[pf] wasting energy taken for granted: huge amounts.

· I've just put on:
http://members.tripod.com/~davd/APRR-010228.html#02-22-02 , part of an
environmental news item from the end of February, which contains:
"For every unit of electrical energy produced, three units of thermal
energy are also produced, so vast amounts of excess heat have to be dealt
with by the reactor operators."

· This occurs for all "heat engines" where a low-level random-motion energy
like heat is converted into a high-quality ("quality"=usefulness) energy
like the rotation of a turbine or the electricity in wires. So although the
article is about the vast amounts of energy that is being thrown away from
nuclear-electric plants instead of being used as industrial process heat or
district heating in the winter, the same happens for fossil-fuelled plants.
  This is in most places around the world, except for a few in Scandinavia
where virtually all the energy is being used not just a quarter of it.
(They put the power station centrally in a small town, the people being
workers in a number of industries clustered around the source of energy.)

· The excerpt I'm using from: 
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2001/2001L-02-22-02.html
  is:
            Nuclear Plants Turn Up the Heat 

WASHINGTON, DC, February 22, 2001 (ENS) - A endangered brown pelican was
found dead this morning by workers at the San Onofre nuclear plant on the
California coast. 

The bird's death points up claims made today by a coalition of
environmental groups in Washington, DC that the nuclear industry and the
federal agencies that regulate it are allowing endangered aquatic animals
and birds to perish rather than safeguarding them. 

"Licensed to Kill" was issued today by Nuclear Information and Resource
Service, Safe Energy Communication Council and Standing for Truth About
Radiation in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States. 

It is based on 18 months of research on the effect of a particular system
of cooling the steam used to produce power at nuclear reactors. 
Speaking at a news briefing to introduce the report at the National Press
Club in Washington, Scott Denman of the Safe Energy Communication Council
said, "it exposes the collusion of state and federal regulators that allow
this preventable damage to continue." 

All nuclear power plants use steam to spin turbines that produce
electricity. For every unit of electrical energy produced, three units of
thermal energy are also produced, so vast amounts of excess heat have to be
dealt with by the reactor operators. Nuclear plants are built near large
bodies of water because this is the cheapest way to discharge excess heat. 

The environmental groups' case turns on the difference in impact between
two methods of cooling the steam. 

One method, used by 59 of the 103 nuclear power plants in the United
States, is known as "once through cooling," according to David Lochbaum, a
nuclear safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. 

By this method, the cooling water is heated up about 30 degrees by the
steam and then returned to the ocean or lake adjacent to the nuclear reactor. 

The St. Lucie nuclear plant in Florida, for instance, uses one million
gallons a minute for once through cooling. Many endangered marine creatures
such as sea turtles and manatees are killed due to overheated water or
crushed in the water intake mechanism. 

But if cooling towers are employed instead, air is added to the water used
to cool the steam. Lochbaum says cooling towers take only one-tenth the
amount of water used by the once through cooling method. 
 ...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
sent to Pos Fut list by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
************************************************

==^================================================================
EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://igc.topica.com/u/?aVxifP.aVx3Cb
Or send an email To: positive-futures-unsubscribe@igc.topica.com
This email was sent to: archive+pfvs@csf.colorado.edu

T O P I C A  -- Learn More. Surf Less.
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
==^================================================================