Effects of Power Generation on the Carbon Cycle DISCLAIMER Thisreport wasprepared as anaccount of work sponsored byanagencyof the UnitedStates Government. Neitherthe UnitedStatesGovernment noranyagencythereof, noranyoftheir employees, makesanywarranty, express orimplied, or assumes anylegalliability orresponsibilityforthe accuracy, completeness, orusefulness of anyinformation, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, orrepresents that its use would not infringe privately ownedrights. Referencehereinto anyspecific commercial product, process, orservice bytradename, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise doesnot necessarily constitute or implyits endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the UnitedStatesGovernment or anyagencythereof. Theviews andopinions of authorsexpressed hereindo not necessarily state or reflectthoseof the UnitedStatesGovernment oranyagency thereof.

No abstract

Effects of Power Generation on the Carbon Cycle DISCLAIMERThisreport wasprepared as anaccount of work sponsored byanagencyof the UnitedStates Government. Neitherthe UnitedStatesGovernment noranyagencythereof, noranyoftheir employees, makesanywarranty, express orimplied, or assumes anylegalliability orresponsibilityforthe accuracy, completeness, orusefulness of anyinformation, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, orrepresents that its use would not infringe privately ownedrights. Referencehereinto anyspecific commercial product, process, orservice bytradename, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise doesnot necessarily constitute or implyits endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the UnitedStatesGovernment or anyagencythereof. Theviews andopinions of authorsexpressed hereindo not necessarily state or reflectthoseof the UnitedStatesGovernment oranyagency thereof.

As electrical energy consumption has continued to rise in the United States, and producers of electricity search for power plants requiring less installation time, the gas turbine has emerged as a significant contributor to our nation's energy needs. Despite a thermal efficiency disadvantage as compared to a conventional steam power plant, it has nevertheless played an increasingly larger role in the production of electrical power. A scheme is here presented whereby the output of a given gas turbine can be increased by more than 60% and its efficiency increased by 30%, thus making it more competitive efficiency-wise with the conventional steam power plant.Gas turbine engineers have long known that a reduction in turbine air intake temperature results in an increase in net power output. This fact has initiated the investigation of various means to cool intake air without expending more power to do so than the projected gain itself.

A systems level analysis is presented for a solar organic Rankine cycle (S-ORC) for assessing the feasibility of the cycle to be used in small scale rural/residential power generation. A thermodynamic model was generated for a system composed of the collector, the heat transfer fluid, the pump, the expander, and the heat exchangers, using five different working fluids. Based on the collector efficiency and incident radiation, the thermodynamic efficiency of the system was evaluated. For flat panel solar collectors, the highest system efficiency was found to be 6.2% when using R-134a as a working fluid. R-134a also required the least boiler heat transfer area, although its operation required relatively higher pressures. The performance of the solar-ORC system is compared with that of photovoltaic systems and the practicality of these solar thermal systems are discussed in terms of system size and end use.