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Renewable Energy-7.3 + Renewable Energy Alternatives-7.4 (Improving Energy…
Renewable Energy-7.3 + Renewable Energy Alternatives-7.4
Energy Priorities:
Decreasing our dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels.
Replying more on a mix of renewable energy.
Improving energy efficiency and reducing energy waste.
Benefits of transitioning to Renewable Energy
Economic
Save money.
Create jobs and business opportunities.
Environmental
Help keep climate change from spiraling out of control and creating ecological and economic chaos.
Slow the increase in ocean acidity.
Save lives by sharply reducing air pollution.
Fossil Fuels will fade because renewable energy:
Cause fewer environmental and health problems.
Reduce dependence on foreign fuel.
Becoming cheaper and cheaper
Biggest sources of Renewable Energy
Energy Efficiency
Is a measure of how much useful work we can get from each unit of energy we use.
More energy goes into the form we need + There are ways to improve energy efficiency and waste less energy.
Concerns unavoidable loss that happens as a result of inefficient technology and system.
Energy Conservation
Means reducing or eliminating the unnecessary wasting of energy.
Concerns avoidable loss that happens as a result of carelessness or ignorance.
Reasons for Energy Waste
Nuclear, coal, and natural gas power plants
Huge
data centers
: Electronic servers processing and storing information.
Internal combustion
engine that propels most motor vehicles.
Ways to improve energy efficiency
Transportation
Mass transit systems- discourage car use.
CAFE vehicle fuel efficiency target.
Electric and hybrid vehicles.
Buildings
Insulating buildings for more efficient heating and cooling.
Use energy-efficient appliances, devices, and lights.
Switch off unused energy-consumers, specially computers and servers.
Power plants and industry
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Cogeneration.
Variable-speed electric motors.
Upgrade the electrical grid to an energy-efficient smart grid.
Industries
The ones that use the most energy are the ones that produce chemicals, petroleum, cement, steel, aluminum, and paper and wood products.
Ways for industries to save money and fuel
Recycling materials such as steel and other metals can save money and energy.
Implementing energy-efficiency in offices
More energy efficient-variable speed electric motors
Cogeneration - two useful forms of energy, heat and electricity.
Upgrade electrical grid to smart grid
Fuel economy of a vehicle: is the measure of how many miles, you can travel on average for every gallon of gasoline that you use
Corporate Average Fuel Economy
Seeks to improve the average fuel economy of new cars, light trucks, vans, and SUVs in the United States. However, from 1975 to 2013 the fuel economy increased from 11.9 to 24.9 miles per hour.
Energy-Efficient Vehicles
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
All-electric vehicle
Gasoline Electric Hybrid cars
Incentivize to use less gasoline
Raise taxes on gasoline
Build bicycle-only routes and areas
Improve massively transit system
Significant tax-breaks
Hidden Gasoline costs
Government subsidies and tax breaks for oil.
Costs of pollution control and cleanup
Defense spending to secure access to Middle East oil supplies
Medical bills and health insurance caused by the pollution.
International Center for Technology Assessment says that gasoline costs $12 but it is sold at $3.
Biggest energy costs in home are:
Cooling
Electronics and Appliances
Heating
Saving Energy and Money
Seal gaps around the window frame
Insulate the building walls and roof
Insulated Windows
Improving Energy Efficiency
Prolong fossil fuel supplies.
Reduces oil imports and improves energy security.
Reduces pollution and environmental degradation
Very high net energy.
Low cost.
Buys time to phase renewable energy
Creates local jobs
Solar Heating Systems
Active
Passive
Solar Thermal Systems:
Use different methods to collect and concentrate solar energy to boil water and produce steam for generating electricity.
Parabolic Mirrors
Moving Mirrors
Photovoltaic Cells: Convert solar to electric enegy.
Advantages:
Contain no toxic materials
Easy to use-low maintenance
Solar cells emit no greenhouse gases or pollutants
Disadvantages:
Cannot produce electricity at night
Low Energy Efficiency
Wind Power:
Moving air causes the turbines to move producing electricity.
Advantages
Wind power is mostly carbon-free and polltion-free.
Fast and relatively cheap to build and expand.
Wind is abundant, widely distributed, and inexhaustible.
Occupy a small portion of land.
Increasing energy efficiency and reducing costs.
Smart grid connects various farms if one dies.
High net energy, widely available, low electricity cost, little air and other pollutions, easy to build and expand.
Disadvantages
Wind turbines cause 0.003 of bird and bat death compared to humans.
New turbines will reduce the deaths.
Slower blade rotation
Positioned away from migration routes
Uv coating and ultrasonic devices to deter birds and bats/
Collisions with turbines kill 234,000 birds and 600,000 bats a year.
Needs backup or storage system when wind dies.
Visual pollution, low level noise, and can kill birds if not placed properly.
Geothermal Energy:
is heat stored in the soil, underground rocks, and fluids in the Earth's mantle.
Is the most energy-efficient, reliable, environmentally clean, and cost-effective way to heat or cool a place.
Advantages
Medium net energy.
Low CO2 emissions.
Disadvantages
Drilling geothermal wells is expensive and risky.
Not many hydrothermal sites with concentrations of heat high enough to make it affordable.
Can be non-renewable if heat is extracted faster than can be restored.
Solid Biomass:
is organic matter found in plants or plant-related material.
Can be used to make
heat
and
electricity
. It can also be converted into liquid
biofuels
for use in motor vehicles.
Ethanol
from plants and plant wastes.
Biodiesel
from vegetable oil.
Advantages of Biofuels
:
Biofuel crops can be grown much all over the world.
No net increase in CO2 emissions
Easy to store and transport.
Medium net energy for biodiesel from palm oils and medium net energy for ethanol from sugarcanes.
Disadvantages of Biofuels
:
Requires huge amount of water and large volumes of waste water.
Tropical rainforest, grasslands, and wetlands are being destroyed to grow these crops that produce biofuels. Reduces biodiversity and increases food prices.
20% more greenhouses to the atmosphere.
Fuel crops can be invasive species.
Advantages of Solid Biomass
:
Moderate costs.
Medium net energy.
Widely available in some areas.
No net CO2 increase if harvested, burned, and replanted sustainably.
Plantations can help restore degraded areas.
Disadvantages of Solid Biomass
:
Contributes to deforestation.
Clear-Cutting can cause erosion, waste pollution, and loss of wildlife habitat.
Can open ecosystems to invasive species.
Increases CO2 emissions if harvested and burned unsustainably.
Biodigesters:
Organic material decomposed by bacteria.
Advantages
Less waste to landfills
Reuse food waste
Reduce livestock and human waste
Less CO2 than fossil fuels
More jobs
Disadvantages
Impurities can damage
Low net energy
Algae Biofuel
Advantages
Can grow year round.
Can produce more energy.
Disadvantages
Costly to extract.
Hydropower:
any technology that uses the kinetic energy of flowing and falling water to produce electricity.
Advantages of Dam
High net energy
low-cost electricity
large untapped potential
low CO2 emissions
Disadvantages of Dam
High CH4 emissions from rapid biomass decay in shallow tropical reservoirs.
Large land disturbance and displacement of people.
Disrupts downstream aquatic ecosystems
Tidal Energy and Wave Energy can
Hydrogen
is the simplest and most abundant chemical element in the universe. Perhaps it can be the fuel of the future.
Advantages
No CO2 emissions
Good substitute for oil.
Can be produced from plentiful water at some sites
High efficiency in fuel cells.
Disadvantages
Negative net energy.
CO2 emissions if produced from carbon-containing compounds.
High costs create need for subsidies.
Need H2 storage and distribution system.
Accelerating Renewable Energy Economy
Subsidize renewable energy
Tax carbon emissions
Use full-cost pricing
Eliminate subsidies for fossil fuel industries
Feed-in tariff system
Mandate that certain percentage of the energy used by the companies should be renewable
Increase government efficiency CAFE standards