7/31/2009

Alternative Sources of Energy

Dr. Henry J. Ramos
Professor of Physics
National Institute of Physics
College of Science
UP Diliman

OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. Energy resources
3. Energy utilization
4. Energy technologies
- solar
- wind
- geothermal
- hydrogen fuel cell
- biofuels
- nuclear fission
- nuclear fusion
5. Philippine scenario
6. R&D in energy
7. Issues
8. Conclusions

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Humanity’s Top Ten Problems for the Next

50 Years
1. Energy
2. Water
3. Food
4. Environment
5. Poverty
6. Terrorism and war
7. Disease
8. Education Source Richard Smalley Energy & Nanotechnology
Conference Rice University, Houston May 3, 2003
9. Democracy
10.Population (2003: 6.3B, 2050: 8-10B)

Energy Technologies
Definitions of terms and equivalences
Units of Energy: 1 joule (J) = 1 newton-meter
1 J = 0.738 ft-lb = 107 ergs
1 cal = 4.186 J
1 Btu = 252 cal = 1054 J
1 kWh = 3.6 x 106 J
1 barrel of oil (BOE) = 5.8x106 Btu
1 Q = 1018 Btu = 1021 J
= 1.85x1011 BOE
= 3x1014 kWh

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ENERGY RESOURCES
A. Known Reserves (in Q) Possible Reserves (in Q)
Coal 27.1 320
Oil 1.7 23
Natural gas 1.9 39
Shale 0.87 79

TOTAL FOSSIL 32.0 452

Hydroelectric (p.a.) 0.1

Geothermal (natural) 0.002
Fission (thermal) 2.0

B. Potential Reserves (in Q)

Fission (fast breeder) 200
Solar (p.a.) 1000
Geothermal (hot rock) 1000
Fusion (D-T) 1x106
(lithium107 tons)
(D-D) 3x1010

ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Current consumption = 12 terawatts (85% from
fossil fuels); 1TW=5BBOE
Projected for 9 B population = 27 TW
for 14 B population = 42 TW

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ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Current consumption = 12 terawatts (85% from
fossil fuels); 1TW=5BBOE
Projected for 9 B population = 27 TW
for 14 B population = 42 TW
@ 0.41Q per year for 6B people, 32 Q lasts 80 years
@ 0.7Q per year for 9B people, 32 Q lasts 46 years

energy demand provoked by political dilemmas and

short supply
energy consumption depends on population rate and
per capita energy consumption

Region Population Per Capita Power Total Power Demands Growth

Demands kW/cap (TW) Ratio

1975 2025 1975 2025 1975 2025

N. America 237 315 11.5 15.0 2.72 4.74 1.7

W. Europe 305 447 5.6 5.5 1.7 2.47 1.5

E. Europe 359 480 5.3 13.6 1.9 6.54 3.4

& USSR
Japan, 128 320 4.3 6.3 0.55 2.02 3.7
Australia,
N>Z.
Latin 323 797 0.93 2.8 0.30 2.22 7.4
America
Africa 370 885 0.16 1.1 0.06 0.94 16

China & 1029 1714 0.61 2.0 0.63 3.43 5.4

Indochina

South Asia 1170 2665 0.20 1.1 0.23 2.80 12

Mid-East 110 353 1.0 4.9 0.11 1.72 16

World 4031 7976 2.0 3.4 8.20 26.9 3.3

Average or
Total
From R. M. Rotty, 1980

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•Man needs about 2,000 kcal/day to sustain life

•Modern man consumes roughly 100 times this
amount; energy crisis due to appetite for energy
•The US has 6% of the world population, but
consumes about 30% of world’s energy
•The Philippines consumes about 0.3% of world’s
energy
•Philippines per capita energy consumption
(in 2000) is 15.8 M Btu; cf. US at 351 M Btu
*translation in per capita carbon emissions
Philippines = 0.3 metric tons
United States = 5.6 metric tons

UTILIZATION ACCDG. TO FORM OF ENERGY

I.Thermal – a) low grade heat (< 60C)
1. Hot air (drying)
2. Hot water
3. Building air-conditioner
b) medium grade heat (~ 120C)
1. Industrial hot water
2. Low pressure steam
c) high grade heat (~ 500C)
1. Industrial processing
2. High pressure steam
3.turboelectric generation
d) desalination
1. Water electrolysis to form H2
e) solar thermal sources (wind, oceans)

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II. Electrical
a) by solar produced steam
b) thermoelectric (Peltier/Seebeck effects)
c) photoelectric (P-N junctions)
d) naturally occurring solar thermal sources
e) fuel cell conversion of fuels from bio sources
III. Fuels
a) direct burning of plant and animal materials
b) photolysis of water by plants and algae to
hydrogen
c) fermentation of plant/animal materials
to hydrogen, methane, alcohols

III. Fuels continued

d) pyrolysis of biological materials to oils, gas
e) chemical reduction of biological materials
to oil, gas

STORAGE OF ENERGY

1. Electrical – e.g. batteries

2. Mechanical – e.g. elevated water reservoirs for
turbo-electric schemes
3. Thermal – water, rock or pebble beds for solar
houses
4. Fuel storage – large scale solar farming

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The Sun and Solar Radiation

Tb - 5900K
Peak in solar energy spectrum 500 nm
Peak (noon) terrestrial insolation 1 kW/m2
Ave. (p.a.) insolation
a) Earth’s surface – 0.2 kW/m2
b) near – Earth space – 1.4 kW/m2
Total world insolation (p.a.) = 1024 J
= 1000 Q

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Solar Energy
Electrochemical device
that converts solar energy
to electrical energy via
photovoltaic effect

dye sensitized solar cell, η ~ 8.2 %

silicon-based solar cell, η ~ 15 %

One of top 14 technological

challenges this century to make
solar cells cheaper

Solar Selective Coatings:

parabolic trough

high reflectivity
with sun tracking
flat plate collector
high absorption, low emissivity

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Energy from the Wind

nacelle
with
rotor
generator

Geothermal Energy

www.our-energy.com

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www.our-energy.com

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www.gm-volt.com

Electrochemical device
that converts chemical
energy of a reaction to
electrical, heat and
water

www.gm-volt.com

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BIOFUELS

o biodiesel – bioethanol
o biogas –from plant and animal waste
o biomass – wood, straw
o pyrolysis of biomass – to produce tar, gas and coke
o methane digester

NUCLEAR ENERGY: FISSION

Enrico Fermi and Emilio Segre, in 1934 bombarded
uranium with neutrons and found several β-ray
activities with different half-lives

Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman, in 1938 showed that

One of the radioactive elements in the Fermi/Segre
Experiment was an isotope of barium (56Ba141)

Otto Frisch and Lisa Meitner suggested that uranium was

Undergoing a nuclear fission process:

U235 + n U236 X + Y + neutrons

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U235 + n U236 X + Y + neutrons

n is a slow neutron
U236 is a highly unstable isotope
X and Y are fission fragments

X and Y can be either Ba144 and Kr89 or Xe140 and Sr94

Xe decays into Cs, then Ba to La and to Ce
Sr decays into Y and then Zr

The process releases neutrons and heat energy. The heavy

nucleus captures a slow neutron. The Coulomb repulsion
distorts the nucleus within 10-13 seconds. The nucleus
fragments with the release of prompt neutrons. This may take
only seconds or years delaying the release of neutrons.

Energy released in nuclear fission

Before fission(isotopic mass) After fission (isotopic mass)

U(235) = 235.0439 amu Ce(140) = 139.9054 amu

n = 1.0087 amu Zr (94) = 93.9036 amu
236.0526 amu 2n = 2.0173 amu
6β- = 0.0330 amu
235.8296 amu
Mass difference = 0.233 amux931 MeV/amu = 208 MeV
cf. with α-particle disintegration giving energy = 5 MeV and
chemical combustion process energy of 4 eV.

Fast Breeder – relies on fast, highly energetic neutrons

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Fast Breeder – relies on fast, highly energetic neutrons

fp
β- Pu239
n β-
U238 U239 Np239 fp
n n

Disintegration of fertile isotope by fast neutron. The fission process

releases heat energy as by-product.

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NUCLEAR FUSION ENERGY

Hans Bethe suggested in 1938 that a nuclear reaction

in which two nuclei came together to form a single
heavier species plus the release of large quantities of
energy.

Carbon cycle : 1H + 12C N + γ

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7N 6C + e + ν

Some Fusion Reactions of Interest

Threshold Plasma Average energy gain
temperature per fusion*
D + T He(4) + n 10 keV 1800

D + D T + p 50 keV 70
He(3) + n

D + He(3) He(4) + p 100 keV 180

T + He(3) He(4) + 2n + E

1 eV = 11,600 K
* ratio of energy released to energy absorbed per
reaction

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Experimental Requirements for Fusion

1. reaction rate must be high to produce useable quantities of power

2. power by fusion reaction must be greater by an order of

magnitude than the power required to support the reaction

Pfus > 3nT/τE

Pfus = nDnT < σV>r (DT) EDT

3nT = thermal energy content of plasma

τE = characteristic time in which plasma loses its energy due to

all possible mechanisms such as conduction, convection,
radiation
nDnT = densities of deuterium and tritium components
n = nD + nT = total density

EDT = total energy released per DT fusion reaction

< σV>r (DT) = total cross section for reactions

Pfus is maximum when nD = nT = n/2

Lawson criterion nτE > [12T/EDT] /< σV>r (DT)

If T = 10 keV, EDT = 40 MeV; < σV>r (DT) = 10-23 m3/s

nτE ≥ 1.5 x 1020 s/m3 (minimum for DT reaction)

nτE T ≥ 1021 keV s/m3 (triple product)

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Princeton TFTR

One of top 14 technological challenges

this century is to realize fusion power

Courtesy Princeton Univ.

Main Parameters

Total Fusion
Power 1.5 Gw
Burn Time 1000 s
Plasma Current
21 MA
Maximum Toroidal
Magnetic Field
5.7 T

Courtesy ITER Program

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R.P. Energy
A. 51 existing mini-hydro representing 7.2% of resource potential of
81.07 MW capacity
≡ 200 gigawatt-hrs/year or 0.34 MBOE
* 12 more in the pipeline until 2009 with a combined capacity of
70.19 MW or 307.43 GW-hr or 0.53 MBOE
B. Geothermal – existing installed capacity of 1,909.23 MW generating
about 10,577 GW of electricity
* eight plants with a combined capacity of 526 MW will be
commissioned until 2008
C. Coal – 1.2 metric tons in 1998, an increase from 22% to 30.3%
supply by 2008 to 4.9 MMT
Total coal potential: 2.37 BMT
Proven reserves as of 1999: 399 MMT
D. Solar – 3,957 systems in operation equivalent to 567 kW
E. Wind – 368 units of wind pumps and 9 wind turbines installed up to
1999; potential of 70,000 MW
F. Natural Gas – proven reserves of 3.693 trillion cubic feet;
Malampaya at 2.6 Tcf

R.P. Energy con’t.

G. Oil
Malampaya ∼ 50 MBO
San Isidro/East Visayas ∼ 60 MBO
NW Palawan ∼ 246 MBO
Mindoro-Cuyo ∼ 37.4 MBO

SECTORAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION (1998)

Industrial 49.8%
Residential 24.9%
Transport 16.1%
Commercial 6.7%

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Plant Type GWh % Share

Oil-based 6,141 10.9
Combined Cycle 91 0.2 R.P Power
Diesel 5,717 10.1 Generation in 2005
Gas Turbine 25 0.0
Oil Thermal 309 0.5
Coal 15,257 27.0
Natural Gas 16,861 29.8
Hydro 8,387 14.8
Geothermal 9,902 17.5
Renewable 19 -
TOTAL GENERATION 56,568 100.0
Source: R.P. DOE website

RP Energy Consumption

Consumption in 2000/2001 = 377,000 BO/day

Locally sourced : 23,500 BO/day
Oil reserves: 178 MBO
Oil production: 8,460 BO/day
Coal reserves: 366 M short tons
Coal consumption: 9.5 M short tons
Electric generation capacity (1999): 12 M kW
57.5% thermal, 19.9% hydro, 22.6% renewable
Total energy consumption (2000):1.23 quadrillion Btu
60.1% (oil), 17% (coal), rest (renewable)

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R&D in Energy
A. Resource oriented – fusion, fast breeder, solar,
others

B. Modern secondary fuels – synthetic hydrocarbons,

coal, oil shale, high temperature nuclear process
heat, energy transportation, energy storage,
hydrogen, electrolysis

C. Systems analysis – ecological, environmental,

sociological factors in energy use

Energy Issues
1. Issue of developing clean, renewable energy
sources in this century or face climate disaster
due to global warming by burning fossil fuels
which increase the rate of CO2 emission in the
atmosphere.

2. Current world power consumption of about 12 TW,

85% from fossil fuels. At 0.3Q per year, 32 Q
would last only over a hundred years. This rate
increases with population. At 6B people, fossil
fuels will last only about the middle of this century.

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Energy Issues continued:

3. Known alternate energy sources are not technically
ready, based on present level of development

4. We need about 30 trillion watts of power from

systems that do not emit CO2 worldwide to
stabilize the amount of CO2 emission by 2050
while permitting current level of global economic
expansion.

5. Nuclear fission is not the answer, due to shortage

of uranium fuel. Proven reserves of U would last
less than 30 years for the 10 TW of power

Energy Issues continued:

6. Solar power – to meet US needs alone, need sun
collectors covering some 1000 square miles or
2.56 thousand square kilometers. To make the
equivalent of 10 TW of added power would require
surface arrays covering almost 85,000 square miles
or 2.17x105 square kilometers, an area larger
than the state of Kansas

7. Wind power – must operate from remote areas and

current power grids cannot manage the load. New
grids using superconducting cables may be necessary

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Energy Issues continued:

8. Solar power satellites – orbiting solar arrays
convert electricity to microwave and beam the energy
to ground antenna and convert it back to electricity.
To make 10 TW require about 600 space solar power
arrays, each about the size of Manhattan in orbit
about 22,000 miles or 35,400 kilometers above the
Earth.

9. Hydrogen energy – has to be extracted from natural

gas or water. More CO2 and less energy is produced
by the extraction of hydrogen than by burning natural
gas directly. Not yet “cost effective” to extract H2.

Energy Issues continued:

10. Nuclear fusion- after decades of study, science

still has not learned how to extract power from
fusion of atoms. Additional research could lead
to breakthroughs, but it would require political
resolve and heavy investment.

Future Scenario
-energy system would involve one that is more
decentralized, more innovative, more competitive, as
various renewable technologies compete to provide
portions of the world’s total energy budget

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