America's Green Energy Future
M. Orhan Tarhan
June 05, 2008
Last January I wrote an article titled: "America´s Energy Future". That article became the most read of my articles published in American Chronicles. I am happy to find out that our people are interested in Energy. After all, at this time, this is the biggest problem the World ever faced.
In the previous article I discussed what we have to do to slow down the climate change by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere. On May 22 it was announced that the oil demand in the world has reached the oil supply. From now on the oil price is expected to go through the roof. In this article I will discuss both problems, that are actually very much interwoven.
Recently I attended a meeting of the Washington Branch of the American Chemical Society, in which Dr. Lester R. Brown discussed the "Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to save Civilization". To summarize briefly, he reminded us that the World´s climate is changing very drastically. Soon huge areas will be flooded by rising seas. Very strong hurricanes are already wiping out important areas of rice agriculture, that will cause famine in Asia The only way of slowing down this climate change, is to stop putting additional tonnage of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. He suggests that we mobilize ourselves to do what is needed, just as was done in WWII.
The main danger is not in the known and expected changes, but in how fast those changes will increase in intensity and what other yet unknown and thus, unexpected phenomena will happen. We are noticing the increase in carbon dioxide in the air. Something else might be changing in the earth at the same time. Anyway, most of us are oblivious to the magnitude of the impending disaster.,
It seems that our future is much more bleaker and dangerous than our politicians seem to know. But we should not wait for them to react, and should start taking our own measures to at least partially solve our problem. I have just read this news of the Department of Energy´s "Commitment to 20 % wind energy by 2030". I do not know what to make of it. How can DOE commit itself to such a thing? Are they promising to build enough wind farms to bring the national wind capacity to 20 % of total energy capacity? I don´t think so. Then what does it really mean? Watch the presidential campaign. None of the candidates talks about the impending energy crisis as if it did not exist. Are we going to let them preside over the biggest national mobilization which they do not understand?
There are only two types of energy producing methods that (1) do not need any raw materials, (2) do not produce any carbon dioxide, and (3) do not produce any waste. These are the solar methods and the wind methods. Solar energy can be produced by the Photovoltaic method. That process can be installed on the roof of buildings and saves on transmission lines. Energy storage systems are used to meet the need during the night. We should have some idea on the energy of sun light and its variation on the surface of the earth.
According to Zweibel et al [Sci.Amer. Vol.298, No.1., 64-73 (2008)], "the energy in sunlight striking the earth in 40 minutes Is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year." The energy in Sunlight can be measured in kilowatt-hour per square meter per day (kWh/sq.m/day). That energy varies approximately between 8.5 (in Arizona), 2.0 (in Alaska), and 4.5 in Washington, D.C. Some processes use cadmium telluride as the material that converts sunlight to electricity. Other processes use silicon wafers.
There is another viable solar process that is called "Concentrated solar power" In this process long parabolic mirrors concentrate sun light on a central pipe through which a high-boiling heat-transfer fluid is circulated. That fluid becomes very hot and heats water in a heat-exchanger. Water becomes steam. It is expanded in turbines and attached generators and generates electricity. In the United States, concentrated Solar Power plants of a total capacity of 354 Megawatts (MW) have been generating electricity reliably for years. Now new capacity is being added to them.
The modern wind mill do no longer resemble neither the Dutch windmills, nor the traditional windmills of the American farm. They consist of a very tall tube , capped by a propeller. They can be erected on farm land as well on shallow seas. They are called "Wind Turbines" . An average wind turbine produces 750 kW. Wind turbines are spread on land and on the sea as wind farms. Wind turbines work day and night, but do not work when there is no wind. Dr. Lester Brown said that when there is no wind on one of the Turbines, there might be wind on the other end of the Wind farm. Thus, there is usually no need for storage systems. Most wind farms are also connected to the national grid, that may take the wind production any time of the day.
Both solar and Wind processes produce direct current that is better suitable for high-voltage transmission. In the East and North of the United States, the daily average radiation being between 3 and 5 kWh/sq.m/day. the cost of solar energy will be high. There, wind farms must be erected close to the major consumption centers, to save the expense of transmission.
The need for solar and wind power generating facilities will create a lot of new jobs. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry already employs 76,000 people that they say are high-wage employees. The jobs in these industries will be good American jobs, that no one can export to Mexico or India. The stock of these companies have also a great future. Logically, they should be very desirable.
It seems that around 60 years ago life in America was designed for maximum petroleum use and car ownership. In olden days, one would just walk a block or so to buy food from a corner grocery. Then, the huge supermarkets have emerged. One had to drive a car (using gasoline) to go to a supermarket that was in a distant plaza.. In the 19th century railroads were built . Europe did the same thing and now has fast reliable trains between every city. The first locomotives were coal fed. Europeans changed that to electricity, while America used diesel (a petroleum product) engines. In the 20th century we abandoned our trains and built our high way grid. What then was carried by trains started to be carried by huge gas guzzling trucks. I just heard that world oil demand has exceeded world oil supply. From now on oil prices will increase continuously., thus all that system that was designed based on cheap oil will have to be changed quickly. We have described above how we can produce "green" electricity. But we have to redesign our lives to use this electricity. We have to redesign our cities. We have to design our living places close to our work. It is even better to be able to work in one´s home. We have to get rid of distant supermarkets and revive little corner grocery stores, at least in every few blocks, where we can walk again. We should learn to use fast electrical trains from the French and the Japanese and cut down in expensive air travel. With enough fast trains between citied, electrical cars will be practical in cities. They will not have to make 200 miles with one recharging. We must convert our city busses to electricity. We must expand electrical heating and cooling of our homes and offices. Small and mid-size air planes will be prohibitively expensive to fly. But large oversees planes and large ships can be powered by nuclear engines, just as our submarines are.
So there is so much to do for everybody. The sooner we start , the better. If we want to survive what is going to happen, we should do all these things in a heck of a hurry, at the speed of a mobilization.
On May 21 I have heard from the news that oil prices exceeded $130 a barrel. Some one asked the Secretary of Energy (Corresponds to a Minister of Energy) "What can be done?" . The answer was "Nothing". I was disillusioned. Is The Secretary not aware of what is going in the world?.
In the previous article I discussed what we have to do to slow down the climate change by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere. On May 22 it was announced that the oil demand in the world has reached the oil supply. From now on the oil price is expected to go through the roof. In this article I will discuss both problems, that are actually very much interwoven.
Recently I attended a meeting of the Washington Branch of the American Chemical Society, in which Dr. Lester R. Brown discussed the "Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to save Civilization". To summarize briefly, he reminded us that the World´s climate is changing very drastically. Soon huge areas will be flooded by rising seas. Very strong hurricanes are already wiping out important areas of rice agriculture, that will cause famine in Asia The only way of slowing down this climate change, is to stop putting additional tonnage of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. He suggests that we mobilize ourselves to do what is needed, just as was done in WWII.
The main danger is not in the known and expected changes, but in how fast those changes will increase in intensity and what other yet unknown and thus, unexpected phenomena will happen. We are noticing the increase in carbon dioxide in the air. Something else might be changing in the earth at the same time. Anyway, most of us are oblivious to the magnitude of the impending disaster.,
It seems that our future is much more bleaker and dangerous than our politicians seem to know. But we should not wait for them to react, and should start taking our own measures to at least partially solve our problem. I have just read this news of the Department of Energy´s "Commitment to 20 % wind energy by 2030". I do not know what to make of it. How can DOE commit itself to such a thing? Are they promising to build enough wind farms to bring the national wind capacity to 20 % of total energy capacity? I don´t think so. Then what does it really mean? Watch the presidential campaign. None of the candidates talks about the impending energy crisis as if it did not exist. Are we going to let them preside over the biggest national mobilization which they do not understand?
There are only two types of energy producing methods that (1) do not need any raw materials, (2) do not produce any carbon dioxide, and (3) do not produce any waste. These are the solar methods and the wind methods. Solar energy can be produced by the Photovoltaic method. That process can be installed on the roof of buildings and saves on transmission lines. Energy storage systems are used to meet the need during the night. We should have some idea on the energy of sun light and its variation on the surface of the earth.
According to Zweibel et al [Sci.Amer. Vol.298, No.1., 64-73 (2008)], "the energy in sunlight striking the earth in 40 minutes Is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year." The energy in Sunlight can be measured in kilowatt-hour per square meter per day (kWh/sq.m/day). That energy varies approximately between 8.5 (in Arizona), 2.0 (in Alaska), and 4.5 in Washington, D.C. Some processes use cadmium telluride as the material that converts sunlight to electricity. Other processes use silicon wafers.
There is another viable solar process that is called "Concentrated solar power" In this process long parabolic mirrors concentrate sun light on a central pipe through which a high-boiling heat-transfer fluid is circulated. That fluid becomes very hot and heats water in a heat-exchanger. Water becomes steam. It is expanded in turbines and attached generators and generates electricity. In the United States, concentrated Solar Power plants of a total capacity of 354 Megawatts (MW) have been generating electricity reliably for years. Now new capacity is being added to them.
The modern wind mill do no longer resemble neither the Dutch windmills, nor the traditional windmills of the American farm. They consist of a very tall tube , capped by a propeller. They can be erected on farm land as well on shallow seas. They are called "Wind Turbines" . An average wind turbine produces 750 kW. Wind turbines are spread on land and on the sea as wind farms. Wind turbines work day and night, but do not work when there is no wind. Dr. Lester Brown said that when there is no wind on one of the Turbines, there might be wind on the other end of the Wind farm. Thus, there is usually no need for storage systems. Most wind farms are also connected to the national grid, that may take the wind production any time of the day.
Both solar and Wind processes produce direct current that is better suitable for high-voltage transmission. In the East and North of the United States, the daily average radiation being between 3 and 5 kWh/sq.m/day. the cost of solar energy will be high. There, wind farms must be erected close to the major consumption centers, to save the expense of transmission.
The need for solar and wind power generating facilities will create a lot of new jobs. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry already employs 76,000 people that they say are high-wage employees. The jobs in these industries will be good American jobs, that no one can export to Mexico or India. The stock of these companies have also a great future. Logically, they should be very desirable.
It seems that around 60 years ago life in America was designed for maximum petroleum use and car ownership. In olden days, one would just walk a block or so to buy food from a corner grocery. Then, the huge supermarkets have emerged. One had to drive a car (using gasoline) to go to a supermarket that was in a distant plaza.. In the 19th century railroads were built . Europe did the same thing and now has fast reliable trains between every city. The first locomotives were coal fed. Europeans changed that to electricity, while America used diesel (a petroleum product) engines. In the 20th century we abandoned our trains and built our high way grid. What then was carried by trains started to be carried by huge gas guzzling trucks. I just heard that world oil demand has exceeded world oil supply. From now on oil prices will increase continuously., thus all that system that was designed based on cheap oil will have to be changed quickly. We have described above how we can produce "green" electricity. But we have to redesign our lives to use this electricity. We have to redesign our cities. We have to design our living places close to our work. It is even better to be able to work in one´s home. We have to get rid of distant supermarkets and revive little corner grocery stores, at least in every few blocks, where we can walk again. We should learn to use fast electrical trains from the French and the Japanese and cut down in expensive air travel. With enough fast trains between citied, electrical cars will be practical in cities. They will not have to make 200 miles with one recharging. We must convert our city busses to electricity. We must expand electrical heating and cooling of our homes and offices. Small and mid-size air planes will be prohibitively expensive to fly. But large oversees planes and large ships can be powered by nuclear engines, just as our submarines are.
So there is so much to do for everybody. The sooner we start , the better. If we want to survive what is going to happen, we should do all these things in a heck of a hurry, at the speed of a mobilization.
On May 21 I have heard from the news that oil prices exceeded $130 a barrel. Some one asked the Secretary of Energy (Corresponds to a Minister of Energy) "What can be done?" . The answer was "Nothing". I was disillusioned. Is The Secretary not aware of what is going in the world?.
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