Solar Power

What is Solar Power?

Many power plants today use fossil fuels as a heat source to boil water. The steam from the boiling water rotates a large turbine, which activates a generator that produces electricity. However, a new generation of power plants, with concentrating solar power systems, uses the sun as a heat source. There are three main types of concentrating solar power systems: parabolic-trough, dish/engine, and power tower.

Parabolic-trough systems -- like the one being used in Nevada Solar One -- concentrate the sun's energy through long rectangular, curved (U-shaped) mirrors. The mirrors are tilted toward the sun, focusing sunlight on a pipe that runs down the center of the trough. This heats the oil flowing through the pipe. The hot oil then is used to boil water in a conventional steam generator to produce electricity.

A dish/engine system uses a mirrored dish (similar to a very large satellite dish). The dish-shaped surface collects and concentrates the sun's heat onto a receiver, which absorbs the heat and transfers it to fluid within the engine. The heat causes the fluid to expand against a piston or turbine to produce mechanical power. The mechanical power is then used to run a generator or alternator to produce electricity.

A power tower system uses a large field of mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto the top of a tower, where a receiver sits. This heats molten salt flowing through the receiver. Then, the salt's heat is used to generate electricity through a conventional steam generator. Molten salt retains heat efficiently, so it can be stored for days before being converted into electricity. That means electricity can be produced on cloudy days or even several hours after sunset.

back to top

Geothermal Power

What is Geothermal Power?

Many technologies have been developed to take advantage of geothermal energy -- the heat from the earth.

This heat can be drawn from several sources, including hot water or steam reservoirs deep in the Earth, geothermal reservoirs near the Earth's surface, and the shallow ground near the Earth's surface that maintains a relatively constant temperature of 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit.

This variety of geothermal resources allows them to be used on both large and small scales. A utility can use the hot water and steam from reservoirs to drive generators and produce electricity for its customers. Other applications apply the heat produced from geothermal activity directly to various uses in buildings, roads, agriculture, and industrial plants.

Still others use the heat directly from the ground to provide heating and cooling in homes and other buildings.

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Nevada ranks second in geothermal resources among the lower 48 states.

An assessment of Nevada's resources by the Geothermal Task Force of the Western Governors Association Clean and Diversified Energy Initiative showed the commercial geothermal potential for Nevada ranged from 1,488 megawatts to 2,895 megawatts.

What is a Megawatt?

A Megawatt is one million watts.  According to the energy information administration in 2007 the Average Yearly consumption of a NV household was 11.832 Megawatts.

Geothermal Projects in Churchill County

Vulcan Power Company

http://www.vulcanpower.com

Salt Wells	Patua Unit
Owner Vulcan Power Company Operator Vulcan Power Company Production 120 megawatts	Owner Vulcan Power Company Operator Vulcan Power Company Production In Drilling Phase

Enel North America

http://www.enel.it/northamerica

Salt Wells	Stillwater
Owner Enel North America Operator Enel North America Production 13 megawatts	Owner Enel North America Operator Enel North America Production 32 megawatts

Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation

http://www.sierrageopower.com

Soda Lake	Dixie Valley
Owner Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation Operator Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation Production In Drilling Phase	Owner Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation Operator Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation Production In Drilling Phase
North Salt Wells	Salt Wells
Owner Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation Operator Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation Production In Drilling Phase	Owner Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation Operator Sierra Geothermal Power Corporation Production In Drilling Phase

AMOR IX / Constellation Operating Services

http://www.nvenergy.com/renewablesenvironment/renewables/geothermal.cfm

Soda Lake I	Soda Lake II
Owner AMOR IX Operator Constellation Operating Services Production 2.7 megawatts	Owner AMOR IX Operator Constellation Operating Services Production 11.39 megawatts

Ormat Technologies / Steamboat Hills LLC

http://www.nvenergy.com/renewablesenvironment/renewables/geothermal.cfm

Galena 2
Owner Ormat Technologies, Inc. Operator Steamboat Hills LLC Production 10 megawatts

Terra-Gen Power, LLC

http://www.terra-genpower.com/Projects/Projects_Geothermal.aspx

Dixie Valley
Owner Terra-Gen Power, LLC Operator Terra-Gen Power, LLC Production 67 megawatts

back to top

Tips to Go Green

Changes You Could Make at the Office

Just like making changes around the house. there are things you can do during your workday to feel better about the impact you and your co-workers are having on the environment.

	Create a recycle box. At your desk or near the copier in your department, encourage co-workers to recycle their paper. Eight million tons of copy paper is used in the U.S. every year – equal to 188 million trees. Recycling means fewer trees have to be logged.
	Save that scrap. Printed out too many copies? Made an error and need to print another copy? Instead of trashing printer paper, cut it into squares and use it for note pads.
	Bring your lunch. Seems obvious, but if you’re bringing lunch from home you’re not requiring someone else to cook and clean up after you. Save resources and money by packing lunch and looking for recycling bins to dispose of your waste.
	Bring a mug. Instead of using disposable cups for coffee every day bring in a ceramic coffee mug from home. You can use it not only for your office coffee pot, but most coffee shops are happy to fill customers’ own mugs.
	Make that copy double-sided. Seems obvious, but if you have to print something from your computer make it double sided to cut your paper usage in half.
	Change the power-saving functions on your computer. You can go into your computer control panel and set your computer power-saving function so that when you’re not using it the monitor automatically shuts off at five minutes, the hard drive at 20 minutes (or more) and it finally goes into “sleep mode” after 30 minutes.
	Bring the outdoors inside. Those small desk plants you see in some co-workers’ cubicles aren’t just pretty to look at – they help clean the air you’re breathing. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that the air inside a sealed-energy-efficient building can be 25 to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air! Research has found that indoor plants can reduce fatigue, coughs, sore throats and other cold-related illnesses by up to 30 percent.
	Talk with your vendors. Every company needs to use outdoor vendors either on a time-to-time or even a daily basis for necessary good, supplies and services. If the price difference is minimal, wouldn’t it be nice to know that you were getting the same product or service from a supplier that used more environmentally-friendly practices? Ask about their environmental practices and/or see if they have other options for you that you may not have considered in the past (like recycled copy paper or coffee cups).
	Talk to your Human Resources department. There may be some very simple changes that your company could institute that no one has ever suggested. Talk to someone in your HR department about how to go about making small changes to improve your workplace’s impact on the environment. It’s not only good for the environment but good for morale (a healthier workplace can make for a happier workplace) and it can look very good to the community.

back to top