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Power plants may be powered by fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum or
renewable sources such as solar or hydroelectric. However current power plants have
some drawbacks in their operations.
Fossil fuel power plants burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. Although this
method is efficient, burning of fossil fuel emits smoke with harmful contents such as
greenhouse gases, acidic and various chemical vapors. Moreover, worldwide supply of
fossil fuels is already running out. With PRO, it is possible to reduce emission of
environmentally harmful byproducts and excessive exploitation of natural resources.
As studies have shown, hydroelectric and tidal power plants may change the
natural geological properties such as waterways and seabed due to the fact that these
plants requires a long way to be clear out forests and valleys to create a large water
reservoir to operate. This is detrimental to natural ecosystems as well as livelihood of
those living within the affected areas as the vast amount of redirected water may cause
instability of earth crust due to resonance and changes of paths of migratory birds and
fishes.
PRO does not release any greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide ( ) as the
waste product. PRO requires only two liquids that fulfill the concentration gradient.
Hence, among the most common liquids that can be used PRO is the fresh water and salt
water which is ample and have comparatively lower preparation cost. Furthermore, the
solutions can be reused as long as the concentration level maintain at the required level.
Most of the power generations usually emit excessive amount of heat and bring
negative side effects. Solar power gives out a lot of heat as side products while
hydroelectric plant causes deforestation. Like hydroelectric power plants, PRO use liquid
to drive the turbine, it produces less heat. These liquids act as heat absorbent and help to
reduce the global warming effect. Although this might seems to be insignificant
compared to the rate of increase of temperature yearly; however it can be a significant
contribution in reducing greenhouse effect if PRO is being applied in large scale.
Market Availability for PRO system
PRO is a new method to generate electricity. The PRO uses the basic concept of
osmosis. Nowadays, many environmental friendly power generation systems are used to
supply electricity to domestic and industrial areas. Currently, solar energy and wind
energy systems are the most widely used renewable energy systems. Compared to other
renewable systems, the PRO is considered as a new technology that has not been
developed and implemented globally. As there is plenty of advantages of the PRO system,
more exploration and development of this system is expected in the near future.
The PRO system has this selling point whereby it uses renewable resource and
has minimal impact to the environmental. Furthermore, the advantage of PRO is that
PRO can supply power continuously for 24 hours a day unlike solar energy and wind
power. The solar cells are unable to generate power during night time and the wind power
is unable to generate power without wind. This clearly shows that PRO has a better
advantage comparatively.
The second advantage of the PRO is its efficiency in power generation. Power
output can be easily control compared with other renewable power generation. In PRO,
the higher the concentration gradient, the higher the pressure exerted. Hence, more power
is generated and power efficiency is increased. This means that it is possible to control
power effectively and efficiently with salinity of both liquids as the controlling parameter.
This controlling parameter can be controlled manually or automatically without a high
cost. For the wind power and solar cell, the efficiency of the power generated cannot be
controlled easily. If there is a need to increase the efficiency, large investment is needed.