Abstract

Sulaiman Almesned

For the past decade, renewable energy sources have been a revolution towards the efficiency of energy. But unfortunately, it still faces drawbacks which lead to a lack of efficiency, thus causing many issues. Based on the website “Born to Engineer”; all renewable energy sources work at a total efficiency of 50%. Also, based on another website “Lumenlearning.com” it has been estimated that 85% of the world depends on nonrenewable energy sources. So, the lack of efficiency and lack of use in these significant sources can cause problems towards the environment, economy, and us as well. By either losing money, affecting wildlife, or increasing unnecessary consumption. The goal of my project is to make renewable energy sources to work more efficiently. With this goal in mind, constructing a combined energy source is key. This project and model will help in making renewable energy sources work more efficiently, and limit their drawbacks. The novelty is: the design of the model is new, integrating them together, and the model location will be based on a dam, which helps in adapting to Saudi Arabia’s conditions. The steps of this project are: First of all, sketching and designing different models, using my knowledge and skills. After that, studying and researching each power plant. Then, constructing and building the power plants, using several build kits, and a 3D printer. Lastly, connect them together in one generator and test and analyze them. So, I conclude that my novelty and combined energy source can increase the energy produced, and rate of efficiency, where it is logical that two renewable energy sources will produce more energy. Also, my novelty is not that costly or expensive, where we can combine two renewable energy sources, without being costly and expensive.

Step 1: Problem Statement

The problem is that renewable energy sources do not work efficiently, where they still face technical challenges and disadvantages that impact its efficiency and productivity. Also, when it is not that efficient or productive, this can have disadvantages on the environment, economy, and humans. These disadvantages vary from losing money, increasing consumption, affecting wildlife and our health. Also, the lack of efficiency in these significant sources can make the society resort to using other resources that affect us negatively. According to “energy saver news” wind turbines convert 45% of the wind passing through into electricity, but on the other hand, coal convert about 85% into electricity. On the other hand, according to “lumenlearning.com” non-renewable energy sources makeup 85% of energy usage worldwide, and renewable energy sources only make 10%, and this is because they lack efficiency in renewable energy sources makes society lean toward non-renewable energy sources.

Step 2: Hypothesis

If two renewable energy sources are combined into one, then they will produce more energy, and work at a more efficient rate given the costs incurred.

Step 3: Variables

The variables are:

Independent: Number of renewable energy sources

Dependent: Efficiency/ Energy produced

Controlled: The unit of measurement/ Method of measurement

Step 4: Background Research

Renewable energy resources have been a revolution in Earth, it showed us the cleanest and efficient way of finding the energy that benefits us, the environment, and the economy. Renewable energy sources are found in many ways and forms and each source has it’s the unique power plant that provides Earth the necessary energy. But, from my journey in inquiring about these significant sources and their power plants, I grew more knowledge about their advantages and more one their disadvantages and technical problems that caused a lack of efficiency in their performance. Lastly, there was something that really stunned me and made me pessimistic and that is 85% of the world depend on non-renewable energy sources more then renewable energy sources, and this comes with negative effects on the world.

Step 5: Material

Material/Tool
Laser Cutter (x1) to cut cardboard and wood.

Cardboard (x10) 30x40 cm

Styrofoam (x1)----30x40 cm

Wood (x1)-----30x40 cm

PVC Pipes (x1)----3m

Electric generator (x1)

Electric fans (x2)

Cables (x2)

Glue gun (x1)

Glue sticks (x2)

Jigsaw (x1)

Superglue (x1)

Computer (x1) 2D design

Step 6: Procedure

1- Sketch the initial design on paper.

2- Design the final design using 2D design software (Inkscape).

3- Use the laser cutter to cut materials (wood, cardboard).

4- Cut the PVC pipe to the specified length.

5- Assemble the laser cut parts together, by using superglue and hot glue.

6- Install the electric fans at the top.

Step 7: Data

The following data was used and brought from different researches in my research field:

Knowing that I want to combine both hydroelectric powerplants and wind turbines together I myself have to study the cost of each powerplant and the amount of energy it produces. Also, in the following step (Data analysis) I will be analyzing the data I got and explaining how it is much efficient than one renewable energy source.

Based on the international renewable energy agency it has been known that hydro-electric powerplants have produced one of the low costs of electricity. Were these projects can be as low as USD 0.02\kWh, but other projects go up to USD 0.10/kWh.

Also, based on multiple studies and projects in the USA it has been estimated that hydroelectric powerplants cost about 5.6 million US dollars and produce approximately 3.6/kWh per hour, and wind turbines cost about 3.5 million US dollars and produce approximately 10/kWh per hour.

Step 8: Data Analysis

So knowing that I am working with one of the cheapest powerplants (hydro-electric powerplants) this is an advantage for my idea and project where the power plant is cheap and we can produce a well decent amount of clean energy from the powerplant itself.

If we would analyze the data that I got in detail it will show that combining two renewable energy sources would be a win for us in generating more clean, efficient energy. So, what I will be doing is basically finding the amount of energy that each power plant produces and multiplying that by 8,000 in order to find the amount of energy it produces per year.

First of all, the hydroelectric powerplants can produce 3.6/kWh per hour, and if we multiple that by 8,000 (the number of hours in a year). We can produce about 28,800/kWh per year from a hydroelectric powerplant.

Secondly, wind turbines produce 10/kWh pwr hour, and if we multiply that by 8,000 ( the numbers of hours in a year). We can produce about 80,000/kWh per year from a wind turbine.

Not only that but when using logic it will be much clear how my novelty will be producing much clean, efficient energy. Where in my novelty I will be adapting from the damn to build the wind turbine on top where I can save money and resources. Also, instead of distributing wind turbines and hydroelectric powerplants individually, we can distribute them built together on one generator to save money, resources, time, and most importantly space.

Step 9: Results

In this section, I portray the cost efficiency of hydropower and wind power basing my analysis from projects of the two types of energies.

Hydropower has produced some of the lowest-cost electricity of any generation. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, hydro projects can be as low as USD 0.02/kWh, while most other energy projects falling around USD 0.10/kWh. Based on a study conducted in the United States, a hydro project can cost 5.6 million US dollars with an average annual generation output of 3,64490067 KiloWatt Hours (KWH). On the other hand, a wind turbine costs 3.5 million US dollars with a maximum generation capacity of 10,000 kWh.

The above cost analysis is based on existing projects in the United States and have been used as benchmarks.

Why Wind power and Hydropower?

The wind map of Saudi Arabia marks that there are two major areas in which the wind is present and those are the Arabian Gulf and the red sea coastline zones. Moreover, according to the wind speed map produced by King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) and their 10 monitoring stations their results showcase that wind speed is high around coastal areas, thus combining the two powers into one would make sense as the power from the seas’ current and saline water conversion can be benefited from a project combined into one.

Step 10: Conclusion

As a country, we rely heavily on oil and natural gas which is the main cause of CO2 emissions and environmental problems. As part of the 2030 goals that the nation has committed to, but also the Paris convention, the Kingdom needs to start making smart choices and utilize natural resources to produce energy. Through such a project, the nation can start achieving 20% of total energy from natural sources.

Step 11: Application

This project can help us people where it can make renewable energy sources more efficient and more reliable on and can change the world by making it a better place. Also, it can make the economy much better and rise, where this renewable energy source can help reduce our use toward some resources and help us in finding new ways of energy and teaches us how to consume less but achieve more, and store more resources that can last long. Also, my project can be applicated as a sustainable power plant that can produce more efficient and clean energy to more houses, cities, and facilities. Lastly, we can apply my project on learning on how to innovate and develop new renewable energy sources, that are much efficient, in other words, help other researches.

Step 12: Evaluation

So in this project and research, I have used all of the ATL skills (Self-management/Thinking/Communicating/Research/etc..) and I have improved them. The skills that I used the most and improved the most was my research skills, this is because in this project I have researched a lot in order to understand each powerplant and how I can combine them together. Not only that, but I have searched a lot in order to find the statistics, that I presented, in order to prove that my project is worthy of being a revolutionary for the future, from cost statistics and energy statistics from different multiple sources.