Author Archives: GEC

The importance of hydro power to electricity generation

Hydro power is much more significant as a generator of electricity. At 15.9% hydro power currently has a larger share than nuclear power which has 13.5%. Hydro power is the most important renewable energy source for the generation of electricity. Hydroelectric resources The theoretical size of worldwide hydropower is about 3,000 GW, four times greater […]

The Big Dam period in the USA

The Depression in the United States, floods and drastic droughts in the 1930s inspired a “big dam” period that included construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Colombia River in Washington, the Central Valley Project in California, and the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. The Grand Coulee Dam is the largest hydro facility […]

Tidal or Marine Current Energy

Energy can be generated from tidal or marine currents driven by the tides or by oceanic circulations, using completely submerged turbines comprised of rotor blades and a generator. Water turbines work on the same principle as wind turbines, by using the kinetic energy of moving fluid and transferring it into useful rotational and electrical energy. […]

Smart Meter Security

In the wrong hands, technology exists whereby on a small scale, a neighbour could turn off another neighbour’s power supply. Moving up rogue groups could cause widespread power outages or co-ordinate power outages to attack sensitive facilities. At the largest scale governments could remotely shut down smart meters to meet energy saving targets or to […]

Shale Gas Extraction

Shale gas is extracted using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’. None of which are particularly new technologies or shale gas specific. Horizontal drilling During the process wells are drilled vertically to just above the known shale deposit at a depth of 1,500 to 3,000 metres. Then the drill bit is deviated and drilled […]

Calculations to determine reserve values

There are two primary ways to determine reserve quantities: the volumetric method and decline curve analysis. The volumetric method This calculation is derived from the formulae – Gas-in-Place = 43,560 * A * H * f * Sg * Bg Reserves = (Recovery Factor) * (Gas-in-Place) This method may appear to be fairly ironclad until […]

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the most commonly used membrane technology and is the reverse of osmosis. It is mainly used to desalinate low salinity water, especially brackish water and waste water. By definition, RO is the movement of water from an area of low to high water concentration across a semi-permeable permeable membrane by applying […]

Waste Water Treatment

Preliminary treatment/screening Preliminary treatment screens out, grind up, or separate debris is the first step in wastewater treatment. Sticks, rags, large food particles, sand, gravel, toys, etc., are removed at this stage to protect the pumping and other equipment in the treatment plant. Treatment equipment such as bar screens, comminutors (a large version of a […]

Talking Energy

Periodically, NRG Expert releases its Talking Energy Newsletter. Taking Energy takes a look at the energy stories making the news. Presented as a digest, information from around the world and around the internet is shown together with the full links to the articles’ original source. Fit into a number of broad categories, Talking Energy always […]