Power generation

1. Power generation Jerry, Alex, Edward, Luke, Jason, Laurent

2. Biomass • Biomass is organic material made up of plant and animal waste. • Examples of biomass include wood, peat, straw, nut shells, sewage, and corn husks. • In a system, the organic waste decomposes to produce a gas called methane. • The methane gas can be burned to boil water to make steam. • The most biomass material used today is wood waste from lumber and from pulp and paper industries.

3. Geothermal Energy • Geothermal energy is the energy from hot water and steam. • Water is naturally heated by hot rock deep in Earth’s crust and rises to the surface as hot water and steam. • Geothermal energy sources at or near Earth’s surface are hot enough to heat homes and other buildings. • High temperature geothermal sources are found deep in areas where volcanic activity is located. • In Canada, geothermal sources hot enough to be used to drive turbines for electricity generation are located in British Columbia.

4. Tidal Energy • Tidal energy uses the energy of the gravitational pull of the Moon. • North America’s only tidal power generating station is in Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia, where the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy spin its turbines. • The station provides enough electricity for about 4500 homes. • Tests are under way in British Columbia and Nova Scotia for a promising new technology called tidal stream generator, which works like an underwater windmill. • Other marine energy sources that are being test include ocean wave energy and ocean thermal energy.

5. Fossil Fuels • Formed from organic matter of organisms that lived millions of years ago including coal, oil, and natural gas. • Fossil fuels are usually coal, burned in a generator to boil water. The steam turns turbines which generates electricity. • Big Bend Coal Power Station • Castle Gate Plant • Currant Creek Power Plant • The Mohave Power Station

6. Nuclear Energy • In a nuclear reactor, atoms of a heavy element, usually uranium, are split in a chain reaction. This splitting called nuclear fusion releases an enormous amount of energy, this energy is used to heat water to produce steam to turn a turbine. • The Darlington Nuclear Generating Station

7. Solar energy • 1839 a French scientist Edmond Becquerel soaked two metal plates in an electricity conducting solution. When Becquerel exposed the plate to sunlight, he can detect a small potential difference. • This energy has uses in calculator, light and international space stations. • Solar Farm • It includes rays of mirrors that focus sunlight onto a liquid that is heated and used to turn water into steam that drives turbines. • One of the world’s largest solar energy projects include solar farms in Sonia and Sault Ste. Marie.

8. Wind energy • It uses of the moving air that spins blades connected to a generator. The amount of energy produced is based o the amount of wind blowing. Wind energy provides about 1% of Ontario’s electricity.

9. Opg • Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is a public company wholly owned by the Government of Ontario. OPG is responsible for approximately 70% of the electricity generation in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Sources of electricity include nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, wind, and fossil fuel. Although Ontario has an open electricity market, the provincial government, as OPG's sole shareholder, regulated the price the company receives for its electricity to be less than the market average, in an attempt to stabilize prices. As of April 1, 2008 the company's rates has been regulated by the Ontario Energy Board.

10. Citation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Power_Generation Investigating science 9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil-fuel_power_station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel#Reserves