Understanding Energy and Energy Policy

224 Pages·2014·2.624 MB·English

by  Braun, Timothy F., Glidden, Lisa M.

About the authors
Timothy F. Braun is an assistant
professor of biological sciences at the
State University of New York College at
Oswego.
Lisa M. Glidden is an associate professor
of political science at the State University
of New York College at Oswego.

UNDERSTANDING ENERGY
AND ENERGY POLICY
Timothy F. Braun and Lisa M. Glidden
Zed Books
London
Understanding Energy and Energy Policy was first published in 2014 by Zed Books
Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London n1 9jf, uk
www.zedbooks.co.uk
Copyright © Timothy F. Braun and Lisa M. Glidden 2014
The rights of Timothy F. Braun and Lisa M. Glidden to be identified as the authors
of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988
Set in Monotype Plantin and FontFont Kievit by Ewan Smith, London
Index: [email protected]
Cover designed by www.roguefour.co.uk
Cover image © Nicholas Eveleigh/Getty
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed
Books Ltd.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data available
ISBn 978-1-78032-935-2 hb
ISBn 978-1-78032-934-5 pb
ISBn 978-1-78032-936-9 pdf
ISBn 978-1-78032-937-6 epub
ISBn 978-1-78032-938-3 mobi
CONTENTS
Figures and tables | vi
Abbreviations and acronyms | vii
Acknowledgments | ix
IntroductIon 1
1 BaSIc energy and poLIcy conceptS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 foSSIL fueLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3 nucLear power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4 BIomaSS and BIofueLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5 Hydropower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6 wInd power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
7 geotHermaL energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
8 SoLar energy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
9 concLuSIon: wHere do we go from Here? . . . . . . . . .162
appendIx: renewaBLe energy Support poLIcIeS . . . . . . .176
Notes | 182 Bibliography | 185
Index | 201
FIGURES AND TABLES
Figures
0.1 Total energy consumption in quadrillion BTUs, with % of world
consumption, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
0.2 Total energy consumption per capita in millions of BTUs, 2010 . . . . . . . 5
0.3 Energy intensity – total energy consumption per dollar of GDP, 2010 . . . . 6
0.4 Flowchart of scientific method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.1 The North American power grid – interconnects in the United States
and Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1 Hydrocarbon molecule, octane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.2 Overview of hydraulic fracturing (HF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.1 Atomic diagram of carbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.2 Radiation effect models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.1 Geothermal heat pump schematic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
8.1 Concentrating solar, with Stirling engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
8.2 Concentrating solar, with PV field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
8.3 Parabolic solar trough field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
8.4 Parabolic solar trough. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
8.5 Power tower solar thermal plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Tables
0.1 Energy intensity and CO2 emissions from energy consumption . . . . . . . 7
0.2 France, final energy consumption by sector by energy source, 2010 . . . . . 8
0.3 India, final energy consumption by sector by energy source, 2010 . . . . . . 8
1.1 Energy sources and their EROeIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.2 Levelized cost of selected energy sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1 Measuring radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.1 US installed wind capacity, by year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
9.1 Comparison of different energy sources for electricity generation . . . . . 167
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
A amp
AC alternating current
AD anaerobic digestion
BTU British Thermal Unit
BWR boiling water reactor
CCS Carbon Capture and Sequestration
CHP combined heat and power
CO2e CO2 equivalent
co-gen co-generation
DC direct current
DRC Democratic Republic of Congo
EGS Enhanced Geothermal System
EPA Environmental Protection Agency (US)
EROeI Energy Return On energy Investment
EU European Union
FIT feed-in tariff
GDP gross domestic product
GHG greenhouse gas
GLOW Great Lakes Offshore Wind
GW gigawatt
HF hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’)
ICJ International Court of Justice
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
ITER International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
K A CARE King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy
kWh kilowatt-hour
LCOE Levelized Cost of Electricity
LIFTR liquid fluoride – thorium cycle
LNG liquefied natural gas
LNT linear no-threshold
METI Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (Japan)
mSv milliSievert
MTBE methyl-tertbutylether
MW megawatt
NISA Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Japan)
NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US)
viii | aBBrevIatIonS and acronymS
NYPA New York Power Authority
OPEC Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
ppm parts per million
PTC Production Tax Credit
PV photovoltaic
PWR pressurized water reactor
rem Roentgen equivalent man
ROI Return On Investment
RPS Renewable Portfolio Standard
STTS solar thermal with thermal storage
UNFCCC UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
V voltage
WCD World Commission on Dams
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We owe thanks to many people who had a part in making this book
become a reality The book is developed from a course that Lisa created
with Dr Alok Kumar, Professor of Physics at SUNY Oswego She is
grateful to a Curriculum Innovation Grant that supported the course’s
creation, and to Dr Walter Opello, who first put her in touch with Alok
Kumar This course has been offered twice, first co-taught with Alok
Kumar, and then co-taught with Dr Timothy Braun, Assistant Professor
of Biological Sciences, the book’s co-author We are thankful to SUNY
Oswego’s commitment to interdisciplinarity, shared by most of the
academic departments on campus, which made offering the course pos-
sible We are also very thankful to the two cohorts of students who took
part in and provided feedback on the course, and the current students in
Global Environmental Politics, who helped choose the book cover
We also owe a debt of gratitude to many of our colleagues and
students Dr Kestutis (Kestas) Bendinskas, Associate Professor of
Chemistry at SUNY Oswego, kindly agreed to review some of the
chemistry discussions, and suggested helpful revisions Patricia Tifft,
administrative assistant for political science, helped with graphics
and images, especi ally the Appendix Jim Russell (Public Affairs) and
Casey Raymond (Department of Chemistry) took time out of their
busy schedules to find photos of the geothermal field installation Julie
Blissert, Director of Public Affairs, responded quickly with permissions
requests, and even caught a typo for us At the beginning of this book
project Stephon Boatwright, one of our undergraduates, served as a re-
search assistant We appreciate a Summer Scholar’s Grant that was able
to support Stephon’s work Toward the end of this project, Alexander
Lykins, also one of our undergraduates, provided research assistance
and data collection We are grateful to both of them for their contribu-
tions Of course, any errors remain our own We are also thankful to
Laura Brazak, one of our undergraduates who is also a professional
photographer, for taking professional author’s photos of us, and for her
many ideas on promoting this book
We are immensely grateful to Dr Duane Braun, Professor Emeritus of
Environmental, Geographical, and Geological Sciences at Bloomsburg
University, and the father of one of the authors, for lightning-fast turn-
around time reviewing our chapters, providing suggestions, and helpful