Dan Jira
Writing Seminar
Professor Beery
April 28, 2017
The Problem of Energy Consumption and How to Solve It
Mahatma Gandhi once said “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” One-hundred years later, we are feeling the ramifications of the later half of that quote. Non-renewable sources of energy are depleting, and the quicker we use them up, the quicker we are destroying the ozone layer of our atmosphere. Although alternative sources of energy are here and ever advancing, until hydrogen as a fuel source is introduced, we will never be able to run an emissions free economy.
Whether or not you believe that global warming exists, it cannot be denied that the global use of energy is increasing every year. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, energy consumption per person (in Million Btu) has gone up from 65 in the year 2000 to 74 in the year 2010. That is the equivalent of each person in the world using 1.9 tonnes of oil each year. The current rise of per capita energy consumption is worrying news considering that from 1980 to 2000, the average energy consumption over those 20 years was 63.9 Million Btu. However, the average over just the next ten years, from 2001 to 2011, was up to 77.1 Million Btu. This meteoric rise in energy consumption per person may not seem too drastic, but when you look at the world consumption of energy, during those ten years, you can see that it has risen from 400.6 Quadrillion Btu all the way up to 520.3 Quadrillion Btu. This 120 Quadrillion Btu increase over those ten years is nothing however, when you look at the data from 1980. The world consumption of energy in 1980 is 237 points lower than it is 31 years later. That increase is what I am concerned about. The 520.3 Quadrillion Btu of energy that the world used in 2011 is the equivalent of 89.66 Billion tonnes of oil (U.S. Energy Information Administration).
It must be considered that because this table includes renewable sources of energy as well as nonrenewable that surely this cannot be a bad thing. However, in 1980, the average Petroleum consumption was 63,122 Thousand Barrels of Oil per day. In 1990, there was a modest increase to 66,541 Thousand Barrels of Oil per day. The increase from 1990 to 2000 was a bit more drastic. In the year 2000, world consumption of oil was up to 76,928 Thousand Barrels of Oil per day. The consumption from the years 2000 to 2010 is just a bit more drastic. In the year 2010, world consumption of oil was up to 88,216 Thousand Barrels of Oil per day. Sure the increase over ten year intervals is not unexpected given the needs of the planet. However, the increase of global consumption of 25,094 Thousand Barrels of Oil per day is worrying nonetheless. The story is even more drastic with natural gas. From 1980 to 2010, the global increase of natural gas was up 60,915 Billion Cubic Feet. From 52,943 Billion Cubic Feet in 1980 to 113,858 Billion Cubic Feet in 2010. The story for coal is the exact same, with an increase of global use of 3,762,483 Thousand Short tons from 1980 to 2010. The energy needs of the planet are more than telling of the increase in electricity consumption. The number of Billions of Kilowatt Hours the planet needed doubled from 1980 to 2005 and increased a staggering 11,357 Billion Kilowatt Hours over the course of thirty years, from 1980 to 2010. All of this translates to the huge increase in global CO2 emissions from 1980 to 2010 from 8,825.2 Million Metric Tons in 1980 to 11,392.4 Million Metric Tons in 2010. Sure these numbers may not seem huge, however if you add the total production of CO2 emissions over the course of those 30 years, then do you see where within the problem lies. From 1980 to 2010 an astronomical amount of 299,438.5 Million Metric Tons of CO2 emissions has been put into the atmosphere of our planet (U.S. Energy Information Administration).
All of these billions of tons of CO2 have been building up in the upper atmosphere of our planet. Contrary to what some people think, these gasses are not causing a degradation of the atmosphere. No, rather, they are doing something a bit worse. These gasses are starting to build up another layer of the atmosphere. This layer is thicker than most of the other upper layers of the atmosphere and is trapping the sun’s rays inside the atmosphere, and in turn making the planet warmer. This change in temperature, although miniscule when compared to the universal thermometer, is causing significant damage to the planet. It cannot be denied that the ice caps are melting, and that deserts are expanding. If you look at the California drought of the past year, then you know of the problems that I am referring to. There must be a solution to all of this, because as much as the ecomaniacs want us to turn away from non-renewable fuels immediately, it is not that easy.
Currently, the most widely used renewable power source is hydropower. From the early days of hydropower when a calm stream turned a water-wheel used to mill grain, to the modern-day marvel of the Three Gorges Hydroelectric power-plant in China which helped the nation produce more than 50% of the world’s hydroelectric power (Power-Technology). The only problem with hydroelectric power is that no matter how efficient it is, it is limited. The location of hydroelectric power plants is limited to land and environmental restrictions. Most hydroelectric dams create lakes behind them. Because of this, it is required for these dams to be put in specific places, and only after extensive geological surveys to make sure that the resulting lake created by the dam would not destroy any sensitive ecosystems in the area.
The second most widely used renewable energy source is also the oldest: wind power. Wind has been used to power grain mills since the early 9th Century to grind grain. However, it is only as of 1888 that wind has been used to create electricity. In recent years, the “annual growth rate of cumulative wind power capacity has averaged 25% during the last five years” (Power-Technology). The largest on land wind farm in the world is actually in California. The Alta Wind Energy Centre has an operational capacity of 1,550MW through 586 individual turbines. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States consumed 3868 Gigawatts of electrical power. This means that the largest wind farm in the world can only produce 0.0004% of the electrical power required to run the nation. However, there is a problem. The General Electric 1.5MW Turbines that are the most common around the world, are massive. These windmills are, on average, 80 m tall, and the rotors are 77 m in diameter. If you were to fill the cylinder of operating space that these turbines need with water, you could fill 149 olympic size swimming pools. This means that the most efficient, and largest, wind farm in the world is situated on 3,500 acres. Solar power is the world’s third most productive renewable source of energy generating around 100GW per year (Power-Technology). Solar power has the same problem that wind energy does, in that its source is not constant. Unlike a hydropower facility where the source is a constant flow from a dammed river, solar panels and wind turbines are constantly plagued by the lack of their sources. However, these three sources offer one advantage that coal powered electrical plants could never achieve: zero emissions.
Electricity is said to be the future of transportation; however, I disagree. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, electricity production accounts for the largest amount of CO2 emissions at 30% whereas transportation on accounts for 26. This means that until electricity is generated completely emission free, electricity is not the most efficient way to power your vehicle. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel because there is a solution coming soon. Hydrogen. The most abundant element in the universe in the universe has been powering the largest object in our solar system for over three trillion years, our sun. A hydrogen fuel cell vehicle operates on the same basic principles that make the sun shine. By smashing two hydrogen atoms into each other, a massive amount of energy is created. In the sun, this process causes radiation, however, luckily, here on earth, this process needs to be stimulated by oxygen. This means that when liquid hydrogen travels from its fuel cell to the engine of a car, and is mixed with just the air around it, not only does it push the piston up, enabling step one of a 4-cycle engine, but the gasses which are then expelled from the pipe in the back of your car come out as the wonderful chemical, dihydrogen monoxide, or, water.
Problem solved then... except I don’t think it is. I foresee another problem arising from the use hydrogen. The problem that I foresee is something that has only been published in six scientific journals as of 2015. The problem I foresee derives from a single line of dialogue that I watched about NASA on the Discovery channel when I was home sick from school one day. In single thirty second clip of this documentary, an SRB, or Solid Rocket Booster, was being test-fired. In order to cool the exhaust gasses, thousands of gallons of water were sprayed into the nozzle of the rocket engine to cool the gasses so they would not burn the area of land behind the SRB. It was the next line of dialogue though that I have remembered through all of these years. It said “Because of the amount of water vapor, or steam, that was created during the cooling of this engine, it will rain two hours from now on a government owned wetland 20 miles east of this facility. In the 1970s, they thought it was a coincidence, but they now know that it is in fact the test firing and cooling of the rocket engines that causes this rain-shower.” After I heard this I theorized that if every vehicle in the United States were to run on hydrogen, with each car producing about the same amount of water vapor as it would CO2, weather patterns around the world would drastically change, for better or worse. It turns out that I was not alone in my theories, and in 2006, a journal published to Stanford University’s Global Climate & Energy Project stated that “A hydrogen economy is expected to reduce particulate concentrations overall although some local increases may occur due to changes in precipitation patterns” (Jacobson, et al.). This complex sentence is basically saying that if we switch to a hydrogen economy, emissions will be reduced overall, however, there will be changes in weather patterns.
My solution on how to solve the energy and climate crisis is to use hydrogen power only in certain places. The main place where I would implement hydrogen power is electricity power stations. The amount of energy that could be produced with hydrogen instead of coal is about a 25% increase in power production. The water vapor exhaust could be collected and condensed inside the plant to produce water. In areas where water is plentiful, this can be put straight back into the ecosystem. However, in areas where clean water is a luxury, the water can then be used for drinking and irrigation. Furthermore, if this system were to be implemented into areas where electricity and clean water are uncommon, or even unheard of, then the benefits of a system which could provide both are astronomical. Another area where I see hydrogen power benefiting is the global shipping fleet. If a shipping boat were able to produce its own clean water while underway, and not have to carry it with them from the beginning, they would be able to carry more cargo, and produce no emissions doing so. Furthermore, this can also be applied to cruise ships that currently produce large amounts of CO2 emissions. If those emissions were replaced with water, the ship would be able to provide clean water for all aboard as long as the engines could run. The last place I would envision hydrogen power, and its by-products being useful is an emergency backup generator. Not only would this provide the user with electricity, but also clean water. If these ideas were implemented alongside hydro, wind, and solar power, than I believe the world could work to an emissions free power grid.
The current power demands of the world we live in cause the emissions problems that we have been creating since the industrial revolution. However, it has only been within the past 40 years that we have started to realize the effects of our need for energy. Although we may be constantly expanding our use of renewable energy sources, it cannot be denied that they are not advanced enough yet to meet the needs of the planet. However, I believe that within the next 15 years, an emissions free economy can be created by changing the current fuel of choice of power plants from coal to hydrogen.
Page Break
Works Cited
“Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC), California.” Power Technology, Power Technology, www.power-technology.com/projects/alta-wind-energy-center-awec-california/
“2013 Honda Civic EX Sedan Review.” Automobile-Catalogue, Automobile-Catalogue, www.automobile-catalog.com/car/2013/1600520/honda_civic_ex_sedan_automatic.html
“2013 Honda FCX Clarity Review.” Automobile-Catalogue, Automobile-Catalogue, www.automobile-catalog.com/car/2013/1154960/honda_fcx_clarity.html
Gandhi, Mahatma. “A Quote by Mahatma Gandhi.” Goodreads, Goodreads Inc., www.goodreads.com/quotes/30431-earth-provides-enough-to-satisfy-every-man-s-needs-but-not
Jacobson, Mark Z, et al. “Hydrogen Effects on Climate, Stratospheric Ozone, and Air Polution.” Stanford University: Global Climate & Energy Project, 2006, p. 10., gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/QeJ5maLQQrugiSYMF3ATDA/2.1.5.jacobson_06.pdf
“The World's Most Used Renewable Power Sources.” Power Technology, Power Technology, 2015, www.power-technology.com/features/featurethe-worlds-most-used-renewable-power-sources-4160168/
“U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis.” International Energy Statistics, United States Department of Energy, www.eia.gov/beta/international/rankings/#?prodact=2-12&cy=2013&pid=2&aid=2&tl_id=2-A&tl_type=a
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