1 / 43

Green and Renewable Energy An Embarrassment of Riches

Green and Renewable Energy An Embarrassment of Riches. Dennis M. Bushnell Chief Scientist NASA Langley Research Center. Current Worldwide Energy Usage. Petroleum - 140 Exojoules Natural Gas - 85 Coal - 90 Biomass - 55 [ Potential to 4,000+ ] Nuclear Fission - 28 Hydroelectric - 9

dory
Download Presentation

Green and Renewable Energy An Embarrassment of Riches

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Green and Renewable EnergyAn Embarrassment of Riches Dennis M. Bushnell Chief Scientist NASA Langley Research Center

  2. Current Worldwide Energy Usage • Petroleum - 140 Exojoules • Natural Gas - 85 • Coal - 90 • Biomass - 55 [ Potential to 4,000+ ] • Nuclear Fission - 28 • Hydroelectric - 9 • Geothermal - 2 [ potential to 5,000 ] • Solar - .2 [ Potential to 4,000+] • Others [Wind, etc.] - ~7 [Potential to ~2,000]

  3. Sampling - Biomass Utilization Archipelago • Transportation/Liquid Fuels [Distill/Refine it] - Direct Petroleum Replacement • Direct Heat Generation [Burn it] -Electrical Base Load • Food/ Fodder • “Petro-Chemical Feed-Stock [Plastics etc.] • Direct H2 Production [ Genomic Biologics] • On Site Micro-Power/Co-[electricity] Generation [ Bio reactors on back porch, sewage, kitchen scraps, yard waste]

  4. The 4 flavors of Biomass • Glycophytes, fresh water plants, limited capacity due to Fresh water, arable land issues • Halophytes, salt plants, saline water and wastelands, net CO2 sequestration in roots, massive capacity, agriculture • Cyanobacteria, aquaculture, massive capacity • Algae, aquaculture, a bit expensive thus far

  5. From Bioengineering….. • Engineered cyanobacteria which utilize CO2, sunlight and waste water to produce [ projected] 20,000 gals of fuel/ acre-year, with Economics competitive with Petroleum at some $50/bbl. [ Petroleum now over $90/bbl] • “Joule Biotechnologies” , Nascent Technology, A potential MAJOR transportation fuels breakthrough.

  6. Halophyte [Salt-Plant] Utilization [Per Yensen] • Patents issued for Halophyte Crop[s] [Genetics,Genomics] • 10,000+ “Natural” Halophyte Plants,250 of these are potential “Staple” crops • Huge areas worldwide are already salt-affected [1 B Hectares] and another Billion Hectares overlie Saline Aquifers. • Over 100 halophyte plants now in “trials” for “Commercial” applications • 25% plus of irrigated lands salt affected

  7. Advantages of Seawater AG • 97% of all water is seawater,will not “Run Out”, 44% of land is “Wastelands” • Seawater Contains: • - wide variety of important minerals needed in the human diet • - ~ 80% of Nutrients required for Agriculture [need to add,Phosphorus and Iron, Nitrogen now available from the air [ Univ. of Nottingham]] • In proximity to a number of Dry/Desert Areas

  8. For centuries, on the Indian Subcontinent, there has been a very successful Saline/ Brackish water Agriculture for Food and Fodder. Halophyte farming has been conducted for many years without noticeable salt buildup….

  9. Just a goodly portion of the Sahara capable of providing [ using halophytes, seawater Irrig.] sufficient Biomass to replace ALL of the Fossil Carbon, provide petrochemical feedstock and requisite food whilst returning some of the 68% of the fresh water now used for Conventional Agric. to direct human use.Overall – “Solves” land, water, food, energy & Climate…

  10. Green Energetic Sources - Part 1, the ‘Usual” • Surface Geothermal • Silicon PV [with concentrators] • Corn and Cellulose Arable Land /sweet water Biomass/Fuels • Solar Thermal [with concentrators, up to 60,000 “suns”] • Fission Nuc • Terrestrial/offshore Windmills • Hydro • Waves • Ocean Thermal • Photo-Catalytic Solar Electrolysis of H2O for H2 • ‘Waste” Biomass [ Trash, sewage [human/animal,…]]

  11. Green Energetic Sources - Part 2, The “Unusual” • Drilled, Hot Rock Geothermal • Halophytes and Algae/cyano Bacteria biomass • Plastic Nano PV [ < 30 cents/watt] • Tidal Currents • Genomic Biologic H2 Prod. • Artificial Photosyn. For H2 Prod., Atmos. Solar/Bio CO2 reprocessing into CO/Fuel[s] • LENR’s • Horizontal OTEC, heat exchangers in the Gulf Stream [2X grid load] • Jet Stream Windmills, high altitude wind [2X grid load] • Space Solar Reflectors, Combined solar PV and thermal, Broad spectrum PV

  12. Conservation - Part 1, the “Usual” • Diesel IC Engines [+ 20% effic., + 15% energy density] • Light Diodes/LED’s • Fuel Cells [ > carnot thermo efficiency] • Waste Heat Recovery [ Thermal electrics, thermo cycles] • Insulation • Landscaping [Berms, passive solar, windbreaks,….] • Engineering “Redesign” • “Behavior Changes [ Walking, Sweaters, Etc…]

  13. Conservation - Part 2, The “Unusual” • CNT Computing & Elect. Loss Reductions • Tele-Travel, Tele-Everything • 30% plus Thermal-Electrics [serious waste heat recovery incl. power plants and parking lots] • CNT/BNNT enabled weight reductions [ Factors of 3 to 5], huge vehicle energy impacts • Room Temp. S-C • Pyro-electrics [ heat-to-electrical via temporal gradients]

  14. Energy Storage - Part 1, The “Usual” • Thermal storage utilized for electricity via T-PV, thermal electrics and Sterling Engines • Ultra Capacitors • Batteries • Flywheels • Pumped H2O • High Press. Gas [ incl. underground] • Water/H2, other Chem. Reactions • Ice Hills, other phase change • SMES • [Biomass derived] Hydrocarbon fuels

  15. Energy Storage - Part 2, The “Unusual” • SMES with CNT Magnets [20X Chem.] • Metal [ e.g. Zinc, Al] H2 “storage” [ add H2O] • Positrons stored as Positronium • Nano Casimir Force-Engineered H2 Storage • Thermal accessed via low temperature high efficiency T-E, pyro-electrics, T-PV, “Seasonal Energy Storage” • Zeolite Pellets, 4X water heat storage • Metal Air Batteries, Vanadium “flow batteries” • Graphene ultra capacitors

  16. Energy Transmission - The Unusual • High Voltage DC Transmission Lines [ ~ half the losses of AC] • S-C Transmission Lines • Energy Beaming, Freespace Laser/ MW , metamaterials or Soliton Waves to reduce beam spreading…….. • Chinese “Super Tubes” [ superconducting heat pipes]

  17. LENR [Low Energy Nuclear Reactions] • Originally dubbed “Cold Fusion”, an experimental discovery with replication issues and no acceptable theory • Now, 25 years of world-wide data collection/experiments indicate is “real” • Now, a viable Theory [ Widom/Larsen] • Not “Hot Fusion”, is electroweak interactions explicable via the “Standard Model” of Quantum Theory on Surfaces/ Collective Effects • Theory being used to increase heat “quality” and practicality, no radioactivity safety issues • Economics/Utility TBD…..

  18. Potential LENR Applications • Heat/ Energy, especially Distributed energy, potentially massive and inexpensive capacity • Transmutations, rare earth production? • Converting C to Fe for climate • Cleanup of nuclear waste • Shielding via heavy electrons • Energy rich Aerospace, Mars exploration far sooner and less expensive

  19. Drilled Geothermal • Excellent MIT Study • Usual Geothermal uses near-surface sources, limited in capacity/coverage • For some 50% of many large land masses, if drill down 2 Km get 200+ degree C rock, 5 Km produces 300+ degree C rock. • Drilling capability is some 10 Km • Drill 2 somewhat adjacent holes, fracture rock in-between. Force 3,000 psi water down one hole and utilize the resultant Steam ejected from the other • 24/7 365 base load

  20. Carbon Sequestration • Spread Iron rich dust on Oceans to induce massive Algae blooms, ~ 33% sequestration/ ocean bottom] • Biomass processing via pyrolysis to form “Charcoal”, bury to enrich soils • Capture/Separate/Bury [Expensive, “Leakage etc. TBD…..] • Genomic Biologics OR….. • Bio LENR Transmutation of Carbon into other elements [ e.g. Iron - Larsen and Widom]

  21. Space Solar Power Issues…. - Of interest due to 24/7 Base load & 8X higher solar intensity attributes • Economics - Cost[s] of Space Access [ ~ order of magnitude too large], higher cost [ rad hard] PV, Maintenance costs, • Potential Energy Beam/Lobes effect[s] upon Biota health, requires definitive studies [U.S. vs. Russian Exposure limits] • Launch vehicle efflux effects [MANY launches] • Potential storage solutions exist for competitive/competitor terrestrial solar utilization as base load • 1% [ of SSP MLEO] Orbital solar reflectors a very interesting “halfway house”

  22. Global Warming “Solutions” • Green Energy ,Conservation • Mega /Geo Engineering Solution Spaces • Genomic Biologics w/greatly increased CO2 Uptake • Trigger/Engineer Calderas [Nascent Volcanoes],Put massive amounts of dust in the Atmosphere • Nano-Particulates spread on the monolayer of surfactant on the Oceans’ Surface to alter Albedo, White roofs/Concrete highways • Gigantic reflective films/membranes in orbit • Seed Oceans with iron to provoke/enable Phytoplankton Blooms , Add Calcium Hydroxide to increase CO2 uptake, add CO2 to oceans to form cement

  23. First-Order Impacts of Nano upon Energetics[Improved Performance/Cost & Requirement Reductions] • Fuel Cells, Thermal-Electrics • Photovoltaics, Artificial Photo-Synthesis • H2 Storage [Casimir Forces?] • Ultracapacitors • Batteries, Room Temperature S-C • Structural dry weight reductions [1/3rd-1/8th]

  24. [An] Outlook for H2 • Green H2 is [ eventually] doable • H2 Infrastructure would take too long to put in place [ compared to warming/petroleum problem[s] time scales] and is exceedingly expensive • Hydrogen Storage is still nascent, Nano Tech including Casimir Force Engineering could “help” • Fuel Cells cost too much/weigh too much… - Bottom Line[s]……Biofuel[s] [ using existing infrastructures] are/will be the Green transportation fuel of choice.

  25. Biofuel Characteristics • As good as, or better, than Petroleum Fuels in terms of “application metrics” including Heating Value • Price will be below Petroleum • Bio Feed Stock will be Cellulosic [ some],Halophytes [ More] and Algae/bacteria [ Most]. Far more than Sufficient saline water-based Feed Stock Possibilities to replace Petroleum without “Taking down” food Production and using up fresh water • Scalable/Inexpensive Bioreactors

  26. The Cost Story • ~ half of new generation is renewable • Coal, 10-14 cents/KWH, Nat Gas 7 to 13 • Wind – 9 to 22 cents/KWH [6] • Solar Thermal – 26 cents/KWH [5 to 12] • Solar PV – 14 cents/KWH [20] • Biomass Elec. 11 cents/KWH [4-10] • Drilled Geothermal - 9 cents/KWH [MIT] [4] • Biofuels - $2.70/Gal; [ $1.00 by 2020]

  27. PLUS - All the conservation approaches across the board[Conservation could cut U.S. Greenhouse Gases by some 30%]

  28. The “Opportunity” – U.S. Per Capita Energy usage is TWICE OECD countries and TRIPLE the world average,137th in the world in Energy Efficiency at a time when we are 13th in the world in terms of Quality of Life Index, we are OBVIOUSLY not “energy competitive”, are extremely Profligate wrt energy

  29. Example IT Impacts – Teleshopping vs. “Physical Shopping” • Overall, Negative environmental impacts of Physical Shopping are 50 times that of teleshopping • Physical shopping requires/ produces 15 times the carbon emissions • - Per study by “MindClick GSM”, a Sustainability Consulting Firm

  30. IT/ Tele-Everything Trends • Tele-Travel, U.S. is past “Peak Car”, numbers of miles driven per capita going down, far less shorter range airline travel • One third of U.S. workforce tele-commuting • Tele Education further reducing road travel/ usage • “Printing”/Local Tele-Manufacturing reducing Cargo transportation

  31. Can purchase, now, both designs for and manifestations of what are termed “off-grid”, “autonomous” or “self-sufficient” homes[ Energy, water, waste,food] - no longer a “fringe”arena

  32. “Conventional Nuc Fission Fuel Cycle Waste a Serious ”Problem” [near term waste storage approach is casks on an open parking lot at an Indian Reservation……],some estimates indicate [once through] fission Nuc fuel “runs out” in the 2020’s [ Breeders,Thorium, Mox Fuel, closed cycles would provide very considerable “Extension”]

  33. Some Major Trend[s] • Distributed Generation vice expensive/central energy sources/processing [ reduced cost[s] and transmission losses] via Biomass [grass clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps, sewage, waste water], Solar Thermal [active, passive] and Solar PV, LENR, Thermoelectric, electrostatic and Piezoelectric [incl. rain] “Harvesting”, Wind, Exercise Bikes ,Heat Pumps [ air,ground], Evaporative Coolers, storage writ large incl. solar H2 • Major Reductions in Energy Utilization [ Tele-Everything/”Virtual Age” [ tele shopping, travel, commuting, etc.], Conservation, CNT weight and Elec. Loss reductions,Etc…]

  34. Current Distributed Energy Generation Percentage Utilization • Denmark - 52% • Netherlands - 39% • Finland - 37% • Russia - 31% • Germany - 18% • Japan - 16% • China - 15%

  35. Emerging Solar PV……. • < 1 month energy payback vice 3 years • 3rd Gen PV cost projected to $300/KW • Thin Film Approaches • Efficiencies [ theoretical] to some 75+% • Distributed Roof Applications OR the highway system estimated to co-generate up to 75% of the Power on the Grid

  36. The land required for a solar plant in the Southwest is, to first order, less than that for coal plant if one includes the land area required for coal mining

  37. An Example of current Ideation - Concepts for Energy Generation from Highways • Piezoelectrics in roadbed, from vehicle passage • P-V in roadbed, From highways as “available” cleared “land”, major perspective capacity • Solar Chimneys/solar thermal, from roadbed solar heating,subsurface heated air channels with turbines in heated air exhaust chimneys

  38. Commentary…….. • The Technologies and Practices of the Industrial age are responsible for Climate Change/Warming • The technologies of the IT/Bio/Nano Age are capable of “fixing” Warming [ via both Green Energy and Conservation] in the nearer future given reasonable Research Support • Many/Most of these fixes are “Scalable” to the granularity of the Individual, The “PC vice the “Mainframe” version of Energetics

  39. Synopsis – Green Energetics Going Forward • Conservation, ~ 30% Demand Reduction • Over half of new production is Green, 100% green Prod. by 2050 now considered doable [geothermal, solar PV/thermal, wind, hydro, biomass, ] • Distributed Generation writ large major trend • MANY NEW Sources with Massive capacity [ halophytes, high altitude wind, horizontal OTEC, LENR, Cyanobacteria]

  40. Bottom Lines…… • There is a Plethora of “Green” Energetics and Conservation Approaches • Given enhanced Research Support there is every reason to believe we can, expeditiously, convert to “Carbon Neutral” • There are Alternative/Mega Engineering “Solutions” to Warming if “we” decide not to do/do enough of Green Energy/Conservation • The major impediment to “green” progress is not technology, it is “Culture” [ sunk costs/present investments, resistance[s] to change,etc..] and some residual economics

  41. Major ‘Upsides”……….. • Working this “Common Enemy” is/will [combined with the emerging IT revolution-enabled superb global comms/presence] “bring together” the Human Societies [ AKA Nations and Peoples] of the entire Planet in a wholly new way with immense potential benefits going forward in terms of Geopolitics,Geoeconomics, Geosecurity, and global consilience in-the-large [Planet-scale E Pluribus Unum] • Forces serious Foresight,a Strategic Thinking Mindset vice the current/historical Tactical approach[es], decades-to-centuries considerations vice months-to-years……..

  42. “Afterward”……. • Warming and Energetics will increasingly subsume and change your professional, personal, economic and political lives. [might want to relook at the dystopian films “Soylent Green” and “Bladerunner” - AKA “Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?”].Warming and energetics are becoming Serious-to-Existential. • With the positive feedback loops engaging [ another decade or so and there may be no “stopping it”] we are looking at, by 2100, a 6 to 12 degrees C Temp. rise and becoming “ice free”, with an eventual 70M+ ocean rise, from Ocean Circulation changes - anoxic bacteria hydrogen sulfide releases which decimate the ozone layer and poison atmosphere/populations with catastrophic impacts upon economics and species extinction. • The inertia and tactical nature of the worlds’ political and economic systems may not allow us to change fast enough to head this off

More Related