. True, a system for emergency cooling of the reactor core has been developed, which prevents melting by flooding the core with water in the event of an accident in the primary circuit of the reactor. However, the operation of such a system has been investigated mainly by means of computer simulations. Some of the simulation results have been extensively tested in small pilot reactors in Japan, Germany and the United States. The weakest point of the used computer programs are, apparently, the assumptions that no more than one node can fail at once and that the situation will not be complicated by operator error. Both of these assumptions turned out to be wrong in the worst nuclear accident in the United States. On May 28, 1979, at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, equipment failure and operator error resulted in the failure of the reactor, with partial core meltdown. A small amount of radioactive material was released into the atmosphere. Seven years after the accident, the US Department of Energy was able to retrieve the destroyed core assembly for inspection. The damage to the lives of people and their property outside the nuclear power plant was insignificant, but due to this accident, the public had an unfavorable opinion about the safety of the reactor. In April 1986, there was a much more serious accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union. During a planned shutdown of one of the four graphite boiling point reactors, the power output rose unexpectedly and hydrogen gas was generated in the reactor. A hydrogen explosion destroyed the reactor building. The core partially melted, the graphite moderator caught fire, and huge amounts of radioactive substances were released into the atmosphere. Two workers died in the explosion, and at least 30 others soon died from radiation sickness. Up to 1000 people were hospitalized due to radiation exposure. About 100,000 people in the Kiev, Gomel and Chernigov regions received large doses of radiation. The soil and water in the region turned out to be heavily polluted, including the huge Kiev reservoir. After the fire was extinguished, the damaged reactor was closed with a "sarcophagus" of concrete, lead and sand. Radioactivity associated with this accident has even been reported in Canada and Japan. The level of radioactivity measured in Paris was said to be comparable to background radioactivity in 1963, prior to the signing by the United States and the Soviet Union of a treaty to end nuclear testing in the atmosphere. Fission is not an ideal solution to the energy problem. The energy of thermonuclear fusion seems to be more promising from the ecological point of view.
The energy of fusion. Such energy can be obtained through the formation of heavy nuclei from lighter ones. This process is called a nuclear fusion reaction. As with nuclear fission, a small fraction of the mass is converted into a large amount of energy. The energy emitted by the Sun arises as a result of the formation of helium nuclei from merging hydrogen nuclei. On Earth, scientists are looking for a way to carry out controlled nuclear fusion using small, controllable masses of nuclear material. Deuterium D and tritium T are the heavy isotopes of hydrogen 2H and 3H. Deuterium and tritium atoms must be heated to a temperature at which they would completely dissociate into electrons and "naked" nuclei. This mixture of unbound electrons and nuclei is called plasma. In order to create a fusion reactor, three conditions must be met. First, the plasma must be heated enough to allow the nuclei to come close to the distance required for interaction. Deuterium-tritium synthesis requires very high temperatures. Second, the plasma must be dense enough that many reactions occur in one second. And third, the plasma must be kept from scattering long enough to release a significant amount of energy. Research in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion is carried out in two main directions. One of them is the confinement of plasma by a magnetic field, as if in a magnetic bottle. The second (the method of inertial plasma confinement) is a very rapid heating by a powerful laser beam (see LASER) of a deuterium-tritium grain (tablets), which causes a thermonuclear fusion reaction in the form of a controlled explosion. The energy of deuterium nuclei contained in 1 m3 of water is approximately 3ґ1012 J. In other words, 1 m3 of seawater, in principle, can give the same amount of energy as 200 tons of crude oil. Thus, the world's oceans represent an almost unlimited source of energy. At present, neither the magnetic method nor the method of inertial plasma confinement has yet succeeded in creating the conditions necessary for thermonuclear fusion. Although science is steadily moving towards an ever deeper understanding of the basic principles of the implementation of both methods, there is still no reason to believe that thermonuclear fusion will begin to make a real contribution to energy earlier than 2010.
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES
A number of alternative energy sources have been explored recently. The most promising of these seems to be solar energy.
Solar energy. Solar energy has two main benefits. First, there is a lot of it and it belongs to renewable energy resources: the duration of the existence of the Sun is estimated at about 5 billion years. Secondly, its use does not entail undesirable environmental consequences. However, the use of solar energy is hampered by a number of difficulties. Although the total amount of this energy is enormous, it dissipates uncontrollably. To obtain large amounts of energy, large collector surfaces are required. In addition, there is a problem of instability in the energy supply: the sun does not always shine. Even in deserts, where cloudless weather prevails, day gives way to night. Therefore, solar energy storage devices are needed. Finally, many solar applications have not yet been well tested and proven to be economically viable. There are three main uses for solar energy: for heating (including hot water) and air conditioning, for direct conversion to electricity via solar photovoltaic converters, and for large-scale electricity generation based on the thermal cycle.
Geothermal energy. Geothermal energy, i.e. the warmth of the Earth's interior is already used in a number of countries, for example, Iceland, Russia, Italy and New Zealand. The Earth's crust 32-35 km thick is much thinner than the layer beneath it - the mantle, extending about 2900 km to the hot liquid core. The mantle is the source of gas-rich fiery liquid rocks (magma) that are erupted by active volcanoes. Heat is released mainly due to the radioactive decay of substances in the earth's core. The temperature and the amount of this heat are so great that it causes melting of the mantle rocks. Hot rocks can create thermal "bags" below the surface, in contact with which the water heats up and even turns into steam. Since these "bags" are usually sealed, hot water and steam are often under high pressure, and the temperature of these media exceeds the boiling point of water at the surface of the earth. The largest geothermal resources are concentrated in volcanic zones along the boundaries of crustal plates. The main disadvantage of geothermal energy is that its resources are localized and limited, unless surveys show the presence of significant deposits of hot rock or the possibility of drilling wells to the mantle. A significant contribution of this resource to the energy sector can be expected only in local geographic zones.
Hydropower. Hydropower provides nearly a third of the electricity used worldwide. Norway, with more electricity per capita than anywhere else, lives almost exclusively on hydropower. Hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) and pumped storage power plants (PSPPs) use the potential energy of water accumulated by dams. At the base of the dam there are hydro turbines driven by water (which is supplied to them under normal pressure) and rotating rotors of electric current generators. There are very large hydroelectric power plants. There are two well-known hydroelectric power plants in Russia: Krasnoyarsk (6000 MW) and Bratsk (4100 MW). The largest hydropower plant in the United States is Grand Cooley with a total capacity of 6,480 MW. In 1995, hydropower accounted for about 7% of the world's electricity. Hydropower is one of the cheapest and cleanest energy sources. It is renewable in the sense that the reservoirs are replenished with inflow river and rainwater. The expediency of building a hydroelectric power station on the plains remains in question.
Tidal energy. There are tidal power plants that take advantage of the water level difference that occurs during high and low tide. For this, the coastal basin is separated by a low dam, which retains the tidal water at low tide. Then the water is released and it turns the turbines.



Tidal power plants can be a valuable local energy resource, but there are not many suitable places on earth to build them to change the overall energy situation.
Wind power. Research by the US National Science Organization and NASA has shown that in the US, significant amounts of wind energy can be obtained in the Great Lakes region, on the East Coast, and especially in the Aleutian Islands chain. The maximum design capacity of wind farms in these areas could provide 12% of the US electricity demand in 2000. The largest wind farms in the United States are located near Goldendale in Washington state, where each of three generators (mounted on towers 60 m high with a wind wheel diameter of 90 m ) gives 2.5 MW of electricity. Systems for 4.0 MW are being designed.
Solid waste and biomass. About half of solid waste is water. Only 15% of the garbage can be easily collected. The most that solid waste can provide is energy, corresponding to about 3% of oil and 6% of natural gas consumed. Consequently, without radical improvements in the organization of solid waste collection, they are unlikely to make a large contribution to electricity generation. Biomass - wood and organic waste - accounts for about 14% of the world's total energy consumption. Biomass is a common household fuel in many developing countries. There have been proposals to grow plants (including forests) as a source of energy. Fast-growing aquatic plants are capable of producing up to 190 tons of dry product per hectare per year. Such products can be burned as fuel or distilled to produce liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons. In Brazil, sugar cane has been used to produce alcohol fuels that replace gasoline. Their cost is not much higher than the cost of conventional fossil fuels. With proper housekeeping, such an energy resource can be renewable. More research is needed, especially on fast growing crops and their profitability in terms of collection, transport and grinding costs.
Fuel cells. Fuel cells as converters of chemical energy of fuel into electricity are characterized by a higher efficiency than heat and power devices based on combustion. If the efficiency of a typical firing power plant is less than about 40%, then the efficiency of a fuel cell can be as high as 85%. However, so far, fuel cells are expensive sources of electricity.
RATIONAL USE OF ENERGY
Although the world is not yet experiencing a shortage of energy resources, serious difficulties are possible in the next two to three decades if alternative energy sources do not appear or the growth of its consumption is not limited. The need for more rational use of energy is evident. There are a number of proposals for improving the efficiency of energy storage and transportation, as well as for its more efficient use in various industries, in transport and in everyday life.
Energy storage. The load of power plants varies throughout the day; its seasonal changes also take place. The efficiency of power plants can be increased by spending excess capacity on pumping water into a large reservoir during periods of failure of the power load schedules. Then, during peak periods, water can be released, forcing it to generate additional electricity at the PSP. A wider application could find the use of the power of the base mode of the power plant for pumping compressed air into underground cavities. Compressed air turbines would save primary energy during high load periods.
Electricity transmission. Large energy losses are associated with the transmission of electricity. To reduce them, the use of transmission lines and distribution networks with increased voltage levels is expanding. An alternative direction is superconducting power lines. The electrical resistance of some metals drops to zero when cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero. Superconducting cables could transmit power up to 10,000 MW, so that a single 60 cm cable would be enough to provide electricity to the entire New York. technology. This amazing discovery could lead to important innovations not only in the field of power transmission, but also in the field of ground transportation, computer technology and nuclear reactor technology. See also SUPERCONDUCTIVITY.
Hydrogen as a heat carrier. Hydrogen is a light gas, but it turns into a liquid at -253 ° C. The calorific value of liquid hydrogen is 2.75 times that of natural gas. Hydrogen also has an ecological advantage over natural gas: when burned in air, it mainly produces only water vapor. The hydrogen could easily be transported through natural gas pipelines. It can also be stored in liquid form in cryogenic tanks. Hydrogen diffuses readily into some metals such as titanium. It can accumulate in such metals and then be released by heating the metal.
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). It is a method to make more efficient use of fossil fuels. The idea is to replace the copper current windings of a conventional machine electric generator with a stream of ionized (conductive) gas. MHD generators can give the greatest economic effect, probably, when burning coal. Since they have no moving mechanical parts, they can operate at very high temperatures, which provides high efficiency. Theoretically, the efficiency of such generators can reach 50-60%, which would mean up to 20% savings compared to modern power plants using fossil fuels. In addition, MHD generators provide less waste heat. Their additional advantage is that they would less pollute the atmosphere with emissions of gaseous nitrogen oxides and sulfur compounds. Therefore, MHD power plants could operate on coals with a high sulfur content without polluting the environment. Serious research in the field of MHD converters is being carried out in Japan, Germany, and especially in Russia. For example, in Russia, a small MHD plant with a capacity of 70 MW on natural gas was launched, which also served as a pilot plant for the creation of a 500 MW power plant. In the United States, development is on a smaller scale and mainly in the direction of coal-fired systems. A 200 MW MHD generator built by Avko Everett was in continuous operation for 500 h.
Energy consumption limits. The continuous increase in energy consumption not only leads to depletion of energy resources and pollution of the environment, but ultimately can cause significant changes in temperature and climate on Earth. Energy from chemical, nuclear, and even geothermal sources ultimately turns into heat. It is transmitted to the earth's atmosphere and shifts the equilibrium towards a higher temperature. At current rates of population growth and per capita energy consumption, the temperature could rise by 1 ° C by 2060. This will have a significant impact on the climate. The climate may change even earlier due to the increase in the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is formed by the combustion of fossil fuels.
see also

TOPIC 1. INTRODUCTION

Subject, basic concepts and definitions

Energy is an essential element of sustainable development of any state. Each turn up the spiral of the historical development of mankind is accompanied by a higher level of energy consumption. It is estimated that over the 20th century, the total consumption of primary energy resources in the world increased 13.5 times, reaching 13.5 billion tons of standard fuel in 2000. Such rates of consumption of primary energy resources threaten the rapid depletion of natural resources.

Energy saving- organizational, scientific, practical, informational activities of state bodies, legal entities and individuals, aimed at reducing the consumption (losses) of fuel and energy resources in the process of their extraction, transportation, storage, production, use and disposal.

The fuel and energy complex (FEC) includes five energy systems:

· Electric power system (electric power industry), which includes a heat supply system (heat power engineering) as a subsystem;

· Oil supply system;

· Gas supply system;

· Coal supply system;

· Nuclear power system;

Electricity production is provided by power plants, transformation - transformers, transportation and distribution of electrical energy - power lines, consumption - various receivers, i.e. energy consumers.

Under electric power system , it should be understood as a set of interconnected power plants, substations, power lines, electrical and heating networks, as well as consumers of electrical and thermal energy.

1.3. Efficiency of use and consumption of energy in the world and in Belarus

The efficiency of the use and consumption of energy in any country is assessed by the energy supply or the unit cost of equivalent fuel per 1 inhabitant of the country per year. Comparative data on energy supply, gross national product (GNP) per capita and energy intensity of GNP for some countries are shown in Table 1.1. Table 1.1 Data on GNP, energy supply and energy intensity of GNP for some countries.

P / p No. Country GNP per capita, USD USA Fuel and energy resources consumption per 1 person per year, t U.T. / person. Energy intensity-bone GNP, kg CT / USD Comparative assessment of GNP energy intensity,%
Republic of Belarus 3,8 1,76
Ukraine 4,7 2,46
Russia 5,8 2,19
Germany 5,9 0,23 13,1
USA 11,3 0,44 25,0
Finland 8,5 0,45 26,0
France 5,5 0,23 13,1
Sweden 8,0 0,34 19,3
Japan 5,5 0,16 9,1

Analyzing the data given in Table 1.1, it should be noted that the USA has the largest consumption of fuel and energy resources - 11.3 t of standard fuel. per person per year. In the Republic of Belarus 3.6 tons of fuel consumption is consumed. Here is also a comparison of the energy intensity of the GNP of countries in relation to the energy intensity of the GNP of Belarus.

The first oil crisis that broke out in 1973-74 forced the industrialized countries to take emergency measures and start developing new approaches to energy consumption. For this, the economies of these countries have undergone radical structural, technological and technical restructuring. Starting in the 1980s, they begin to build up their gross national product, practically without increasing their energy consumption. For example, the United States increased its GNP by 40.2% between 1973 and 1987, while energy consumption increased by only 3.2%. A similar situation took place in the industrialized countries of Europe. With GNP growing by 13%, energy consumption in 1985 was even 6% lower than in 1979. Over the past 20 years, the energy intensity of GNP in the world has decreased by an average of 18%, and in industrialized countries - by 21 - 27%.

A similar situation occurs in the Republic of Belarus (Figure 1.1). During the period from 1997 to 2007, the country's GDP grew by 200.5%, while the consumption of fuel and energy resources remained practically at the same level - 104.5%. This contributed to a decrease in the energy intensity of GDP, relative to the data for 1997, by 47.9%. Energy intensity indicators of GDP, calculated in terms of purchasing power parity, for different countries of the world in 2002 are shown in Figure 1.2. As can be seen from these data, the energy intensity of GDP in Belarus was 0.73 kg CU / USD. In Russia this indicator was equal to 0.84, and in Ukraine - 0.89 kg CT / USD. It means,

Another problem of the economy of the Republic of Belarus is the energy intensity of the products of our enterprises. According to foreign experts, the energy intensity of products is on average 2 - 2.5 times higher than in industrially developed countries. So, for example, in the production of chemical fertilizers, we use 2.3 times more electricity, and 2.6 times more heat energy than abroad. When processing oil at our refineries, energy is consumed 1.8-2.5 times more than at similar foreign plants. A similar situation is observed in other sectors of the economy, as the energy intensity of agricultural products is 3-4 times higher than in developed countries.

All of the above shows that the world level of technology in the current structure of energy consumption allows to reduce energy consumption in energy-intensive industries by 1.5-2 times.

TOPIC 2. TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES

Energy resource any source of energy, natural or artificially activated, is called, in which the energy used by a person is concentrated.

Energy resources can be classified according to the following criteria:

1. According to the sources of obtaining resources, there are ─ primary (natural) and secondary.

Primary energy resources, in turn, are divided:

2.By methods of use on fuel and non-fuel;

3.based on the preservation of stocks at renewable and non-renewable.

TO fuel resources include combustible substances that are burned to obtain thermal energy, for example, all natural reserves of fuels (oil, gas, coal, peat, etc.).