A report, World Energy Assessment (WEA2000), estimated recoverable world geother

Question

A report, World Energy Assessment (WEA2000), estimated recoverable world geothermal resources would enable electric power generation at a rate of about 5 times 1021 J/yr, about 10 times the estimated world energy used in the year 2006. On average, a typical coal-fired power plant produces 1023 kg of carbon dioxide, 5.9 kg of sulfur dioxide, and 2.7 kg of nitrogen oxide per MW-hr (megawatt-hour). Estimate the mass of these pollutants associated with coal use, to generate the same amount of electrical energy as from the geothermal sources.

Explanation / Answer

1 Mega Watt - Hour = (106 joules / sec) x 3600sec             ( 1 hr =3600 sec)                                                        =3.6 x 109 joules Lets tabulate the data. Energy                 Amount ofCO2           Amount of SO2      Amount ofnitrogen-oxide 3.6 x 109joules         1023Kg                      5.9Kg                       2.7 Kg So since direct proportionality holds through out theproblem, 5 x 1021 joules     (1023 *5 *1021)/3.6 x109                                  ( 2.7 *5 * 1021)/3.6 x 109                                  = 1.42 x 1015 Kg                                            =3.75 x 1012 kg                                                               (5.9 *5 * 1021)/3.6 x 109                                                                =8.19 x1012 kg ( I wrote it in different lines for clarity , just seecolumnwise) (actually everything is in kg per year unit instead of kg aswe are doing calculations for 1 year only)

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