Renewable Energy

Introduction
1. With the Earth’s supply of fossil fuels
perpetually declining, new and
exciting energy systems are being
designed to exploit sustainable
resources.
(1) perpetually: 不斷地 (2) exploit: 開採 (3)
sustainable: 可維持的
2. Each year the global population is
increasing at an exponential rate, creating
a ravenous demand for energy.
3. Fossil fuels cannot sustain this and it is
forcing governments across the globe to
re-evaluate how they are going to provide
power for future generations.
(1) exponential: 指數的 (2) ravenous: 狼吞虎嚥
 Types of renewable energy
Harnessing the power of sunlight, wind, rain,
tides and geothermal heat, these technologies
are slowly repositioning the balance of power
away from finite resources and towards
sustainable ones, mitigating long-held fears
over a world post-oil and delivering power
generation on a domestic as well as
industrial level.
(1) harness: 控制 (2) finite: 有限的 (3) mitigate: 減緩
 Solar Furnace
1. The Odeillo-Font-Romeu solar power
station in the Eastern Pyrenees, France.
2. Positioned in front of the reflector is an
array of 63 flat orientating mirrors that
automatically track the motion of the
Sun, reflecting incident radiation onto
the parabolic reflector mirror.
(1) array: 陣列 (2) orientate: 向東的 (3) parabolic: 碗蝶狀 ( 拋物線 )
 How many mirrors does the furnace have and how
many kilowatts of power does it produce?

3. The reflector comprises 9,500 mirrors

that concentrate the Sun’s rays onto a
dark-coated furnace at is focus.
4. The system is capable of producing
thermal power of 1,000 kilowatts, and
achieving a temperature of 3,800 degrees
Celsius within the furnace.
(1) coated: 塗料的
 Pelamis Wave Energy Converter
1. The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter from
Pelamis Wave Power is a system designed
to generate renewable electricity from
ocean waves.
2. The system consists of a semi-submerged,
articulated structure (180 metres long and
four meters in diameter) comprising
cylindrical sections linked by joints.
(1) submerge: 淹沒的 (2) articulated: 整體的 (3) cylindrical: 圓柱的
 How does Pelamis Wave
Energy converter work?
3. These joints, under the pressure of wave-induced
motion, move and are resisted by hydraulic rams,
which pump high-pressure fluid through
hydraulic motors to drive electrical generators and
produce electricity.
4. This energy is then fed from each joint down an
umbilical and then carried back to shore in a
single large seabed feed.
(1) resist: 抗拒 (2) hydraulic: 水力的(3) ram: 反覆灌輸 (4) umbilical: 中央的
 How many Kilowatts does
each converter make?
5.Each Pelamis Converter is rated at
750KW and on average a unit will
produce 25-40 percent of that rating
annually, which is the annual
electricity demand for roughly 500
homes.
 SeaGen tidal Generator
1. The SeaGen tidal generator from Marine
Current Systems is an operational tidal system
based in Strangford Narrows in Northern
Ireland.
2. The system consists of twin submerged axial-
flow rotors, measuring 16metres in diameter,
which are attached to a central machine and
control tower that is fixed to the seabed.
(1) axial: 成軸的 (2) rotor: 轉片
 How does the SeaGen work?

3. Both rotors on the SeaGen sport a unique feature

that allows the blades to be pitched through 180
degrees, allowing them to operate in both tidal
directions.
4. Appearing like a upside-down submerged
windmill, SeaGen works by converting high-
velocity currents into usable electricity
throughout the tidal cycle-much as a windmill
utilizes the power of the wind to rotate its sails.
(1) windmill: 風車 (2) utilize: 使用
 How many Kilowatts does the
SeaGen produce annually?
5. Indeed, its large-scale rotors-aided by the
400 million gallons of water that flow past
it twice a day-can develop a rated power of
1.2 MW at a current velocity of 2.4 m
every second.
6. This gives SeaGen the ability to deliver
about 10MW per tide, which annually
amounts to 6,000 MWh of energy.
 Wind Turbines
1. Among the world’s most developed
renewable energy systems, wind
turbines take the mechanics of a
traditional windmill and upscale
them dramatically in order to obtain
energy from wind which can
converted into electricity.
 The consist of a wind turbine

1. The most common wind turbine in

production is the horizontal axis
variety.
2. These consist of a main rotor shaft and
electrical generator at the top of a large,
tapered, cylindrical tower.
 How does the wind turbine
work?
This type of turbine allows the wind to
rotate its three fixed blades in order to
generate mechanical, rotational energy,
which is then in turn converted into
electrical energy by the installed
electrical generator.
 Where are the turbines
installed?
1. Wind turbines are often installed en
masse in highly windy areas, such as
coastal regions, in massive wind farms.
2. The largest wind farm in the world is
the Roscoe Wind Farm in Texas, which
has an epic 627 turbines and total
installed capability of 781.5MW.
 Geothermal power plants
1. Geothermal energy is power extracted
from heat stored inside the Earth.
2. The heat is generated from radioactive
decay, volcanic activity, core
convection and solar energy absorbed
at the Earth’s surface.
 How does the heated water to
be extracted?
1. A diagram of a geothermal power plant
showing the drilling of a borehole to a depth
of 5Km.
2. At this depth, a layer of water has formed
from rainwater draining through the ground.
3. The water is heated by magma, and the
borehole enables the energy of the heated
water to be extracted.
 How does power plants
produce power?
 Geothermal power plants pump water
down a borehole into hotspots a few
kilometers beneath the Earth, then force
it out of a second borehole into a steam
turbine to produce electricity.
 Shale Oil