Helman Daniel S
Education Division College of Micronesia-FSM Yap Campus PO Box 286 Colonia Yap 96943 Federated States of Micronesia.
Glob Chall. 2020 Aug 5;4(10):2000029. doi: 10.1002/gch2.202000029. eCollection 2020 Oct.
The average atmospheric charge density of Earth is neutral. Charge built up from thunderstorms and lightning phenomena is offset by oceanic surface charging, and offers a source of energy that has not been harnessed broadly. Unfortunately, the total terrestrial energy of the Earth's atmospheric electrical system is modest (250-500 MW) compared to industrial requirements: Innovations are likely to offer improvements to societal efficiency rather than broad transformations. Direct capture systems located in places with very high occurrence of lightning discharge can generate ≈1 kWh per year on average. Material processing via triggered lightning is limited to techniques that utilize rapid discharges, e.g., metal and glass preprocessing of materials, waste volume reduction, biomass energy conversion, where current prices make plasma-arc processes prohibitive. Triggered lightning may be used to assist blasting of mountain rock; or as a high-voltage input for processes such as nuclear fusion. Passive collection of atmospheric electricity is modest but may be used in urban agriculture to increase biomass production. Thunderstorm charge-separation processes suggest a new class of electricity generators based on kinetic energy and material collision. Ball lightning suggests additional research in dusty plasmas. These methods are all at proof-of-concept or early translation stages.
地球大气的平均电荷密度呈中性。雷暴和闪电现象产生的电荷会被海洋表面充电抵消，这提供了一种尚未被广泛利用的能源。不幸的是，与工业需求相比，地球大气电气系统的总陆地能量较少（250 - 500兆瓦）：创新可能会提高社会效率，但不太可能带来广泛变革。位于闪电放电频繁地区的直接捕获系统平均每年可产生约1千瓦时的电量。通过人工触发闪电进行材料加工仅限于利用快速放电的技术，例如材料的金属和玻璃预处理、减少废物量、生物质能转化，目前等离子弧工艺成本过高。人工触发闪电可用于辅助爆破山石；或作为核聚变等过程的高压输入。大气电力的被动收集量不大，但可用于城市农业以增加生物质产量。雷暴电荷分离过程提示了一类基于动能和物质碰撞的新型发电机。球状闪电表明需要对尘埃等离子体进行更多研究。这些方法都处于概念验证或早期转化阶段。
