carbon-free and nuclear-free: a roadmap for u.s. energy policy portsmouth, new hampshire 29 may 2008...
TRANSCRIPT
Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy
Policy
Portsmouth, New Hampshire29 May 2008
Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D.301-270-5500
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Great Arctic Ice Melt of 2007
Dramatic change in worst case scenario
Previously 2070 Now 2010 or 2015
(Louis Fortier, Scientific Director, ArcticNet, Canada)
Chart courtesy of Dr. A. Sorteberg, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Norway.
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Residential and Commercial Efficiency Examples Efficiency improvement of 3
to 7 times is possible per square foot
Existing homes more costly to backfit but much is still economical
Standards at the local and state level are needed
Zero net CO2 new buildings and communities by 2020 can be mandated
Commercial Efficiency
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
US average,commercial
PA DEP Durant MiddleSchool, NC
Btu/ft2
Residential Efficiency
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
U.S. Average,residential
Takoma co-housing Hanover house
Btu/ft2
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Population and Wind Geography
The idea of how to illustrate this problem comes from Walt Musial.
Provided by AWS Truewind, LLC Provided by National Renewable Energy Laboratory
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Solar geography
Provided by National Renewable Energy Laboratory
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750 kW US Navy San Diego Parking Lot
Courtesy of PowerLight Corporation
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Solar energy – PV to shade parking lots – Kyocera, 235 kW
Copyright 2007 Kyocera Solar, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Electric car: Phoenix Motorcars Pickup
All electric: Range 130 miles, about one-third kWh per mileAltairnano batteries can be: charged in 10 minutes with special equipment Retain 85% capacity after over 10,000 charging and discharging cycles Suitable for vehicle to grid applications There are other similar lithium-ion batteries from other manufacturers
now coming on the market Cost reduction needed – appears to be occurring rapidly
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Tesla: 0 to 60 in 4 secs. (goal); 200 mile range, 0.2 kWh/mile, off-the-shelf lithium-ion batteries combined in special battery pack
Courtesy of Tesla Motors
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A renewable, distributed electricity grid configuration
One Possible Future U.S. Electric Grid Configuration Without Coal or Nuclear Power in the Year 2050
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Liquid fuels from microalgae. Much more efficient than corn; captures CO2 emissions from power plants
↑ Demonstration bioreactor – coal-fired power plant in Louisiana
Pilot engineering-scale bioreactor – Red Hawk
gas-fired power plant in Arizona ↓
Photos courtesy of GreenFuel Technologies
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Other efficient aquatic plants
Water hyacinths (tropical and subtropical)
Duckweed (temperate) Demonstration plants
needed; lab work has been done
Can be used with wastewater treatment to sop up excess nitrogen and help protect water resources
Courtesy of Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida
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End note
Slides are primarily a summary of Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Road Map for U.S. Energy Policy by Arjun Makhijani
Find the source citations in the downloadable version of the book, available at no cost, on the Web at http://
www.ieer.org/carbonfree/CarbonFreeNuclearFree.pdf or contact IEER .
The book can be purchased in hard copy at www.rdrbooks.com or www.ieer.org