Energy Expert Answers Gas, Solar and Nuclear Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

i'' m jeremiah bauman with the u.s division of energy and today i'' ll be addressing your questions from twitter this is energy assistance [Songs] so at red pleasant jones asks pet why is gas so damn high i'' m ready to toss up who isn'' t allowed ' s be honest uh it'' s really really high and it ' s kind of a big problem like so several things throughout the pandemic manufacturing of oil and gas plummeted because you understand unexpectedly nobody was driving anywhere for a couple of months back there and after that barely driving for nearly a year year and a half so oil and gas companies reduced manufacturing as soon as points started opening up airplanes are flying again everybody'' s purchasing oil and gas once more however because manufacturing hadn ' t caught up costs increased'and one that ' s sort of going on now is that oil and gas business are giving way more money than they'' ve ever before made prior to on oil and gas and so they could be not rather so likely to raise manufacturing that would certainly bring costs down or do other points that would bring rates down at chris emphasize ashworth asks does geothermal warmth imply diverting rivers of liquified lava into your home i am open to this concept please suggest as high as i assume we would all love a molten river of lava side home geothermal warm suggests piercing down right into the ground and touching into the power of the planet the planet is normally warm everywhere basically they in fact pierce right into the planet just like they provide for exploration for oil and gas and the hot water comes up and produces vapor that can drive a generator and create electrical energy at princi sov asks exactly how does power reach the grid and afterwards siphoned off to all the homes and buildings to the end customer the grid is typically explained as the greatest man-made equipment on earth what it in fact is is a large electrical circuit and it'' s literally a number of wires connecting a source of power and it'' s circulating around you can visualize each of these little terminals is a home or a service or a manufacturing facility or anything that requires electrical energy if you shut the breaker and it produces a loophole that lets all these electrons start distributing via this which is electricity so the nationwide grid is actually separated into whole lots of regional and even regional grids and the biggest grid is mainly burglarized three large areas it'' s called the western interconnect and the eastern adjoin and the 3rd one is obviously independent-minded texas urged managing their very own grid off by themselves with simply a few connections to the remainder people then within those regions states or regions it obtains broken down to the a lot more regional degree so you'' ve possibly seen in your community or off somewhere in the field fenced in areas they'' re just packed with all this plainly electrical equipment with large cords coming in right a great deal of that tools is typically what'' s called step down transformers that take the power from the large grid that really goes for a various power level and simplifies to a reduced power level for your area and it'' s all one giant loophole that needs to always stay linked has tip up transformers to take that power degree back up the opposite of the circle to feed it back to the mass transmission grid at the spirit of 77 asks yet seriously do wind generators create cancer or tasks or both okay seriously wind generators cause lots and great deals and great deals of work and financial growth for counties and earnings for farmers whose land they take place however they do not create cancer cells wind generators extremely cool they'' re these giant towers they essentially spin and create electrical energy they'' re not without dispute some individuals put on'' t want them and some states are just going gangbusters iowa is going to quickly have enough wind power to fulfill its whole electricity needs the high levels specifies the dakotas kansas nebraska is rapidly growing all these states down to oklahoma and texas generate loads and lots of electrical energy from wind power already at micro dan asks i am done in support of eco-friendly power so this is a truthful question while evs themselves have zero emissions when you consider the carbon emissions from the generation of electrical energy just how do they contrast to automobiles that work on fossil gas fantastic inquiry it is still cleaner to charge your car on electrical energy and drive it by doing this than it is to burn gasoline in the tank the grid is way cleaner than it was even five or ten years ago electrical motors are so a lot a lot more reliable you burn way much less gas or coal upstream to get sufficient power to power a vehicle than you do if you'' re trying to actually blow up gasoline right in your automobile so as to get enough power to drive at ken r stewart asks texas creates nearly 2 billion barrels of oil a day why do texans need to pay a lot for their gas is it due to the fact that large oil dictates the costs at the pumps and not government state and government governments need to action in and manage huge oil gouging people one thing that makes the united states various than a great deal of nations is the federal government does not set the cost for oil we don'' t also take care of just how much obtains created or just how much gets consumed which some federal governments do those are typically taken into consideration really hostile kinds of government we such as more of a totally free market therefore actually the marketplace decides exactly how much we end up paying at the end of the day it'' s an international market we are contending at particular market areas with the whole earth with china with saudi arabia with russia with europe with south america actually every person we don'' t inform individuals just how much oil to generate there are points governments do try to do the home reps passed a costs to fracture down on price gouging at the pump exactly how do you know when the local filling station is billing more than they need to or if they'' re in fact simply handing down costs from what they'' re paying to get fuel from 10 steps upstream at the refiner so it is an actually difficult inquiry regarding the duty of federal government in culture at john lewis19212130 asks exactly how is the strategic oil reserve mosting likely to be replenished the calculated oil get this is a substantial quantity of oil that is stored in a series of caverns underground in louisiana and texas that your division of energy has and handles as a tactical reserve primarily in instance of emergency situation the ordinary cavern is deeper than the empire state building is tall this head of state has actually launched even more oil from the tactical book than any kind of president has before to attempt to obtain the price of gasoline ahead down there'' s essentially a million barrels a day appearing of strategic oil book in an initiative to bring gas costs down so we do require to restore it there'' s a couple different ways you can do it one point is we do offer the oil when we launch it from the get therefore the federal government is getting earnings from offering all that oil we'' d love to reverse and utilize a few of that profits to purchase even more oil once prices behave and low once again which will with any luck be a day that comes earlier instead than later to load the oil back up depending upon just how all that plays out the means our financing works is that annually congress actually give the department of energy enough money for its uh annual operations consisting of cash to go out and get even more oil if that'' s what we require to do at gear chick asks nah bt dub how numerous various kinds of renewable resource exist there are 5 kinds of sustainable power wind solar hydropower which originates from rivers geothermal and marine or tidal which originates from the activity of sea currents nationally we'' re someplace in the 20 renewable range renewables are abundant and they'' re affordable so everyone ' s trying to build them quickly and we must be pushing utilities in the states to construct faster all over at mostafa18369324 asks in your point of view what is the very best renewable energy and why to start with it'' s appealing to say solar because it'' s getting very low-cost and it essentially works everywhere oregon understood for being over cast and wet could have a lot a lot more solar energy that it does it'' s not as over cast and glowing as germany and japan that made use of to be absolutely kicking our butts in solar power at fairy grey 19 would certainly like to understand how does solar power job solar panels like this one below resembles a little i presume it'' s technically a plaything however i assume it'' s really a solar panel that will actually produce electrical energy the product on this panel which all begins with silicon which is one of the most abundant components we'' ve got it ' s made from sand and when solar rays like planetary rays strike the product in the photovoltaic panel it essentially delights the electrons in those atoms and it established there'' s little cords in there so the electrons get directed right into wires and after that they'' re fed right into electrical grid to send out those electrons as electricity right to your home and fire your appliances at general bullpu asks why is unrefined oil so crucial in our lives when we have far better options am i just losing my mind right here we do have far better choices for some points and we'' ve really quit making use of oil for some things like if you recall in the 60s and 70s we'' re utilizing a lot of oil to melt in power plants to produce power there'' s this significant oil dilemma that you possibly hear people discuss and we did a significant collective effort to leave of oil made use of for electrical energy yet it'' s still everywhere and it'' s not simply the places that you most believe of it right like when you fill your automobile with gas you have a pretty great sense that came directly from oil and you'' re sort of simply moving hardly changed oil into your fuel storage tank there'' s some uses oil that we simply wear ' t have that several options for whole lots of the chemicals that develop into points like plastics and you can simply think of all the usages of plastic throughout the culture not simply in your day-to-day life there just aren'' t choices that can make them as inexpensively and readably right now today as we can by turning oil right into plastics at quad machine 09 asks so why is nuclear power bad once more i would certainly say this nuclear power is just one of our crucial types of power so for one reason right now it'' s the single most significant source of carbon-free electrical energy suggesting the kind of power that does not create worldwide warming or climate modification and there are real drawbacks to nuclear power and they'' re significant right like individuals have actually become aware of chernobyl a huge nuclear mishap fukushima in japan just a few years back in a tidal wave had a comparable issue where the atomic power plant entered into calamity setting so things you have to fix for to make certain we have reliable and risk-free nuclear power are basically the danger of mishaps some type of security like a terrorism strike and after that we placed this nuclear fuel right into an atomic power plant that again produces heavy steam that turns a turbine that creates electrical power it leaves nuclear waste that itself is radioactive and it stays radioactive for hundreds of years so exactly how do you save it securely what the majority of nuclear power plants do is they keep it on website it remains really in cooling fish ponds up until it cools off up until it'' s a lot less harmful and it gets transferred right into uh these dry casks and it gets kept in a safe place on site right now currently we'' d all like to get that out of those areas and right into some more also additionally risk-free and secure areas and that'' s really one point the department of energy is dealing with so at kingsley54272009 asks on a major note what is gas so picture like an overload with a bunch of like breaking down plant and pet matter in it millions of years of sediment accumulating pressing all that things down right into the earth as that issue uh decays it produces all-natural gas or methane it'' s usually called it'' s cheaper than coal and it'' s also cleaner than coal when it concerns public wellness so that'' s actually what natural gas is it'' s likewise a significant resource of energy in our economic situation the problem'is it ' s not without disadvantages it still does develop a fair quantity of air pollution including carbon dioxide among the principal gases that triggers global warming or environment change at mysticraven84 asks excuse my ignorance here companion yet just how is fracking clean power leading what is fracking it'' s actually short for hydraulic fracturing it'' s where you pierce right into the ground you essentially such as inject all these fluids and chemicals to shatter the rock underground to fracture it and release the gas after that comes back up it obtains called clean energy by some individuals due to the fact that it'' s a lot cleaner than coal yet it still triggers climate change it still creates various other problems there'' s worries regarding it getting to water supplies in many cases it'' s triggered actually seismic activity and earthquakes you understand it'' s probably better if we can discover methods not to infuse points into the ground that are mosting likely to pollute groundwater however it'' s a concern that individuals are mosting likely to have to keep dealing with in some places where there'' s fracking near populations at a e i enjoys pet cats asks somebody allow me recognize what an electric current is an electrical current is actually just electrons moving through a charged electric field inside a conductor like a cord richard937-83516 asks idea of the day can anyone tell me why making use of our rivers for environment-friendly power never ever appears to be discussed it'' s what powered the first industrial revolution in this nation why put on'' t we utilize them currently richard ' s right it did power the initial industrial change that was in fact a somewhat different kind it was water that would turn wheels that would actually simply do the work itself like you read about grist mills where essentially the water is turning a huge point that'' s like grinding blossom or anything else that requires grinding why don'' t we discuss it extra today so primary a great deal of us do discuss it a lot it'' s still an extremely commonly made use of power source i think concerning 10 of our electricity originates from hydropower of our 20 total amount that is sustainable regarding 10 fifty percent of it is hydropower and they create substantial amounts of electrical energy what you do in most instances you construct a dam that literally blocks the river and these things that just spin when they spin they produce electricity and it goes downstream after it experiences the turbines when you damn that river there are some issues primary salmon extremely cool animals they'' re born means up in the mountains in little tiny streams they move all the method down to the ocean they swim hundreds and numerous miles and at the end of their lives they migrate completely back up the river all the way up to the little creek they discover the place they were born where they lay eggs and they pass away unfortunately it type of screws every little thing up if they can'' t make that migration we'' ve invented great deals of innovation to reduce for that fish ladders or some dams where there'' s like essentially a like suction point inside the reservoir and shoots the salmon out back into the river below the dam we are still dealing with hydropower and we still invent spend in technology that makes the dams less damaging for fish and if you'' ve got a dam that ' s already in position but not alcohol consumption electrical power we ought to include power obtain some power from that dam while it'' s gon na be there and we'' ve really got an entire program at the department of power to assist regional utilities do specifically that at myself2677s can renewable power sources change nonrenewable fuel sources sustainable energy resources can change a lot of fossil gas yet with existing technology not yet every one of training course the wind doesn'' t constantly strike and the sunlight doesn ' t always beam so when that'' s not taking place and you wear'' t have geothermal or hydropower offered locally where is your electrical power mosting likely to originate from well today we get a lot of it from batteries actually it'' s a small slug right currently however it'' s expanding actually swiftly nonrenewable fuel sources can have a future in all this too and they employ countless americans in america so we desire to research every choice to keep those jobs and those industries going so it'' s called carbon capture and it literally affixes to the discharges coming off that place that the oil or coal or gas is being burned and it separates out the carbon dioxide that otherwise create global warming and then it essentially infuses it deep underground right into salt caves to make sure that'' s the other thing that we ' re functioning actively on is an additional way to provide us 24 7 100 tidy power atom guillory asks envision most of us in some way obtain electrical cars and currently require to charge them exactly how does the grid assistance that and not come to be a massive liability the grid drops during a natural disaster individuals have blackouts or brownouts and currently you'' re going to such as plug in countless cars not just that we'' re really attempting to change structures and homes from using nonrenewable fuel sources for warmth to utilizing electrical power for warm so much more stuff connecting into this grid that'' s why we need to not simply upgrade and update the grid yet at the same time do 2 things primary construct out way more grid there'' s simply not the grid links to obtain them to the locations that need even more electrical energy so just doing that is mosting likely to help a heap the other kind of truly awesome thing below is that a great deal of these innovations like electrical vehicles can really have the grid operate in both methods implying the vehicle costs when it requires to fill its battery however if it'' s plugged in and it doesn'' t require even more electricity it ' s a huge battery attached to the grid so you can really set it up so that at particular times of day the utility can just attract a little bit of power from thousands of vehicles the bottom line is we just require to build a lot more power grid to power this brand-new future that'' s mosting likely to have electrical lorries electrical buildings we'' re mosting likely to attempt to switch over as numerous points as we can onto the grid so we require more grid at pelham autumn asks i do wonder what the macroeconomic impacts would certainly be of a total phase-out of utilizing gas for lorries like what does zofik do after that so opec organization of oil exporting nations controlled by saudi arabia the largest opec producer and their middle eastern allies and after that countries like russia and venezuela proactively collaborate with them to collectively reduce just how much oil they'' re selling to drive prices up or sometimes they'' ll release much more when rates get too expensive the issue is the u.s is really the leading manufacturer of oil and gas on the planet and we have millions of individuals that operate in that industry so it additionally would certainly influence jobs and that'' s why one huge thing we attempt to deal with is just how do you find tasks and develop work individuals that operate in oil and gas in modern technologies like geothermal and other renewable power innovations so we decrease any kind of harm to build source of incomes at the very same time that we'' re obtaining that huge financial boost from no more purchasing fuel at article 0341 asks i'' m still yet to hear comprehensive description of just how the paris accords either help or hurt earth or economic situation based on trivialities of treaty the paris accords were a massive legendary historical offer essentially now every country becomes part of a worldwide contract to tackle worldwide warming and exactly how we'' re mosting likely to decrease emissions and after that every country has to submit its own strategy for the certain actions that we'' re going to take to do it so the u.s has an entire plan for this and it damages it down by every component of the economic climate here'' s just how much tidy power we'' re mosting likely to build whether that'' s renewable resource or fossil with carbon capture or nuclear right here'' s just how we ' re going to deploy electric lorries an entire plan a strategy for five years from currently for one decade from now and for 2050 and afterwards annually all these federal governments satisfy and hash out that'' s doing what and how are we obtaining with all this and just how'' s it going exactly how do we make use of the tidy energy obtaining more affordable to establish higher goals and it'' s essentially mosting likely to be the entire world working with each other every nation resting at a table annually for the next 40 years and even then we'' re going to have to maintain functioning due to the fact that environment change is that large of a problem

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