ERM Alumni Conference

Towards a Sustainable Energy Future

Pham Thuy Duong

Cottbus, 08.10.2008

World primary energy use, by energy sources (2007)

Source link: http://www.interacademycouncil.net/Object.File/Master/12/027/LTW1-

3.jpg

:

Source link: http://www.urbanoptions.org/RenewableEnergy/FossilFuelsAShortBlip.htm

Current Energy Issues

Fossil fuel related issues:

•Resource depletion

•Environmental pollution

•Climate change

•Acid rain

Nuclear power related issues:

•Safety of operation

•Plant decommisioning cost

•Radioactive wastes disposal

•Thermal pollution

•Threat of nuclear weapons

Something to think about…

••Is there still any hope for future?

•How can we make a transition to a more

sustainable energy future?

Towards a Sustainable Energy Future

••Reducing energy waste (conservation)

•Improving energy efficiency

•Using renewable energy

•Shifting from large, centralized macropower systems to

smaller, decentralized micropower systems.

* Hydrogen - fuelcell, fusion, Earth resonance?

Reducing energy waste

Four widely used devices waste large amounts of energy:

•Incandescent light bulb: 95% is lost as heat.

•Internal combustion engine: 94% of the energy in its fuel is

wasted.

•Nuclear power plant: 92% of energy is wasted through

nuclear fuel and energy needed for waste management.

•Coal-burning power plant: 66% of the energy released by

burning coal is lost.

(G. Tyler Miller Jr., 2007)

Improving energy efficiency: Better with less

Benefits:

•Prolongs fossil fuel supplies

•Low cost

•Reduces pollution and environmental degradation

•Buys time to phase in renewable energy

Saving energy and improving energy efficiency

•Producing both heat and electricity from one energy

source (industry)

•Using more energy-efficient electric motors and lighting.

•Increasing fuel efficiency and making vehicles from

lighter and stronger materials (transportation).

•Getting heat from the sun, superinsulating them, and

using plant covered green roofs.

•Saving energy in existing buildings by insulating them,

plugging leaks, and using energy-efficient heating and

cooling systems, appliances, and lighting.

Using renewable energies

•Solar power

•Bioenergy

•Wind power

•Hydropower

•Geothermal energy

Heating buildings and water with Solar energy

•We can heat buildings by orienting them toward the sun (passive) or

by pumping a liquid such as water through rooftop collectors (active).

Cooling house naturally

•Roofs covered with plants, built from a blend of light-

weight compost, mulch and sponge-like materials that hold

water.

••Taking advantages of

breezes.

•Shading them.

•Having light colored or

green roofs.

Generating electricity with Solarcells

Nanosolar powersheet

The new dawn of solarRevolution solar energy:

•One of the largest inhibitors

to cheap solar power has

always been the high cost

of solar panels (due to their

thick glass, framing, and

expensive silicon).

•San Jose-based Nanosolar,

Inc. appears ready to

eliminate these barriers with

solar technology that

utilizes thin sheets of non-

silicon components that

reduce the production costs

by over 90% and decreases

the thickness by 99% (the

Nanosolar PowerSheets Innovation of the year 2007

Nanosolar is on track to make solar electricity:

•cost-efficient for ubiquitous deployment

•mass-produced on a global scale

•available in many versatile forms.

Generating electricity from Wind

•Wind power is a promising energy resource

because it is abundant, inexhaustible, widely

distributed, cheap, clean, and emits no greenhouse

gases.

•Much of the world’s potential for wind power

remains untapped.

•Capturing only 20% of the wind energy at the

world’s best energy sites could meet all the world’s

energy demands.

Generating electrictity from Wind

•Wind turbines can be used individually to produce electricity.

They are also used interconnected in arrays on wind farms.

Producing energy from biomass

•Plant materials and animal

wastes can be burned to

provide heat or electricity or

converted into gaseous or

liquid biofuels.

•The major advantages of

biofuels are:

•Crops used for production can

be grown almost anywhere.

•There is no net increase in

CO2 emissions.

•Widely available and easy to

store and transport.

Oil from Algae

•Scientific American Earth 3.0, p.10

Make fuel from wastes

••Transform landfill methane,

animal manure, or straw and

other agricultural wastes

into fuel.

•These produce energy without

competing with food

production.

•Methane capture reduces

emissions of a greenhouse gas

25 times more potent than

CO2.

Waste recycling/incineration plant

at Cergy Pontoise, near Paris, France

SourceLink:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy_transport/atlas/htmlu/munwaste.html

Biogas production from wastes

Source link: http://www.makinemekanik.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/biogas-cycle.JPG

Source: Micropower-The Next Electrica

Era

Worldwatch, 2000

Future Energy Systems for the 21st Century

Source link : http://www.ihi.co.jp/ihi/technology/cleanenergy/21century-e.html

Future energy

technology?

Source link:

http://www.aacg.bham.ac.uk/images/hydrogen/H_from_renewables.JPG

Hydrogen from Renewable Sources

Hydrogen and fuelcell

•Fuel-efficient vehicles

powered by a fuel cell that

runs on hydrogen gas are

being developed.

•Combines hydrogen gas

(H2) and oxygen gas (O2)

fuel to produce electricity

and water vapor

(2H2+O2 • 2H2O).

•Emits no air pollution or CO2

if the hydrogen is produced

from renewable-energy

sources.

Nuclear Fusion

••A possible source

of energy in the

distant future:

clean and

abundant.

•Fusion could

become the

dominant source

of electricity on

Earth in a century

or so. Source link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6165932.stm

JET and ITER

JET (Joint European Torus

)

The star of Europe that can

produce plasma.

ITER

The International Thermonuclear

Experimental Reactor projecthttp://www.iter.org

What can we do, individually?

•Buy the most energy-efficient homes,

lights, cars, and appliances available.

•Look for electronics that are

rechargeable.

•Turn off lights, TV sets, computers, and

other electronic equipment when they are

not in use.

•Walk or ride a bicycle for short trips, or

take public transportation for longer ones.

•Use natural cooling (shading tree,

opening window…)

Efficiencity (UK)

Link:

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/efficiencity/index.html

The RuralZED Zero Emission Home

Link:

http://www.ruralzed.com/

MASDAR

City of the future

•Zero-carbon

•Zero-waste

•Sustainable transport

•Local, sustainable materials

•Sustainable food, water

•Habitat and wildlife

•Equitty and fair trade

•Health and happiness

•Culture and heritage

Video link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWVsi0UtmgI

Thank you for your attention!

Together, we build!

References

•Energy Information Administrationhttp://www.eia.doe.gov/

•MAST Workshop, Energy http://matse1.mse.uiuc.edu/~tw/energy/energy.html

•The Olduvai theory and catastrophic

consequenceshttp://www.energybulletin.net/node/45518

•Energy Revolution:

http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/energy-

revolution-a-sustainab.pdf

•G. Tyler Miller Jr. Sustaining the Earth: An Integrated Approach, 2007

•Sustainable Energy Options: http://eeru.open.ac.uk/natta/energy.html#7

•Micropower-The Next Electrica Era Worldwatch, 2000

•Nanosolar: http://www.nanosolar.com/

•Hydrogen from renewablesourceshttp://www.aacg.bham.ac.uk/images/hydrogen

•Horizon fuelcell: http://www.horizonfuelcell.com/

• ITER http://www.iter.org/

•RuralZED: http://www.ruralzed.com/

•Efficiencity: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/efficiencity/index.html

•Masdar – Green Utopia in the

deserthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWVsi0UtmgI