Friday, March 16, 2012

Lecture 26 Summary and Notes

Some questions for the day...

1. What is CCS? What is the difference between carbon capture and carbon sequestration? Which of the two is easier? What will implementing CCS technology have on the efficiency (EROEI) of fossil fuel-burning thermal electricity generation plants? How is carbon captured? What are the potential mechanisms for carbon sequestration? How common are plants that use CCS technology in the US? In the world? How is the electricity generating industry preparing for the implementation of CCS technology?

2. How many dams are there in the US? How many of theses dams have electricity generation as their primary stated purpose?

3. How does a hydropower plant work? What are the major factors that need to be considered when siting a dam in order to maximize the potential generating capacity? How do dams negatively affect aquatic biodiversity? What is siltation? Why is siltation a problem with all hydroelectric dams? Why is siltation a particularly bad problem for CO river dams? What are the relative capital and ongoing costs associated with hydroelectric power? What is the average generation output for large dams relative to their capacity? How does siltation affect the capacity of a dam?

4. Where are most of the large hydroelectric facilities in the US? What are the roles of the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation in the construction of large hydro projects?

5. In general, where are the largest hydroelectric facilities in the world located? What about the largest planned hydroelectric facilities? What countries have the largest capacity and actual production from hydroelectric facilities? How is this expected to change in the foreseeable future? Which countries have relatively large proportions of their total electricity generation portfolio coming from hydroelectric facilities?

Slide from lecture today are on Sakai. There is no reading assignment for Monday

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