US Electrical Energy Production Ripping US Water Supply

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May 172012
 

The Emergency Email & Wireless Network, http://www.emergencyemail.org/newsemergency/anmviewer.asp?a=1686&z=34

Scientists, climatologists and energy experts share a growing concern: the need for water in the production of energy, especially in regions that are experiencing serious drought. Generating power – whether it be from fossil fuels or renewable energy sources – requires large amounts of water. How are the nation’s energy producers are facing this challenge?

Water is also used to cool fuel rods at nuclear plants and to generate steam to power turbines. The biofuel industry needs water for irrigation, fermentation and the production of ethanol and biodiesel fuels.

Alexander Ochs, director of climate and energy at the Worldwatch Institute, says that adds up to a lot of water. “Per megawatt hour, coal uses 500 to 1000 gallons of water for the production of just one megawatt hour of electricity,” said Ochs. “If we look at all the plants combined in the U.S., all the thermo-electric plants [powered by steam] in the US in 2008 alone, they drew 60 billion to 170 billion gallons of water, per year.”

Without water, most types of energy could not be produced. Even renewable energy, like geothermal and solar, use water to cool equipment and to clean the collector panels. Those requirements have led California, Massachusetts and several Midwestern states to halt the operations of some power plants.

“Places like the Midwest where water is a very scarce resource already today, a number of power plants have actually been halted, and this is actually true for across the United States,” said Ochs. (…)

[Please find the full article HERE]

Sản xuất năng lượng phải đối phó với tình trạng khan hiếm nước

 online interview, tv interview  Comments Off on Sản xuất năng lượng phải đối phó với tình trạng khan hiếm nước
Mar 212012
 

Zulima Palacio, 21.03.2012 20:00 

Gần như mọi hình thức sản xuất năng lượng đều cần tới những khối lượng nước rất lớn. Chẳng hạn như than, giúp sản xuất 50% điện sử dụng tại Mỹ, cần có nước để khai mỏ cũng như chuyên chở, và làm nguội hay làm trơn thiết bị. Nước cũng được sử dụng để làm nguội những thanh năng lượng tại các nhà máy hạt nhân và tạo hơi nước cho các tuốc bin điện. Công nghệ nhiên liệu sinh học thì cần nước để tưới tiêu, dùng cho tiến trình lên men và sản xuất ethanol cũng như các loại nhiên liệu diesel sinh học.

Ông Alexander Ochs, giám đốc về khí hậu và năng lượng tại viện Worldwatch, nói tất cả những chuyện này khiến người ta phải cần tới thật nhiều nước: “Cứ mỗi megawatt giờ, than dùng từ 500 tới 1.000 ga lông nước [1 ga lông tương đương với 3.785 lít], chỉ để sản xuất 1 megawatt giờ điện năng. Nếu chúng ta gộp tất cả các cơ xưởng tại Mỹ, tất cả các nhà máy nhiệt điện tại Mỹ chỉ trong năm 2008, thì những cơ xưởng đó cần từ 60 tỉ tới 170 tỉ ga lông nước mỗi năm.”

[Find the full article, in Vietnamese, HERE]

 

US Energy Production Facing Limits of Water Scarcity

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Jan 082012
 

Zulima Palacio, Voice of America, January 08, 2012 7:00 PM

Scientists, climatologists and energy experts share a growing concern: the need for water in the production of energy, especially in regions that are experiencing serious drought.  Generating power – whether it be from fossil fuels or renewable energy sources – requires large amounts of water.

Nearly all forms of energy production use large amounts of water.  Coal, which generates nearly 50 percent of the electricity in the U.S., needs water for mining and transport, and to cool and lubricate equipment. Water is also used to cool fuel rods at nuclear plants and to generate steam to power  turbines. The biofuel industry needs water for irrigation, fermentation and the production of ethanol and biodiesel fuels.

Alexander Ochs, director of climate and energy at the Worldwatch Institute, says that adds up to a lot of water. “Per megawatt hour, coal uses 500 to 1000 gallons of water for the production of just one megawatt hour of electricity,” said Ochs. “If we look at all the plants combined in the U.S., all the thermo-electric plants [powered by steam] in the U.S. in 2008 alone, they drew 60 billion to 170 billion gallons of water, per year.”

Without water, most types of energy could not be produced. Even renewable energy, like geothermal and solar, use water to cool equipment and to clean the collector panels.  Those requirements have led California, Massachusetts and several Midwestern states to halt the operations of some power plants.“Places like the Midwest where water is a very scarce resource already today, a number of power plants have actually been halted, and this is actually true for across the United States,” said Ochs.

[please find the full article HERE]