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SOURCES OF ENERGY

Importance of Energy: Energy is required for (a) Cooking Food (b) Lighting (c) Transport
(d) Running machines and gadgets (e) entertainment (f) Agriculture (g) Producing goods in
factory etc. In fact it is difficult to imagine life without energy.

Sun – The Ultimate Source of Energy:

Earth receives energy from the Sun in the form of (a) heat (b) light
This is the ultimate source of energy and all other forms of energy available results from
Solar Energy.

Useful Energy or net Energy: When we derive energy from a source it is often necessary
that we need to provide an amount of input energy. For example to burn a matchstick we
have to do work on it by rubbing it against a rough surface. When the input energy is
given the fuel source give certain amount of output energy. For any fuel source; Input
Energy < Output Energy
The difference in input and output energies is called useful energy.

Essential characteristics of a good source of energy:

(a) It should be capable of providing adequate amount of useful energy.
(b) The source should be capable of giving out energy in a Steady rate.
(c) It should be safe and convenient to use.
(d) It should be easy to store and transport.
We generally use energy as “fuel or electricity” to meet our requirements. Technology
helps us in converting other sources of energy into these forms.

Non–Renewable Energy Sources: Some energy sources like coal and petroleum were
formed over millions of years under special conditions. Since these conditions are not
prevalent now they are called rare or non–renewable Sources. By year 2020 it is estimated
that India and would exhaust is known oil reserves and in another 250 years its coal
reserves.

The use of non–renewable sources of energy should be discouraged because:

(a) They would deplete since replacement is not taking place.
(b) They are a major case of environment pollution.

The depletion of coal supply is accelerated by

(i) Depletion of petroleum oil
(ii) Growing populations
(iii) Increasing rate of consumption of energy

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Renewable Sources of Energy: The sources of energy that are likely to be available for a
long time and in abundance is called Renewable sources of energy.

The importance of classification of fuel sources:

The classification of fuels into renewable and non–renewable is extremely useful.
(a) It helps us in identifying fuel sources that are to be conserved.
(b) The knowledge that certain sources would be depleted encourages us to look for
alternate sources of energy which increases the technological development.

SOLAR ENERGY – NATURE AND COMPOSITION

The sun gets its energy from nuclear fusion reactions. The Earth receives a tiny fraction of
this energy. The radiation from Sun consists of
(a) Heat radiation (Infra – Red)
(b) Visible light
(c) Ultra violet radiations
(d) Gamma rays

Solar Constant: The energy from sun felling on 1m2 Area in 1 second on the periphery of
the earth’s atmosphere is called Solar Constant (1400 J/m2/see.)
It is estimated on the basis of solar radiation received on unit area perpendicular to the
direction of the ray at as average distance between sun and earth.

Energy received at the surface of the earth:

Sun

53% absorbed
& reflected
1400 J/m2/s
47%
periphery of earth’s atmosphere

Earth

1400 J of energy reaches a 1m2 area on the periphery of earth’s atmosphere but 53% of
the energy is reflected or absorbed and only 47% of this energy reaches the earth surface.

Atmosphere absorbs the harmful U – V radiations. The energy reaching earth is also
absorbed by land mass and water bodies inducing many biological and physical changes
like, photosynthesis, wind, storms, ocean waves, rain and snow fall.

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The Infrared radiations – Properties:
(a) Heat from sun is transferred in the form of Infra Red – radiations.
(b) All hot bodies emit Infra–Red radiations.
(c) One third of the sunrays are compared of Infra Red radiation.
(d) It heats up any body that comes in its path.
(e) A hotter body could emit infrared rays of shorter wavelength than a colder body.

Uses of Solar Energy: The ancient uses.

(a) Drying of food grains, fish and firewood.
(b) Drying of clothes.
(c) Obtaining salt from sea water etc.

The modern uses:

(a) In cooking with the help of Solar Cookers.
(b) Generating electricity in Solar Cells.
(c) In water heating and space heating.
(d) Agricultural uses like water pump and green houses.

Two principles on which Solar Devices works:

The energy incident on Earth’s surface is around 660J/sec.
This is a very minute amount of energy. So any solar device function by
(a) Collecting and focusing heat from a large area into a smaller area.
(e.g. solar cookers, geysers etc.)
(b) Converting Solar Energy into Electrical Energy.
(e.g. water pump etc.)

Solar Cooker:
The most important parts of a Solar Cooker are
(a) Reflector
Reflector
(b) Glass Sheet
(c) Insulated box Glass
sheet

Reflectors: The function of the reflector is to increase the amount of energy incident on
the glass pane of the Solar Cooker. It collects energy incident from a large area and focus
on the Glass pane. For higher temperature a parabolic or spherical mirror is used.

Glass sheet: Glass sheet has the property of allowing infrared radiations of smaller
wavelength to pass through but block infra–red radiations of larger wavelengths from
passing out of the cooker. Since the radiations coming in are of smaller wavelength and
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the radiation emitted by the inside the cooker is of larger wavelength, heat builds up
gradually in the cooker to reach temperatures of 100 – 140oC.

Insulating box: The box in which the Solar cooker in encased is insulated to prevent
leakage of heat into the environment.

Black coating: The inner walls and the cooking containers are painted black since black
is a good absorber as well as emitter of heat radiations.

Miscellaneous: Solar Cookers can be used to prepare slow cooking items only. However
two to three items can be cooked simultaneously in this cooker.

GREEN HOUSE EFFECT AND A CAR PLACED IN SUN

A green house: It is a glass structure used to protect plants from cold conditions.

Green house effect: Some enclosed structures allow heat radiations of shorter
wavelength to come in but does not allow layer wavelength to go out resulting in heating
up of interiors.

Since the wavelength of radiations emitted by a hotter body is smaller. The radiations
emitted by sun has very small wavelength so it can enter inside a car parked in the sun
through the glass but the heat radiation emitted by the interiors of car are longer due to
the low temperature hence it cannot escape out through the glass. This results in building
up of heat inside the car. This process is called green house effect.

Solar Water Heater: In solar water heaters a copper pipe painted black is coiled as shown
in figure. The coiling of the pipe increases the surface area exposed to heat radiations. The
copper pipe is placed in an insulated box with a glass pane.
Hot water

Cold Water Tank

Hot water
Glass pane
Hot water
Hot water to tap
(3) Cold water
(4)
(1) Solar Energy
To tap (2)
Cold water flow

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Solar Concentrators: A solar concentrator is a device usually a parabolic or spherical
converging mirror used to focus energy from a large area into a small area. Some
advanced concentrators can move so that it always faces the sun. a simple concentrator
can achieve high temperatures upto 180-200 oC the solar cookers of this type can be used
for frying and baking too

Solar Power Tower: Solar power tower refers to an array of concentrators focusing energy
on a small area and generally used for generating electricity. It consists of a tank filled
with water kept at some height (50-70 m) and the concentrators focusing energy on it. The
steam generated is used to run turbines and generate electricity.
A solar furnace at Mount Louis can generate up to 3000 oC. It has 3500 small mirrors.

Advantages of Solar Energy Systems:

¾ No fuel or electricity is used to run them
¾ They can be installed anywhere on earth where direct sunlight is available.
¾ Their upkeep and maintenance require minimal expenditure
¾ They are environment friendly and non-polluting

Disadvantage:
¾ Very high cost of installation

Solar Cells: The devices capable of converting solar energy into electric energy are called
Solar Cells. The first solar cells could convert 1% of solar energy into electricity. Modern
Solar Cells have efficiency as high as 25%. Silicon is commonly used material for solar
cells and it is abundant. Today multilayer silicon cells can even convert infrared
radiations to electrical energy achieving high efficiency.

Solar Panel: A standard solar cell of dimension 2 cm2 produces .7V of potential difference.
Hence a large number of cells are used to generate electricity for practical purposes. This
array is called a solar panel.

Solar cells are not so popular because it is very expensive and have low efficiency

Factors adding to the cost of solar cells:

¾ Manufacturing special grade silicon is costly
¾ The technology used is expensive
¾ Silver is used to connect the cells together
¾ Efficient storage system to store energy is unavailable
¾ Converting to AC add to the cost

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Applications:
¾ They are used as a power source in artificial satellites
¾ They are used in installations located at remote areas like TV relay stations, research
stations, traffic lights etc.
¾ Used in calculators and toys
¾ Finding applications in domestic use too.

WIND ENERGY
Wind energy is the result of motion in air created due to solar energy. Wind posses kinetic
energy which can be used for various useful purposes.

Older uses of wind:

(a) Winnowing
(b) Sailboats
(c) Wind Mills
(d) Flying Aeroplanes and Gliders
(e) Entertainment (flying kites etc)

Newer uses:
(a) Generating Electricity
(b) Doing Mechanical Work

Description of Wind Mill:

¾ It consent of a huge fan elected on top of a tower.
¾ No. of blades, shape of blades and height from ground are decided on the basis of
wind velocity and other related factors.
¾ Principle: The blades are designed to cause a pressure difference between its
different region when wind falls on it. This pressure difference produces a turning
effect on the blades.
¾ The speed of rotation of blades vary according to wind velocity.
¾ The rotatory motion of the blades are used to rotate a turbine and generate
electricity.

Wind Farms: Generally the electricity produced by a single windmill is not sufficient for
commercial purposes so a large no of windmills are erected on a given area called a wind
farm. The output of each wind mill is coupled together to get a larger output.

Limitations of Harnessing Wind Energy:

¾ It can only be installed in regions where wind is available throughout the year.
¾ The minimum wind velocity required is 15 km/hr.
¾ Require a large area of land.
¾ High cost of installation.

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Wind Energy is India: India has a wind energy potential of 20,000 MW, but current
capacity ranges around 1025 MW. Largest wind energy farm is near kanyakumari with a
capacity of 380 MW of Energy.

ENERGY FROM WATER

Energy of water is also due to Solar Energy which maintains the water cycle.

Older Uses:
¾ Energy of flowing water was used for transporting logs.
¾ Water wheel was used for grinding grains.
¾ Energy of flowing water is channels in for irrigates.

Energy transformations during water cycle:

¾ Solar Energy is incident on water bodies.
¾ Solar Energy is used by water vapour to increase its potential energy.
¾ The potential energy of water vapour converts to kinetic energy of water droplets in
rain and snowfall.
¾ Again as water or melted snow when moving from higher altitude to lower altitude
increases kinetic energy.
(PE)
(PE)

Solar Energy Rain & Snow

(KE)
Higher Altitudes (PE)

gaining (PE)

Water
Water flowing down
Increasing (KE)

Water bodies

Hydroelectric Power Plants: Hydroelectric Power Plants use the Kinetic Energy of the
water flowing down to run turbines and generate electricity. Usually the water is stored in
reservoirs to give it high potential energy before used for generating electricity.

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Reservoir

Dam walls

Water High Output Electricity

PE Generator

Water at
High KE
Turbine
(Rotational KE)

To river / canal

Advantages of Hydroelectric Projects:

(a) Generates electricity.
(b) Can be used for irrigation.
(c) Controlling floods.

Disadvantages:
(a) Can be established only in Some places.
(b) Large arable land area get submerged.
– Creates environment problem.
– problem of rehabilitating people.
– plant and animal habitat get destroyed.

Mini Hydro plants: Mine or micro hydroelectric projects can be established only in hilly
region or across Small Irrigation dams. These can only be build in regions where water
falls through 10 metres.

Ocean Energy Systems: Tidal Energy: Energy possessed by rising and falling tides are
called tidal energy.
A dam is constructed across a narrow opening to the sea. Water moves in to the dam
during high tide and out of the dam during low tides through tunnels in the dam wall.
The kinetic energy of the water moving in and out of the tunnel is used to generate
electricity by turbines placed in the tunnels.

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High tide
OCEAN

Water flow
DAM

Generator
Turbine
LOWTIDE

Reasons why tidal Energy is not popular:

¾ The rise and fall of the tides is not of such scale that large scale electricity can be
generated.
¾ Dams can only be built at few sites.

Ocean Wave Energy: The kinetic energy possessed by sea waves can be used to generate
useful energy. The total energy due to waves is 2 – 3 million MW throughout the world.

Reasons for unpopularity of this form of energy:

¾ Limited Sites where energy can be fruitfully harnessed.
¾ 40 MW/Km of coastline is the minimum average energy density required.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Plants: This uses the temperature difference
that exists in ocean water at different depths. A 20oC temperature difference for a depth of
1000 m is sufficient to run as OTEC plant.
In one OTEC system, CFC or Ammonia in liquid form are used. Here the liquids boil at the
temperature existing at the warm ocean surfaces. The vapours generated is used to drive
to turbine. The vapours are finally condensed by pumping up colder water from the
depths of sea.

Advantage over other ocean energy systems: OTEC System can be operated
throughout the year, day and night.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
It is one of the few sources of energy which do not directly come from the sun. It
involves the use of the thermal energy of the inside of the earth.

Hot Spots: These are areas where molten magma is pushed into due to geological
changes. This magma collects at some depth below the earth’s surface and are called Hot
Spots.

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Natural Seysers: When hot spots come in contact with underground water bodies they
generate steam which may escape to the surface of earth through huge cracks in the
stone. This steam and water is at a high pressure and can be used to generate electricity.

Advantages over Conventional power generation:

1. It is available 24 hrs throughout the year.
2. It is clean and environment friendly.
3. Cost of electricity generation is almost half.

Geothermal Energy utilization in India & the world: In India there are limited places
where Geothermal energy can be harnessed. It is being done in Madhya Pradesh. USA and
New Zealand have a number of plants based on geothermal energy.

BIO ENERGY:

Biomass is another form of Solar Energy: Plants absorb Solar Energy to store energy in
the form of chemical energy in the process of photosynthesis is which forms the biomass.
The animals down the line in food chain again use this stored energy and further store
energy is their body mass.

Bio Energy Constituted by:

(a) Muscular energy
(b) Energy in decaying plant and animal bodies.
(c) Energy in wood, crop residues, baggage etc.
(d) Energy in animal excreta.

Smokeless Chulhas: Traditional chulhas can only convert 8 – 10% of the biomass energy
to useful energy moreover the burning is incomplete and polluting.
Smokeless chulhas are scientifically designed chulhas which promotes fuel efficiency and
at the same time is pollution free and hygienic

Destructive distillation of wood:

Charcoal Wood Gas

Tar

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When wood is heated in limited supply of oxygen the volatile materials and water is
removed from it. A black fluid called coal tar and wood gas are produced in this process.
The residue left is charcoal.

Charcoal is as expensive fuel: Destructive distillation of 1kg wood yields 250 gm of

charcoal. Hence it is considered to be as expensive fuel.

Charcoal is a better fuel than wood:

• Charcoal burns easily
• It produces less smoke
• It has double the calorific value than wood

Biogas: Biomass like Animal dung, Sewage, crop residues, vegetable wastes, water
hyacinth, poultry droppings, Agro Industry wastes etc, can be decayed under the absence
of oxygen (an aerobic condition) to produce a gas rich in methane. This is called biogas.

Biogas plant: The main parts of a biogas plant of any type are
(a) Input tank (b) Output tank
(c) Digester tank (d) Gas tank

Input tank: This is connected to the digester through a pipe and is used to put in
Biomass into the digester tank

Output tank: This tank is used to collect the digested slurry which acts as an excellent
fertilizer.

The digester tank: There are anaerobic bacteria present in the digester task which
decomposes biomass to produce gases like Methane (75%), carbondioxide, hydrogen and
hydrogen sulphide.

Gas tank: The gas tank stores the biogas produced in the digester. From the gas tank
biogas is supplied through outlet pipes to household. Biogas is also sometimes used for
electricity generation.

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TYPES OF BIOGAS PLANT

(a) Floating Gasholder type:

Gas tank

Gas
Inlet tank
Outlet tank

digester

Floating gas holder type biogas plant consists of a steel tank capable of floating
above a layer of biogas. The main Advantage of the plant is that gas is available at a
higher pressure in this type of plant. It is used were cow dung used as Biomass.

(b) Fixed dome type:

Gas tank
Gas
Inlet tank Outlet tank

digester

Fixed dome type has a fixed dome shaped gas tank usually made by laying bricks. It
can use all types of biomass to produce gas.

Fixed dome type biogas plant is cheaper:

(i) It can be constructed by laying bricks.
(ii) It can accommodate other bio wastes like human excreta besides cow dung.
(iii) It lasts longer than floating type plant.

Advantages of producing biogas:

• Biogas is smokeless
• It can be used for domestic as well as commercial purposes.
• It can be used to generate electricity
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• It leaves no residue
• It gives excellent manure as by-product
• It is a safe method to dispose off wastes.

HYDROGEN AS A FUEL

Advantages:
1. It can be easily produced by electrolysis of water or as an industrial by product.
2. It is non polluting as the product of combustion is water.
3. It has high calorific value.
4. It is used as a fuel in space ships and high temperature flames.

Disadvantages:
1. Technical constraints in producing, and usage due to explosive nature.
2. Storage and transport is extremely difficult.

Technical achievements in using hydrogen:

1. Fuel cell: Fuel cells produce energy from hydrogen using a controlled reaction and
store it for future use.
2. Some materials are being developed which can absorb hydrogen and mole it
available for use later.

Alcohol as a fuel:
• It reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water.
• It can be manufactured in large quantities by fermentation of sugars.
• A mixture of Alcohol and petrol is being used in many countries as automobile fuel.
• Many technical & practical problems prevents it from beings used in a large scale as
fuel.

FOSSIL FUELS

Coal & Petroleum: Coal is the remains of plants that has been fossilized over millions of
years whereas petroleum is the fossils of marine animals and plants. Thus fossil fuels are
energy of sun trapped in dead plant and animals.

Coal:
• Coal deposits are found below the earth.
• Carbon is the main constituent of coal.
• The higher the carbon percent in coal the better it is

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The varieties of coal:
Peat (most inferior) – 27% carbon
Lignite – 28 – 30% carbon
Bituminous – 78 – 87% carbon
Anthracite (best quality) – 97 – 98% carbon

Coke: Coal is converted to coke by destructive distillation. Coke is used as a reducing

agent in metallurgy.
Coal generally has a high calorific value.

Petroleum:
• The main constituents of petroleum are hydrocarbons. It can be said to a complex
mixture of hydrocarbons and compounds of carbon with oxygen nitrogen and
sulphur.
• They are the dead remains of marine organisms fossilized beneath rocks.
• Petroleum was protected by these rocks from seeing into surface of the ocean.
• Wells are drilled in these rocks to take out petroleum.
• The petroleum obtained from oil well is called crude oil.

Fractional Distillation:
Crude oil is separated into its component by fractional distillation

Petroleum Gas

Petroleum (400C)

Naphtha (1100C)

Kerosene (1800C)

Heater
Diesel (2600C)

Petroleum Fuel oil (3400C)

Fractional distillation uses the differences in boiling points of different fractions of crude
oil to separate them.

Components of petroleum obtained after refining:

Non fuels (not readily combustible)
• Asphalt

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• Lubricating oil
• Paraffin wax

Fuels:
(a) Fuel oil: It is used in furnaces and boilers. It is considered better than coal as it
leaves no residue.
(b) Petrol: It is mainly used as a fuel in light automobiles.
(c) Diesel: It is used as a fuel in heavy automobiles and locomotives generate electricity
in water pumps.
(d) Kerosene: It is used for domestic cooking and lighting it is also used as aviation
fuel.
(e) Petroleum gas:
• Main constituent is Butane; other hydrocarbons like ethane and propane are
also present.
• It has high calorific value and is a clean fuel.
• It can be liquefied (LPG) under high pressure

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG):

• Domestic cooking gas is LPG. The LPG is stored is cylinder and as one opens the
regulator the liquid turns to gas due to decrease in pressure and reaches the burner.

Safety Precautions while using LPG:

• The valve & stove should be kept in off position when not in use.
• The stove and the rubber tubing should confirm to standards.
• Rubber tubing’s to be examined periodically for cracks.

In case of leakage:
– do not switch any appliance on or off.
– open all windows and door
– should not do any activity that may produce a spark.

Note: To detect leakage; since LPG is odourless lens a foul smelling gas called ethyl
mercaptan is added to it.

Natural Gas:
• Natural gas is a valuable fuel found along with petroleum in oil fields.
• It mainly contains methane.
• It supplied through pipe for domestic or commercial use in areas close to oil fields.

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Compressed Natural Gas (CNG): The natural gas is subjected to high pressure and
converted to liquid form called CNG. This makes it easy to transport through pipelines or
tankers.

Uses of Natural Gas:

• It has been used as a fuel in Industries.
• It has been used in power generation.
• Used as a source of hydrogen for fertilizer.
• Being on environment friendly fuel, its use as an automobile fuel is being promoted.

Natural Gas is non polluting: On combustion it gives carbon dioxide water and no
pollutants

Note: India has a reserve of 100 billion m3 of Natural gas reserve.

Calorific value of fuels: Heat liberated in Joules by burning 1gm of a particular fuel is
called its calorific value.
Q = (C.V.) × mf
(heat liberated) (calorific value) (man of fuel)
(Joules) (J/kg or J/gm) (kg or 8)

In numerical problems: If we are using this heat liberated to increase the temperature by
(∆T) of a vessel of mass (M) and water of mass (m) in it then.
Q = m CV ∆T + m CW ∆T
when CV and are the specific heat of the vessel and water respectively.

Ignition temperature: When a combustible material is supplied with heat its

temperature rises to a certain minimum value before it starts burning. This minimum
temperature is called its Ignition temperature.

A wet cloth do not catch fire: When a wet cloth is exposed to fire its temperature rises
but don’t reach the ignition temperature since the heat energy is being used up in heating
and vaporizing the water. Once the water vaporizes then the cloth is able to reach ignition
temperature and burn.

Conditions for burning:

1. The material should be combustible at a certain ignition temperature
2. Heat should be available to take the combustible substance to its ignition
temperature.
3. Presence of oxygen.

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Colour of flame
In gas burners or kerosene shows sometimes the fuel burn with yellow flame and some
times with blue flame.
(a) Blue flame: A blue flame shows complete combustion.
(b) Yellow flame: Yellow flame is produced when unburnt or partially burned particles
rise up and glow giving yellow color to the flame. In wick type kerosene stove the
cylindrical composure can be adjusted to increase oxygen supply.

Improved chulhas: Improved chulhas allow better combustion of fuels by making oxygen
available in plenty thus they are known as smokeless chulhas. Better combustion also
ensures more heat from fuel.

Controlling Combustion:
(a) By reducing oxygen supply:
A thick street of metal is used to cover a coal sigree to put of fire by cutting down the
oxygen supply.
(b) By cutting off fuel supply:
When we turn off the LPG regulator we are stopping the fuel supply to put off the
flame.
(c) By Lowering Ignition temperature:
When we blow off candle we are replacing the hot air around the wick by colder air
hence lowering ignition temperature.

Water as a fire extinguisher:

• Water cuts off oxygen supply by forming an envelope around the fuel.
• It lowers the ignition temperature of the fuel.

Ensuring efficiency of heating devices: Cleaning of oxygen supply inlets and fuel supply
inlets ensures proper combustion and efficiency of heating devices like stoves etc.

Choosing a good fuel:

(a) It should burn at a steady rate (neither fast nor too slow)
(b) There should not be any residue left.
(c) No polluting substance should be produced on combustion
(d) should be easily available at reasonable cost.
(e) should have high calorifc value.
(f) The ignition temperature should be well above room temperature.
(g) It should be controllable.
(h) should not be poisonous.
(i) should not evaporate at room temperature.

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