2007-9-10

Utilization of new energies and renewable energies makes environmental protection and human sustainable development possible.

New energies refer to any forms of energies other than traditional energies. Any forms of such energy come from directly or indirectly heat energy from the sun or from a deep place in interior of the earth.

Renewable energies refer to those resources existed in the nature that can be renewable, sustainable for use and never exhausted; they are clean energies and have no or very less hazards to the environment; in addition, they are widely distributed and found everywhere for easy development and utilization locally.

New energies and renewable energies mainly include: solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, water energy, ocean energy, biomass energy, hydrogen energy and nuclear energy, etc.

Solar energy

Normally, it refers to the sunlight energy. There are three major forms in using solar energy: light-heat conversion, light-electricity conversion and light-chemical conversion. Solar energy products¡¯ ultimate purpose is to serve people¡¯s life, and integration of solar equipment and buildings is the trend of future solar energy development.

Picture 1: Solar Water Heater

Picture 2: Solar Cell Working Principle	Picture 3: Solar Cell

Wind energy

Wind energy is the kinetic energy produced by earth surface flow circulation. Wind energy resource is greatly influenced by land forms, which is mainly concentrated in coastal area and shrinking belt of open land. Major wind energy applications include: water pumping by wind-power, wind-power navigation aid and wind electric power generation, and the last one is the type most wildly applied in wind energy application.

Picture 4: Wind Electric Power Generation Sketch Map

Picture 5: Wind Electric Power Generation

Geothermal energy

Geothermal energy is originated from continuous thermonuclear reaction of radioactive elements in the interior of the earth which create mass heat energy that is emitted through terrestrial heat conduction, volcano eruption and earthquake, etc. Major geothermal energy applications include: geothermal electric power generation, direct use of geothermal energy, geothermal pumping technology, geothermal cooling technology, and geothermal terraced and comprehensive utilization technology, etc. Among them, geothermal energy electric power generation has become the major electric power generation method in some countries.

Picture 6: Principle of Geothermal Electric Power Generation

Picture 7: Geothermal Electric Power Generation in Iceland

Water energy

It refers to water body's kinetic energy, potential energy and pressure energy and other energy resources. The general meaning of water energy resource include river water energy, tide water energy, wave energy, ocean current energy and other energy resources; the narrowed meaning of water energy resource refers to river water energy resource. Major water energy application is for hydroelectric power generation.

Picture 8: Hydro-power Station Dam

Picture 9: Dam-type Hydro-power Station

Ocean energy

It is a kind of energy existed in ocean in forms of tide, wave, temperature difference and ocean current, which are received, stored and emitted by the ocean through various physical processes. Ocean energies includes: temperature difference energy, salinity gradient energy, ocean current energy, tide energy and wave energy, etc. which are mainly used for electric power generation.

Picture 10: Temperature Difference Electric Power Generation Principle
and Power Station Concept

Picture 11: Salinity Gradient Electric Power Generation Sketch Map

Picture 12: Canadian Anna Polis Tidal Power Station

Biomass energy

Biomass energy refers to various kinds of organisms produced by photosynthesis, which is a kind of energy form of solar energy stored in biomass in chemical forms, also one of clean energies that can be renewable, never exhausted and most friendly to earth environment. Major applications currently include: biomass marsh gas making technology, biomass gasification concentrated supply technology, biomass gasification electric power generation technology, fuel alcohol, biomass thermal cracking gasification technology, etc.

Picture 13: Sketch Map of Biomass and Carbon Circulation

Picture 14: Marsh Gas Electric Power Generation and Heat Supply Works

Picture 15: Biomass Electric Power Generation Equipment

Hydrogen energy

Hydrogen energy is the energy produced from chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen mainly through fossil fuel hydrogen making, electrolyzed water hydrogen making and biomass hydrogen making, etc. It is mainly applied to industrial fields including Aerospace propulsion, subsonic aircraft, automobile and ship driving power and fuel cells, etc.

Picture 16: Hydrogen Energy Applied to Aerospace Propulsion	Picture 17: Fuel Cell Working Principle

Nuclear energy

It is also known as atomic energy, which includes two major forms namely of fission energy and fusion energy. Nuclear fission is mainly applied to nuclear electric power generation, which is comparatively mature in technology. Nuclear fusion has several advantages: safe, no pollution and high efficient, which represents a kind of unlimited, clean, safe and ideal energy. Nuclear fusion research has made significant progress for the past half century.

Since 1998, China has officially started its own Superconducting Tokamak Plan. "Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak" (EAST) is the world first full superconducting Tokamak.

Picture 18: Nuclear Fission	Picture 19-a: Nuclear Fusion