Energy System Course

week 1

By
Dr. Baba Omar
Energy as a Resource
 Definition.

 Energy Provision and Supply – Technical

Challenge and Challenge for the Society.

 Energy and Environment / Energy and

Sustainability – Ecological Challenge.

 Energy Supply.
Definition
Energy Systems:
An energy system may be thought of as an interrelated
network of energy sources and stores of energy,
connected by transmission and distribution of that energy
to where it is needed.

The transformation from stores of energy in food to work,

and subsequent dissipation of energy is an example of
such a system.
Energy : is defined as the ability to produce change or do
work, and that work can be divided into several main
tasks we easily recognize:

• Energy produces light.

• Energy produces heat.

• Energy produces motion.

• Energy produces sound.

• Energy produces growth.

• Energy powers technology.

If you carefully measure the amount of energy before
and after some process,
taking all forms of energy into account, you find that
the total amount of energy never changes.

Energy can be converted from one form to another,

But it cannot be created, nor can it be destroyed.
‘Albert Einstein’

“Law of Conservation of Energy”, and also known as

the “First Law of Thermodynamics”.
Thermal energy tends naturally to disperse
over time, and once it is widely dispersed,
it is effectively useless.

These annoying properties of thermal

energy are summarized in the “Second
Law of Thermodynamics”.
Energy Units
• Energy can be measured in many different units:
joules, calories, British thermal units, kilowatt-
hours, electron-volts, and quads, to name a few.

• Joule (J): Roughly equal to the kinetic energy of a

very gently tossed baseball, or to the gravitational
energy that you give to a baseball when you lift it by
two feet (70 centimetres).

• Calories (cal): The original definition of the calorie

was the amount of thermal energy required to raise
the temperature of a gram of water by one degree
Celsius.
a typical jelly donut, which provides about
250 kilocalories. Since a kilocalorie is about
4000 joules, one jelly donut provides
approximately one million (250×4000) joules,
or one megajoule, of chemical energy. Some
physicists go so far as to define a unit of
energy called the jelly donut (JD), equal to
exactly one megajoule (MJ).

A typical American adult consumes the

equivalent of about ten jelly donuts each day,
or roughly 2500 kilocalories.
• British thermal unit (Btu): defined as the amount
of thermal energy required to raise the
temperature of one pound of water by one degree
Fahrenheit.

• One kilowatt-hour (kWh): equals exactly 3.6

million joules, which is approximately 860
kilocalories or 3400 Btu.

1 kcal = 4186 J = 3.97 Btu = 0.00116 kWh

1 Btu = 1054 J = 0.252 kcal = 0.000293 kWh
1 kWh = 3, 600, 000 J = 860 kcal = 3413 Btu
• Power: The Rate of Energy Conversion

• The joule per second (J/s) is the official scientific

unit of power, and has its own name: the watt
(W).

• The horsepower, approximately the power output

of a draft horse working steadily. Since all horses
are not created equal, today the horsepower is
defined as exactly 746 watts;

• Btu/hr (used for heating and cooling appliances)

or kcal/day (convenient for talking about the
human diet).
 Energy Provision and Supply – Technical
Challenge and Challenge for the Society.
The ten major energy sources we use today are
classified into two broad groups— nonrenewable
and renewable.
• Nonrenewable energy sources include coal,
petroleum, natural gas, propane, and uranium.
They are used to generate electricity, to heat our
homes, to move our cars, and to manufacture
products from candy bars to MP3 players.

• These energy sources are called nonrenewable

because they cannot be replenished in a short
period of time.
• Renewable energy sources include biomass,
geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind.

• They are called renewable energy sources

because their supplies are replenished in a short
time.

• Day after day, the sun shines, the wind blows,

and the rivers flow.

• We use renewable energy sources mainly to

make electricity.
Is electricity a renewable or nonrenewable
source of energy?
• The answer is neither. Electricity is
different from the other energy sources
because it is a secondary source of
energy.

• That means we have to use another

energy source to make it. In the United
States, coal is the number one fuel for
generating electricity.
• The world around us has changed significantly
over the past 20 years.

• Technology has become one of the main drivers

of economic and social development.

• The rapid advancement of Information Technology

(IT) all over the world has transformed not only
the way we think, but also the way we act.

• All technologies run on electricity and therefore

the share of electricity is increasing rapidly, faster
than Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES).
• Even the highest projections made 20 years ago,
fall far below the reality.
• It means that the demand for energy might grow
significantly faster than expected, and if properly
managed, energy resources and technologies
should be available to meet this demand.
• Population growth has always been and will
remain one of the key drivers of energy demand,
along with economic and social development.

• Population has increased by over 1.5 billion over

the past two decades.

• The number of people without access to

commercial energy has reduced slightly, and the
latest estimate from the World Bank indicates that
it is 1.2 billion people.
• The recent shale gas developments in the United
States clearly demonstrate this concept and the role
of technologies.

• The enormous resources of shale gas have always

been there, but it is only since the introduction of
hydraulic-fracturing technology at an
economically attractive price, that the gas market
revolution has become a reality.
• The general message emerging from the 2013 survey
confirms that the main fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural
gas are plentiful and will last for decades.
• The supply and use of energy have powerful
economic, social and environmental impacts.

• Not all energy is supplied on a commercial basis.

Fuels, such as fuelwood or traditional biomass are
largely non-commercial.

• Fuelwood is playing a leading role in the

developing countries, where it is widely used for
heating and cooking.
• Universal access to commercial energy still
remains a target for the future.

• In many countries, especially in Africa and Asia,

the pace of electrification lags far behind the
growing demand.

• It is imperative to address this major challenge

without further delays, in particular taking into
account the impact access to electricity has:

• On peoples’ lives and well-being, economic growth

and social development, including the provision of
basic social services, such as health and
education.
• Establishment of energy infrastructure in the least
developed countries will need a major effort on
behalf of the global energy community.

• It will also require political, legal and institutional

structures, which today do not exist.

• Rising energy demand, declining public

investment and the evolving role of the multilateral
financial institutions need increased efforts by
governments:

• To change their roles in order to create an

enabling business environment to attract private
investment, both domestic and international.
Energy and Environment/ Energy and Sustainability
– Ecological Challenge.

• All energy sources have environmental impact

during their life cycles.

• This impact can perhaps best be assessed by

conducting a life cycle analysis of a source’s
total environmental impact:

• In terms of construction of the power plant as

well as extraction, distribution, conversion and
waste management.
• Climate change associated with greenhouse gas
emissions has come to be seen as the greatest
environmental challenge facing humanity.

• Today’s energy system is a large contributor to

overall emissions of greenhouse gases.

• In order to stabilise the carbon dioxide content in

the atmosphere at a sustainable long-term level,
CO2 emissions from energy must be
significantly reduced.
• Reducing the proportion of fossil fuel and increasing
the proportion of renewable energy sources (e.g.,
wind and solar power) and nuclear power in the
energy mix is an important way to curb global
warming.

• Natural gas, which emits less than coal or oil, can

play a role as a bridging technology.

• To reduce the climate impact of power plants, old

plants can be replaced with new, more efficient
ones.

• In the long term, fossil power plants can be

equipped with technology that prevents the release
of CO2 into the atmosphere (CCS, Carbon Capture
and Storage, technology).
• In the long run, emissions from power
generation will need to be close to zero if we are
to stabilise greenhouse gas levels.

• Given the long life span of most energy

infrastructure, achieving this requires long-term
planning on the part of the business community
and policy makers.
Energy Supply
• Proved worldwide energy resources are large and should be
sufficient to fuel the needs of the developing world.

• The largest remaining known reserves of crude oil are located

primarily in the Middle East, along the equator, and in the
Former Soviet Union.

• The rank of countries in terms of oil and gas reserves is: the
overwhelming oil reserves of the Middle East and natural gas in
the Former Soviet Union.

• The USA proved oil reserves are small, around 3 percent of the
world total.

• Coal is the most abundant resource on earth and the primary

fuel for electricity in the USA, which has the largest proved
reserves.
 Reserves (millions of
Rank Country
The oil reserves of the United barrels), 2017 US EIA

States (US) soared to new

1 Venezuela 300,878
heights in recent years due to
2 Saudi Arabia 266,455
increased usage of 3 Canada 169,709
unconventional drilling methods 4 Iran 158,400
that enable extraction of more 5 Iraq 142,503
shale oil and gas than was 6 Kuwait 101,500

previously possible. 7 United Arab Emirates 97,800

8 Russia 80,000
As a result of these, especially
9 Libya 48,363
fracking and horizontal drilling, US
10 United States 39,230
reserves surpassed 36,000 million
11 Nigeria 37,062
barrels in 2012 for the first time 12 Kazakhstan 30,000
since 1975. 13 China 25,620
14 Qatar 25,244
Still, proven US oil reserves are 15 Brazil 12,999

but a fraction of the reserves of 16 Algeria 12,200

the global petroleum leaders such 17 Angola 8,273

18 Ecuador 8,273
as Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and
19 Mexico 7,640
Canada.
20 Azerbaijan 7,000
2018 Top 15 Oil Reserves by Country

Rank Country Billions of Barrels % of World Total

1 Venezuela 303.3 17.5%

2 Saudi Arabia 297.7 17.2%

3 Canada 167.8 9.7%

4 Iran 155.6 9.0%

5 Iraq 147.2 8.5%

6 Russian Federation 106.2 6.1%

7 Kuwait 101.5 5.9%

8 United Arab Emirates 97.8 5.7%

9 United States 61.2 3.5%

10 Libya 48.4 2.8%

11 Nigeria 37.5 2.2%

12 Kazakhstan 30.0 1.7%

13 China 25.9 1.5%

14 Qatar 25.2 1.5%

15 Brazil 13.4 0.8%