Our Energy Future: Resources, Alternatives and the Environment

Presents an overview on the different aspects of the energy value chain and discusses the issues that future energy is facing

This book covers energy and the energy policy choices which face society. The book presents easy–to–grasp information and analysis, and includes statistical data for energy production, consumption and simple formulas. Among the aspects considered are: science, technology, economics and the impact on health and the environment. In this new edition two new chapters have been added: The first new chapter deals with unconventional fossil fuels, a resource which has become very important from the economical point of view, especially in the United States. The second new chapter presents the applications of nanotechnology in the energy domain.

Provides a global vision of available and potential energy sources Discusses advantages and drawbacks to help prepare current and future generations to use energy differently Includes new chapters covering unconventional fossil fuels and nanotechnology as new energy

Our Energy Future: Resources, Alternatives and the Environment, Second Edition, is written for professionals, students, teachers, decision–makers and politicians involved in the energy domain and interested in environmental issues.

Christian Ngô, ScD, was formerly executive general manager of ECRIN (Échange et Coordination Recherche–Industrie) and scientific director of the Atomic Energy′s High Commissioner Office. In 2008, he founded Edmonium Conseil, a consulting company. He has worked in fundamental research for twenty years, and has published approximately 200 papers. Dr. Ngô is the author of ten books in French and has been involved as an energy expert in several studies of the OPECST (Parliamentary Office for Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Options), a common committee of the French Parliament and Senate.

Joseph B. Natowitz, PhD, is currently University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University (TAMU). Previously at TAMU, he served as head of the Department of Chemistry and Director of the Cyclotron Institute and held the Bright Chair in Nuclear Science. Among his awards and honors are the American Chemical Society Award in Nuclear Chemistry, the ACS Southwest Regional Award, and the Association of Former Students Research Award at TAMU. Professor Natowitz has served and continues to serve on the program advisory and/or review committees of many national and international research facilities as well as on Advisory Committees for a number of international conferences. Professor Natowitz has published more than 300 research papers.

Preface

1. We Need Energy

1.1. Generalities

1.1.1. Primary and Secondary Energy

1.1.2. Energy Units

1.1.3. Power

1.1.4. Energy and First Law of Thermodynamics

1.1.5. Entropy and Second Law of Thermodynamics

1.1.6. Exergy

1.1.7. Going Back to the Past

1.1.8. Humans and Energy

1.2. Always More!

1.2.1. Why Do We Need More Energy?

1.2.2. Energy Sources We Use

1.2.3. Security of Supply

1.2.4. Environmental Concerns

2. Oil and Natural Gas

2.1. Genesis of Oil and Natural Gas

2.2. Recovering Oil and Gas

2.3. Peak Oil

2.4. Reserves

2.4.1. Crude Oil Reserves

2.4.2. Natural Gas Reserves

2.5. Properties of Hydrocarbons

2.6. Oil Fields

2.7. Prices

2.8. Consumption

2.9. Electricity Generation

2.10. Impact on Environment

2.11. Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources

2.11.1. Oil Shale

2.11.2. Tar Sands

2.11.3. Coal Bed Methane

2.11.4. Methane Hydrates

2.12. Conclusion

3. Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources

3.1 Hydrocarbon formation

3.2 Offshore hydrocarbons

3.3 Unconventional hydrocarbons

3.4 Unconventional oils

3.4.1 Unconventional oils contained in reservoirs

3.4.2 Unconventional oils contained in source rock

3.5 Unconventional gases

3.5.1 Unconventional gases contained in reservoirs

3.5.2 Unconventional gases contained in source rocks

3.6 Methane hydrates

3.7 Conclusion

4. Coal: Fossil Fuel of the Future

4.1. Genesis of Coal

4.2. Rank of Coals

4.3. Classification of Coals

4.4. Peat

4.5. Use of Coal

4.6. Coal Reserves

4.7. Production and Consumption

4.8. Electricity Production

4.9. Coal Combustion for Power Generation

4.9.1. Advanced Pulverized Coal Combustion

4.9.2. Fluidized–Bed Combustion at Atmospheric Pressure

4.9.3. Pressurized Fluidized–Bed Combustion

4.10. Combined Heat and Power Generation

4.11. Integrated Gasification Combined–Cycle Power Plants

4.12. Coal–to–Liquid Technologies

4.13. Direct Coal Liquefaction

4.14. Indirect Coal Liquefaction

4.15. Direct or Indirect CTL Technology?

4.16. Carbon Capture and Sequestration

4.16.1. Capture

4.16.2. Transport

4.16.3. Sequestration

4.16.4. Cost

4.17. Coal Pit Accidents

4.18. Environmental Impacts

4.19. Conclusion

5. Fossil Fuels and Greenhouse Effect

5.1. Greenhouse Effect

5.2. Greenhouse Gases

5.3. Weather and Climate

5.4. Natural Change of Climate

5.5. Anthropogenic Emissions

5.6. Water and Aerosols

5.7. Global Warming Potentials

5.8. Increase of Average Temperature

5.9. Model Predictions

5.10. Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

5.11. Consequences

5.12. Other Impacts on Ocean

5.13. Factor 4

5.14. Kyoto Protocol

5.15. Conclusion

6. Energy from Water

6.1. Hydropower

6.1.1. Hydropower: Important Source of Electricity

6.1.2. Dams and Diversions

6.1.3. Head and Flow

6.1.4. Turbines

6.1.5. Small–Scale Hydropower

6.1.6. Environmental Concerns

6.1.7. Costs

6.2. Energy from the Ocean

6.2.1. Offshore Wind Energy

6.2.2. Wave Energy

6.2.3. Tidal Energy

6.2.4. Marine Current Energy

6.2.5. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

6.2.6. Osmotic Energy

7. Biomass

7.1. Producing Biomass

7.2. An Old Energy Resource

7.3. Electricity Production

7.4. Technologies

7.4.1. Direct–Combustion Technologies

7.4.2. Cofiring Technologies

7.4.3. Biomass Gasification

7.4.4. Anaerobic Digestion

7.4.5. Pyrolysis

7.5. Heat Production

7.6. Biomass for Cooking

7.7. Environmental Impact

7.8. Market Share

7.9. Biofuels

7.9.1. First–Generation Biofuels

7.9.1.1. Biofuels for Gasoline Engines

7.9.1.2. Biofuels for Diesel Engines

7.9.2. Second–Generation Biofuels

7.9.3. Third–Generation Biofuels

7.10. From Well to Wheels

7.11. Conclusion

8. Solar Energy

8.1. Solar Energy: A Huge Potential

8.2. Thermal Solar Energy

8.2.1. Producing Hot Water for Domestic Purposes

8.2.2. Heating, Cooling, and Ventilation Using Solar Energy

8.2.3. The Solar Cooker

8.3. Concentrated Solar Power Plants

8.3.1. Parabolic Troughs

8.3.2. Power Towers

8.3.3. Parabolic Dish Collectors

8.4. Solar Chimneys or Towers

8.5. Photovoltaic Systems

8.5.1. Market Dominated by Silicon

8.5.2. Other Photovoltaic Technologies

8.5.3. Applications

8.6. Electricity Storage

8.7. Economy and Environment

8.8. Conclusion

9. Geothermal Energy

9.1. Available in Many Places

9.2. Different Uses

9.3. Technologies

9.4. Geothermal Energy in the World

9.5. Conclusion

10. Wind Energy

10.1. Already a Long History

10.2. From Theory to Practice

10.3. Development of Wind Power

10.4. Off–Shore Wind Turbines

10.5. Conclusion

11. Nuclear Energy

11.1. Basics of Nuclear Energy

11.1.1. Atoms and Nuclei

11.1.2. Radioactivity

11.1.3. Energy and Mass

11.1.4. Fission

11.1.5. Fissile and Fertile

11.1.6. Chain Reaction

11.1.7. Critical Mass

11.1.8. Nuclear Reactors

11.1.9. Natural Nuclear Reactors: Oklo

11.1.10. Conclusion

11.2. Uses of Nuclear Energy

11.2.1. Different Technologies

11.2.2. Selection Process

11.2.3. Why Nuclear Energy?

11.2.4. Uranium Resources

11.2.5. Fuel Cycles

11.2.6. Safety

11.2.7. Nuclear Waste

11.2.8. Conclusion

11.3. Thermonuclear Fusion

11.3.1. Nuclei: Concentrated Sources of Energy

11.3.2. The Sun

11.3.3. Fusion of Light Nuclei

11.3.4. Difficulties

11.3.5. A Bit of History

11.3.6. Thermonuclear Fusion in Tokamaks

11.3.7. ITER: New Step Towards Mastering Fusion

11.3.8. About Fuel Reserves

11.3.9. Longer Term Possibilities

11.3.10. Safety and Waste Issues

11.3.11. Conclusion

Appendix

12. Electricity: Smart Use of Energy

12.1. Rapid Development

12.2. Energy Sources for Electricity Production

12.3. No Unique Solution

12.4. From Mechanical Energy to Consumer

12.5. Impact on Environment

12.6. Cost

12.7. Conclusion

13. Energy Storage: Weak Point of Energy Supply Chain

13.1. Electricity Storage

13.1.1. Characteristics of Electricity Storage

13.1.2. Large–Quantity Storage Technologies

13.1.3. Electrochemical Batteries

13.1.3.1. Primary Batteries

13.1.3.2. Rechargeable Batteries

13.1.3.3. Flow Batteries

13.1.4. Supercapacitors

13.1.5. Flywheels

13.2. Thermal Energy Storage

13.2.1. Basic Heat Storage

13.2.2. Sensible Heat Storage

13.2.3. Phase Change Materials

13.2.4. Thermochemical and Thermophysical Energy Storage

13.2.5. Applications of Thermal Energy Storage

13.2.6. Underground Energy Storage

13.2.7. Conclusion

14. Transportation

14.1. Short History of Transportation

14.2. Energy and Transportation

14.3. Road Transportation

14.4. Ship Transportation

14.5. Air Transport

14.6. Car Dynamics

14.7. Fuels for Road Transportation

14.8. CO2 Emissions

14.9. Hybrid Vehicles

14.10. Electric Vehicles

14.11. Conclusion

15. Housing

15.1. Importance of Housing

15.2. Towards More Efficient Housing

15.3. Different Regions, Different Solutions

15.4. Bioclimatic Architecture

15.5. Insulation

15.6. Glazing

15.7. Lighting

15.8. Ventilation

15.9. Water

15.10. Energy Use in a Household

15.11. Heat Pumps

15.12. Impact on Environment

15.13. Conclusion

16. Smart Energy Consumption

16.1. Housing

16.2. Improving the Way We Consume Energy

16.3. Cogeneration

16.4. Standby Consumption

16.5. Lighting

16.6. Transportation

16.6.1. Technology

16.6.2. Individuals

16.7. Conclusion

17. Hydrogen

17.1. From Production to Distribution

17.1.1. Properties

17.1.2. Production

17.1.3. Storage

17.1.4. Hydrogen Transport and Distribution

17.1.5. Conclusion

17.2. Hydrogen: Energetic Applications

17.2.1. Fundamentals of Fuel Cells

17.2.2. Different Types of Fuel Cells

17.2.3. Transportation

17.2.4. Direct Use of Hydrogen

17.2.5. Direct Combined Heat and Power

17.2.6. Hydrogen and Portable Devices

17.2.7. Hydrogen Safety

17.2.8. Conclusion

18. Nanotechnology and Energy

18.1 What is new at the nanoscale?

18.1.1 Surface effects prevail

18.1.2 Quantum effects

18.2 Nanotechnology and energy production

18.2.1 Fossil fuels

18.2.2 Syngas

18.3 New energy technologies

18.3.1 Solar energy

18.3.2 Wind energy

18.3.3 Hydrogen

18.3.4 Fuel cells

18.3.5 Batteries

18.3.6 Thermoelectricity

18.3.7 Electrical distribution

18.4 Nanotechnology and housing

18.4.1 Construction engineering

18.4.2 Insulation

18.4.3 Lighting

18.4.4 Heating, ventilating and air conditioning

18.4.5 Surface Materials

18.5 Nanotechnology and transportation

18.5.1 Bodywork

18.5.2 Interior of the car

18.5.3 Tires

18.5.4 Powertrain

18.5.5 Electronics

18.5.6 Outlook in the automotive sector

18.6 Conclusion

19. Conclusion

Exercises

Solutions

Bibliography

Index