The document discusses various alternative energy sources to fossil fuels, including solar power, hydroelectric power, wind energy, geothermal energy, and nuclear energy. For each energy source, the document outlines the basic process or technology, advantages, disadvantages, and leading global producers. It also provides brief summaries of ethanol and biodiesel as alternatives to natural gas for vehicles and compares the typical costs of different energy sources. Overall, the document provides a high-level overview of renewable and non-renewable alternative energy options to coal and natural gas.

1. Alternative Fuels
Kimberly Murphy
GEO 4333
Dr. Hugli

2. Alternatives to Coal
 Solar Power
 Hydroelectric Energy
 Wind Energy
 Geothermal Energy
 Nuclear Energy

3. Solar Power
 Solar power is energy
from the sun that is
converted into thermal
or electrical energy
 Sunlight falls on a layer
of semiconductor
(silicon) panels and the
jostles electrons,
creating an electrical
current

4. Advantages of Solar Power
 Solar power is a free,
abundant, and
nonpolluting source of
energy
 Produces energy
without any
environmental hazards
 Reduces dependence
on fossil fuels

5. Disadvantages of Solar Power
 Would take about 10,000 square miles of
solar panels to satisfy all of the United States
electricity needs
 High construction and consumer costs
 Only a small percent of daily sunlight can be
captured
– Only certain wavelengths of the UV spectrum
 Sensitive to environmental changes
– Won’t work on cloudy or rainy day

6. Leading Producers of Solar Power
 Germany
 Japan
 United States
 Europe
 China
 India

7. Hydroelectric Power
 What is hydroelectric
power?
– The generation of
electricity by using the
motive power of water

8. Typical Hydrodam
 Dam is built on a large
river that has a large
drop in elevation
 Near the bottom of the
dam there is a water
intake
 Gravity forces the water
through the penstock
and then turns a turbine
connected to a metal
shaft

9. Typical Hydrodam
 The shaft of the
turbines goes up into
an electric generator
and carries the
electricity out via power
lines

10. Wave Power
 The wave rises into
chamber and forces air out
 The moving air spins a
turbine, generating
electricity
 When the water falls it
allows air back into the
chamber, forcing turbine to
spin and generating more
electricity
 (Other methods use the up
and down motion of the
wave to power a piston that
moves up and down inside a
cylinder)

11. Tidal Power
 When tides come to shore
they can be trapped in
reservoirs behind dams
 When the tide recedes, the
water behind the dam can
be let out just like in a
regular hydroelectric power
plant
– Note size of turbine

12. Ocean Thermal Energy
 Uses temperature
differences in warm
surface water and cold
deep water to produce
electricity
 Warm water is drawn
from the surface layer
into a heat exchanger
(boiler) to vaporize a
liquid

13. Ocean Thermal Energy
 Vapor drives turbine
attached to an electric
generator
 Vapor from turbine is
condensed in a second
heat exchanger, which
is cooled by water
pumped from the cold
water source below

14. Benefits of Hydroelectric Energy
 Reduces dependence on coal
 No carbon emissions
 Relatively low construction costs
 Low operating and consumer costs

15. Downfalls of Hydroelectric Energy
 Requires 50 years to collect hydrological data
 Disruptive to surrounding aquatic life (fish
populations)
– Dams block upwardly migrating fish such as Salmon
– Fish are sucked into turbines and killed
 Changes downstream river environment (sediment
carried in currents)
 Sensitive to environmental changes (weather
patterns)
 Ocean Thermal: Not very effective
– Pumping water is a huge engineering problem

16. Leading Hydroelectric Producers
Canada 341,312 GWh
United States 319,484 GWh
Brazil 285,604 GWh
China 204,300 GWh
Russia 160,500 GWh
Norway 121,824 GWh
Japan 84,500 GWh
India 82,237 GWh
France 77,500 GWh
Sweden 70,823 GWh
Venezuela 60,600 GWh
Paraguay 51,910 GWh
Italy 47,054 GWh
Austria 41,727 GWh

17. Wind Energy
 Power derived by wind
– Wind strikes the blade of
the windmill causing it to
turn
– This turns a shaft to
rotate a generator and
produce electricity
 Depends on two
factors:
– Area swept by the
windmill blade
– Wind Speed

18. Wind Energy
 Pros
– Reduces dependence on
fossil fuels
– No carbon emissions
– No waste products
– Low operating costs
 Cons
– Can only be used in
locations that have enough
wind over an extended part
of the day.
– Wind is weakest in summer
and winter when the
demand for power is
greatest
– Unsightly and noisy
– Blades kill migrating birds
– High construction and
consumer costs
– Sensitive to environmental
changes (weather patterns)

19. Leading Wind Energy Producers
Germany 12,247 MW
United States 16,818 MW
Spain 15,145 MW
India ~8,000 MW
China 6,050 MW

20. Geothermal Energy
 Energy derived from the
heat in the interior of the
earth
 Volcanoes, geysers, hot
springs, steam vents and
tectonic plate boundaries
 3 methods for producing
geothermal energy
– Vapor-dominated
– Water-dominated
– Binary cycle

21. 3 Methods of Geothermal Energy
 Vapor-Dominated
– Steam from underground wells is carried by a pipes to a turbine
generator
– The steam turns the turbine, generating electricity
 Water-Dominated
– Uses hot water flowing from wells
– A fraction of the water is allowed to vaporize into steam at a
certain pressure
– The steam then travels to a turbine, generating electricity
 Binary Cycle
– Brings geothermal water under high pressure from wells but does
not allow it to vaporize
– Instead, hot water is used to heat a second fluid that has a lower
boiling point
– The steam produced by the fluid powers the turbine and afterwards
cools and returns to its liquid state to be used again

22. 3 Methods of Geothermal Energy

23. Geothermal Energy
 In all three methods,
used geothermal fluid is
pumped back into the
ground, both to
preserve the
environment and to
maintain pressure in
the reservoir

24. Advantages of Geothermal Energy
 Reduces dependence on fossil fuels
 Renewable resource
 Little effect on the land used
 Unaffected by changing weather conditions

25. Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy
 Can only be achieved in limited parts of the
world
 Releases gases such as hydrogen, sulfur,
sulfur dioxide, and ammonia
 Pollution of water by runoff of geothermal
well
 High construction and consumer costs
 Locations may cool down or lose pressure
– Debates on whether geothermal energy is
renewable

26. Leading Producers of Geothermal
Energy
United States 2,228 MWe
Philippines 1,909 MWe
Italy 785 MWe
Mexico 755 MWe
Indonesia 590 MWe
Japan 547 MWe
New Zealand 437 MWe
Iceland 170 MWe
El Salvador 161 MWe
Costa Rica 142 MWe
Nicaragua 70 MWe
Kenya 45 MWe

27. Nuclear Energy
 Nuclear power is
alternative energy
source that can be
obtained from either the
splitting the nucleus of
an atom (nuclear
fission) or the
combining of the nuclei
of atoms (nuclear
fusion)

28. Nuclear Energy
 There are 15 different types of nuclear reactors
 Most common type is the boiling-water reactor
– A single cooling loop contains water at high pressures
– Water is pumped into the reactor and as it flows through the core it
is heated by fission causing it to boil
– Steam generated in the core region drives the turbine directly and
creates electricity

29. Nuclear Energy
 Pros:
– Relatively Safe (safety
record unparalleled by any
other industry)
– Abundant
– Reduces dependence on
fossil fuels
– No carbon emissions
– Low consumer costs
 Cons:
– High construction costs
– Not a renewable resource
– Nuclear waste management
 Unsatisfactory methods of
storing high-level wastes
– Risk of loss of coolant
 Melt down would release
radioactive particles to the rest
of the plant and even possibly
the outside environment
– Transportation Accidents
 Has never happened
– Nuclear Proliferation
 Terrorism

30. Leading Nuclear Power Producers
European Union 370,721 MW
United States 99,209 MW
France 63,363 MW
Japan 47,593 MW
Russia 21,743 MW
United Kingdom 11,852 MW
South Korea 16,810 MW
Canada 12,599 MW
Germany 20,339 MW
India 3,557 MW

31. Energy Cost Comparisons
Resource Type Average Cost (per kWh)
Hydroelectric 2-5
Nuclear 3-4
Coal 4-5
Natural Gas 4-5
Wind 4-10
Geothermal 5-8
Biomass 8-12
Solar PV 15-32

32. Worldwide Energy Supply

33. Alternatives to Natural Gas

34. Alternatives to Natural Gas
 Biomass
– Ethanol
– Biodiesel
 Vehicles
– Electric
– Hybrid
– Hydrogen

35. Ethanol
 Ethanol holds the promise of reducing carbon
emissions by recycling carbon in the atmosphere
into presently growing plants (carbon neutral)
– Burning ethanol releases carbon from plants
– Photosynthesis captures carbon in plants
 By contrast, burning fossil fuels increases carbon
emissions by releasing ancient carbon that was once
locked within the earth

36. Ethanol
 Ethanol is fuel derived from
biomass
 Ethanol can be made from:
– Corn
– Sugar Cane
– Switchgrass
– Wheat
– Barley
– CELLULOSE
(We will be discussing corn,
sugar cane and cellulosic
ethanol)

37. Corn Ethanol
 Corn is ground into a fine powder, mixed with water, and heated
 Enzymes are added to convert the starch into sugars
 Yeast is added to ferment the sugars into alcohol
 Alcohol is then separated by distillation
 A small amount of gas is added to render the liquid undrinkable
 ONLY 1% OF THE PLANT IS ACTUALLY USED
– Byproducts are put back on the fields

38. Corn Ethanol
 Would require more than 20 million acres of corn, or
about one-quarter of the U.S. total corn acreage
 Requires large doses of herbicide and nitrogen
fertilizer
 Causes more soil erosion and requires more water
than any other crop
 1:1.3 energy ratio
 22% less emissions than gasoline

39. Sugarcane Ethanol
 Unlike corn, in which the starch has to be broken into sugars,
the entire sugarcane stalk is already 20% sugar and starts to
ferment almost as soon as it is cut
 Cane yields 600-800 gallons of ethanol an acre
– Twice as much as corn

40. Sugarcane Ethanol
 Fields are burned before harvest to kill snakes and
make the cane easier to cut by hand
 Harvest burns release methane and nitrous oxide
into the atmosphere
 Sugar cane is harvest by hand
– Increase in labor costs
– Cutters die of exhaustion every year
 Does not require fossil fuels for distillation
– Burn cane waste, known as bagasse, for heat and power
 1:8 energy ratio
 56% less emissions than gasoline

41. Pros of Ethanol
 Ethanol is renewable
 Ethanol can be domestically produced
 Reduces dependence on foreign oil
 Ethanol burns cleaner than gas
 Eases pressure to drill in controversial and
environmentally sensitive areas at home

42. Cons of Ethanol
 May be contributing to deforestation
 Sensitive to environmental changes
 Does not reduce carbon emissions
– Major controversy of ethanol
 Takes food from third world countries
– Prices of crops and crop based products would
increase significantly
– Amount of crops need to sustain energy needs is
equal to amount exported

43. Cons of Ethanol
 Cannot be transported through a pipeline
– Transported by trucks, trains, or barges
– Increases emissions and cost
 Is not cost competitive with natural gas
 Has two-thirds the energy value of gasoline

44. Major Controversy of Ethanol
 Does the amount of the
fossil fuel energy
needed to make
ethanol equal the
energy it produces?

45. Controversy of Ethanol
 Producing corn ethanol consumes as much fossil fuel as the
ethanol itself replaces
 Heavy use of diesel machinery required to harvest crops
– increases emissions
 Most ethanol plants burn natural gas or coal to create the
steam that drives the distillation
– increases emissions
 Cannot be transported through pipeline
– Transported by trucks, trains, or barges which require fossil fuels
– Increases emissions and price
 Ethanol delivers 30% fewer miles to a gallon
– Requires 1.4 times as much
 Lower fuel economy= increased emissions

47. Cellulosic Ethanol
 Cellulose is the tough
chains of sugar
molecules that make up
plant cell walls
 Finding a way to break
down the cellulose
chains would
significantly increase
our ethanol sources

48. Cellulosic Ethanol
 Sources of cellulosic ethanol
– Agricultural Residues
 Leftover material from crops
– Forestry wastes
 Wood chips, sawdust, tree bark
– Municipal solid wastes
 Household garbage, paper products
– Paper pulp
– Fast growing plants that require less energy and
that can be grown on marginal land

49. Pros of Cellulosic Ethanol
 Reduce dependence on foreign oil
 Cellulose is highly abundant
 Energy can be derived from organic waste
material
– Saves the environmental and economic cost of
their disposal
 Does not compete with food crops
 1:36 energy ratio (HUGE AMOUNT)
 91% less emissions than gasoline

50. Con of Cellulosic Ethanol
 More research is needed
– Trying to develop a way to reproduce digestive
enzymes in the stomach of termites
 Only organism that can digest cellulose
 We are years away from developing an
effective economic process of producing
cellulosic ethanol
– Some of us may not even see it our lifetime

51. Biodiesel
 Renewable fuel made
from vegetable or
animal fat
 Sometimes mixed with
conventional,
petroleum-based diesel

52. Biodiesel
 Pros
– Reduces carbon
emissions
 68% less than gasoline
– More energy than
gasoline
 Increases mileage
– Can be used with any
diesel engine
– 1:2.5 energy ratio
 Cons
– Fuel system problems at
low temperatures
– Is not cost competitive
with gasoline

53. Electric Vehicles
 Has an electric motor rather than gasoline
engine
 Consumes no energy at idle or coasting
 Regenerative braking
 Car itself produces zero emissions

54. Electric Vehicles
 Electricity still has to come from coal-fired power
plants
 Electric vehicles only transfer the emissions source
from the vehicle to the power plant
 Energy is lost in process (20%)
 Ultimately there is an increase in carbon emissions

55. Hybrid Vehicles
 At idle, hybrids’ computer automatically turns
off the gasoline engine and restarts it once
the driver starts accelerating.
 Every time the driver brakes, the car
recovers that momentum as electricity and
stores it in a battery (Regenerative Braking)

56. Hybrid Vehicles
 Pros
– Delivers high fuel efficiency
– Low emissions of tail pipe pollutants
 Because of fuel efficiency and electric motor
 One tenth the pollution of conventional gasoline cars
 Cons
– Still dependent on natural gas and create carbon
emissions
– Only good for stop and go traffic

57. Hybrid Vehicles
 Only good for stop and go traffic, however:
– 80% of driving is on interstate
– Battery weighs approximately 600 lbs
– Scenario: You’ve been driving on the interstate
and your still three hundred miles from home
when your 600 lbs battery dies. What happens?
 Decrease in fuel economy
 Ultimately increases emissions

58. Hydrogen Vehicles
 Two Methods:
– In combustion, the
hydrogen is burned in
engines in fundamentally
the same method as
traditional gasoline cars.
– In fuel-cell conversion,
the hydrogen is reacted
with oxygen to produce
water and electricity, the
latter of which is used to
power an electric traction
motor.

59. Hydrogen Vehicles
 The only emission from the vehicle itself is water
 However, refining hydrogen requires energy from fossil fuels
 Emissions source is merely transferred from the vehicles to the
smoke stack

60. Energy Content

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