How Do We Manage This Precious Resource?

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "How Do We Manage This Precious Resource?"

Lorraine Ross
7 years ago
Views:

1 How Do We Manage This Precious Resource? Six questions: From where does our petroleum come? Are we using petroleum prudently? Can we access new resources? How can we postpone exhausting oil reserves by using less? Are there alternative fuels? Are there alternative energy sources?

2 Steps to Use Less Gasoline? No improvement in fuel economy for 30 years

3 Projected Fuel Economies

4 Projected Fuel Economies

5 Alternative Sources of Energy? Wind energy Solar energy Gasoline from coal Atomic energy

6 Wind Energy Gian Lorenzo Bernini ( ) Fontana di Quatro Fiumi, Piazza Navona

7 Wind Energy Wind energy is the lowest cost renewable energy technology, costing 4-6 c per kwh, but requires a higher initial investment. Wind energy is clean, without air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions. Wind turbines can be placed on farms or ranches or be installed offshore, although this is more expensive than for land sites. Major problem: efficient batteries must be used for storing part of the energy, because the wind is intermittent power plants perform poorly if they are turned on and off, or lower and higher higher degree of pollution when turning on or off

8 Campo de Criptana Molinos de Viento Castillia La Mancha, Spain

9 Don Quichotte de la Mancha

10 North Palm Springs Windmills

11 Solar Energy Reflection Devices Warm water bottle Solar cell generates electricity Catalyst splits water into H 2 and O 2

12 Capella Sistina Michelangelo Buonarroti

13 Frank von Mierlo

14 Burnong Mirror of Archimedes

15 Focusing Light for Laboratory Experiments In the background a famous experiment by Joseph Priestly: he focused sun light onto a sample of HgO and observed formation of Hg and O 2 Engraving by J. Chapman, after R. Corbould

16 Gemasolar, Fuentes de Andalucia, Spain

Gemasolar, Fuentes de Andalucia, Spain 2650 panels ( heliostats ) reflect up to 95% of the sunlight unto a molten salt container, heating it as high as 900 C The hot molten salt is used for steam

17 Gemasolar, Fuentes de Andalucia, Spain 2650 panels ( heliostats ) reflect up to 95% of the sunlight unto a molten salt container, heating it as high as 900 C The hot molten salt is used for steam production The steam drives a turbine which, in turn, powers a generator Because of the (insulated) storage tanks, Gemasolar can produce electricity for up to 15 hours overnight or during periods of cloud cover

18 Gemasolar, Fuentes de Andalucia, Spain

19 Rutgers University, Livingston Campus Solar cell generates electricity Fixed panels Junctions of n- and p- doped crystalline Si convert sun energy into current

20 Alcatel-Lucent Bell Laboratories Movable panels

21 Alcatel-Lucent Bell Laboratories

22 Rutgers University Energy Livingston Conservation Campus Construction Complete University Facilities Immovable panels

23 Energy Conservation Description of Solar Farm 7996 silicon based panels on a fixed mounted system. The panels are arranged in five main sub-arrays that feed into five inverters. The power is converted to 480 volts and then is stepped up to 13.8kV. The line voltage is interconnected with the university grid. The solar electric system is monitored through a web based monitoring system. University Facilities

24 System Size and Output Energy Conservation DC Watts (W-DC) 1,345,000 DC to AC derate factor 0.95 AC Watts (W-DC) 1,277,750 NJ Annual Capacity Factor 14.0% First Year kwh 1,567,033 Equivalent to power 145 homes 1,800s/f for a family of four University Facilities

25 Environmental Benefits Energy Conservation Reduce emissions by 1,216 tons of CO 2 per year Equivalent to not burning 2,955 barrels of oil per year Equivalent to not burning 660 tons of coal Equivalent to 155 vehicles off the road assuming 12,000 miles per year at 14.5 mpg University University Facilities Facilities

26 Alternative Sources of Energy? Wind energy Solar energy Gasoline from coal Atomic energy

27 Fuel from Coal City Gas Process Blowing air through a heated fuel bed (coke or coal) (insufficient air for total combustion) produces carbon monoxide (CO); adding steam to the input air enriches the fuel gas with CO and H 2 (water gas reaction); the resulting CO/H 2 is diluted with nitrogen (N 2, from air) and CO 2 (from combustion) 2 C(s) + O 2 2 CO exothermic C(s) + H 2 O 2 CO endothermic (water gas reaction) C(s) + 2 H 2 O CO H 2 endothermic CO + H 2 O CO 2 + H 2 exothermic

28 Fuel from Coal Fischer Tropsch Process The Fischer Tropsch process is a series of chemical reactions, on transition metal catalysts (Co, Fe, Ru), carried out at 150 to 300 that produce a variety of hydrocarbon molecules of composition C n H 2n+2 ; higher T accelerate the reaction, but favor methane formation ( useless as it is gaseous at standard temperature and pressure) (2n + 1) H 2 + n CO C n H 2n+2 + n H 2 O (2n + 1) H 2 + n CO C n H 2n+2 + n H 2 O Straight-chain alkanes are major products, suitable as diesel fuel; competing reactions give small amounts of alkenes, alcohols and other oxygenated hydrocarbons.

29 Gasoline from coal Fischer Tropsch Process

30 Fischer Tropsch Process

31 exam scores Low 26 Median 58 High 97

32 Alternative Sources of Energy? Wind energy Solar energy Gasolin from Coal Atomic Energy

Environmental Science 101 Energy. Web-Based Course. Lecture Outline: Terms You Should Know: Learning Objectives: Reading Assignment:

Environmental Science 101 Energy 1 Web-Based Course Lecture Outline: 5. RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES MODULE 5.1 Improving Energy Efficiency A. Improving Energy Efficiency MODULE 5.2 Geothermal, Hydro and