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A Renewable Energy Program For 2030
Despite all of the recent adverse publicity surrounding fossil fuels, crude oil and organic gas has been helpful for the development of our contemporary world. It has helped the population have life right after dark, transportation of goods all over the world, and permitted technology to advance. Nonetheless, the use of fossil fuels has also resulted in many adverse consequences: it has designed serious pollution, political conflict, financial control and total dependence of countries that lack this natural resource.
The provide of fossil fuels is restricted, and it truly is only situated in particular locations from the globe. The demand for fossil fuels creates conflicts which threaten peace. Nations which have adequate fossil fuel supplies could potentially threaten the security and economy of countries which are dependent upon these countries. Additionally, there happen to be numerous estimates created regarding the volume of fossil fuels left inside the globe. These estimates are dependent upon the population development, and how much the actual fossil fuel consumption increases within the close to future. These estimates state that there is enough for approximately an additional 35 years of oil, 37 years of natural gas, and 107 years of coal . As well as the adverse environmental consequences of making use of these fuels, there is certainly a finite provide of fossil fuels which will force the usage of yet another form of power. This restricted provide and big demand will cause inevitable price tag increases. As a result, the finish of low-cost oil is swiftly approaching.
The usage of fossil fuels to fulfill the world's power requirements is causing harmful side-effects for folks, plants and animals. Waste products from these fuels heat the earth's atmosphere and pollute the earth's air, water, and ground. This benefits in decreased living situations for all species on the earth. As well as becoming hazardous to our ecosystem, as well as the overall health of a lot of species, the pollution can also be changing the atmosphere from the globe. This trend is known as worldwide warming, and will continue to grow to be worse on account of the boost in the combustion of fossil fuels for electrical energy because of the growing globe population. Within the approach of burning the gasoline, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons are released into the atmosphere. The catalytic converters minimize a large portion in the pollution, however they aren't ideal. Many cities currently have unsafe levels of ozone in the air. The planet wants a energy source that has low pollutant emissions, is energy-efficient, and has an unlimited provide of fuel for a rising world population.
Numerous option power technologies have been researched and developed. These include solar, wind, bioenergy, geothermal power as well as several other individuals. Solar cells use the sun to generate electrical energy, wind energy is obtained in the kinetic power in the wind, bioenergy is extracted from plants and geothermal energy is power in the earth. Each and every of these alternative energy sources has its positive aspects and disadvantages and all are in varying stages of improvement.
For most nations around the globe, if the supply of fossil fuels were cut off -- the whole economy would come to a halt. There wouldn't be a way for people to drive to function, or use electrical energy in their residences or workplaces. The global population consumes petroleum items at a rate one hundred,000 times higher than the rate that they're formed. The United states of america currently imports 70% of the oil, and it really is still increasing. About 80% of the total energy inside the world is offered by fossil energy sources . The International Energy Agency estimates that the major planet demand for power is anticipated to develop by about 45% by 2030. The price of meeting this power demand is estimated to be 20 trillion U. S. dollars [2, 3]. Consequently, because a lot money requirements to be spent on the investment in energy infrastructure within the upcoming years, this enables an opportunity for replacing the fossil fuel infrastructure having a renewable energy infrastructure. U.S. coal and fossil fuel plants are currently relatively old simply because at the very least half from the plants had been built before 1970. When the oldest plants are retired 1st, it may be a simple progression to transfer the energy production to alternative power without retiring the plant's prematurely.
Although the demand for oil is increasing, the world's oil production peaked in 2005 . In 2006, nations that had a important percentage of their energy from renewable power was Canada (16%), followed by France (6%), Italy (6.5%), Germany (five.6%), Usa (4.8%), and the United kingdom (1.7%) . The worldwide community has reached a point exactly where future power demands have to be balanced with future financial and environmental requirements. We at present have a actual chance to transform the way that our economy utilizes energy, prevent further pollution, and we are able to support to insure a safer and more secure future
About international warming
For all you international warming naysayers - please keep reading!
Everyone is aware that the definition of international warming can be a substantial improve inside the Earth's temperature over a brief time period because of the outcome of human activities. An increase in temperature of 0.4
In my last post, I showed that the highest levels of the American government have made engagement with the Caribbean a priority, and that they see energy security as one of the key ways to build that relationship.
But - what does that mean? Unlike the Venezuelan government, the US government is not about to provide subsidized oil directly to Caribbean governments: I'm sure that Congress would have something to say about that! When President Obama arrives in Jamaica on April 9, he will have a suite of options to present for how the US can help build energy security for the Caribbean, none of which will cost American taxpayers.
This is about U.S. government leadership and coordination. In a series of public-private partnerships, the US government will act more as a coordinator than a funder. There actually are many funders, whether its official development assistance from European, Canadian, or other governments, or whether it is non-profit foundations. However, there has been little coordination until recently. The unique convening power of the U.S. government can bring the right people to the table, who can then move projects from the planning stage to completion.
The energy revolution in the US - in both renewables and fossil fuels - also gives the US the market to provide the support for building energy security.
First, the Caribbean may be the world's best natural environment for renewable energy. While the Caribbean islands may be short on natural resources in the traditional sense, they are rich in wind and sun. We know that the sun shine and the trade winds are consistent and predictable. When combined with the high prices for consumer electricity, the Caribbean is one of the few places in the world that renewable energy doesn't need subsidies for operations.
However, what it does need is financing. Finding the start-up costs to replace existing power plants is a challenge. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has helped to finance a number of power projects throughout the Caribbean, ranging from fossil plants to a series of clean energy investments. For example, projects like the Blue Mountain Renewables wind farm in Jamaica will provide an installed capacity of 34 Megawatts of electricity. Such a wind farm would only be a small percentage of the 5,177 MW installed in Iowa alone, but in Jamaica it will provide up to 5% of the country's electricity and reduce imports of fuel by a commensurate amount.
In the long term, with sustained investment in renewable energy production, a more reliable grid, and regulatory reforms, countries could approach a point where they are independent of imported fuels. Even now, the Carbon War Room, a non-profit started by Virgin's Richard Branson, has initiated the "Ten Island Challenge" that seeks to run islands entirely on renewable energy.
However, deployment of renewables not going to be fast enough in the region to wean the majority of countries off their dependence on Venezuelan imports immediately. That's where the U.S. shale revolution can also provide an alternative to oil dependence. Generating electricity with modern natural gas turbines is significantly more efficient and less polluting than the fuel oil generators currently used in most islands. In addition, natural gas turbines work very well with renewables because they can "ramp" up or down their power generation in response to the variable power provided by solar or wind power. As the Department of Energy has finally accelerated the approval of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities, there soon will be a new supply of energy.
At first appraisal, it would seem that an appealing match-up would be to pair the growing LNG export capacity with Caribbean importers. Already, the Dominican Republic hosts one LNG import facility and is building another. Currently the Dominican Republic imports its gas from Trinidad and Tobago, but could also bring in imports from the US.
However, LNG import terminals require significant investment (though nothing like the billions of dollars required for an LNG liquefaction export facility) and the isolated nature of small islands means that the potential demand for LNG is often not large enough to warrant the investment. In addition, the scale needed for LNG facilities means that one terminal could fuel their entire power sector on many islands - an infrastructure dependence that creates an energy security vulnerability, particularly in a region prone to natural disasters. For these reasons, LNG imports are really only valuable for the largest islands, like the Dominican Republic and (perhaps one day) Cuba, until the technology and infrastructure develops to make smaller ships and facilities more economically viable.
Fortunately, there is another option, which is also growing thanks to the natural gas revolution in the US: propane. Often extracted as a byproduct from shale gas operations, in the U.S., we only think of propane as a source of heat or cooking fuel, but it can also serve as a source of power. In the summer of 2015, the US Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) expects to complete a conversion project that will allow the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John to generate their electricity from propane instead of fuel oil. WAPA estimates that the conversion will lower fuel costs by 30 percent and decrease greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 percent. Already, the savings are being felt as electricity rates have fallen from more than 51 cents per kilowatt-hour in September 2014 to 39.2 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Tropigas, a Puerto Rican company, has proposed a similar conversion project to PREPA, the Puerto Rican utility. No action has yet been taken, as PREPA remains close to bankruptcy and in negotiations with its creditors. Similar projects around the Caribbean could take hold, as there will be supplies of propane available from the US. Since 2009, the US has increased exports of Propane and Propylene from 85 thousand barrels per day to 423 thousand barrels per day, an astounding increase of almost 400%.
This suite of resources from the US: renewables, LNG, and Propane, accompanied by American political leadership and financing, can help to build real energy security for islands across the Caribbean, while underscoring American intentions to rebuild alliances and support economic development. There are few "win-wins" in politics: this is one of them.
Many of our usual workshop participants were involved in the locally-hosted regional BEST ROBOTICS tournament this past weekend, and so I am concluding the review of past design efforts with the Wave Farm, intended to provide inspiration for Senior, Eagle, and Gold Award projects.
For many years, a poster of the "WAVE FARM" concept has been displayed on the wall of my shop for students to drawn inspiration and in order to illustrate other principals used in its design. The concept originally came from inspiration provided by the traditional throw-net used by native Hawai'ian fishermen - the "UPENA". I originally designed the modular configuration for power generation in the late 1990's, with updates to the design as AutoCAD's rendering improved. In 2002, I transferred a copy of the source material from GEOCITIES to my original personal blog, and later SUBMITTED A COPY to the 2006 Popular Science design contest.
Many of my other designs are derived from the potential of this floating power generating and power capture system, the most obvious being the FLYING SUB service vehicle which spawned the PROPLESS SUBMERSIBLE DESIGN in turn. The VIBRATIONAL POWER GENERATOR tested for off-grid environmental monitors was originally created to allow the wave farm capacity to convert power from exceptionally short-length waves, where the more recent SOLAR SEAWEED design replaced this with a flexible floating fringe that can provide additional photoelectric generating capacity able to provide piezoelectric capture of short-length wave motion without moving internal components. For off-grid power production, photoelectric systems can integrate the CONCENTRATED SOLAR design, while HYDROGEN GAS ELECTROLYSIS PRODUCTION at deep benthic pressures can provide a more efficient method of longer-term energy storage.
"The UPENA WAVE-FARM was intended to provide a modular, extensible zero emission design to facilitate the production of electrical power and Hydrogen fuel using a hybrid mix of wind, solar, thermal and wave power generation."
Modular design built around common components, configurable to meet requirements for power generation and suitability to local environmental conditions. Wave power is extracted through angular movement of the flotation modules, pumping oil through hydraulic pistons.
Movement within the grid also produces power through extension and contraction of each boom, moving a fixed magnet inside a coil with each successive wave. A later version of this design used a torsion spring and flexible linkage to allow bi-directional transformation of linear deflection into rotational power generation.
A similar system operates below the flotation unit, acting as a sea anchor to increase platform stability and avoid flipping of the edge units in heavy storms.
Additional power can be extracted by allowing the rise and fall of the system to pump cold water up through the anchor boom to produce power by way of a pyroelectric layer between the cooling fluid and the upper surface, which is covered with photoelectric panels.
Photoelectric panels also cover the smaller float extensions, designed to capture energy from waves shorter than the boom's length. These rigid panels can continue as originally designed, or may operate together with or be replaced by the flexible floating Solar Seaweed design.
The extensible design allows this system to capture energy from wavelengths up to twice the length of the grid's span that travel across the grid from any angle, rather than a single lengthwise axis of movement, losing efficiency with transverse wave propagation
Wind energy is extracted by the vertical turbine atop each module, which also increases wave power generation efficiency by providing torque on each host module as it rests within the extended grid network.
Wave farms operating in coastal waters can provide power directly to the grid through tethered cables, while free-floating farms can electrolyze water and produce commercial quantities of hydrogen of oxygen.
Additional modules can be included for housing, station keeping, and other operational requirements to suit local conditions.
