Indian Railways is one of the largest consumer of both diesel oil and electricity in India. It uses 2.7 billion litres of diesel and around 20 billion KWh of electricity per year for traction purpose. Additionally another 2.5 billion KWh is used for non-traction related usages like powering stations and other things. This 2.7 billionContinue reading “Could Indian Railways be Solar self sufficient?”
Tag Archives: renewable energy
Petroleum to Biofuel: How much land is required
One of the primary uses of petroleum is as fuel. As the average carbon dioxide levels have already gone above 400 ppm and global warming is taking place, there have been many calls to reduce the usage of petroleum by substituting it with renewable energy. Biofuels stand very distinct among all other renewables because theyContinue reading “Petroleum to Biofuel: How much land is required”
Compressed Air Energy Storage, Entropy and Efficiency
The basic operating principle behind Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is extremely simple. Energy is supplied to compress air, and when energy is required this compressed air is allowed to expand through some expansion turbines. But, as and when we approach this simple theory, it starts becoming more complex because of the thermodynamics involved. AirContinue reading “Compressed Air Energy Storage, Entropy and Efficiency”
Nuclear vs. Renewables. A Carbon free competition
Before we start, let us do a small exercise. Just go back one decade, to around 2002. That was the time when people started noticing more about Global Warming and Climate Change. If someone considers about getting rid of fossil fuels at that time he or she had a very limited options which were costContinue reading “Nuclear vs. Renewables. A Carbon free competition”
World Energy Consumption: A Cold war comparison
World Energy Consumption: 2250 Tsar Bombs or 18800 WW2 I like history. Recently I was reading about the 50th anniversary of Tsar Bomba, tested on 1961 October 30 by Soviet Union. Tsar Bomba is the single most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever used. It has a power of 50 to 57 megatons of TNT (210 PJ)Continue reading “World Energy Consumption: A Cold war comparison”
Mahatma Gandhi: A champion of sustainability through localization
Why we require localized food and energy production Yet another Gandhi Jayanti has come. In the wake of sustainability and issues like global warming, teachings of Mahatma Gandhi is becoming more and more important. Some of the Inspirational words of Mahatma Gandhi on Grama Swaraj (Village Self Governance), Sustainability etc. “The true India is toContinue reading “Mahatma Gandhi: A champion of sustainability through localization”
Lead Acid is the cheapest battery: *Conditions Apply
Lead Acid battery is touted as the cheapest battery available. In fact, Lead Acid is the family name for a collection of closely related battery types, from simple vented/flooded to advaned Valve Regulated ones. Depending upon the type of usage, there are shallow and deep cycle batteries. Typical examples of shallow cycle batteries are theContinue reading “Lead Acid is the cheapest battery: *Conditions Apply”
Analysing Specific Capacity and Energy Density of some popular batteries
In my last article, I was concentrating more about the Specific Capacity of different cathode materials. But this is only one part of the story when a complete cell is concerned. To find the Specific Capacity of a particular battery chemistry the whole chemical reaction has to be analyzed. Essentially the method used here isContinue reading “Analysing Specific Capacity and Energy Density of some popular batteries”
Specific Capacity of Cathode Materials
Recently I read some news about Lithium Ion batteries and the author mentioned that Lithium has the highest Specific Capacity of 3861mAh/g. I was very curious to know where this magic number came from. After trying to understand more about that, finally I found the answer. That was 12th class electrochemistry. The calculation is givenContinue reading “Specific Capacity of Cathode Materials”
Can we avoid Energy Storage
There have been a lot of focus about energy storage these days coupled along with solar and wind. As a coin has two sides, Energy Storage has both pros and cons. Some of the main concerns I could gather are: Prohibitively Expensive Capital Cost: Energy Storage systems are expensive to own. Cheapest solutions like LeadContinue reading “Can we avoid Energy Storage”
Saurorja 