Renewable Energy Sources

							Website of the day:
           The Green Guide: Informing Today's
           Choices, Shaping Tomorrow's World




News Story: NPR : New Urbanism Advocated in Gulf Coast Rebuilding
Renewable Energy Sources


      Solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal,
      biomass, and fuel cells


                US Department of Energy
 U.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Solar Energy: PV technology

   Photons excite
    electrons, which pass
    from n-layer to the p-
    layer
   Electrical field created
    at p/n junction




                                                                Fast Solar Facts
    City of Riverside, Calif., solar parking structure. Photo
    courtesy of Schott Applied Power Corp.
Photovoltaics
Thin Layer technology


                                                       Germany




          Switzerland

   Thin layer technology in wall
    materials, roof shingles or
    window laminates                University of Strathclyde, UK
   Thinner conducting layers-
    cheaper
Alternate Materials for PV: Biosolar

   Using spinach to
    produce new
    flexible solar
    panels
   Light, flexible and
    potentially
    inexpensive
   A few problems to
    sort out…
    Science News
NYSERDA Program

   Cash incentives that offset total installation
    costs by 40-70% (~$4 per watt)
       System purchased from eligible installer
       Size restrictions
       Grid-connected
       Pay into Systems Benefit Charge (not Long
        Island)
    NYSERDA WEBPAGE

    New York Incentives for Renewable Energy
Solar Thermal Systems: Power Towers
                               Heat stored as molten salt
                               Energy for 10,000 homes
                               8x construction costs of
                                coal fired plant
                               2x as expensive per
                                kilowatt hour
                               Shut down in 1999 (was
                                only an experiment)
    Solar Two, California
Solar Thermal Plants

   Reflect sunlight into
    oil filled pipes
Non imaging optical solar collectors

   Lens like in an
    overhead projector to
    optimize concentration
    of solar energy (prism
    geometry)
   Intensify sunlight
    80,000 x
Hydro power




                       Burma hydro plant



     Glen Canyon Dam
Hydroelectric Power: Three Gorges Dam




                                   CNN feature story


   Largest Hydro Dam in the World
   Good or Bad Idea?
                            A dam shame (Grist magazine) By
       Question of scale   Dan Oko Jun 2004
    Columbia River System
   Very heavily dammed
       Why?
   What are
    consequences?
Columbia River System: Salmon
Columbia River System: Power vs. Fish




                        Fish friendly turbine technology
Columbia River System: Power vs. Fish
   Breach the dams –
    good or bad idea?




       A timeline of failure
Geothermal Power
Geothermal Power
   Iceland
       3 major
        geothermal
        plants, 17% of
        electricity
       87% of nation’s
        heating and hot
        water
Geothermal Power: US




   3rd among renewables in current production
   Good or Bad idea?
Tidal Power
Tidal Power




La Rance, France – largest tidal
system, capacity of 240 megawatt,
powering 240.000 homes.




                                    East River, NY
Wind Energy
                 Vertical vs.
                  Horizontal
                  axis
Wind Power Potential
Wind Energy in New York
   20 of the largest
    wind turbines in the
    US
   Annual generation:
    89,000 Megawatts
   Offset:
        135 million pounds of
        air pollution
        CO2 equivalent of
        14,000 acres of trees    Fenner Wind Farm
        Taking 7,600 cars off   NYSEG Catch the Wind Program
        the road
                                 NY State Overview
                              NPR Biodiesel in Texas
   Read about it in Miller
Website of the day:
 iNSnet - internetwork for sustainability, sustainable development

  The Space Elevator - Elevator:2010



News of the day:
    NPR : New Urbanism Advocated in Gulf Coast Rebuilding


    NPR : California Town Votes on Huge Desalinization Plant
Fuel cell technology
   Developed in 1839
   Used for spacecraft
   Clean, efficient power for
    variety of applications
   PEM = polymer electrolyte
    membrane
   Needs catalysts at both anode
    and cathode to facilitate
    reactions




        Fuel Cell animation
Hydrogen Economy




               21x more tankers than fossil fuels
Energy & Transportation




                          Bangkok traffic
CAFÉ standards




                 CAFÉ Standards and performance
Drive by wire Technology




   X-Drive and Drive-by-wire technology
    GM AUTOmony




                     Review of AUTOnomy
   $1 million car
Fuel Cell cars

                      Carbon nanotube




   15% more efficient than ICE
   4-6x more expensive per unit fuel compared to gas
Making the Transition
   Catch 22: cars or infrastructure first?
Making the Transition
Hydrogen Efficiency

Engine System       Grams of CO2 emitted per
                    kilometer traveled
Gasoline internal                                      250
combustion engine

H2 produced                                      175
onboard from
gasoline
H2 produced                                    160
onboard from
methanol
H2 produced                   70
offboard from
natural gas
Comparing Energy Sources
             Envir. Cost (cts per kilowatt-hour)
         6


         5


         4


         3


         2


         1


         0
                                      Energy Source
                      Coal         Nuclear         Oil    Natural Gas
                      Biomass      Solar cells     Wind   Geothermal
       Based on data from the U.S. Department of Energy
 Energy Comparison: Land Use
            Coal                      3,640
(including mining)
    Solar thermal                    3,560

       Solar cells                 3,240

            Wind           1,340

     Geothermal      404
Growing Energy Sources
                   Politics of Renewable Energy
R&D expenditure (billions of dollars, 1999)



                                               3

                                              2.5                                 President Clinton

                                               2
                                                                       Presiden
                                              1.5                      t Bush
                                                      Presiden         Sr.
                                               1      t Carter
                                                                                                Presiden
                                                                                                t Bush
                                              0.5                                               Jr.
                                                    President Reagan
                                               0
                                                    1975   1980   1985     1990       1995    2000     2005
                                                                           Year
Politics of Renewable Energy




   National Energy Policy
Decentralized micropower