1 Introduction

1.1  ENERGY AND SOCIETY

Industrialized societies run on energy, a tautological statement in the sense that it
is obvious. Population, gross domestic product (GDP), consumption and production
of energy, and production of pollution for every country in the world are interre-
lated. The United States has less than 5% of the world population; however, in the
world, the United States generates around 22% of the gross production and 16% of
the ­carbon dioxide emissions and is at 18% for energy consumption (Figure  1.1).
Notice that the countries listed in Figure 1.1 consume around 70% of the energy and
produce around 70% of the world GDP and carbon dioxide emissions. The developed
countries consume the most energy and produce the most pollution, primarily due to
the increase in the amount of energy per person. On a per person basis, the United
States is considered the worst for energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission.
The energy consumption in the United States increased from 34  exajoules
(32 quads) in 1950 to a peak of 107 EJ (101 quads) in 2007, and because of the reces-
sion and more efficient use, consumption was 102  EJ (97  quads) in 2013. The oil
crisis of 1973 showed that efficiency is a major component in gross national product
and the use of energy. However, you must remember that correlation between GDP
and energy consumption does not mean cause and effect.
It is enlightening to consider how the United States has changed in terms of
energy use since World War II. Ask your grandparents about their lives in the 1950s
and then compare the following with today:

Residential: Space heating and cooling, number of lights, and amount of space
per person
Transportation: Number and types of vehicles in the family
Commercial: Space heating and cooling for buildings and lights
Industrial: Efficiency

A thought on energy and GDP: A solar clothes drying (a clothes line) does not add
to the GDP, but every electric and gas dryer contributes; however, they both do
the same function. We may need to think in terms of results and efficient ways to
accomplish a function or process and the actual life-cycle cost. Why do we need
heavy cars or sport utility vehicles with big motors that accelerate rapidly to trans-
port people?
Now the underdeveloped part of the world, primarily the two largest countries
in terms of population (China 1.3 * 109 and India 1.1 * 109), is beginning to emu-
late the developed countries in terms of consumption of energy, consumption of
material resources, and greenhouse gas emissions. One dilemma in the develop-
ing world is that a large number of villages and others in rural areas do not have
electricity.
1
2 Introduction to Renewable Energy

Population GDP Energy CO2 emissions

30

25

20
Percent, world

15

10

0
China India Europe United States Brazil Russia Japan

FIGURE 1.1  Comparisons, percent of world, for population (rank in world), gross domestic
product, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emission.

1.2  TYPES OF ENERGY

There are many different types of energy. Kinetic energy is energy available in
the motion of particles, for example, wind or moving water. Potential energy is the
energy available because of the position between particles, for example, water stored
in a dam, the energy in a coiled spring, and energy stored in molecules (gasoline).
There are many examples of energy: mechanical, electrical, thermal (heat), chemi-
cal, magnetic, nuclear, biological, tidal, geothermal, and so on.
In reality there are only four generalized interactions (forces between particles)
in the universe: nuclear, electromagnetic, weak, and gravitational [1]. In other words
all the different types of energy in the universe can be traced back to one of these
four interactions (Table 1.1). This interaction or force is transmitted by an exchange
particle. The exchange particles for electromagnetic and gravitational interactions
have zero rest mass and so the transfer of energy and information is at speed of

TABLE 1.1
Information for Generalized Interactions
Interaction Particle Strength Range (m) Exchange Particle
Nuclear (strong) Quarks 1 10−15 Gluons
Electromagnetic Charge 10−2 Infinite Photon
Weak Leptons 10−6 10−18 Weakonsa
Gravitational Mass 10−39 Infinite Graviton

a My name for exchange particles (intermediate vector bosons).

Introduction 3

light, 3  *  108  m/s (186,000  miles/s). Even though the gravitational interaction is
very, very, very weak, it is noticeable when there are large masses. The four interac-
tions are a great example of how a scientific principle covers an immense amount of
phenomena.
The source of solar energy is the nuclear interactions at the core of the Sun, where
the energy comes from the conversion of hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei. This
energy is primarily transmitted to the Earth by electromagnetic waves, which can also
be represented by particles (photons). In this course we will be dealing primarily with
the electromagnetic interaction, although hydro and tides are energy due to the gravi-
tational interaction and geothermal energy is due to gravitational and nuclear decay.
We will use exponents to indicate large and small numbers. The exponent indi-
cates how many times the number is multiplied by itself, or how many places the
decimal point needs to be moved. Powers of 10 will be very useful in order of mag-
nitude problems, which are rough estimates.

10 3 = 10 * 10 * 10  =  1000

1
10 − 3 = = 0.001
10 3
Note there is a discrepancy between the use of billions in the United States (109) and
England (1012). If there is a doubt, we will use exponents or the following notation
for prefixes.

Factor Name Symbol Factor Name Symbol

10−12 pico p 103 kilo k
10−9 nano n 106 mega M
10−6 micro μ 109 giga G
10−3 milli m 1012 tera T
1015 peta P
1018 exa E

1 quad = 1.055 exajoules

1.3  RENEWABLE ENERGY

Solar energy is referred to as renewable and/or sustainable energy because it will
be available as long as the Sun continues to shine. Estimates for the remaining life
of the main stage of the Sun are another 4 to 5 billion years. The energy from the
Sun, electromagnetic radiation, is referred to as insolation or solar energy. The other
renewable energies are wind, bioenergy, geothermal, hydro, tides, and waves. Wind
energy is derived from the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface due to more heat
input at the equator with the accompanying transfer of water and thermal energy by
evaporation and precipitation. In this sense, rivers and dams for hydro energy are
stored solar energy. The third major aspect of solar energy is the conversion of solar
4 Introduction to Renewable Energy

energy into biomass by photosynthesis. Animal products such as oil from fat and
biogas from manure are derived from solar energy. Geothermal energy is due to heat
from the Earth from decay of radioactive particles and residual heat from gravitation
during formation of the Earth. Volcanoes are fiery examples of geothermal energy
reaching the surface from the interior, which is hotter than the surface. Tidal energy
is primarily due to the gravitational interaction of Earth and Moon.
Overall, 14% of the world’s energy comes from bioenergy, primarily wood and
charcoal, but also crop residue and even animal dung for cooking and some h­ eating.
This contributes to deforestation and the loss of topsoil in developing countries.
Production of ethanol from biomass is now a contributor to liquid fuels for transpor-
tation, especially in Brazil and the United States.
In contrast, fossil fuels are stored solar energy from past geological ages. Even
though the quantities of oil, natural gas, and coal are large, they are finite and for the
long term of hundreds of years, they are not sustainable.

1.4 ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES
The advantages of renewable energy are sustainable (non-depletable), ubiquitous
(found everywhere across the world in contrast to fossil fuels and minerals), and
essentially non-polluting. Note that wind turbines and photovoltaic panels do not
need water for the generation of electricity, in contrast to steam plants fired by fossil
fuels and nuclear power.
The disadvantages of renewable energy are variability and low density, which in
general results in higher initial cost. For different forms of renewable energy, other
disadvantages or perceived problems are visual pollution, odor from biomass, avian
and bat mortality with wind turbines, and brine from geothermal. Wherever a large
renewable facility is to be located, there will be perceived and real problems to the
local people. For conventional power plants using fossil fuels, for nuclear energy, and
even for renewable energy, there is the problem of not in my backyard.

1.5 ECONOMICS
Business entities always couch their concerns in terms of economics (money).
We cannot have a clean environment because it is uneconomical. Renewable energy
is not economical in comparison to coal, oil, and natural gas. We must be allowed to
continue our operations as in the past, because if we have to install new equipment to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we cannot compete with other energy sources, and
finally, we will have to reduce employment, and jobs will go overseas.
The different types of economics to consider are pecuniary, social, and physical.
Pecuniary is what everybody thinks of as economics, money. On that note, we
should be looking at life-cycle costs, rather than our ordinary way of doing business,
low initial costs. Life-cycle costs refer to all costs over the lifetime of the system.
Social economics are those borne by everybody and many businesses want their
environmental costs to be paid by the general public. A good example is the use of
coal in China, as they have laws (social) for clean air, but they are not enforced. The
cost will be paid in the future in terms of health problems, especially for the children
Introduction 5

today. If environmental problem(s) affect(s) someone else today or in the future, who
pays? The estimates of the pollution costs for the generation of electricity by coal is
$0.005 for 0.10/kWh.
Physical economics is the energy cost and the efficiency of the process. There
are fundamental limitations in nature due to physical laws. Energetics, which is the
energy input versus energy in the final product for any source, should be positive. For
example production of ethanol from irrigated corn has close to zero energetics. So,
physical economics is the final arbitrator in energy production and consumption. In
the end, Mother Nature always wins or the corollary, pay now or probably pay more
in the future.
Finally, we should look at incentives and penalties for the energy entities. What
each entity wants are subsidies for themselves and penalties for their competitors.
Penalties come in the form of taxes, environmental, and other regulations, while
incentives come in the form of subsidies, break on taxes, do not have to pay social
costs on the product, and the government pays for research and development. How
much should we subsidize businesses for exporting overseas? It is estimated that we
use energy sources in direct proportion to the incentives that source has received in
the past. There are many examples of incentives and penalties for all types of energy
production and use.

1.6  CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change, which previously was referred to as global warming, is a good
­example that physical phenomena do not react to political or economic statements.
Global warming is primarily due to human activity. “Global atmospheric concentra-
tions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a
result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values deter-
mined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years.... The global increases in
carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land use change,
while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to a­griculture”  [2].
Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Figure 1.2) are projected to dou-
ble with future energy use based on today’s trend [3,4].
The Kyoto Protocol of 1996 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions became effective
in 2005 as Russia became the 55th country to ratify the agreement. The goal was for
the participants collectively to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% below
the emission levels of 1990 by 2012. While the 5.2% figure was a collective one, indi-
vidual countries were assigned higher or lower targets and some countries were per-
mitted increases. For example, the United States was expected to reduce emissions
by 7%. However, this did not happen, as the United States did not ratify the treaty
because the perceived economic costs would be too large and there were not enough
provisions for developing countries, especially China, to reduce future emissions.
Note that for the past few years, U.S. emission of carbon dioxide has decreased due
to increased use of natural gas and increase in wind and solar power for the produc-
tion of electricity, and because of less economic activity due to recession of 2008.
If participant countries continue with emissions above the targets, then they are
required to engage in emissions trading. Notably, participating countries in Europe are
6 Introduction to Renewable Energy

800

700

Carbon dioxide (ppm)

600

500

400

300

200
1750 1850 1950 2050

FIGURE 1.2  Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and projected growth with no emission
reductions.

using different methods for carbon dioxide trading, including wind farms and planting
forests in other countries. Carbon dioxide emissions will still increase, even if nations
reduce their emissions to 1990 levels, because of population growth and increase in
energy use in the underdeveloped world. As the Arctic thaws, then methane, a more
potent greenhouse gas than CO2, would further increase global warming [5].
Increased temperatures and the effect on weather and sea level rise are the major
consequences. Overall, the increased temperature will have negative effects com-
pared to the climate of 1900–2000. By 2100, sea levels are projected to increase by
0.2 to 1 m, with an increase of 2 m unlikely, but physically possible. With positive
feedback due to less sea ice and continued increase in carbon dioxide emissions, the
melting of the Greenland ice sheets would increase the sea level by over 7 m and the West
Antarctic Ice Sheet would add another 5 m. The large cities near the oceans will have
to be relocated or build massive infrastructures to keep out the ocean. Who will pay
for this, national or local governments?

1.7  ORDER OF MAGNITUDE ESTIMATES

In terms of energy consumption, production, supply and demand, and design for
heating and cooling, estimates are needed and an order of magnitude estimate will
suffice. By order of magnitude, we mean an answer to within a power of 10.

Example

How many seconds in a year. With a calculator, it is easy to determine

365 days * 24 h/day * 60 min/h * 60 s/h = 31,536,000

When you round to one significant digit, this becomes 3 * 107 s.

For an order of magnitude estimate for the above multiplication, round each
number with a power of 10, then multiply numbers and add the powers of 10
Introduction 7

4 * 10 2*2* 101*6* 101*6*101 = 4*2*6*6*105

= 288*105 = 3*10 2*105 = 3*107 s

1.8  GROWTH (EXPONENTIAL)

Our energy dilemma can be analyzed in terms of fundamental principles. It is a
physical impossibility to have exponential growth of any product or exponential con-
sumption of any physical resource in a finite system. As an example, suppose Mary
started employment with $1/year; however, her salary is doubled every year, a 100%
increase (Table 1.2, Figure 1.3). Notice that after 30 years, her salary is one billion
dollars. Also notice that for any year, the amount needed for the next period is equal
to the total sum for all the previous periods plus one. The mathematics of exponential
growth is given in Appendix I.

TABLE 1.2
Exponential Growth with a Doubling Time of 1 Year
Year Salary ($) Amount = 2t Cumulative ($)
0 1 20 1
1 2 21 3
2 4 22 7
3 8 23 15
4 16 24 31
5 32 25 63
t 2t 2t+1 − 1
30 1 * 109 230 231 − 1

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000
Amount

15,000

10,000

5,000

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Year

FIGURE 1.3  Salary with a doubling time of 1 year to show exponential growth.
8 Introduction to Renewable Energy

Another useful idea is doubling time, T2, for exponential growth, which can be
calculated by
69
T2 = (1.1)
R
where:
R is the % growth per unit time

Doubling times for some different year rates are given in Table 1.3.
There are numerous historical examples of growth: population, 2%–3%/year;
gasoline consumption, 3%/year; world production of oil, 5%–7%/year; and electri-
cal consumption, 7%/year. If we plot the value per year for smaller rates of growth
(Figure 1.4), the curve would be the same as Figure 1.3, only the timescale along

TABLE 1.3
Doubling Times for Different Rates of Growth
Growth (%/year) Doubling Time Years
1 69
2 35
3 23
4 18
5 14
6 12
7 10
8 8
9 8
10 7
15 5

10

8
Population (109)

0
0 1000 2000
Year

FIGURE 1.4  World population showing exponential growth.

Introduction 9

10

Population (109)
6

0
1900 1950 2000 2050
Year

FIGURE 1.5  World population with projection to 2050 under median variant.

the bottom would be different. The United Nations projects over 9  billion people
(Figure 1.5) by 2050 [6], with the assumption that the growth rate will decrease from
1.18% in 2008 to 0.34% in 2050.
However, even with different rates of growth, the final result is still the same.
When consumption grows exponentially, enormous resources do not last very long.
This is the fundamental flaw in terms of ordinary economics ($) and announc-
ing growth in terms of percentages. How long do they want those growth rates to
continue? Nobody wants to discuss how much is enough. The theme since President
Reagan is that all we need is economic development and the world’s problems will
be solved. However, the global economic crisis of 2008 and environmental problems
have made some economists have second thoughts on continued growth. Now there
are lots of books on the problems of fossil fuels, other resources such as minerals and
water and environmental effects.

1.9 SOLUTIONS
We do not have an energy crisis, since you will learn energy cannot be created nor be
destroyed. We have an energy dilemma because of the finite amount of readily avail-
able fossil fuels, which are our main energy source today. The problem is twofold,
over population and over consumption. Population is 7.3 * 109  in 2015 and is grow-
ing toward 9 * 109  and maybe even larger, and developing countries want the same
standard of living as developed countries. The world population is so large that we are
doing an uncontrolled experiment on the Earth’s environment. However, the developed
countries were also major contributors to this uncontrolled experiment in terms of con-
sumption and now increased consumption in China and India is adding to the problem.
The solution depends on world, national, and local policies and what policies
do we implement and even individual actions. In our opinion, it is obvious what
needs to be done for the world: reduce consumption, zero population growth, shift
10 Introduction to Renewable Energy

to renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce environmental pollu-

tion, and reduce military expenditures. What do you do as an individual? We have
done things in the past to save energy and have future plans. What are yours?

REFERENCES
1. Interactions. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/forces/funfor.html.
2. IPCC. 2007. Summary for policymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical
Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning,
Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor, and H.L. Miller (eds.). Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
3. Technical Support Document. April 17, 2009. Endangerment and cause or contribute
findings for greenhouse gasses under section 202(a) of the clean air act. http://epa.gov/
climatechange/endangerment/downloads/TSD_Endangerment.pdf.
4. US Climate Change Science Program. July 2007. Scenarios of greenhouse gas emis-
sions and atmospheric concentrations; and review of integrated scenario development
and application. Final Report. www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap2-1/finalreport/
sap2-1a-final-technical-summary.pdf.
5. S. Simpson. 2009. The peril below the ice. Sci Am, Earth 3.0, Vol 18, # 2, p 30.
6. United Nations. 2008. World population prospects, the 2008 revision, highlights. www.
un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/wpp2008_highlights.pdf.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
General References
T. Flannery. 2006. The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What it
Means for Life on Earth. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York.
J. Gustave Speth. 2005. Red Sky at Morning. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
R. Heinberg. 2004. The Party’s Over. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, Canada.
J. Howard Kunstler. 2005. The Long Emergency. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York.
M. T. Klare. 2001. Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict. Metropolitan
Books, New York.
M. T. Klare. 2009. Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet. Metropolitan Books, New York.
E. Kolbert. 2006. Field Notes from a Catastrophe, Man, Nature, and Climate Change.
Bloomsbury, New York.
J. Lovelock. 2006. The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity.
Perseus Book Group, New York.
W. Youngquist. 1997. Geodestinies: The Inevitable Control of Earth Resources over Nations
and Individuals. National Book, Portland, OR.

Links
Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. www.eia.doe.gov. This site
contains a lot of information on U.S. and international energy resources and production.
International energy outlook. http://www.eia.doe.gov/iea/. Data files can be downloaded,
PDFs and spreadsheets.
United Nations: Information on population and projections on population. www.un.org/esa/
population/unpop.htm.
U.S. Census; U.S., world population clocks. www.census.gov.
Introduction 11

Global Warming
Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States Report. June 2009. www.globalchange.
gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. www.ipcc.ch.
Union of Concerned Scientists, Global Warming. www.ucsusa.org/global_warming.
United States Global Change Research Program. www.globalchange.gov.

PROBLEMS
1.1. What was the population of the world in 1950, 2000, this year, and pro-
jected for 2050?
1.2. What was the population of your country in 1950, 2000, this year, and
projected for 2050?
1.3. List two advantages of renewable energy.
1.4. List two disadvantages of renewable energy.
1.5. Besides large hydro, what are the two most important renewable energy
sources for your country?
1.6. For a sustainable society in your country, what would be the two most
important policy issues?
1.7. What are the largest two sources for carbon dioxide emissions?
1.8. Besides the United States, what country consumes the most energy?
1.9. What country emits the most carbon dioxide?
1.10. The size of the European Union has increased over the years. Estimate
the percentage increase in GDP and energy consumption by the addition of
these new blocks of countries.
1.11. When is gravity considered a source for renewable energy?
1.12. Global warming is primarily due to what factor?
1.13. What is the predicted amount of carbon dioxide, ppm, in the atmosphere
for 2050?
1.14. What two nations emit the most carbon dioxide per year (Figure  1.1)?
What percent is that of the world total?
1.15. What percent of the world total of carbon dioxide emission per year is due
to combustion of coal, combustion of oil, and combustion of natural gas?
1.16. What is your carbon footprint? Calculators are available on the Internet,
for example, www.carbonify.com/carbon-calculator.htm or www.carbon-
footprint.com/calculator1.html.
1.17. Under the Kyoto Protocol, list three  participating countries and their
emission levels of carbon dioxide (latest year available) compared with
their levels of 1990. Remember the target levels are below 1990 levels.
1.18. The local business people want the city to grow. What rate do they want,
%/year? What is the doubling time?
1.19. Suppose world population grows at 0.5% per year, what is the doubling
time? After that period of time, what is the projected world population?