Energy and place project
Essential Questions:
-How does energy production and consumption impact place?
-How does your sense of place, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions relating to energy production and consumption?
-How does energy production and consumption impact place?
-How does your sense of place, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions relating to energy production and consumption?
click here to read my scientific paper
Click Here to view mY infographic
After the process of our Capstone energy lab, I have realized how many factors play into the results of a lab and how difficult it is to design a perfect experiment that is not affected by the environment around it. In our lab, which was calculating the molar heat of paraffin wax, our results were very skewed compared to the known molar heat of paraffin largely due to heat lost to the surrounding environment. While observing other student's labs, I noticed that they had similar problems to us. For example, one group failed to let their calorimeter cool completely in between trials, which then changed their results. Before this lab, the experiments we did were all expertly designed and had little to no unaddressed possible sources of error, but researching and performing my own experiment made me realize just how thorough one has to be to achieve accurate results in an experiment.
While researching for my infographic, I learned how relatively inefficient most of our energy production methods are. Using our current method of converting fossil fuels into electricity, only 30% of the energy contained in the fuel is actually turned into electricity. Our renewable resources are even more inefficient, averaging just 18% efficiency. Currently, our only method of generating electricity that averages more than 50% efficiency is hydroelectric, which when implemented on huge rivers, can produce energy at up to a 90% efficiency. As hydroelectric power shows us, there is potential for us to vastly improve our current methods of electricity production, and therefore consume less fuel for an equivalent amount of energy, which has many benefits, both economic, social, and environmental.
While researching for my infographic, I learned how relatively inefficient most of our energy production methods are. Using our current method of converting fossil fuels into electricity, only 30% of the energy contained in the fuel is actually turned into electricity. Our renewable resources are even more inefficient, averaging just 18% efficiency. Currently, our only method of generating electricity that averages more than 50% efficiency is hydroelectric, which when implemented on huge rivers, can produce energy at up to a 90% efficiency. As hydroelectric power shows us, there is potential for us to vastly improve our current methods of electricity production, and therefore consume less fuel for an equivalent amount of energy, which has many benefits, both economic, social, and environmental.