MEE 401 – Energy Systems

Module 1
Introducing Energy Systems & Sustainability

W. Habchi
 Outline

• What is a Sustainable Energy System?

• Why Sustainable Energy Matters?
• The Current Global Energy System
• Environmental Aspects of Energy Systems
• Socio-Political Aspects of Energy Systems
• Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 1

 Outline

• What is a Sustainable Energy System?

• Why Sustainable Energy Matters?
• The Current Global Energy System
• Environmental Aspects of Energy Systems
• Socio-Political Aspects of Energy Systems
• Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 2

 What Is a Sustainable Energy
System?

Sustainability (as defined by the 1987 UN report “Our Common Future”):

“Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their needs.”
In the context of Energy, Sustainability has come to mean the harnessing of those energy
sources that fulfill three requirements:
1. They are not significantly depleted by continued use
2. They do not entail the emission of pollutants or other hazards to human or ecological
and climate systems on a significant scale
3. They do not involve the perpetuation of significant social injustices

Three dimensions of sustainable development:

• Economic Sustainability
• Environmental Sustainability
• Social Sustainability

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 3

 Outline

• What is a Sustainable Energy System?

• Why Sustainable Energy Matters?
• The Current Global Energy System
• Environmental Aspects of Energy Systems
• Socio-Political Aspects of Energy Systems
• Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 4

 Why Sustainable Energy
Matters?
Sustainable energy is a topic of great political, social, economic and environmental interest for
three key reasons:
1. Unmet demand:
There is a very large unmet demand in developing countries for commercially traded
forms of energy, and this unmet demand is likely to persist or even increase in the
future
2. Limited supply:
The supply of conventional oil and natural gas (and possibly coal) may be insufficient
to meet future energy demand
3. Environmental constraints:
Our energy options are now severely constrained by the need to reduce the world’s
emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, as part of our efforts to limit
anthropogenic climate change (i.e. that produced by human activities)
• Montreal protocol (1987): Ozone depletion
• Kyoto protocol (1997): Global warming / Climate change
• Copenhagen protocol (2009): Global warming / Climate change

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 5

 Why Sustainable Energy
Matters?
Energy Demand: Energy Supply:

N.B.: 1EJ (Exajoule) 1018 Joules

Economics 101:
• Increase in demand
Overall increase in prices
• Decrease in supply

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 6

 Why Sustainable Energy
Matters?

Worldwide distribution of energy resources and the social injustice

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 7

 Why Sustainable Energy
Matters?
Reserves / Production (R/P) ratios (in years):

Reserves/Production Ratio (R/P): The number of years the reserves would last if use
continued at the current rate (to be used with caution)
W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 8
 Outline

• What is a Sustainable Energy System?

• Why Sustainable Energy Matters?
• The Current Global Energy System
• Environmental Aspects of Energy Systems
• Socio-Political Aspects of Energy Systems
• Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 9

 The Current Global Energy
System

Industrial
Revolution

(Data for 2009)

Gross Domestic Product (GDP):

Total production of the
economic system i.e. the
monetary value of all the goods
and services produced

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 10

 The Current Global Energy
System
Per Capita energy consumption in tons of oil equivalent per year in 2009 for
different regions of the world:

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 11

 The Current Global Energy
System

• Extremely high share of renewables in the early days

• Plants, wood, wind (shipping), water (simple machinery)
• Mechanical power provided by draft animals
• Rise in the shares of fossil fuels (coal, oil, Natural Gas) after the industrial
revolution and the invention of the Internal Combustion Engine
• Rise in the share of nuclear energy towards the end of the 20th century

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 12

 The Current Global Energy
System
Fossil Fuels:
Fossil fuels are composed mainly of Carbon and Hydrogen, which is why they are
called Hydrocarbons (CxHy), and they are extremely attractive as energy sources.
They are highly concentrated, enabling large amounts of energy to be stored and
distributed relatively easily. They are used to provide:
• Mechanical power for manufacturing industries
• Heat for warm buildings and cooked food
• Artificial lighting
• Cooling
• Mechanical power for transportation
• Electric power
Today, in the early part of the 21st century, fossil-fuel based systems reign supreme,
supplying the great majority of the world’s energy.
Nuclear Energy:
Results from the splitting, or fission, of the nuclei of very heavy atoms such as
Uranium and Plutonium. The most attractive feature is the extremely high energy
density (1kg Uranium releases the equivalent energy of 3000 tons of coal):
• First grid-connected nuclear power station in 1956 (UK)
• Accounts today for 5% of world primary energy
• Accounts today for 13% of world electricity (80% in France)
W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 13
 The Current Global Energy
System
Renewable Energy Sources:
Fossil and Nuclear fuels are often called non-renewable energy sources. In contrast, Hydropower,
Bioenergy (from Biofuels), Geothermal, Solar, Wind and Wave power are examples of renewable
energy sources - that is, sources that are continuously replenished by natural processes.

The 3.7 million EJ per year

of solar energy available
for use on Earth is over
8000 times the current rate
of consumption of fossil
and nuclear fuels (around
440 EJ in 2009)

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 14

 Outline

• What is a Sustainable Energy System?

• Why Sustainable Energy Matters?
• The Current Global Energy System
• Environmental Aspects of Energy Systems
• Socio-Political Aspects of Energy Systems
• Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 15

 Environmental Aspects of
Energy Systems

Energy is usually extracted from fossil fuels by combustion:

 y y
C x H y +  x+  O 2  x CO 2 + H 2O
 4 2
Greenhouse Gas

Fuel Type Specific CO2 emissions (g CO2/MJ)

Coal 93
Fuel Oil 78
Natural Gas 57

The Greenhouse effect is a natural process that is desirable for maintaining a suitable
atmospheric temperature for life on earth. However, the excess of this effect leads to
GLOBAL WARMING.
Greenhouse Gases: Ozone, CO2, CH4 …

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 16

 Environmental Aspects of
Energy Systems

69 Units In & 69 Units Out → Atmosphere in thermal equilibrium

Excessive Greenhouse effect disrupts this equilibrium and increases
atmospheric temperature: GLOBAL WARMING
W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 17
 Environmental Aspects of
Energy Systems
• Global Warming is undeniably a man-made
phenomenon:
• Pre-industrial era:
• 280 ppmv CO2
• 750 ppbv CH4
• Post-industrial era:
• 390 ppmv CO2 (in 2010)
• 1790 ppbv CH4 (in 2010)
• Increase in CO2 concentration is responsible for just
over 3 times more global warming than the increase in
CH4 concentration.
• If no measures are adopted to limit CO2 emissions it is
expected to reach 560 ppmv by 2100 leading to an
overall rise in Earth’s surface temperature between 1.1
and 6.4oC:
• Climate Change: intense rainfall, tropical
cyclones, drought…
• Sea Level Rise: danger to low-lying lands
W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 18
 Outline

• What is a Sustainable Energy System?

• Why Sustainable Energy Matters?
• The Current Global Energy System
• Environmental Aspects of Energy Systems
• Socio-Political Aspects of Energy Systems
• Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 19

 Socio-Political Aspects of
Energy Systems
• Social injustice in worldwide spread of energy resources
• Oil embargos, wars and their effect on worldwide politics and economy

• Nuclear safety and the threat of nuclear arms

• Economic impact of environmental constraints on world leading powers (US, China…)

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 20

 Outline

• What is a Sustainable Energy System?

• Why Sustainable Energy Matters?
• The Current Global Energy System
• Environmental Aspects of Energy Systems
• Socio-Political Aspects of Energy Systems
• Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 21

 Towards Low-Carbon Energy
Systems
Three key approaches to improving the sustainability of human energy use in the future:
1. Using energy more efficiently in its conversion, distribution and consumption
• Modern Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant
• Waste heat recovery from power stations for heating
• Further Improvement of lighting efficiency
• Further improvement in domestic heating efficiency
• Decrease in use of domestic heating by improved insulation
2. Reducing CO2 emissions of fossil fuel technologies
• Further switching from coal or fuel to natural gas (not sustainable)
• Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
3. Switching to renewable and/or nuclear energy sources on a wider scale
• Worldwide spread of nuclear power production
• Improvement in efficiency of renewable energy technologies such as
photovoltaic panels, wind turbines…

W. Habchi MEE 401 – Energy Systems 22