"Wisdom begins in wonder" – Socrates
Tag: Mechanical Engineering
The Problem with Silicon Wiring in Solar PV Cells
10/29/18
“How does silicon wiring harm solar PV Cells?”
Silicon wiring is needed for the electrons produced in solar PV cells to move around. However, the wires on the front of the solar cells cover 5-10% of the surface and reflect incoming light, thereby lowering the efficiency. As a result, there are many Problems with Silicon Wiring in Solar PV Cells.
Image credit http://davebuemi.com
Why Brazil Should Develop Offshore Wind Energy Infrastructure in its South
10/28/18
“Why should Brazil develop off-shore wind energy in its southern states?”
The nation of Brazil is a behemoth. Taking up half of the land and population of South America, it needs a vast amount of energy. And to make it sustainable, it should seek to maximize all of the resources available to it. One promising technology is off-shore wind. Since the Southern states by Porto Alegre have some of the highest offshore wind speeds, it would only make sense for Brazil to Develop Offshore Wind Energy Infrastructure there.
Image credit http://latinamericanscience.org
Energy Disaggregation
10/26/18
“How can we filter out the energy consumption of each individual appliance in a building?”
Different appliances have different energy consumption patterns. And sometimes we would like to analyze them individually without turning off the other ones. So how can we accomplish this using our engineering mindset? Well, what if we were to simply apply signal processing to obtain their plots? This is known as Energy Disaggregation and can be used to see which appliances are taking up the most energy.
Image credit lids.mit.edu
How More Extreme Coldwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure
10/25/18
“How will Transportation Infrastructure be harmed by more extreme coldwaves?”
Transportation infrastructure will definitely be impacted by the changing weather. But climate change is doing much more than rising temperatures. More extreme coldwaves in certain parts of the earth are resulting from changing polar vortex. The behemoth damage brought onto transportation systems includes more delays in train/plane schedules, heavier icing of streets, and more stress on structures. This is How More Extreme Coldwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure.
How More Extreme Heatwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure
10/24/18
“How will transportation infrastructure be harmed by more extreme heat waves?”
With the ascent of more extreme temperatures, heatwaves will more frequent and more deadly. This will affect all sectors of critical infrastructure systems, transportation being one of them. With these new temperatures, railroads will buckle, cement will be deformed, and transit schedules will be vastly transformed. This is How More Extreme Heatwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure.
Image credit https://www.ucsusa.org
Why The Grid Needs to be Repaired to Ensure Climate Change Resilience
10/23/18
“Why can’t we truly have a resilient grid until repairs are made?”
With the ascent of global temperature change, the grid will need to adapt to ensure proper resilience. However, to building against higher temperatures and more extreme weather events will require much more than putting more batteries on the main grid. The current components of the grid will also need to be repaired since much of it has already run its life cycle. As a result, The Grid Needs to be Repaired to Ensure Climate Change Resilience.
Image credit spectrum.ieee.org
How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket
10/22/18
“How can extreme weather events cause energy prices to go out of whack?”
When the weather gets too hot or too cold, people will turn on HVAC systems to compensate. This will cause greater demand on the electricity system, which in turn will lead to more constraints and therefore higher costs for everyone. This is How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket. The advent of climate change will only exacerbate this, as extreme weather events will become far more frequent. So in the end, it will pay in the long term to upgrade critical infrastructure systems to more resilient standards.
Image credit Bigerna, S. (2018). Estimating temperature effects on the Italian electricity market. Energy Policy, 118, 257-269.
Why We Need to Expand Coastal Barriers for Climate Change Resilience
10/21/18
“Why should we expand coastal barriers to withstand against climate change?”
As the global average temperatures and sea levels continue to rise, the world will need to adapt in response. Part of this will include expanding coastal barriers to prevent against widespread destruction as seen in New Orleans and Houston.
Image credit images.arcadis.com
How Climate-Induced Coastal Flooding Will Harm Power Generation
10/20/18
“How will coastal floods make worse by climate change harm power generation?”
As the average temperature of the Earth rises, so will its sea-levels. This will spell major trouble for areas with large amounts of coastal power generation, as they may soon become flooded. As many as 100 of such facilities in the US are at risk for this phenomenon. Passive sea level rises will not be the only problem facing generation facilities, but also climate exacerbated storms could rip apart infrastructure in the same way as Fukushima. This is How Climate-Induced Coastal Flooding Will Harm Power Generation.
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