Energy

What follows is a brief outline of global energy consumption, and how our future needs can be achive in a more ef ficent and sustainable way, maximizine effictiveness independant of profit motivies.

Consumption

First a brief look at global ener gy demands.

To b etter understand the large numbers, the above table show a comparison on energy need to power an average 3 bedroom house. In the UK typical energy consumption p er captal is equivel 1.2 3 bedroom house per personm whislt energy consumpiotion in the US is equivelent to 5.2 houses.

What does the energy come from?

Source(Global)

• Fossil Fuels (84%): Oil (33%), Coal (27%), Natural Gas (24%)
• Hydropower (6%)
• Renewables (5%)
• Nuclear (4%)

Efficiency – Fossil Fuel Loss (64%)

• Production/Extraction (40%)
• Transportation (17%)
• Consumption (7%)

Quick look at the energy market

• 86% of global energy production and distribution controlled by just 30 companies.
   
• 76% of shareholder m anagement control of these 30 companies is with 5 finance firms\r\n

  Blackrock, Vanguard, JP Morgan Chase, Fidelity and UBS</ p>\r\n

•   At least 66% + of global energy ‘strongly influenced’ by just 6 organisations
•   Leading to monopolies & cartels in a largely unregulated market
   
• Countries li ke the UK do have energy regulators
• But only regulate distribution and energy conversion (retail prices) not primary production (wholesale)
   
•   Energy companies worldwide are making record profits when their costs have stayed stati c or even reduced.

All these means is there is little incentive for these companies to increase efficency, or reduces prices if their pr imary goal is to make and increase profits. But if the incentive was there what are the options for energy.\r\n\r\n

Sustainability Potential

Terms

• Sustainable - energy that is not depleted over time or is replenished faster than it is consumed.
• Gree n - energy that have the least amount of environmental impact
• Clean - doesn’t emit any harmful greenhouse gases or pollutants during the generatio n process

Types

• Geothermal
• Wind / Air
• Solar
• Water / Hydrogen
  • Rivers
  • Ocean
    • Wave
    • Tidal
    • Currents
    • Osmotic
    • Ocean Thermal

Geothermal

• Sustainable, green and is mostly clean.
• Energy harnessed essentially from natural heat of the earth’s molten core.
• Can be produ ced constantly so no need for storage.
• Has the smallest land footprint of any energy source in the world
• Plants are usually placed wh ere heat centers are closest to the surface.
• An advanced extraction system (EGS) makes it possible to have plants almost anywhere in the world.</ li>\r\n
• In certain areas there is a small risk of earthquakes

Solar Energy

• Sustainable, Reasonably Gree n, Traditional not very clean but new technology make it cleaner
• Vast amount of energy in the upper atmosphere is more than 23,000 our curren t energy needs.
• If 1% of this energy was captured we would have 6 times more energy than currently consumed.
• Ability to harness the energy is depending on technology:\r\n
  • Currently solar efficiency - direct sunlight that is utilize d is 15%-19% but new technology pushing to 50%.
  • Concentrated Solar Power (CS) is a large scale approach to use mirrors and lenses to concentrate power.
  • Molten-salt thermal technology has been used to continue output 6 hours after it as gone dark. .
• Panel production is resource intensive- precious metals, chemicals & fossil fuels and toxic waste.
• Panels have a decline efficiency, 1% decreases a year which increase rapidly after 10 years.
• First panels installed are beginning to expire - management of expired panels is becoming a pressing issue.
  
  
• Bio-solar panels exist that use living algae because it is growing they have a virtual unlimited shelf life.

Wind

• Sustainable and clean. Has some green impacts, depending on structur e.
• Large wind generators use a lot of materials, they are dangerous for local birdlife etc.
• Wind funnels incorporated into build ings are more efficient with limited negative effects.
• Most capable of being simplest and lowest impact of any renewable energy – school project..< /li>\r\n

Air Pressure

• Sustainable, green and clear. Location dependant.
• A lot of household equipment , including cars could be run on compressed air.
• Falling water such as rain dropping into an air tight tank can create air pressure without s econdary power.

Water / Hydro

• Renewable , clean, relatively green.
• 2 broad sources – oc ean and river-type water flows.
• River flow is currently the most used renewable energy and in practice called hydroelectric..
• Potential of the ocean has yet to be harnessed within a fraction of its capacity.
• Waves
  • Primarily caused by winds.
  • Limited large scale applications at the time - only 6 countries looking at the tech.
  • Global potential is 26,280 TWh/yr which is about 20% of total global use.
• Tidal
  • Primarily caused by gravitational pull of the sum and moon.
  • UK one of the highest levels of tidal activity - estimated 3 4% of UK energy could come from tidal power.
  • Predicability also subject to daily periods of intermittency.
  • Glob al potential 10,888 TWh/yr about 7% of global use.
• Currents
  • Primarily ca used by earth rotation.
  • Turbine/mills need 5 or 6 knots of current to capture energy – most currents are 2-3 knots.
  • Current potential is 400 THh/yr.
  • But technology is in its infancy, with advanced the potential is increasing.
• Osmotic
  • Primarily caused by the meeting of fresh and salt water.
  • Global potential is 1,700 TWh/yr which is about ½ of Europe’s energy demand.
  • Technology is in its infancy but capable of generati ng power 24/7 regardless of weather conditions.
• Thermal
  • Primarily ca used solar heat absorbed into the surface ocean.
  • Biggest potential of all ocean sources.
  • Global potential is 88,000 TWh/yr – half of global energy needs.

Looking at the numbers

As the table shows taken individually each renewable is capable of providing global energy needs, probaly on less consumable resources that current energy sources.

Implementation Considerations

• Prior section describes:\r\n
  • A vast potential of large-scale base-load energy harnessing.
  • Wind, solar, hydro and geothermal are individual capable of exceeding current energy needs.
• So h ow do we intelligently apply these methods?
  
  
• Regional limitations and intermittency any workable solution should have a comminati on of sources.
• A systems approach is the real solution – harmonizing an optimized fraction of each for total-use abundance.
  
  
• Imagine:
  • A series of artifical floating islands of selected coastlines.
  • Capturing th ermal differences, solar, wind, wave and tidal all at the same time.
  • Piping the energy back to mainland for use.
    
    
  • Inland facilities:
    • wind is often more abundant at night, whilst solar power dur ing the day – combined facility.

Small Scale

• Prior section describes vast potential of large-scale base-load energy harnessing.
• Harnessing energy on a more local level is c ontusive to combining various methods.
• Small scale can be linked to single villages, communities or structures
• Localized systems an connect back to large base load systems
      -> thus creating a mixed-medium integrated network.
  
  
• People utilizing these systems currently compliment existing systems rather than gain 100% utilization.
• Maximizing localized possibi lities first is the key to practical energy abundance, efficiency and sustainability.
  
  
• In the US, 33% of energy consumption occurs in peoples homes mainly from fossil fuels.
• If all US homes were able to power themselves that would be a huge reduction in the base load.
• Given the state of solar efficient and storage technology this is feasible.
• The problem us the current energy industry is not pr epared for such efficiencies.

Infastructure & Constuction

Buildings

• Architectural design s that make better use of natural light, that conserves heating and cooling.
• Coupling with use-reuse designs such as heating, water preservation, waste management.
• Efficient management of passive heat, multi-use buildings.

Cities & Transport

• Urban environments designed to be more conducive to convenient integrated mass transit networks
• Utilising grey fields sites to help bring necessary products etc food to cities
• Re-harnessing the powered movement of all transport through technology called piezoelectric.
       floors, pathways, streets, rail lines that can capture energy as they are moved over
• Electric car as proven viabl e for full global use but lobbying effort as kept it well behind petrol powered

Bitcoin

• Bitcoin and other cr ypto currencies in there current form use a disproportional amount of electricity.
• If the entire US economy was run on bitcoin it would require 10 times the current global energy usage.

Finacial Roadblock

• Profit making will naturally create barriers to ubiquitous and optimized household self-produced energy.
     - True for every developing technology after a certain point of proven re sults.
  
  
• Capitalist would argue:\r\n
  • that the process of investment to market of an demanded good reduces the cost of the good over time.
  • thus making it more available to those who previously could not afford.
  • BUT do not forget that the whole process is contrived.
• Remove price and profit from the equation:\r\n
  • Focus on the technology and its merits at the current time and the long-term efficiency.
  • Design focus would e nable proper resource allocation strategies and research to hasten introduction of right tech.
• It is very unfortuna te that this sustainable renewable technology is subject to the whims of the market.

Summary Comments

Incentive for change

• Linked to: environment degradation, resource wastage.
• Means of control (held to ransom by mega corporation s).
• Inefficient (wasted) land use.
• All renewable sources combine extraction with processing and distribution</l i>\r\n
• All carbon sources require separate facilities - inefficent and expensive use of resources.

Strategic Goals

• Minimise single points of failure – mitigate risk.
• Incentivise companies to act more responsibility and efficiently – even if it reduce s profit.
• Transistion away from centralised energy production to localised solutions.
• Promote renewable and green energy e liminating dependency on fossil fuels within 10 years.

Society must take responsibility f or production and consumptions to be assured of efficiency.