Download Energy 101

Energy 101
Steve Brick
Energy Center of Wisconsin
ecw.org
Overview
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Energy currency
Rules
Terms
Statistics
Implications
The Future
The Currency
 Energy is the ability to do work
 Joules are the international currency
 A joule equals one watt-second (power * time)
 A British Thermal Unit (Btu) = 1,055 joules
 One kilowatt (kWh) hour = 3,412 Btu
 One therm = 100,000 Btu
 One calorie = 4.184 joules
 One dietary calorie = 1,000 calories
 kWh and therms are important for consumers –
these are the units that electric and gas bills
are expressed in
Rules
 Thermodynamics
 Energy Facility
Siting
The laws of thermodynamics
 You can’t win
 You can’t break even
 You can’t get out of the game
The second law
 Entropy – disorder
– always increases
 The most important
law
 Disorder = pollution
The rule of facility siting
 “No one wants to
live next to the
skunk works, no
matter how many
skunks they use.”
 Energy demand
continues to grow,
but building new
facilities is difficult.
Energy resources
 Non-renewable resources
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Fossil
 Coal
 Oil
 Natural Gas
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Non-fossil
 Uranium
 Thorium
 Renewable Resources
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Wind
Hydro
Biomass
Geothermal
Solar
Non-renewable energy...
 Is running out ...
 Petroleum – 100
years
 Coal – 400 years
 Will we really run
out?
 Maybe...
Basic statistics
 US per capita energy
consumption = 345
million Btus
 Denmark per capita
energy consumption =
175 million Btus
 Energy consumption in
China = 20 million
Btus
US Energy Production, 2002 (71 quads)
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Coal = 33%
Gas = 31 %
Oil = 17%
Nuclear = 11%
Renewable = 8%
6
8
23
12
22
Coal
Gas
Oil
Nuclear
Renewable
US Energy Consumption, 2002 (97 quads)
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Coal = 23%
Gas = 24%
Oil = 39%
Nuclear = 8%
Renewable = 6%
8
6
38
Coal
Oil
Renewable
22
23
Gas
Nuclear
Energy Balance, 2002 (quads)
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
-30
Coal
Gas
Production
Oil
Consumption
Nuclear
Net
Renewable
Total End Use Consumption, 2002 (quads)
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Residential = 22%
Commercial = 18%
Industrial = 33%
Transportation = 27%
21
27
17
32
Residential
Commercial
Industrial
Transportation
Primary End Use Consumption, 2002 (quads)
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Residential = 7%
Commercial = 4%
Industrial = 22%
Transportation = 27%
Electricity = 40%
7
4
38
22
26
Residential
Transportation
Commercial
Electricity
Industrial
Where do I use energy?
 Household – electricity, natural gas,
propane, wood, wind, photovoltaic
 Transportation – gasoline, diesel fuel
 Purchases – embodied energy
The Brick Family energy budget (1,725 Million
Btus....)
 Electricity = 51 million
Btus
 Natural gas = 99
million Btus
 Automobiles = 161
million Btus
 Air travel = 79 million
Btus
 This all equals 390
million Btus – the rest
is embodied in
purchases and in all
the energy it takes to
run American society
Efficiency
 What if 3 quarts of
milk were lost
between the cow
and the gallon in
the refrigerator?
Efficiency
 That’s the way it is
with electricity
 The total efficiency
of the system (from
mine to the outlet
in your house) is
only about 25
percent!
 For every Btu
delivered three
are wasted
Efficiency
 That’s the way it is
with the internal
combustion engine
 Total system
efficiency is only
about 20 percent
 For every Btu
delivered four
are wasted
Implications
 Our standard of
living is intimately
tied to our
consumption of
fossil fuels
 Our standard of
living has serious
environmental
implications
Environmental Issues
 Air pollution
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Ozone
Particles
Acid Rain
Climate Change
 Water use
 Pollution
 Thermal
 Consumption
 Land use
 Sprawl
 Habitat fragmentation
Is the fossil fuel picnic sustainable?
 Fossil fuel resources
are finite
 Scientific consensus
that climate change is
real
 To stabilize climate,
we need to reduce
emissions of
greenhouse gases 7080 percent below
present levels by
about 2050 –
Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate
Change
Can we do this?
 The Energy
Pyramid
 Energy efficiency
 Renewable energy
 New technologies
Consumer Responsibility
 Where does my
energy come from?
 What does my
energy cost?
 What are the direct
costs?
 What are the
indirect costs
 Education is key!