1

Renewable Energy Sources II: Alternatives Part II

Lecture #11HNRT 228 Spring 2013Energy and the Environment

2

Chapter 5 Summary

• Hydroelectric Power• Wind Power• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion• Biomass as Energy• Geothermal Energy• Tidal Energy• Wave Energy• Today’s Focus

– Biomass– Others

3

Recall Renewable Resources

• Renewable means anything that won’t be destroyed by using it– sunlight (the sun will rise again tomorrow)– biomass (grows again)– hydrological cycle (will rain again)– wind (sunlight on earth makes more)– ocean currents (driven by sun)– tidal motion (moon keeps on producing it)– geothermal (heat sources inside earth not

used up fast)

4

Renewable Energy Consumption

Energy Source

QBtu (1994)

Percent (1994)

QBtu (2003)

Percent (2003)

Hydroelectric 3.037 3.43 2.779 2.83

Geothermal 0.357 0.40 0.314 0.32

Biomass 2.852 3.22 2.884 2.94

Solar Energy 0.069 0.077 0.063 0.06

Wind 0.036 0.040 0.108 0.11

Total 6.351 7.18 6.15 6.3

5

Another look at available energy flow

• The flow of radiation (solar and thermal) was covered previously– earth is in an energy balance: energy in =

energy out– 30% reflected, 70% thermally re-radiated

• Some of the incident energy is absorbed, but what exactly does this do?– much goes into heating the air/land– much goes into driving weather (rain, wind)– some goes into ocean currents– some goes into photosynthesis

6

The Renewable Budget

7

Outstanding Points from Fig. 5.1

• Incident radiation is 1741015 W– this is 1370 W/m2 times area facing sun

(R2)• 30% directly reflected back to space

– off clouds, air, land• 47% goes into heating air, land, water• 23% goes into evaporating water,

precipitation, etc. (part of weather)• Adds to 100%, so we’re done

– but wait! there’s more…

8

Energy Flow, continued

• 0.21% goes into wind, waves, convection, currents– note this is 100 times less than driving the water

cycle– but this is the “other” aspect of weather

• 0.023% is stored as chemical energy in plants via photosynthesis

– total is 401012 W; half in ocean (plankton)– humans are 6 billion times 100 W = 0.61012 W– this is 1.5% of bio-energy; 0.00034% of incident

power• All of this (bio-activity, wind, weather, etc.) ends up

creating heat and re-radiating to space– except some small amount of storage in fossil fuels

9

iClicker Question

• With respects to energy, hydroelectric power represents– A remnant electric power from storms– B remnant water energy from chemical

bonds– C remnant energy of chemical bonding– D remnant gravitational potential

energy of precipitation– E a form of fictitious energy

10

iClicker Question

• With respects to energy, hydroelectric power represents– A remnant electric power from storms– B remnant water energy from chemical

bonds– C remnant energy of chemical bonding– D remnant gravitational potential

energy of precipitation– E a form of fictitious energy

11

iClicker Question

• What is true about hydroelectric power generation since 1950?– A It has always increased in MW produced– B It has always decreased in MW produced– C It has increased and decreased in total

MW produced, but is now at a peak– D It has both increased and decreased in

total MW produced– E The percentage of electric power

produced by hydroelectric plants has generally increased over time

12

iClicker Question

• What is true about hydroelectric power generation since 1950?– A It has always increased in MW produced– B It has always decreased in MW produced– C It has increased and decreased in total

MW produced, but is now at a peak– D It has both increased and decreased in

total MW produced– E The percentage of electric power

produced by hydroelectric plants has generally increased over time

13

iClicker Question

• What is about the maximum efficiency of energy generation using the wind?– A 20%– B 40%– C 60%– D 80%– E 100%

14

iClicker Question

• What is about the maximum efficiency of energy generation using the wind?– A 20%– B 40%– C 60%– D 80%– E 100%

15

iClicker Question

• Which state generates the most amount of electricity derived from wind power?– A Virginia– B Alaska– C Montana– D California– E Texas

16

iClicker Question

• Which state generates the most amount of electricity derived from wind power?– A Virginia– B Alaska– C Montana– D California– E Texas

17

Biomass• Biomass is any living organism, plant, animal,

etc.• 401012 W out of the 174,0001012 W incident on

the earth from the sun goes into photosynthesis– 0.023%– this is the fuel for virtually all biological activity– half occurs in oceans

• Compare this to global human power generation of 131012 W, or to 0.61012 W of human biological activity

• Fossil fuels represent stored biomass energy

18

Photosynthesis

• Typical carbohydrate (sugar) has molecular structure like: [CH2O]x, where x is some integer

– refer to this as “unit block”: C6H12O6 (glucose) has x=6• Photosynthetic reaction:

xCO2 + xH2O + light [CH2O]x + xO2

1.47 g 0.6 g 16 kJ 1 g 1.07 g• Carbohydrate reaction (food consumption) is photosynthesis

run backwards– 16 kJ per gram is about 4 Calories per gram

• Basically a “battery” for storing solar energy– usage just runs reaction backward (but energy instead of

light)

19

Photosynthetic efficiency

• Only 25% of the solar spectrum is useful to the photosynthetic process– uses both red and blue light (reflects

green), doesn’t use IR or UV• 70% of this light is actually absorbed by leaf• Only 35% of the absorbed light energy (in the

useful wavelength bands) is stored as chemical energy– the rest is heat– akin to photovoltaic incomplete usage of

photon energy• Net result is about 6%

20

Realistic photosynthetic efficiency

Location Plant Production(g/m2 per day)

Solar Energy Conversion Efficiency

Potential Maximum 71 5%

Polluted stream (?!) 55 4%

Iowa cornfield 20 1.5%

Pine Forest 6 0.5%

Wyoming Prairie 0.3 0.02%

Nevada Desert 0.2 0.015%

21

iClicker Question

• The photosynthesis reaction– A takes in sugar and water and

produces carbon dioxide and energy– B takes in sugar and sunlight and

produces sugar and energy– C takes in sunlight and water to

produce sugar and oxygen– D takes in sunlight, carbon dioxide and

water to produce sugar and oxygen– E takes in sunlight, oxygen and water

to produce sugar and energy

22

iClicker Question

• The photosynthesis reaction– A takes in sugar and water and

produces carbon dioxide and energy– B takes in sugar and sunlight and

produces sugar and energy– C takes in sunlight and water to

produce sugar and oxygen– D takes in sunlight, carbon dioxide and

water to produce sugar and oxygen– E takes in sunlight, oxygen and water

to produce sugar and energy

23

iClicker Question

• Metabolic consumption of food is like photosynthesis in reverse in that– A you use oxygen and water to produce

energy and carbon dioxide– B you use carbon dioxide and water to

produce energy and oxygen– C you use sugar and oxygen to produce

energy and carbon dioxide– D you use sugar and oxygen to produce

carbon dioxide and water– E you use sugar and carbon dioxide to

produce energy and oxygen

24

iClicker Question

• Metabolic consumption of food is like photosynthesis in reverse in that– A you use oxygen and water to produce

energy and carbon dioxide– B you use carbon dioxide and water to

produce energy and oxygen– C you use sugar and oxygen to produce

energy and carbon dioxide– D you use sugar and oxygen to produce

carbon dioxide and water– E you use sugar and carbon dioxide to

produce energy and oxygen

25

How much biomass is available?

• Two estimates of plant production in book come up with comparable answers:

– 1017 grams per year– 320 grams per m2 averaged over earth’s surface– consistent with 401012 W photosynthesis

• U.S. annual harvested mass corresponds to 80 QBtu

– comparable to 100 QBtu total consumption• U.S. actually has wood-fired plants: 6,650 MW-

worth– in 2002, burned equivalent of 200,000 barrels of

oil per day

26

Ethanol from Corn

• One can make ethanol (C2H5OH: a common alcohol) from corn– chop; mix with water– cook to convert starches to sugars– ferment into alcohol– distill to separate alcohol from the rest

27

Does Ethanol as a Fuel Make Sense?

• We put more energy into agriculture than we get out (in terms of Caloric content) by about a factor of two

– at least in our modern, petrol-based mechano-farming

– sure, we can do better by improving efficiencies• Estimates on energy return

– controversial: some say you get out 0.7 times the energy out that you put in (a net loss); others claim it’s 1.4 times; often see numbers like 1.2

– 1.2 means a net gain, but 83% of your total budget goes into production; only 17% of crop is exported as energy

28

Ethanol, continued

• Right now, using tons of fossil fuels to get ethanol– and not clear we’re operating at a net gain

• Why on Earth are we trying?– corn has worked its way into much of our foods

high fructose corn syrup cow feed corn oil for cooking

– powerful presence in the halls of Congress the corn lobby is partially responsible for

pervasiveness of corn in our diet (soft drinks)

29

iClicker Question

• Fructose is bad for your health.– A True– B False

• Sucrose is better for you than fructose.– A True– B False

30

Food For Thought

• Differences between glucose, fructose, and sucrose

• And then there is ethanol

31

Ethanol Issues, continued

• Energy is a high-payoff business, especially when the government helps out with subsidies

– thus the attraction for corn ethanol (which does get subsidies)

• Can supplant actual food production, driving up price of food– there have been tortilla shortages in Mexico because

corn ethanol is squeezing the market– after all, we only have a finite agricultural capacity– both land, and water are limited, especially water

• Ethanol from sugar cane can be 8:1 favorable– Brazil doing very well this way: but corn is the wrong

answer!– but lookout rain forests: can actually increase CO2 by

removing CO2-absorbing jungle

32

iClicker Question

• The basic chemical formula for both glucose and fructose is C6H1206

– A True– B False

33

iClicker Question

• The basic chemical formula for both glucose and fructose is C6H1206

– A True– B False

34

iClicker Question

• Sucrose is a complex sugar made of glucose and fructose.– A True– B False

35

iClicker Question

• Sucrose is a complex sugar made of glucose and fructose.– A True– B False

36

Quantitative Ethanol• Let’s calculate how much land we need to replace oil

– an Iowa cornfield is 1.5% efficient at turning incident sunlight into stored chemical energy

– the conversion to ethanol is 17% efficient assuming 1.2:1 ratio, and using corn ethanol to power

farm equipment and ethanol production itself– growing season is only part of year (say 50%)– net is 0.13% efficient (1.5% 17% 50%)– need 40% of 1020 J per year = 41019 J/yr to replace

petroleum– this is 1.31012 W: thus need 1015 W input (at 0.13%)– at 200 W/m2 insolation, need 51012 m2, or (2,200 km)2 of

land– that’s a square 2,200 km on a side

37

What does this amount of land look like?

We don’t have this much arable land!And where do we grow our food?

38

Take Home Points• Hopefully this illustrates the power of

quantitative analysis– lots of ideas are floated/touted, but

many don’t pass the quantitative test– a plan has to do a heck of a lot more

than sound good!!!– by being quantitative in this course, I

am hoping to instill some of this discriminatory capability in you

39

Other Renewable Resources• Consult text and other books for more on the

other renewable resources• Note that there are few likely major players

– Restricted by location and development costs

• When considering most abundant renewable resources– consider the approximate value of QBtu

available annually– compare to our consumption of 100 QBtu

per year

40

Renewable Resources Review• Solar (photovoltaic, solar thermal)

– get 100 QBtu/yr with < 2% coverage of U.S. land area• Wind

– maybe 180 QBtu/yr worldwide, maybe 25 QBtu in U.S.

• Biomass– if we divert 10% of the 40 TW global budget into

energy, would net 4 TW, or 120 QBtu worldwide; maybe 7 QBtu in U.S., given about 6% of land area

• Hydroelectric– 70 QBtu/yr feasible worldwide: twice current

development– 5 QBtu/yr max potential in U.S.

41

Geothermal Energy• Geothermal: run

heat engines off earth’s internal heat

– could be as much as 1.5 QBtu/yr worldwide in 50 years

– limited to a few rare sites

Binary-cycleBinary-cycle power plants use moderate-temperature water (225 ºF–360 ºF, or 107 ºC–182 ºC) from the geothermal reservoir. In binary systems, hot geothermal fluids are passed through one side of a heat exchanger to heat a working fluid in a separate adjacent pipe. The working fluid, usually an organic compound with a low boiling point such as iso-butane or iso-pentane, is vaporized and passed through a turbine to generate electricity.

42

Geothermal Energy• Dry steam

– Use very hot (>455 °F, or >235 °C) steam and little water from the geothermal reservoir.

– Steam goes directly through a pipe to a turbine to spin a generator that produces electricity.

– This type of geothermal power plant is the oldest, first being used at Lardarello, Italy, in 1904.

• Flash steam– Flash steam power plants use hot

water (>360 ºF, or >182 ºC) from the geothermal reservoir.

– When the water is pumped to the generator, it is released from the pressure of the deep reservoir.

– The sudden drop in pressure causes some of the water to vaporize to steam, which spins a turbine to generate electricity.

• Both dry steam and flash steam power plants emit small amounts of carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, and sulfur

– Generally 50 times less than traditional fossil-fuel power plants.

• Hot water not flashed into steam is returned to the geothermal reservoir through injection wells.

43

• Tidal: oscillating hydroelectric “dams”– a few rare sites are conducive to this (Bay of

Fundy, for example)– can only generate when the tide is flowing in or out

only for about 10 hours each day – up to 1 QBtu/yr practical worldwide

Tidal Energy

Tidal Energy System in France

44

• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)– use thermal gradient

to drive heat engine– complex, at sea,

small power outputs

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)

45

iClicker Question

• Are there any other alternative renewable energy resources?– A Yes– B No

• Don’t forget that there is more to energy than meets the Earth