RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIES

Renewable Technologies and its Linkage with Civil Engineering

Renewable Technologies and its Linkage with Civil Engineering

Introduction

Renewable technologies are basically the technologies that work with the energy of resources which are replenished on continuous basis such as wind, sunlight, tides, rain, geo-thermal heat, and waves. Approximately 16 percent of global consumption of final energy generates from renewable resources which are made workable with the help of technologies added to those resources. New renewable such as wind, small hydro, modern biomass, solar, bio-fuels, and geo-thermal are progressively growing day by day. For the purpose of electricity generation, the proportion of renewable is about 19 percent, in which 16 percent of electricity is being generated from hydro-electricity and the other 3 percent is being produced with the help of new renewable technologies. The usage of wind power is progressing at the annual rate of 30 percent, with an installed capacity globally of around 282, 482 MW (megawatts) by the ending of year 2012, and also is being extensively used in Europe, the United States, and Asia. For this reason it is highly significant to put some considerations on renewable technologies which have also a great linkage with the field of civil engineering, as they are the people who construct or design those renewable technologies so that the available energy resources could be utilised in better and effective ways.

In this coursework, there will be the presentation of topic in a manner that highlights the main elements of civil engineering. These elements may not always be technical, but are the pillars of sustainability for the act of civil engineering i.e. environmental, economical, and social issues. So, there will be a clear description of thought processes that could address and discuss the negative impacts of these three pillars of sustainability along with the considerations of all aspects of a project from its conception to delivery.

Project Overview

Principally, the project in this coursework is about constructing 15 KW air turbines which will be sufficient and reasonable to meet the portion of the total demand across the construction site. The aim is to construct air turbine with height of 15m, 30m and 80m. The total cost per meter as stated in the manufactures is 467 pounds. The relationship between renewable technologies and civil engineering is to construct the wind turbine that is appropriated from all the aspects of engineering, and moreover, it should not have any environmental, economical, and social issues with it. Civil engineers are involved in choosing the materials, height, health and safety, depth and type of foundation for appropriately constructing wind turbine, and they are required to make the right decision in choosing the suitable height which can withstand and be perfect for generating power of 15 KW. Choice of materials will be one of the most important factors for the wind turbine to with stand the height and the power generated. Choice of materials is directly proportional to the life span of the wind turbine which involves civil engineers ...