Diesel powered electricity generation

In addition to other science facilities, the South Pole Station includes a seismological observatory that has operated since 1957. This facility was greatly improved in January of 2003 when a new observatory was placed into service about 8 km from the main building. The sensor of the seismograph at the new facility is located in a borehole at a depth of 300 m below the surface where it is not affected by vibrations caused by the diesel-powered electric generators and other activities at the main station. As a result, the South Pole seismological observatory is now virtually free of locally-generated seismic noise and therefore is ideally suited to detect earthquakes that occur elsewhere on the Earth. 

Beam pumping and electric submersible pumps (ESP) require a source of power. On land it may be convenient to tap into the local electricity network, or in the case of the beam pump to use a diesel powered engine. Offshore (ESP only) provision for power generation must be made to drive down hole electric pumps. 

Most urban rail service is electric-powered and most urban bus service is diesel-powered, although diesel rail and electric bus operations do exist, as noted above. The efficiency and environmental impacts of electricity depend gi eatly on the source of electric power. Although electric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions, generation of electricity can produce significant emissions that can travel long distances, Eor example, coal-powered electricity plants produce particulate emissions that travel halfway across North America, Urban buses also can be powered by a variety of alternative fuels. 

By 1973 about 1.4 million barrels per day of residual fuel oil were used for electric power generation in the United States. This accounted for 16.8 percent of U.S. electricity generation, mostly in areas where cheap, foreign heavy fuel could be delivered by tanker. That same year, another 1.4 million barrels per day of heavy fuel oil were used in the United States for industrial and commercial applications. Worldwide during 1973 about 2.6 million barrels per day of residual fuel oil were used in marine diesel engines, and another 1.1 million barrels per day were used for steamship propulsion. 

Where a.c. supplies do not exist, other sources of power can be used such as d.c. generators, and either diesel or gas driven. Alternatively, thermoelectric generators may be considered if the power requirement is relatively low. Thermo-electric generators are available in relatively small outputs only as shown in Table 10.28. They have the advantage of being completely self-contained since they are powered by taking off some of the gas which passes through the pipeline. 

Cresols have been identified as components of automobile exhaust (Hampton et al. 1982 Johnson et al. 1989 Seizinger and Dimitriades 1972), and may volatilize from gasoline and diesel fuels used to power motor vehicles. Vehicular traffic in urban and suburban settings provides a constant source of cresols to the atmosphere. Hence, urban and suburban populations may be constantly exposed to atmospheric cresols. Cresols are also emitted to ambient air during the combustion of coal (Junk and Ford 1980), wood (Hawthorne et al. 1988, 1989), municipal solid waste (James et al. 1984 Junk and Ford 1980), and cigarettes (Arrendale et al. 1982 Novotny et al. 1982). Therefore, residents near coal- and petroleum-fueled electricity- generating facilities, municipal solid waste incinerators, and industries with conventional furnace operations or large-scale incinerators may be exposed to cresols in air. People in residential areas where homes are heated with coal, oil, or wood may also be exposed to cresols in air. 

The benefit analysis shows that the proposed three pilot wind-power generation plants become economically profitable as regards diesel-electric generation after several years. 

Moreover, the cost of diesel fuel was considered equal to 0.8 /L and the project lifetime was 16 years. The results of the existing PV-diesel power system simulation showed that 17% of system s electricity production comes from the photovoltaic array and the remaining 83% is produced by the diesel generator. 

Emergency power - electric/diesel generators, inert gas. 

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