The Horse 2019/20

Wind turbine

Produced energy from wind is renewable. The main part of producing energy out of wind is the wind turbine. In Swiss we got over 57 of them. But how do they produce energy out of wind? It’s simple. The turbines have three rotor blades which rotate when there is enough wind blow. By rotating, they start an engine which produces energy and uploads the energy into the power line. It is important for the wind farm to be able to store electricity so that it can also be used when the wind turbines are at a standstill - for example during maintenance work or difficult weather conditions in alpine winter. For space reasons, it will likely result in battery storage - six stores the size of shipping containers. Each storage facility must be able to store the daily production of electricity from a wind turbine.[Wind turbine, 2010] [How to save wind energy, 2017]

Picture: Wind turbine

Another type of mechanism with windpower is the windmill. In the middle age the farmer used the windmill to produce flour out of wheat.

Picture: Windmill

Wind turbine in Switzerland:

In Switzerland there are not so mandy windturbine, thats because siwtzerland is not a typical country for them. But in the canton of jura and in some mountains there are windtrubine. Switzerland has not so much space for those big windturbine,but in this case there are some ‘parks’ weher it has some windtubine that are enough. They are mostly build in industriezone.  [WWF_Wind energy_2017]

Change of Windturbine over Decades:

Between 1978 and 2010, the wind speed declined by an approximate 0.3 kilometers per hour per decade. From 2010 to 2017, however, the wind speed rose by 0.9 kilometers per hour. According to the survey, the electricity that could be selected from a conventional system using the wind has increased by a circular 17% since 2010. In addition, the increase was 22% in North America and Europe, and within 11% in Asia. So from year to year there are not more windturbine in switzerland, only when they find some free space they can build some even if the wind speed increases. [The expansion of wind energy in Switzerland_2017]

Here you find an interesting Video regarding the building of wind turbines.

[Building a wind turbine_2018]

Question: Wherecan you find the windmill?

Group: Silvan Vlaj, Luana Di Benedetto

What is Nuclear Energy?

Nuclear energy is a hot topic in today’s world. Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind haven’t yet proven themselves as viable solutions to meet the population’s wide-scale energy needs. With constantly growing energy demands, it’s imperative we explore nuclear as a dependable energy source. The process used to produce nuclear energy is called fission. Nuclear fission occurs when the atom of a nucleus is split, releasing very large amounts of energy. In nuclear power plants, atoms are continuously split, creating chain reactions that provide high amounts of sustainable energy for a long period of time. Nuclear Energy is not renewable.

Some Pros about Nuclear Energy: Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions, High Power Output, Inexpensive Electricity

Some Cons about Nuclear Energy: Past History of Nuclear Accidents, Target for Terrorism, Not a Renewable Fuel Source

Source: Kernenergie

Situation in Switzerland

In Switzerland there are 3 nuclear power plants. In the last few years the nuclear power plants lost their popularity, if you can say that like that. The danger and the waste produce of them is just too high. In 2017 the Swiss Voters accepted the energy strategy 2050. This means the nuclear power plants will shut down until 2050 and there will be no new ones built.

Impact on humans and the environement

If nuclear power is not handled correctly and there is a mistake, it can directly kill cells, or it can cause mutations to DNA. If those mutations are not repaired, the cell may turn cancerous. However Nuclear energy has perhaps the lowest impact on the environment. Including air, land, water, and wildlife of any energy source. It produces no harmful greenhouse gases, isolates its waste from the environment, and requires less area to produce the same amount of electricity as other sources.

How Long does it last

At the current rate of uranium consumption with conventional reactors, the world supply of viable uranium, which is the most common nuclear fuel, will last for 80 years.

Uranium mining

2 Examples

Efficiency of Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy has by far the highest capacity of any other energy source. This basically means nuclear power plants are producing maximum power more than 92% of the time during the year. That's about 1.5 to 2 times more as natural gas and coal units, and 2.5 to 3.5 times more reliable than wind and solar plants.

Usage of Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Energy is mostly used to produce electricity for our households.

Quiz Question:

Ho much of the worlds electricity is produced by Nuclear Energy?

A) 20%       B) 14%      C) 49%

Source: Nuclear Power Facts

Vocabulary:

Renewable -> Erneuerbar

Fission -> Kernspaltung

Target -> Ziel

Nina & Elena