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The Science of Energy: Resources and Power Explained PDF

197 Pages·2016·3.15 MB·english
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Topic Subtopic Science & Mathematics Earth Sciences The Science of Energy Resources and Power Explained Course Guidebook Professor Michael E. Wysession Washington University in St. Louis PUBLISHED BY: THE GREAT COURSES Corporate Headquarters 4840 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 500 Chantilly, Virginia 20151-2299 Phone: 1-800-832-2412 Fax: 703-378-3819 www.thegreatcourses.com Copyright © The Teaching Company, 2016 Printed in the United States of America This book is in copyright. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of The Teaching Company. Michael E. Wysession, Ph.D. Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Washington University in St. Louis Dr. Michael E. Wysession is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his Sc.B. from Brown University and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University, both in Geophysics. An established leader in seismology and geoscience education, Dr. Wysession is noted for his development of new ways to visualize the propagation of seismic waves and to use those waves in creating three- dimensional images of Earth’s interior. These images have provided scientists with insights into the makeup of Earth and its evolution throughout history. Much of Dr. Wysession’s seismological research has focused on determining the composition of Earth’s deep mantle, particularly the enigmatic boundary between Earth’s rocky mantle and liquid iron outer core. Dr. Wysession has received many awards for his research and teaching and has been a leader in university education reform. He has coauthored more than 50 refereed scientific publications and more than 20 textbooks, including the graduate-level text An Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure and the K–8 educational program Interactive Science. Dr. Wysession led the Earth and Space Sciences team in the writing of the new national K–12 Next Generation Science Standards, which are revolutionizing the teaching of science in primary and secondary schools. He is a frequent guest on television and ii Science of Energy radio programs concerned with earthquakes, Earth structure, and science education. For The Great Courses, Dr. Wysession also has taught How the Earth Works; The World’s Greatest Geological Wonders: 36 Spectacular Sites; and part of Polar Explorations (cobranded with National Geographic). ■ Table of Contents INTRODUCTION Professor Biography ............................................................................i Course Scope .....................................................................................1 LECTURE GUIDES LECTUrE 1 Energy and Human Civilization.........................................................4 LECTUrE 2 Energy: Forms and Conversion for Use .........................................11 LECTUrE 3 Heat: The Transfer and Flow of Energy ..........................................19 LECTUrE 4 Electricity: Ultimate Energy Converter ............................................27 LECTUrE 5 Chemical Energy, Biomass, and Photosynthesis ...........................35 LECTUrE 6 Coal: Convenient, Energy-Dense Fuel ...........................................42 LECTUrE 7 Petroleum: Chemistry, retrieval, and Use ......................................49 LECTUrE 8 New Petroleum Directions ..............................................................56 LECTUrE 9 Fossil Fuel Energy: Issues and Concerns ......................................62 iv The Science of Energy: resources and Power Explained LECTUrE 10 Understanding Carbon Dioxide.......................................................69 LECTUrE 11 The Science of Nuclear Power .......................................................76 LECTUrE 12 The Nuclear Fission Fuel Cycle ......................................................84 LECTUrE 13 Sunlight: Inexhaustible Energy Source ...........................................92 LECTUrE 14 Solar Power and Electricity .............................................................99 LECTUrE 15 Wind Power and Electricity ...........................................................106 LECTUrE 16 Hydroelectric Power: Electricity from Water .................................114 LECTUrE 17 Biofuels: Biodiesel and Ethanol ....................................................122 LECTUrE 18 Geothermal Energy.......................................................................129 LECTUrE 19 Energy Storage Technologies .......................................................137 LECTUrE 20 Energy Needs for Transportation ..................................................145 LECTUrE 21 Energy Efficiency: Technologies and Trends ................................152 LECTUrE 22 Energy Sources: Economics and Politics .....................................161 Table of Contents v LECTUrE 23 Probable and Possible Future Energy Sources ............................168 LECTUrE 24 Energy Trends: Planning for the Near Future ...............................175 SUPPLEMENTaL MaTERIaL Bibliography ..................................................................................182 Image Credits ...............................................................................188 The Science of Energy: Resources and Power Explained Scope: This course will examine the science of energy and present a balanced view of humanity’s energy resource options moving into the future. Everything that humans do requires energy, from the food we eat to the homes we live in and the cars we drive. Humans use an enormous amount of energy for a wide variety of purposes. That need continues to increase as the human population grows and the levels of industrialization increase for much of the world. To provide these energy needs, humans draw on a wide portfolio of energy resources that include both renewable and nonrenewable sources. At some point in the future, humans will predominantly rely on renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. For most of the 21st century, however, the nonrenewable sources of coal, oil, gas, and nuclear fission will likely continue to dominate. The first part of the course will present the fundamentals of energy from scientific and engineering perspectives, examining the forms of energy, the ways that energy converts from one form to another, and the unforgiving laws of thermodynamics, which govern the evolution of the universe and everything in it. Humans use significant amounts of energy in the form of electricity, which can be created using a generator from any number of original sources. However, most generators operate from steam-turned turbines, and the steam comes from heat created by the burning of fossil fuels or the nuclear fission of uranium. Heat is a major end use of energy, not only for generating electricity but also for heating homes and carrying out all kinds of industrial processes. Nearly all of the energy we use originates from the Sun. Sunlight provides the energy for photosynthesis, and burning the chemical energy 2 The Science of Energy: resources and Power Explained of leaves and sticks for heat and cooking was the first human energy source. Biomass still remains the primary source of energy for almost half of the world’s population. The fossil fuels are, in a sense, fossilized sunbeams; they are the concentrated forms of organic materials left over from organisms that lived tens to hundreds of millions of years ago. Coal formed from fossilized bogs and swamps, compacted from the deposition of overlying sediments from eons of continental deposition. Oil and natural gas deposits originated in the ocean from the accumulated bottom layer of organic debris that continuously rains down across the ocean as photosynthetic plankton at the surface die and fall to the ocean floor. The fossil fuels are responsible for the remarkable industrial and technological transformation of human culture over the past few centuries, beginning with coal in the 18th century and transitioning to petroleum. The convenience and high energy density of the fossil fuels provided the vast amounts of energy needed to construct our cities and armies and transform Earth’s surface to be under human control. Such use has not been without consequences, however, as the high pollution content resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels creates significant human and environmental damages, and the 9 billion tons of carbon released into the atmosphere each year contributes to the current rapid heating of the planet’s surface. In addition, the uneven distribution of petroleum has fueled most of the political conflicts of the past half century. Humans are unique among the animal kingdom for their high level of cleverness, however, and many engineering innovations are being developed to minimize the negative impacts of burning fossil fuels. The world already has begun to see the transition to renewable energy sources, driven by market forces, as the steadily dropping costs of solar and wind power, combined with their free sources of energy and lack of pollutants, make them the fastest-growing energy technologies. The intermittent supply of wind and sunlight, however, is also driving a rapid development in energy storage technologies that include chemical storage (batteries), gravitational storage (predominantly pumped hydroelectric), thermal storage, and even mechanical storage (as flywheels). The power from nuclear fission has garnered renewed attention because of its lack of greenhouse gas emissions, but insufficient

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