ABSTRACT EVALUATION OF METAL CONCENTRATIONS IN GROUNDWATER NEARBY SOMA COAL FIRED POWER PLANT Giuma Sasi M.S., Department of Chmistry Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Semra G. Tuncel December 2005, 95 Pages In this work, metal pollution in groundwater near by Soma coal-fired power plant was invistigated. Coal combustion results in huge amounts of bottom ash from which metals can originate and migrate to groundwater and pollute it. Forty groundwater samples were collected from water wells in an area near by the power plant to determine 14 metals namely / Na, Ca, K, Mg, Al, Ba, Fe, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Cd, Ni and V. Samples were collected in polyethylene bottles, the pH of the water was measured. Then, the samples were acidified and stored to be analyzed. FAAS, FAES, GFAAS and ICP-AES were used to determine the elements. The results were compared with the WHO, the Turkish and EC guidelines for drinking water quality. Fe concentrations in 12 wells were higher the three guidelines. Zn concentrations in 5 wells were higher than the EC guidelines, but not higher than the Turkish guidelines. Pb concentrations was less than all guilelines but it was relatively high in 8 wells. The other anthropogenic elements were lower than all guidelines but these metals tend to accumulate and they will exceed the guildlines overtime. Enrichment factor calculations showed that the anthropogenic elements were enriched in the regions close to the ash piles pointing out that the ash piles are the main source of these elements. Factor analysis was applied and four main factors of the determined metals were found indicating that the power plant and the ash piles are the main source for the anthropogenic elements.

The western part of the border between Mexico and the United States consists of two primary regions, Tijuana-San Diego and Mexicali-Calexico (Imperial Valley). Over the last fifteen years Mexicali has been one of the fastest-growing cities in Mexico in terms of industrial development, job creation, and energy demand, thus resulting in increased air pollution and environmental degradation. This air pollution has thus been linked to high rates of asthma and respiratory diseases on both sides of the border. This thesis focuses on pollutant formation and pollutant interactions between the three regions of the Mexicali-Imperial Valley (MC), Tijuana-San Diego (TS), and Los Angeles (LA) areas. The MODELS-3 modeling approach is used for analyzing the formation of secondary species, and transport of both primary and secondary pollutants between the regions during three pollution episodes in July 2001, August 2001, and January 2002. Area and mobile sources are identified as primary pollutant emitters in MC and TS regions. Source contribution from within the region and from other regions is conducted using CMAQ/ DDM. During the summer episode, O3 plumes originating from TS are transported eastwards along the border region towards MC. O3 plumes generated from precursors emitted by LA mobile sources are transported towards MC and add up to 10 ppbv in the MC region. O3 plumes reach the border regions of California-Arizona and O3 concentrations up to 4 ppbv in the Grand Canyon area can be attributed to area sources in the MC region. Contribution of up to 11 ppbv of O3 in Calexico-Mexicali can be attributed to the high density of vehicles in and around the San Diego region. During the winter episode, the winds being southeasterly (towards southeast) plumes from TS, LA and Las Vegas unite and move towards the MC region with impacts of 10-35 μg m-3. The soil dust contributions from LA, TS and MC range between 5-25 μg m-3. MC area sources contribute a maximum of 34 μg m-3 PM2.5.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1958.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Also available in print.

Rapid deployment of terrestrial wind power plants (WPPs) is a function of accurate identification of areas suitable for WPPs. Efficient WPP site prospecting not only decreases installation lead time, but also reduces site selection expenses and provides faster reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Combining conventional predictor variables, such as wind strength and proximity to transmission lines, with nonconventional socioeconomic and demographic predictor variables, will result in improved identification of suitable counties for WPPs and therefore accelerate the site prospecting phase of wind power plant deployment. Existing and under-construction American terrestrial WPPs located in the top 12 windiest states (230 as of June 2009) plus 178 potential county level predictor variables are introduced to logistic regression with stepwise selection and a random sampling validation methodology to identify influential predictor variables. In addition to the wind resource and proximity to electricity transmission lines, existence of a Renewable Portfolio Standard, the population density within a 200 mile radius of the county center, median home values, and farm land area in the county are the four strongest nonconventional predictors (Hosmer and Lemeshow Chi-Square = 9.1250, N = 1009, df = 8, p = 0.3319, - 2LogLikelihood = 619.521). Evaluation of the final model using multiple statistics, including the Heidke skill score (0.2647), confirms overall model predictive skill. The model identifies the existence of 238 suitable counties in the twelve state region that do not possess WPPs (~73% validated overall accuracy) and eliminates 654 counties that are not classified as suitable for WPPs. The 238 counties identified by the model represent ideal counties for further exploration of WPP development and possible transmission line construction. The results of this study will therefore allow faster integration of renewable energy sources and limit climate change impacts from increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

abstract: Photovoltaic (PV) modules undergo performance degradation depending on climatic conditions, applications, and system configurations. The performance degradation prediction of PV modules is primarily based on Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) procedures. In order to further strengthen the ALT process, additional investigation of the power degradation of field aged PV modules in various configurations is required. A detailed investigation of 1,900 field aged (12-18 years) PV modules deployed in a power plant application was conducted for this study. Analysis was based on the current-voltage (I-V) measurement of all the 1,900 modules individually. I-V curve data of individual modules formed the basis for calculating the performance degradation of the modules. The percentage performance degradation and rates of degradation were compared to an earlier study done at the same plant. The current research was primarily focused on identifying the extent of potential induced degradation (PID) of individual modules with reference to the negative ground potential. To investigate this, the arrangement and connection of the individual modules/strings was examined in detail. The study also examined the extent of underperformance of every series string due to performance mismatch of individual modules in that string. The power loss due to individual module degradation and module mismatch at string level was then compared to the rated value. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Technology 2011

Resumo: O crescente aumento da demanda de energia elétrica, aliada ao aumento dos custos de produção de energia e à preocupação com questões ambientais e sociais, conduz o planejamento do setor energético mundial para uma estratégia de utilização mais eficiente das fontes de produção já existentes. Neste trabalho é apresentado um estudo de caso de repotenciação de uma Pequena Central Hidrelétrica (PCH), com o objetivo de demonstrar que este tipo de empreendimento é viável para aumentar a oferta de energia elétrica do sistema, necessária para suprir a demanda futura. Do levantamento do potencial hidráulico do rio que alimenta a usina, verifica-se a possibilidade de elevar a capacidade de geração a fio d'água em aproximadamente 75%. A análise de viabilidade técnica-econômica apresentada não considera somente os custos de equipamentos e preços de mercado da energia elétrica, mas incorpora o benefício ambiental referente à comercialização dos créditos de carbono que podem ser obtidos com a repotenciação da PCH e que promovem a redução do tempo de amortização do investimento. Citam-se ainda diversas contribuições sociais que podem resultar de um projeto de repotenciação, principalmente no caso de usinas desativadas, tornando este tipo de empreendimento mais atrativo, tanto do ponto de vista técnico-econômico quanto sócio-ambiental. / Abstract: The increase of the electrical energy demand associated with the high cost of the energy production and some concerns regarding social and environmental issues led the energy sector to develop new efficient ways of energy production. This work has analyzed the repowering of a Small Hydroelectric Power Plant (SHPP) of the ''run-off river'' type, aiming to demonstrate that such activity is feasible and able to increase the energy supply to handle future demands. It was verified, after an analysis of a river hydraulic potential, the possibility of a 75% increase of its own capacity to generate energy. The presented analysis of the technical-economical viability doesn't only consider the value of the equipments and the current costs of the electrical energy, but it incorporates the environmental benefit regarding the commercialization of the carbon credits which can be obtained by the repowering of a SHPP and that it promote the reduction of the investment paying-off time. Several social contributions that can be resulted of a repowering project are mentioned, mainly in the disabled plants case, making this enterprise more attractive, so much of the standpoint technician-economical as socio-environmental. / Orientador: Oscar Armando maldonado Astorga / Coorientador: José Luz Silveira / Banca: Durval Luiz Ricciulli / Banca: Albert Cordeiro Geber de Mello / Mestre

In my dissertation I describe the photovoltaic power plant on the roof a family house, the conditions of connection to the electricity network, the electricity consumption and I state in detail the technical specifications of this solution. Moreover, I give details of price quotation plus estimated quantity of produced electric power. Besides, I pay attention to the investment efficiency. Main part of the dissertation is devoted to the analysis of produced electric power for the period from 1.1.2010 till 31.12.2010 for each quater of the year seperately. The above mentioned study implies that the photovoltaic power plant meets in so far all requirements and the investment should be returned in approximately 9 years. The aim of the dissertation is to judge the photovoltaic power plant with respect to its installation, operation and return on investment.

The Chernobyl disaster is still considered to be one of the biggest catastrophic accidents in the history of nuclear energetics. After the explosion of the nuclear reactor, abundance of radioactive substance escaped to the atmosphere and in the shape of the radioactive cloud affected even the area of the former Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Political parties and state authorities reacted on this situation by setting up the state committee, which under political pressure intentionally concealed the information about the risks and consequences of the disaster for the Czechoslovak population. The collapse of the regime not only revealed the crisis of the mistrust to the official sources of information, but also improved the effort of getting information from unofficial and, according to regime, illegal sources. The Chernobyl disaster also caused the mistrust to nuclear energetics. Therefore construction and initiation of the Temelín nuclear power station elicited the interest to the information about The Chernobyl disaster. I have decided to authenticate in my thesis, how well the residents of the Czech Republic are familiar with the Chernobyl disaster and how objective their knowledge about the radiological risks arising from the Chernobyl disaster at present are. I found out the state of the foreknowledge of the residents of the Czech Republic about the radiological risks arising from the Chernobyl disaster by means of questionnaires, where 200 respondents were interviewed. For more detailed research, I divided the residents of the Czech Republic into two groups. The first one consisted of the inhabitants that live in the zone of the disaster preparedness of the Temelín nuclear power station and comprise one half of respondents. The second group consisted of the inhabitants that live of the zone of the disaster preparedness. I drew up questions in the questionnaire in order to include the given problems completely ? from the knowledge about the risks arising from the disaster and emission of the radioactive substances to their consequences for human?s health and the way of reduction their impacts on the population of the Czech Republic. I evaluated the answers from the respondents to the single answers and drew up the tables. I accomplished them by the percentage evaluation of the right and wrong answers, computation of total mean of the achieved points and the total percentage success rate. The evaluation of the knowledge of the respondents of the Czech Republic was accomplished on the basis of the value of total mean of the achieved points and percentage success rate. I did a statistical evaluation by testing normality using ?2 Pearson's chi-squared test. The mutual comparison of the knowledge I did by testing by means of the two-sample t-test on the basis of the guess of the empirical parameters from each group. On the basis of this evaluation of the results of the questionnaire I can declare that the knowledge of the residents of the Czech Republic about the radiological risks arising from the Chernobyl disaster are at a very good level. The results also proved that inhabitants of the zone of the disaster preparedness of the Temelín nuclear power station have greater knowledge about the radiological risks arising from the Chernobyl disaster than the rest of the Czech Republic. It can be observed in the conclusion that all predetermined aims were successfully achieved and the results of the questionnaire also proved the assigned hypothesis.