how is chemistry involved in conserving, producing and storing energy?

Question

in other words.. relavance of chemistry in the field of energy...
and i need examples and like the most recent activities.. or say examples..
and PLS tell ME THE SOURCES

Answer 1

Chemistry is very relevant in energy production and energy storing. It is also relevant for conserving energy, too!

First, production. Most energy generation involves combustion of something to produce heat to boil water to produce steam. This steam turns a turbine and generates power. The combustion process is chemical -- taking a material from one energy state to another and capturing the release of energy.

I can readily think of 4 ways to produce energy that aren't combustion related. Nuclear, Hydro-electric, Solar and Fuel cells. Nuclear power requires heavy water (water made with deuterium) to slow down and contain excess neutrons as well as complicated methods to purify the desired isotopes of uranium or plutonium needed for nuclear reactions. Hydro-electric chemical requirements are limited to the alloys and metals used in construction (applicable for all of these methods). Solar has a silicon based material that forms a P-V juction (positive-negative) that generates electricity from sunlight and the manufacture of that silicon is a chemical process. Fuel cells are a more controlled way to oxidize a fuel and generate electricity and many of the components are specially made materials (especially the oxide membranes).

Energy storage is either a battery or a capacitor. Batteries and capacitors (supercapitors anyway) require the use of electrochemistry. There is an electrolyte and a chemical reaction that generates or uses electricity.

Energy conservation usually involves solving a problem in a way that uses less energy. Many of these solutions have a chemistry basis or the manufacture of the product has a chemistry basis. Let's take light generation. Incandescent light is not very efficient. Even this lighting requires chemical products. There is a tungsten filament that needs to be produced. The light bulb contains an inert gas so that current flowing through the filament won't burn it up. Fluorescent lighting is more efficient. The white coating on the inside of the bulbs and the gas that fills the bulbs are both chemical products. Finally, the move to LED lighting is also enabled by chemical processes as the energy band gap materials used in the generation of LED light are chemically synthesized.