Green Alternatives and National Energy Strategy: The Facts behind the Headlines

• Notes
• Chapter
• Johns Hopkins University Press
• pp. 167-173
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Notes

One: Conventional Energy Sources

1. EIA, www.eia.doe.gov/.

2. This book uses the “short scale” of numbers common in the United States rather than the “long scale,” which is used in some other countries. In the short scale, 1 million is 1,000,000 or 1 × 10⁶; 1 billion is 1,000,000,000 or 1 × 10⁹; 1 trillion is 1,000 billion or 1 × 10¹²; 1 quadrillion is 1,000 trillion or 1 × 10¹⁵. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales for an interesting discussion of long and short scales. 1 quad = 1 quadrillion Btu = 1.0 × 10¹⁵ Btu = 293 billion kWh. (1 kWh = 3,412 Btu).

3. A metric ton = 1,000 kg, or 2,204.6 pounds, the mass of a cubic meter of pure water. A short ton = 2,000 pounds. A long ton is 2,240 pounds. Standard usage in the literature is to qualify the term ton as metric, short, or long. The term ton by itself is generally taken to mean a short ton.

4. Nongreenhouse-gas pollutants include sulfur oxides, in particular sulfur dioxide (SO₂) from industrial processes, especially combustion of coal and petroleum; nitrogen oxides (NO_x), especially nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), from high-temperature combustion such as that by internal combustion automobile engines; and carbon monoxide (CO) from incomplete combustion of fuel, especially in vehicle exhaust.

5. EIA, “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases Report,” December 3, 2008, www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/archive/gg08rpt/index.html.

6. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, www.ipcc.ch/.

7. David A. Fahrenthold, “Chemicals That Eased One Woe Worsen Another,” Washington Post, July 20, 2009.

8. Andrew Higgens, “A Climate Threat, Rising from the Soil,” Washington Post, November 19, 2009.

9. For interesting background see Wikipedia, “Petroleum,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum.

10. For interesting background see Wikipedia, “Oil Refinery,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_refining.

11. EIA, “Petroleum Navigator,” Definitions, Sources, and Explanatory Notes, http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/TblDefs/pet_crd_pres_tbldef2.asp (emphasis added).

12. MMS, “Assessment of Undiscovered Technically Recoverable Oil and Gas Resources of the Nation’s Outer Continental Shelf, 2006,” www.boemre.gov/revaldiv/PDFs/2006NationalAssessmentBrochure.pdf.

13. USGS, “USGS National Assessment of Oil and Gas Resources Update (December 2007) Conventional Oil and Gas Resources,” http://certmapper.cr.usgs.gov/data/noga00/natl/tabular/2007/summary_07.pdf.

14. MMS, “Assessment of Undiscovered, 2006,” cited above (emphasis added).

15. USGS, “3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate,” www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911.

16. EIA, “Independent Statistics and Analysis,” Basics tab, http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=coal_home#tab1.

17. Ibid., Data & Statistics tab, http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=coal_home#tab2.

18. “BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2007.” The data are also found in readable format at Wikipedia, “Table: Coal; Proved Recoverable Coal Reserves, at end-2006,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal. Note that the data have been converted from tonnes to short tons.

19. EIA, Annual Energy Review, 2009, table 9.2, “Nuclear Power Plant Operations1957–2009,” www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec9_5.pdf.

20. World Nuclear Association, “World Nuclear Power Reactors and Uranium Reactors,” November 1, 2010, www.world-nuclear.org/info/reactors.html.

21. World Nuclear Association, “Uranium Production Figures, 1999–2009,” July 2010, www.world-nuclear.org/info/uprod.html.

22. World Nuclear Association, “World Uranium Mining,” updated May 2010, www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf23.html.

23. World Nuclear Association, “Safety of Nuclear Power Plants,” updated September 13, 2010, www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf06.html.

24. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident,” www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html (emphasis added).

25. World Nuclear Association, “Chernobyl Accident,” updated August 2010, www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html (emphasis added).

Two: Conventional Vehicles

1. Erik Eckermann, World History of the Automobile, trans. Peter L. Albrecht (Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers, 2001). For additional background, see Wikipedia, “History of the Automobile,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_automobile, and Wikipedia, “Automobile,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/automobile.

2. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, table 1-11, “Number of U.S. Aircraft, Vehicles, Vessels, and Other Conveyances,” www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_11.html.

3. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, table 4-23, “Average Fuel Efficiency of U.S. Passenger Cars and Light Trucks,” www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html.

4. Richard Stone and Jeffrey K. Ball, Automotive Engineering Fundamentals (Warrendale, PA: SAE International, 2004), 20–32.

5. Stone and Ball, Automotive Engineering Fundamentals.

6. DOE, “Energy Efficient Technologies,” www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tech_adv.shtml.

7. EPA, “EPA’s Fuel Economy and Emissions Programs,” www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/420f04053.htm#calc.

8. NHTSA, “CAFE Overview—Frequently Asked Questions,” www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CARS/rules/CAFE/overview.htm; Robert Bamberger, “Automobile and Light Truck Fuel Economy: The CAFE Standards,” Almanac of Policy Issues (September 2002), www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/crs_cafe_standards.shtml; Wikipedia, “Corporate Average Fuel Economy,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy.

9. DOE, “How Vehicles Are Tested,” www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/how_tested.shtml.

10. Peter Whoriskey, “GM Says New Car Is Capable of 230 MPG,” Washington Post, August 12, 2009.

11. DOE, “Gas Mileage Tips,” www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drive.shtml.

12. Michael Booth, “Hypermilers Stretch Their Gas Mileage,” Denver Post, July 9, 2008.

Three: Green Vehicles

1. Greg Pahl, Biodiesel: Growing a New Energy Economy, 2nd ed. (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2008).

2. For example, Pahl, Biodiesel.

3. John Sheehan et al., A Look Back at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Aquatic Species Program: Biodiesel from Algae, NREL/TP-580-24190 (Golden, CO: NREL, 1998), www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/biodiesel_from_algae.pdf.

4. Algenol Biofuels, “BioFields,” www.algenolbiofuels.com/biofields.htm.

5. Jim Lane, “Biofields to Commence Construction in January on Algae-to-Ethanol Pilot Using Algenol Technology,” January 6, 2010, http://cleanenergysector.com/2010/01/biofields-to-commence-construction-in-january-on-algae-to-ethanol-pilot-using-algenol-technology/.

6. EthanolRetailer.com, “Find an E85 or Blender Pump Station at Growth Energy’s PumpFinder,” www.e85fuel.com/find-an-e85-station/.

7. EPA, “Fuel Economy Guides, 2000–2011,” www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/FEG2000.htm.

8. Wisconsin Department of Commerce, “Preparing Your Dispensing System for Ethanol Blended Motor Fuel,” www.commerce.state.wi.us/ER/pdf/bst/ProgramLetters_PL/ER-BST-PL-PreparingForEthanolBrochure.pdf.

9. David Korotney, “Water Phase Separation in Oxygenated Gasoline,” memorandum to Susan Willis (EPA, 1995), www.epa.gov/oms/regs/fuels/rfg/waterphs.pdf.

10. “Ethanol Exemption Becomes Law in Oregon,” BoatU.S. Magazine, May 2008, 7.

11. Pressure Solutions LLC, “Fill Up Your NGV at Home with Phill by FuelMaker,” http://pressuresolutionsllc.com/Phill.html.

12. Annual fuel saving is $524 with fuel economy improvement from 21 mpg to 29 mpg at 15,000 miles per year and $2.66 per gallon.

13. EPA, “Fuel Economy Guide, 2009,” www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/FEG2009.pdf.

14. Tesla Motors, www.teslamotors.com/; Chevrolet, “2011 Volt,” www.chevrolet.com/volt/

15. EIA, “Frequently Asked Questions—Gasoline,” www.eia.doe.gov/ask/gasoline_faqs.asp#retail_gasoline_stations.

16. EIA, “Existing Capacity by Energy Source,” www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat1p2.html.

17. Battery University, “Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries,” http://bat teryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries.

18. To be precise, a generator converts one form of energy into electricity. Something else provides the initial source of energy. That is, in a conventional power plant or home generator, a fossil-fuel-burning motor or turbine turns a shaft that drives the generator. Hence the two-stage system consisting of a motor and a generator (i.e., a genset).

19. Peter Whoriskey, “GM Says New Car Is Capable of 230 MPG,” Washington Post, August 12, 2009.

20. For background see Wikipedia, “Lithium-Ion Battery,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery.

21. US Geological Survey minerals report, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/lithium/mcs-2010-lithi.pdf; William Tahil, “The Trouble with Lithium: Implications of Future PHEV Production for Lithium Demand” (Meridian International Research, December 2006), www.evworld.com/library/lithium_shortage.pdf.

22. Tahil, “Trouble with Lithium,” 6.

23. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, “From Home to Work the Average Commute Is 26.4 Minutes,” Omnistats 3, no. 4 (October 2003), www.bts.gov/publications/omnistats/volume_03_issue_04/. Charging stations at the workplace would alleviate the problem for many commuters, but the almost 8% of commuters with 40-mile or more one-way commutes would still need fuel for part of their commute.

24. DOE, “Hydrogen Program,” www.hydrogen.energy.gov/.

25. “Hydrogen Cars: Fad or the Future?” Science 324 (June 5, 2009): 1257–59. Average prices were $275 per kW in 2002, $110 per kW in 2006, and $73 per kW in 2008. The trend is on track to reach the $30 per kW goal by 2015. This means that the 134 horsepower, 100 kW fuel cell in the Honda FCX Clarity should cost around $3,000 by 2015. For general background on fuel cells, see Wikipedia, “Fuel Cell,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell.

Four: Green Energy Sources

1. American Wind Energy Association, www.awea.org; NREL, www.nrel.gov/; EIA, “Wind,” www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/wind/wind.html.

2. Vestas, www.vestas.com/.

3. NREL, “Wind Farm Area Calculator,” www.nrel.gov/analysis/power_databook/calc_wind.php.

4. Cape Wind, www.capewind.org/index.php.

5. Cape Wind, “View from the Cape and Islands,” provides several artists’ renditions of how the facility will look. See www.capewind.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=9.

6. Steven Mufson, “Pickens Calls Off Plans for Vast Texas Wind Farm,” Washington Post, July 11, 2009.

7. Pickens Plan, www.pickensplan.com/theplan/.

8. Dan Charles, “Renewables Test IQ of the Grid,” Science 324 (April 10, 2009): 172–75.

9. Akhiro Bito, “Overview of the Sodium-Sulfur (NAS) Battery for the IEEE Stationary Battery Committee” (NGK Insulators, June 15, 2005), www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_pes/pes/subpages/meetings-folder/2005_sanfran/Non-Track/Overview_of_the_Sodum_-_NAS_IEEE_StaBatt_12-16Jun05_R.pdf; Y. Kishinevsky, “Long Island Bus Sodium Sulfur Battery Storage Project,” www.sandia.gov/ess/docs/pr_conferences/2005/Kishinevsky.pdf. Interesting background is found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAS_battery.

10. NREL, “U.S. Solar Radiation Resource Maps,” http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/.

11. Airman 1st Class Ryan Whitney, “Nellis Activates Nations Largest PV Array,” www.nellis.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123079933.

12. Daylight in the US ranges from ten to fifteen hours per day, depending on the season. Sunlight is too dim near sunrise and sunset to provide much energy. A good rule of thumb is eight hours per day of useful electric output from solar panels.

13. Mr. Solar (www.mrsolar.com) suggested a CE60208 system costing $71,500 for the Baltimore, MD, area.

14. Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, “Electric Transmission Lines,” http://psc.wi.gov/thelibrary/publications/electric/electric09.pdf.

15. NREL, “Concentrating Solar Power Research,” www.nrel.gov/csp/.

16. Wikipedia, “Parabolic Trough,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trough_concentrator.

17. Wikipedia, “Solar Thermal Energy: Dish Designs,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_energy#Dish_designs.

18. John A. Duffie and William A. Beckman, Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, 2nd ed. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1991); Mukund R. Patel, Wind and Solar Power Systems (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1999).

19. EIA, “Geothermal Explained: Use of Geothermal Energy,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=geothermal_use.

20. EIA, “Net Generation by Energy Source,” table 1.1, www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1.html. Also see table 1.1.A, “Net Generation by Other Renewables,” www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1_a.html.

21. EIA, “Geothermal Explained: Geothermal Power Plants,” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=geothermal_power_plants.

22. EERE, “Geothermal Technologies Program,” www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/powerplants.html.

23. EIA, “Existing Capacities by Energy Source” (November 23, 2010), www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat1p2.html.

24. EERE, Wind & Water Power Program, “Hydropower Resource Potential” (2009), www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/hydro_potential.html.

25. Wikipedia, “Gasification,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification.

26. Wyatt Andrews, “Clean Coal—Pipe Dream or Next Best Thing?” CBS Evening News, www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/20/eveningnews/main4199506.shtml.

27. As of this writing, after twenty years and a $10 billion investment, funding for continued development of the Yucca Mountain Repository has been withdrawn, leaving only some funding for a Blue Ribbon Commission on Nuclear Waste tasked to come up with an alternative. However, there is also congressional effort to reinstate development funding, so the future of the Yucca Mountain Repository is uncertain.

28. Wikipedia, “Fischer-Tropsch Process,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch; EPA, “Clean Alternative Fuels: Fischer-Tropsch,” www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/pdfs/epa_fischer.pdf.