essex county energy independence

Essex County MA Energy Report

Danny RingECS 101Dr. Plumlee

34 Webb Street, Middleton MAORFlint hall Room 322 2 Mount Olympus drive, Syracuse NY

Due Thursday, November 12th 2015

Table of Contents

ContentsPhysical Geography____________________________________________________________________1

Human Geography____________________________________________________________________3

Principal Energy Resources______________________________________________________________4

Total Energy Expended_________________________________________________________________5

Capacity for Renewable Energy Resources_________________________________________________7

Transportation________________________________________________________________________7

Residential___________________________________________________________________________9

Commercial and Industial______________________________________________________________10

Work Cited__________________________________________________________________________13

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Pg. 1 Capacity for Renewable Energy ResourcesCapacity for Renewable Energy

Physical GeographyThe county of Essex is located in the north east region of Massachusetts. It makes up all

of Cape Anne, The north shore, and lower portions of the Merrimack valley. It borders Suffolk

County to the south, Middlesex County to the east,

Rockingham County New Hampshire to the north, and to

the west is the Atlantic Ocean in the form of the Gulf of

Maine and the Massachusetts Bay.

Essex was originally settled in 1628 and incorporated by

the court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1643, 372

years ago, and is named after Essex, England. Originally,

the county was comprised of only nine towns: Salem, Lynn,

Enon (now Wenham), Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury,

Chochicawick (now Andover), Lawrence, and Gloucester,

but it has

since been subdivided into thirty two cities and

towns. Since it was settled, there has been two

seats in the Essex County government, Salem

with the southern seat and Lawrence with the

northern seat, until 1999 when the county

government was disbanded. (Essex County

Historical Society via Essexcountyma.net, 13

November 2011)

According to the United States census, Essex contains 493 square miles of land and 336

square miles of water, making a total area of 828 square miles, or 2140 square kilometers. The

country is made up of twenty three suburban towns and eleven urban cities. Essex has a greater

1

Topographical map courtesy of www.msp.umb.edu

Photo courtesy of familysearch.org

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB1qFQoTCIvz-YflickCFcwaPgodTeUJHA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msp.umb.edu%2Fmaps.html&psig=AFQjCNG4dbWo6Hl4tuaN9209ywue27rWkw&ust=1447380065589588


number of urban areas than suburban areas, however the majority of the population of Essex

comes from its cities. (quickfacts.census.gov , November 2015)

2


Human Geography

In total, according to the U.S.

Census Bureau and

quickfacts.census.gov there are

769,091 people living in Essex

County, making it about eleven

percent of the 6,745,408 people

living in Massachusetts. As of

2010, the population density of

Essex County is about 1,500

people per square mile, making it

a fairly dense region.

People have been living in

the county since the area was

settled in the seventeenth century,

and people continue to move there

to this day. The population of the county has been steadily increasing for as long as the

population has been recorded, besides a few exceptions in 1940 and 1980.Essex continues to

attract new people because of its relatively close proximity to Boston, its history, and its

economic opportunities. It is also very close to the Atlantic Ocean, making for nice beaches in

places like Gloucester, Nahant, Ipswich, and Lynn, and also commercial fishing opportunities in

areas off the coast of Cape Anne. The median household income for the county was $51,576, and

the average family income was $63,746, both slightly above the national average.

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Census Year Population % change density (people/mile^2)1790 57,879 1181800 61,196 5.7 1241810 71,888 17.5 1461820 74,655 3.8 1521830 82,859 11.0 1681840 94,987 14.6 1931850 131,300 38.2 2671860 165,611 26.1 3361870 200,843 21.3 4081880 244,535 21.8 4961890 299,995 22.7 6091900 357,030 19.0 7251910 436,477 22.3 8861920 482,156 10.5 9791930 498,040 3.3 10111940 496,313 -0.3 10081950 522,384 5.3 10611960 568,831 8.9 11551970 637,887 12.1 12951980 633,632 -0.7 12861990 670,080 5.8 13602000 723,419 8.0 14692010 743,159 2.7 1509

Essex County, MA populations

All population statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bereau and WWW.quickfacts.census.gov


The largest cities in Essex County are Lawrence and Lynn. They have a combined

population of 165,767, about 22% of the county’s total population.

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Principal Energy ResourcesIn total, Essex County has five major natural gas power plants, five major solar power

plants, three major biomass

power plants, two major

wind power plants, and one

major hydroelectric power

plant. Even with the

abundance of these

alternative energy

resources, the majority of

the energy produced and

consumed in Massachusetts

come from nonrenewable

energy sources. The data

shown to the left represents

the amount of energy

generated by each source

and consumed by what

means in all of

Massachusetts, so to get an

approximation of what

portion of that is Essex

County’s one should divide

the numbers by 9. (eia.gov, 18 June 2015)

5

These charts provided by www.eia.gov


Total Energy ExpendedIn Massachusetts, the total energy expended can be divided into four main categories:

residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation. Yearly, 456.2 trillion btu (133,700 GWh)

is expended on

transportation, 452.6

trillion btu (132,643

GWH) is expended in

residential use, 290.9

trillion btu (85,254

GWh) is expended

commercially, and

242.8 trillion btu

(71,158 GWh) is

expended in industry.

To turn these

numbers into useful ones for Essex County, we must take into

consideration population, and divide these numbers by the number of people in Massachusetts

and multiply them by the number of people in the county to get an estimate as to how the energy

is consumed in the county. This results in a total of 51.9 trillion btu expended in transportation,

51.5 trillion btu expended in residential use, 33.1 trillion btu expended commercially, and 27.6

trillion btu expended in industry. This comes to a total of 164.1 trillion btu used every year in

Essex county.

9.1% of the energy produced in this area is made by renewable energy sources. That

means 149.2 trillion btu of the total is attributed to non-renewable resources. If we could remove

all of this and replace it with completely renewable energy, it would be the equivalent of:

Removing 37 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Eliminating 3.8 billion gallons of gasoline.

6

Chart provided by www.eia.gov


Remove emissions equivalent to 7.1 million cars in bumper to bumper traffic. Power every refrigerator in the United States for 262 days. Offset as much CO2 as a 2,554 square mile forest for 17 years.

(eia.gov, 18 June 2015)

7


Capacity for Renewable Energy ResourcesIn order to make Essex County completely rely on renewable resources for power, we

need to add renewable power sources that would in total be able to produce 149.2 trillion btu of

energy per year (164.1 trillion btu total minus 9.1% already renewable energy). 149.2 trillion btu

per year is equivalent to: 43.7 billion kWh or 43,726 GWh. Below is a chart of how much

energy per year is needed in order to make each area of energy used completely renewable.

Transportation

Transportation, the largest consumer of energy in the county, poses the largest problem

for completely renewable energy resources. It would not be possible or ethical to tell people what

kind of car they have to drive, so we will only be able to eliminate energy used from public

transport like busses and trains. This will be an obstacle, however it is advantageous we already

have a head start: The MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; the public transport

of Mass.) currently purchases 20% of its energy from renewable energy resources, and has

decreased the energy consumption per-passenger trip by 12.9% from 2009 to 2012. The MBTA

is the largest consumer of electricity in New England, the fifth largest transportation system in

the country (behind New York’s MTA, Chicago’s CTA, Washington DC’s WMATA, and San

Francisco’s BART), and it is leading by example in alternative energy use at the state

transportation level. (UNC.edu, 18 August 2014) (MBTA.com, 2015)

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Consuming the energy % of total Energy Consumed (Btu) kWh GWhCommercial 20.2% 30,138,400,000,000 8,832,691,026 8,833 Residential 31.4% 46,848,800,000,000 13,730,024,665 13,730 Transportation 31.6% 47,147,200,000,000 13,817,477,051 13,817 Industrial 16.8% 25,065,600,000,000 7,346,000,458 7,346 Total 100% 149,200,000,000,000 43,726,193,200 43,726


So if we can only replace the energy used in public transportation, and the MBTA already

gets 20% of its energy from alternative resources, assuming public transportation accounts for

half of the county’s total energy used in

transportation that means we need to add enough

alternative energy resources to replace “only” 18.9

trillion btu, 5.5 billion kWh, or 5,527 GWh per year.

To do this, there is an array of options.

However, what makes the most sense would be wind

farms. Most of the MBTA in Essex is in the

commuter rail, and Most of the commuter rail in

Essex are in cities that have bays (Beverly,

Gloucester, Salem, Lynn, Etc.).Therefore, wind

farms seem to make the most sense, as they work

best off the coast and they would have the shortest

distance to transport electricity to and from. With the strong east wind that Massachusetts is

known for and the abundance of coast line, wind power is the ideal solution.

According to Capewind.org, and Mass.gov, Massachusetts has the potential for 2,500 mw

in on shore wind turbines, and 6,000 mw in offshore turbines. The former governor of

Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, also created a plan to

have 2,000 megawatts of wind farms in

Massachusetts by 2020. If this goal is reached, that it

would produce 17.53 billion kWh per year, 319% of what is needed to supply the public

transportation. This means only 627.42 megawatts in wind is needed to supply the transportation

for Massachusetts, or about 10.5% of the offshore wind energy potential.

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The MBTA train lines. In purple is the commuter rail, which is most of the trains that go through Essex. The northern and Eastern portions of the map are Essex, with Boston in the Middle. Photo courtesy of MBTA.com


According to

ewea.org,, a 50 mw

wind farm can be

built in around 6

months. If it would

take 6 months to build

every 50 mw of wind

energy, it would take

6 years and 3 months

to complete.

According to the

same web site, every

50 mw wind farm

creates about 910 jobs, which equates to around 11,317 permanent jobs being created directly

from wind farms.

Residential

The next largest consumer of energy in the Essex County is residential, consuming 13.73

billion kWh per year. For residential,

there are also plenty of options.

However, solar power seems like the

best option, as the majority of homes

in Massachusetts are not close

10

A wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod and Nantucket. This wind far, has created jobs, attracted tourists, and has made it so three quarters of the energy in Nantucket and other islands are renewable. Photo courtesy of Windpowerninja..com


enough to the coast for wind power, and there is an abundance of empty farm land that would be

perfect for putting solar panels in.

Massachusetts has a plan to have a cumulative total of 1600 mw of solar panels installed

by 2020, and in 2015, the mark is already more than halfway there with 876 mw. According to

Seia.org, this is enough to power

140,000 homes. Assuming the

homes powered by solar to population ration can be used to determine how many homes are

powered by solar in Essex County, that would mean about 17,000 homes in Essex county are

already powered by solar and in total they are generating 106.4 mw. Out of the 284,940 homes

in Essex County, that equates to about 6% of the homes in Essex County being powered by solar,

and 267,790 without it..

If 6% of all the households in Massachusetts already run on solar, then it would take 12.9

billion kWh per year in solar power to power the rest of the homes in Massachusetts. According

to www.solarpowerrocks.com, to calculate the amount of kWh a solar system can save you in

MA, you must multiply the size of your system in kW by 1,248. So let’s say everyone in Essex

County without a solar panel system installs a 25 kW system. A 30 kW system multiplied by

1,248 means a savings of 37,440 kW h per year per household (and save $4,118.40, assuming

$0.11/kWh), and a total savings of 10,026,057,600 kWh per year. The remaining 2.8 billion kWh

needed to power the residents of Essex can be created by using farm land in the more rural areas

like Middleton, Rowley, and other areas Cape Anne. These solar projects would create thousands

of permanent jobs in the area, more expertise in the field of solar energy, and if the rate of solar

panels being installed in Massachusetts continues to climb the way it has in recent years, then

this project has the ability to be done within the next 10 years. Also, in the summer, when the

solar panels produce an excess amount of energy, this energy can be sold to other regions,

creating revenue for the county.

Commercial and Industrial

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Beverly High School, Beverly, MA. Which is ran completely of solar and provides the majority of the power for the city of Beverly. Photo courtesy of Savebeverlyschools.org

http://www.solarpowerrocks.com/


Out of the four major sectors, commercial and industrial consume the lowest amount of

energy, consuming only 20.2% and 16.8% respectively. This is equal to a combined sum of 37%

of the total energy consumed in Essex County, or 16.2 billion kWh per year. This will take the

rest of the available energy in wind power, along with some other resources.

As I mentioned earlier, to replace the energy consumed by public transportation, it would

take a 627.42 megawatt wind system. This leaves us an excess of 1,372.58 megawatts of wind

energy that can be used to power the commercial systems and industrial sectors of Massachusetts

if the governors 2,000megawatts by 2020 is to be followed, and 7,872.58excess megawatts

compared to Massachusetts’s potential for on and off shore wind power potential.

If the governor’s plan is reached by 2020, after the 627.42 mw system is used for public

transportation, the excess 1372.58 mw could be used to power the commercial and industrial

sectors. In total, this would eliminate 12 billion kWh per year, leaving 4.2 billion kWh left in

nonrenewable energy. According to www.windustry.org , the cost of an industrial wind turbine

costs about $1.3 million to $2.2 million to make, so if on average they take $1.75 million to

make per kilowatt and it would take 1372.58 megawatts in wind turbines to complete the goal of

2,000 mw by 2020, it would cost around $2.4 billion to move that much closer to completely

renewable energy systems.

As for the remaining 4.2 billion kWh

per year, it would make sense to use the

largest river in Massachusetts, which also

happens to be located mostly in Essex

County, the Merrimack River.

According to www.altenergy.org ,

Hydropower is relatively inexpensive and

efficient compared to other renewables (it runs at about 90% efficiency, and costs about a third

of fossil and nuclear power and a sixth of natural gas, at 0.8 cents/kwh), however it has the

12

This photo courtesy of Alternativeenergy.org

http://www.altenergy.org/

http://www.windustry.org/


potential to destroy some fish habitats, so that will have to be dealt with while constructing them.

At an average rate of 0.8 cents/kWh, it would cost Essex County $33,600,000 annually to make

enough hydroelectric plants along the Merrimack River to fill the remaining 4.2 Billion kWh,

along with the cost of installation.

Nearly $34 million dollars may seem

like a lot, but it is less than that costing $100

million if it was produced by fossil fuels or

nuclear power, or $201 million if it was

produced by natural gas. The installation of

these plants will be the majority of the cost,

however this money will be pumped right back

into the economy with the jobs created and the

money saved on electricity by the citizens.

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This photo of the Merrimack River is courtesy of www.weather.gov.


Work Cited

Cape Wind. (2014). Project Benefits. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from

http://www.capewind.org/what/benefits

Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (2015). Wind Energy: Facts. Retrieved November 12, 2015,

from http://www.mass.gov/eea/energy-utilities-clean-tech/renewable-energy/wind/wind-energy-

facts.html#g

Davison, A. (2014). Hydroelectric Power. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from

http://www.altenergy.org/renewables/hydroelectric.html

Essex County Historical Society. (2011, November 13). What's New. Retrieved November 12,

2015, from http://essexcountyma.net/whats_new.htm

European Wind Energy Association. (2015). Wind energy frequently asked questions (FAQ)|

EWEA. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.ewea.org/wind-energy-basics/faq/

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Familysearch.org. (2012, November 25). Category:Essex County, MassachusettsEdit This Page.

Retrieved November 12, 2015, from

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Category:Essex_County,_Massachusetts

Hahn, D. (2012, January 13). How to calculate the amount of kilowatt hours (kWh) your solar

panel system will produce - Solar Power Rocks. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from

http://www.solarpowerrocks.com/buying-solar/how-to-calculate-the-amount-of-kilowatt-hours-

kwh-your-solar-panel-system-will-produce/

MPA at UNC staff. (2014, August 18). Let's Take A Ride: 5 Largest US Public Transit Systems

[Infographic]. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from https://onlinempa.unc.edu/5-largest-us-

public-transit-systems-inforgraphic/

Massachusetts Bay Transportation autority. (2015). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Retrieved November 10, 2015, from http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/environment/

Massachusetts study project. (2002). MSP Maps. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from

http://www.msp.umb.edu/maps.html

National Weather Service. (2013). Merrimack River Basin Photos. Retrieved November 12,

2015, from http://www.weather.gov/nerfc/mer_photos

Save Beverly Schools. (2010, November 30). Save Beverly Schools. Retrieved November 12,

2015, from http://www.savebeverlyschools.org/

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Solar Energy Industries Association. (2015). Massachusetts Solar. Retrieved November 12,

2015, from http://www.seia.org/state-solar-policy/massachusetts

US Census Bureau. (2015, October 14). Essex County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau.

Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/25/25009.html

US energy information administration. (2015, June 18). U.S. Energy Information Administration

- EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from

http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=ma

Wind Power News Powered By Solar Wind Ninja. (2015). All posts tagged "Wind Farm"

Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.windpowerninja.com/wind-tags/wind-farm/

Windustry. (2015). How much do wind turbines cost? Retrieved November 12, 2015, from

http://www.windustry.org/how_much_do_wind_turbines_cost

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