The Pebble Bed Reactor

The pebble reactor is a possible alternative to nuclear power. These pebbles are helium cooled and graphite moderated reactors. The fuel is in the form of tennis ball shaped pebbles. Pebbles start at the at the top of one of the veesels and slowly makes it way down and when they reach the bottom, they are removed. Using a gas like helium for the cooling in this system, makes the reactor systems more simple. I think this could be a good alternative if they make it the way that they say in the article. I don't know much about nuclear power but it sounds more efficient then methods we are using today because of them using the helium and graphite. It seems kind of risky though because they tested it a little while back in the 60's and they didn't get good results from it, so we will just have to see.

Sunlight into Natural Gas

While I was going through articles online and reading them, I read that fracking is a huge issue right now because of the waste of water and the extra treating of the water that needs to be done to the water that used to fulfill this process. Well, a company named HyperSolar has come up with a method that will use sunlight to extract hydrogen from water and after that, it is the injected with CO2 which it reacts with to make methane. This idea uses the waste water while also treating that water to make it clean water. I think that this would be a huge benefit for all of us because it is a better alternative to other ways of producing natural gases and could also help our water quality at the same time. I think that if they can execute the idea correctly and make this work, that it will be a good idea.