ASSINGNMENT ON MINERALS & ENERGY RESOURCES

Q. What is the difference between hydroelectricity and thermal electricity?
A. HYDRO ELECTRICITY—it is generated by fast flowing water, and is a renewable resource, where as THERMAL ELECTRICITY is generated from coal, petroleum and naturalgas which are non renewable resources.
b)India has number of multipurpose projects to gernerate electricity as Bhakra nangal, Damodar valley, the Kopili hydle project etc., and for thermal power we have 310 thermal power plants in India.
c)Hydle power is pollution free where as thermal power leaves lot of smoke.
Q. What do you know about nuclear / atomic power?
A. It is obtained by altering the structure of atoms, when such alteration is made energy is released in the form of heat and it is used to generate electricity.
Uranium and Thorium (found in Rajasthan & Aravalli hills) are used to generate this power.
Monazite sands of Kerela are also rich in thorium.
Q. List six Nuclear Power stations in India
1. RawaBhata- Rajasthan
2. Kakrapara- Gujrat
3. Tarapur- Maharashtra
4. Kaiga- Karnataka
5. Kalpakkam- Tamilnadu
6. Naraura.- Uttar Pradesh
Q. Why do we need non-conventional sources of energy?
A. The growing consumption of energy has made the country dependent on fossil fuels, which will not last long.
b) Rising prices of oil and gas has created uncertainties regarding supply of energy in the future, which in turn also has repercussions on the economy.
c)Fossil fuels are causing serious pollution problems.
d) India is blessed with an abundance of sunlight, water, wind and biomass—from which energy can be generated.
Q. Why do you think that solar energy has bright future in India?
A. India is a tropical country and thus receives enormous sunlight.
b) Solar energy is more developed in western India as it receives unperturbed sun light and has clear skies.
c) Solar energy is fast becoming popular in remote and rural areas as it is cheaper & is pollution free.
d)It is expected that solar energy will be able to minimize the dependence of rural household on fire wood and dung cakes, which in turn will contribute to environmental conservation and adequate supply of manure in agriculture.
Q. Where is the largest solar power plant located in India?
A. Madhapur, near Bhuj in Rajasthan.
Q. What do you know about wind power resources in India?
A. India now ranks as a “wind super power” in the world.
--The wind farm cluster is located in Tamil Nadu from NAGARCOIL toMADURAI.
--There are also wind farms in Karnataka, Gujrat, Kerela, Maharashtra, Lakshadweep.
--NAGARCOIL & JAISALMER are effective wind farms in the country.
Q. How is biogas produced?
A. Shrubs, farm waste, animal and human waste are used to produce biogas for domestic consumption in the rural areas. Decomposition of the organic material yields gas which has higher thermal efficiency and is known as biogas.
Q. How is biogas useful to us? OR
Biogas is the most efficient use of cattle dung. Comment.
A. Biogas has higher thermal efficiency in comparison to the kerosene, dung cake, and charcoal.
b) It is pollution free.
c) There is not much cost factor involved in its generation.
d) The plants using cattledung are called ‘GOBAR GAS PLANTS’ in rural India.
These are providing twin benefits to the farmers—in the form of energy and improved quality of manure ( as it improves the quality of manure and prevents the loss of trees)
Q. How can we generate tidal energy?
Oceanic tides can be used to generate tidal energy. During high tide water flows into the inlet and gets trapped when the gate is closed. After the tide falls the water retained by the floodgate flows back to the sea via a pipe that carries it through a power generating pipe.
Q. Tidal power generation—
In India Gulf of Kuchchh provides ideal conditionds for utilizing tidal energy.
A 900 mw tidal energy plant is setup by the National power Corporation.
Q. What is Geothermal energy?
A. It is the heat and electricity produced by using the heat from the interior of the earth.
It exists because the Earth grows progressively hotter with the increasing depth.
Where the geothermal gradient is high, high temperatures are found , groundwater in such areas absorbs heat from the rocks and becomes hot and gets converted into steam when it rise to the earth surface. This steam is used to drive turbines and generate electricity.
Q. Geo thermal power generation..
A. Two experimental projects are have been set up in India to harness this power.
1. located in Parvati valley near Manikaran in Himachel Pradesh.
2. In Puga valley in Ladakh.