Concepts to be Covered

Hello friends,
In this video, we will revise fourteenth chapter of Science – Sources of Energy.
In this video, we will be discussing following concepts:

1. Good source of energy

2. Types of Sources of energy – Conventional and non-conventional
3. Conventional sources of energy –
1. Fossil fuels
2. Thermal power plants
3. Hydro power plants
4. Biomass
5. Wind energy

 Non – conventional sources of energy

1.
1. Solar Energy
2. Energy from the sea –
1. Tidal energy
2. Wave energy
3. Ocean thermal energy
3. Geothermal Energy
4. Nuclear Energy
2. Environmental Consequences
3. Previous Years’ Questions

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1. Good source of energy

First thing to study in this chapter, is how to identify a good source of energy. These are
the characteristics of a good source of energy:
Characteristics of a Good Fuel:

 provide a large amount of continuous supply of energy per unit mass or volume.
 cheap and easily available.
 safe to store and easy to transport.
 should not pollute the environment.
 moderate ignition temperature.
 economical

2. Types of sources of energy

Sources of energy are basically of two types-

1. Conventional sources -sources of energy which have been in use for a long time.
For e.g., coal, petroleum, natural gas etc.
2. Non-conventional sources – sources of energy which are yet in the process of
development. They are renewable and ecologically safe. For e.g., solar energy,
tidal energy etc.

3. Let us now study about different conventional

sources of energy
1.
 Fossil fuels – Fossil fuels are conventional sources of energy. Let us quickly
look at some important points about fossil fuels:
1. Formed by decomposition of dead remains of living organisms.
2. Take millions of years for their formation and very difficult to
replenish.
3. Therefore, they are non-renewable sources of energy.
4. Uses –
 Used in gas stoves for cooking.
 Fuel in vehicles
 For generating electricity
 In various industries
5. Disadvantages-
 Non-renewable source, hence may exhaust in near future
 Harmful chemicals like oxides of carbon, nitrogen and
sulphur are released on burning fossil fuels
 Causes air pollution and acid rains
 Causes greenhouse effect
 threaten the ecological balance of the areas around fuel
extraction

Let us now see how fossil fuels are used in industries for generating electricity.

 The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor-blade assembly.

 The moving fluid acts on the blades to spin them and impart energy to the rotor.
 Thus, we see that basically we need to move the fan, the rotor blade, with speed
which would turn the shaft of the dynamo and convert the mechanical energy
into electrical energy.

This similar principle is used in thermal and hydro power plants.

b. Hydro Power Plants – Hydro power plants convert the potential energy of falling
water into electricity.
  high-rise dams are constructed on the river to obstruct the flow of water
 Water is collected in large reservoirs.
 The water level rises and the kinetic energy of flowing water gets transformed
into potential energy.
 Water is carried to turbine (which is at the bottom), through pipes.
 These turbines are then connected to generator and powerhouse, and the
electricity is supplied through power lines.

Since the water in the reservoir would be refilled each time it rains, it is a renewable
source of energy.

Disadvantages of constructing dams

These are few disadvantages of constructing dams due to which construction of Tehri
Dam on the river Ganga and Sardar Sarovar project on the river Narmada was also
opposed.

 Dams can be constructed only in a limited number of places, preferably in hilly

terrains
 Large areas of agricultural land and human habitation are to be sacrificed.
 Large ecosystems are destroyed when submerged under the water in dams.
 Release of large amounts of methane, due to submerged vegetation, which
increases greenhouse effect.
 Problem of rehabilitation of displaced people.

Biomass
The animal and plant products, which are sources of fuel, are known as biomass. For
example, cow dung cake is used as fuel for various household purposes. But these fuels
produce less heat, and more smoke. Therefore, new methods are used to make them
more efficient. For example –

1. Charcoal is produced when wood is burnt in a limited supply of oxygen and

water. Charcoal burns without flames, is comparatively smokeless and has a
higher heat generation efficiency.
2. Another way is to produce biogas by decomposing cow dung cakes, agricultural
wastes, vegetable wastes and sewage, in the absence of oxygen. Here you can
see the structure of a biogas plant –

Structure and working of a Biogas plant

1. Slurry is made by mixing animal dung with an equal amount of water in a mixing
tank.
2. Slurry is fed into the underground digester tank through a sloping inlet chamber.
3. Anaerobic microorganisms that do not require oxygen to decompose or break
down complex compounds of the cow dung slurry to produce bio gas in the
digester.
4. The produced biogas is collected inside the dome built over the digester tank.
5. As more and more biogas starts collecting, the pressure exerted by the biogas
increases. This forces the spent slurry into overflow tank via outlet chamber.
6. The collected biogas is taken out through the outlet valve and is supplied
wherever required.
7. The spent slurry is periodically removed and is used as a manure for plants.
8. To get continuous supply of gas, a prepared slurry is fed into the plant regularly.

Biogas is considered as a good fuel and these are the reasons for it –
Advantages of Biogas

1. high calorific value.

2. burns without smoke, leaves no residue and therefore causes no atmospheric
pollution.
3. slurry left behind is used as an excellent manure, rich in nitrogen and
phosphorus.
4. can be produced anywhere with less production cost and does not involve any
running cost.
5. provides a safe and efficient method of waste disposal.

Wind Energy
The kinetic energy of wind is used to do work. For example- a windmill is a turbine
which rotates due to the force exerted by wind on its adjustable blades.In a windmill, the
kinetic energy of wind can be either used to do some useful mechanical work or to
generate electricity.
Advantages and Disadvantages of harnessing Wind Energy

 environment-friendly
 efficient source of renewable energy.
 no recurring expenses for the production of electricity.

Limitations of harnessing wind energy-

 wind energy farms can be established only at those places where wind blows for
the greater part of a year.
 The wind speed should be higher than 15 km/h
 need some backup facilities (like storage cells) for the energy needs when there is
no wind.
 Requires large area of land.
 Requires high level of maintenance.
 Initial cost of set-up is very high.

4. Let us now study about different non-

conventional sources of energy
Solar energy
Energy from Sun’s radiations is known as solar energy. There is enormous amount of
solar energy obtained everyday and being in India, we are lucky to receive solar energy
for greater part of the year. Devices like solar cookers, solar water heaters etc. are used
to obtain energy from sun for various purposes. But these devices can be used at times
when there is sunlight outside.
To overcome this limitation, solar cells are used to convert solar energy into electricity.
There some advantages and some disadvantages of using solar energy. Some of these
you can see here –

Advantages of solar cells:

 The solar cells convert solar radiation directly into electricity.

 cost effective in remote and inaccessible areas where cost of installation of other
modes of energy (power transmission line) is very high.
 have no movable parts and hence they don’t need any maintenance.

Disadvantages of solar cells:

 A single cell does not produce enough energy for practical uses.
 The initial cost of installation of solar cells is very high.

Energy from the sea

We can also obtain energy from sea. This energy can be of three types –

1. Tidal Energy – You know that water level of sea rises and falls twice a day. This
happens due to gravitational pull of the moon. This rise and fall of water level is
known as tide. The energy produced due to difference in sea-levels is called tidal
energy. This tidal energy can be harnessed by constructing a dam across some
narrow opening in the sea. During high tides, the rising water enters the dam and
then, the water is made to fall over turbines to generate electricity. But this
generated electricity is not high enough to use on a large scale. Also, there are limited
sites on the sea where dams can be constructed. Thus, tidal energy cannot be used as a
major source of energy.
2. Wave energy- The strong winds blowing across the sea generate waves which
possess huge kinetic energy, which can be used to generate electricity by rotating
a turbine.
3. Ocean thermal energy – Next type of energy from sea is ocean thermal energy.
This is the energy available due to the temperature difference between the warm
surface of ocean and relatively cold water in deeper sections. The Ocean Thermal
 Energy (OTE) can be utilized to run Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
plant to produce electricity.
 In OTEC plant, the energy of warm surface water is used to convert a
volatile liquid like liquid ammonia into gaseous state.
 The vapours of ammonia at high pressure are used to run the turbines of
generators to produce electricity.
 The used vapours pass through a condenser, where cold water pumped
from the deeper parts of ocean condenses it to liquid again.
 This process is repeated again and again to produce electricity
continuously.

Another source of energy is geothermal energy. The energy obtained from hot molten
rocks and hot fluid trapped inside the earth is called geothermal energy.

1. Due to geological changes, molten rocks formed in the deeper hot regions of
earth’s crust are pushed upward and trapped in certain regions called hot spots.
2. When underground water comes in contact with the hot spot, steam is
generated.
3. Sometimes hot water from that region finds outlets at the surface. Such outlets
are known as hot springs.
4. The steam trapped in rocks is routed through a pipe to a turbine and used to
generate electricity.

Though the cost of production would not be much, but there are very few sites where
such energy can be exploited.

Nuclear energy –
The energy produced during a nuclear reaction such as nuclear fission or fusion is called
nuclear energy.

1. In the process of nuclear fission, the nucleus of a heavy atom (such as uranium,
plutonium or thorium),when bombarded with low-energy neutrons, can be split
apart into lighter nuclei.

When this is done, a tremendous amount of energy is released.

There are many advantages of nuclear energy. Some of these are:

 A small quantity of nuclear fuel is needed to produce a large amount of useful

energy.
  Nuclear power plants produce less atmospheric pollution (less emission of
greenhouse gases) than other power plants, if the nuclear fission reaction is
performed properly.
 It is a reliable source of energy. Unlike wind or solar energy, it can produce
energy even in adverse weather conditions.

But there are also some disadvantages of this source of energy –

 There is less availability of nuclear fuel (uranium) in our country.

 Also, the construction of nuclear power plants and the cost of power generation
is greater as compared to other sources of energy.
 Mainly, there is high risk of environmental contamination (due to radioactive
waste).

5. Environmental consequences
The demand for various sources of energy is increasing day by day. This increased
demand has different consequences on our environment, such as- burning of fossil fuels
causes air pollution and also increases greenhouse effect. Also, these sources are
exhaustible in nature and may not be available in near future, if consumed at the current
rate.
There are various renewable sources of energy such as solar energy, wind energy etc.,
which can be used to replace exhaustible and non renewable sources. But, then, the cost
of installing their plants, their availability is not reliable.
Hence, we should try saving these fuels, if we want to save them for our future needs.

Previous Years' Questions

1 Mark Questions

1. How is the increasing demand for energy adversely affecting our environment? [CBSE,
2010]

2 Marks Questions
1. List any four characteristics of biogas on account of which it is considered an ideal
fuel. [CBSE, 2008]
2. Discuss one limitation each for the extraction of energy from : [CBSE, 2008]

 Winds
  tides

3. How is charcoal obtained from wood? Why is charcoal considered a better fuel than
wood? [CBSE, 2009]
4. Describe how hydro-energy can be converted into electrical energy. Write any two
limitations of hydro-energy. [CBSE, 2009]
5. What is the main constituent of biogas? How is biogas obtained from biomass? Write
any two advantages of using this gas. [CBSE, 2010]
6. Mention any four limitations in harnessing wind energy on a large scale. [CBSE, 2010]

7. In the flow chart given below, fill in the blank spaces with the kind of energy
available. [Sample Paper 2008]

8. What is biogas? How is it obtained from biomass? Why is biogas considered an ideal
fuel? [Sample Paper 2010]
9. Why is there a need to harness non-conventional sources of energy? Give two main
reasons. [Sample Paper 2018]