Introduction to Alternative

Energies
Unit 1 - Energy
After completing this unit you will…
• Have an awareness of our current, and
projected energy usage
• Know the various sources of energy today,
their life expectancy, and effect on our
environment
• Know common terms and units used to
describe and measure energy usage
• Be able to determine your current energy
usage
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• How much energy
do we use and
what is our
projected energy
utilization

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Energy Utilization
• To put energy use in perspective, let’s first
look back in time…
• Prehistoric man
– Energy used for survival only, approximately 2000
kilocalories or 100 Watts per person
• The discovery of fire
– Energy now used for survival and cooking, rose to
300 Watts per person
*Watts are a unit of energy that will be explained in later slides

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4000 B.C.
• The use of animals for transportation and
pumping of water, solar energy used for
drying grains and building materials, energy
used rose to 800 watts per person
• As technology increases, the advent of
windmills, water wheels, sailing ships and
others; the energy consumption continues to
increase

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13th century
• In Europe, the trend continues to 2000 watts
(2 kilowatts) per person due to agriculture,
fireplaces generating heat in homes, and the
manufacture of ceramics and bricks
19th century
• The increase in energy usage was consistent and
relatively slow until the 19th century
• The industrial revolution and the machines of this
time period created a dramatic acceleration in
the rate of the energy utilization
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Modern day
• Along with the
increase in
technology, the
increase in energy
usage per capita
continues
exponentially
through the 20th
century and into
the 21st
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• This increase is
primarily from
developed
countries such as
the United States
and Europe
• 28% of the World’s
population uses
77% of the World’s
energy
• In other words this increasing energy utilization
only accounts for just over ¼ of the world… It
makes you wonder what will happen as the
other ¾ of the world develops?
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The Population Explosion
• The energy utilization rate is based per capita,
in other words per person
• The population is also increasing, and at an
accelerated rate, a rate of 1.4% per year over
the last few decades
• If this rate remains constant, we would have
a population of 7 billion in 2010 and 11
billion in 2050

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Couple this population
increase with the
exponential increase in
energy utilization per
capita (per person) and
you can begin to see the
concern for the amount of
energy that will be used
as we enter the next few
decades and the next
century
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If these trends remain…
• The energy utilization will increase from 7.6
Terawatts* (TW) currently, to 122 TW in 2050
* Terawatts or one trillion watts
• This is a factor of 16 times over the next few
decades
The prefixes and their units
Kilo (k) = 1000
Mega (M) = 1,000,000
Giga (G) = 1,000,000,000
Tera (T) = 1,000,000,000,000
Peta (P) = 1,000,000,000,000,000
Exa (E) = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
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This diagram shows how dramatic
the increase in energy usage has
been starting at the 20th century
and looking ahead to the 21st
century

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• Where does all this
energy come from,
how long will it
last, and how does
it affect our
environment

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Energy Sources
• Our energy resources can be broken into two
main categories, renewable and non-
renewable
• Renewable energy sources would include
biomass, hydropower, geothermal, wind, solar,
and other
• Non-renewable includes the fossil fuels of
petroleum, natural gas, coal, and propane
along with the minerals for nuclear

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Today, the majority of the energy we use comes
from non-renewable resources

(source: www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/science/formsofenergy.html) 15
• A report by the Office of Science, April 2005,
“Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy
Utilization” states…
The world now uses energy at a rate of 410 EJ*
per year
• At this rate, if we did not increase the rate of
usage, we would exhaust the 192,000 EJ of
fossil fuels in less than 500 years
• Considering that our usage increases
exponentially, this time frame is much less
*EJ stands for Exajoule, joules are a unit of energy covered in future slides

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Energy Usage in the U.S.
• The United States uses around 20% of the
world’s energy, primarily to generate electricity

The largest usage is
Industry at 33%
Industry Transportation
33% 28%
Followed by
transportation at 28%
Commercial
21% for residential,
Residential 18%
21%
primarily heating

18% for commercial
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Energy and Utility
• The majority of our energy, in general, is
generated from the combustion of different
fossil fuels such as wood, coal, natural gas,
and petroleum.
• By comparing the cost of the material to the
amount of energy produced, we get the cost
for a unit (Gigajoule, GJ) of energy.
• For example, wood is $3.20/GJ.

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• Again, wood is $3.20/GJ
• Gasoline, that we use in our automobile, at
approximately $4.00 a gallon, is over $30/GJ.
• What this shows is that we are willing to pay a
premium for the ease of use or utility.
• The gasoline has a higher utility, it is more
convenient to use. It is more convenient to fill
and carry gasoline in your vehicle than a cord
of wood.

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• The utility of different fuel sources is different
depending on the type of work
– Coal has a high utility for generators used to
produce electricity
– Coal has a low utility in an automobile as it would
be hard to handle in the systems related to the
internal combustion engine
• Cost is also relevant to regulations by the
economy and government as noted by the
cost of a barrel of oil

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The Ecology Question
• Because the fossil fuels, for the time being,
are present and easiest (least expensive) to
acquire, they will continue to be utilized
• As resources are harvested, they become
more difficult to get, as we must mine deeper
and further from the Earth’s surface to get
these, making remaining fossil fuels
progressively increase in cost

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• Also, in the United States, it is not politically
correct to use our reserves…therefore, we are
dependent on other countries for oil and
other fuels
• All of these are issues that need to be
addressed, but the biggest issue of current
and future is the environmental issues from
using the fossil fuels

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• When the fossil fuels are burned, heat is used
as energy, but the remaining is an undesirable
gas, carbon dioxide that is emitted
• Carbon dioxide is damaging to the ozone
– The atmospheric concentration has increased
from 270 ppm in late 1800 to currently 365 ppm
• Again…when you look at how energy
utilization is increasing exponentially and
85% of the energy comes from fossil fuels,
this should be an urgent issue

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• There are different methods of disposing the
CO2 which are currently being used in several
countries due to regulation
• The natural process to dispose of carbon
dioxide is the biological process of
photosynthesis, from plants and trees
• Although…
– Consider the population growth
– As the population increases, the land where
plants and trees grow is being reduced

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• What are the
common terms
and units used to
describe and
measure energy

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Energy and Units
There are different forms of energy
• Mechanical energy, with units of foot-pounds
(ft-lbs) or Joules (J)
• Heat energy, noted by calories or BTUs which
stands for British Thermal Units
• Electrical energy, with units of watts and
kilowatt-hours (kWh)

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• When we look at our electric bill, we notice
that the units of measure is Kilowatt-hour
(kWh) which is electrical energy
• We use this electrical energy by transforming
it into other forms of energy such as heat,
BTUs for heating our house, and mechanical,
joules for powering machines or appliances

* The units we will primarily use in this course

are watts and Kilowatt-hours

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• A Kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the amount of
energy that results from the use of one
kilowatt of power for a period of one hour.
• One Kilowatt-hour (kWh) is equal to…

– 3,413 BTUs of heat energy or

– 859,680 calories of heat energy or

– 3,600,000 joules of mechanical energy

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So…what exactly is a watt?
• A watt is a Work Force Distance
unit of Power

power
• Power is
work per Time
unit of time
• Work is a
force times
distance

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Work
• If you use a 20 Newton force to pull a wagon
10 meters, you have done 200 Newton-meters
or 200 joules of work
Force (20 Newton)

Distance (10 meters) W=FxD

Work = 20 N x 10 m
Work = 200 joules
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Power
• If you do 200 joules of work in five seconds,
you use 40 watts
Force (20 Newton)

Distance (10 meters) P = W/t

P = Work/time
P = 200 joules/5 sec
Power = 40 watts
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Energy
• Watts measure the rate, or how fast the power
is used
• When we discuss energy consumption, we
typically use kilowatts, or 1000 watts
• The usage over time would be a watt-hour, Wh
or kilowatt-hour, kWh

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• How do we
determine our
current energy
usage

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Energy Usage
• If you had ten 100-watt light bulbs
all turned on at once, you would
be using one kilowatt of power
(10 x 100 watts = 1000 watts)
• If these 10 bulbs remained on for
one hour, you would have used
one kilowatt-hour, kWh, of
electricity

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• Per the Energy Information Administration
report released June 10, 2008
The average cost, nationally, for residential
electricity is 10.2 cents per kWh
• Therefore, if the previously mentioned 10
bulbs remained on for five hours, you would
have used five kWh, of electricity…

• At a cost of: 5 x 10.2 cents = 51 cents

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Or another example…
• If you use an electric clothes dryer
rated at 5400 watts for approximately
eight hours a week for laundry
• 5400 watts for eight hours (5400 x 8) is
43,200 watt-hours or 43.2 kilowatt-
hours, kWh

• At a cost of: 43.2 hrs x $0.102= $4.41

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You can determine the annual operating
cost for an appliance by…

Watts Hours used Days used Kilowatt-hours

1000 per day per year (kWh) used

Kilowatt-hours Cost per Annual cost to

(kWh) used (kWh) operate appliance

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For example…
If you use a 1200 watt window air
conditioner 24 hours a day, for 100
days, you can determine the cost,
at the rate of 10.2 cents per kWh

1200 watts x 24 hrs/day x 100 days = 2880 kWh

1000

2880 kWh x 0.102 = $294

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When selecting new appliances, compare the
energy guides!

Energy guides,
posted on
appliances Estimated annual
show the electrical use
estimated multiplied by the
annual cost of electricity
electrical use in your area gives
an estimated
yearly operating
cost
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Measuring your Energy Usage
• You can monitor your energy
usage by reading your electric
meter or simply reviewing your
electric bill
• Using either method, it is
important to realize the
kilowatt-hours used annually
for comparison

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Reading your electric meter
• The meter dials are read from right to left
• When the hand of the dial is between two
numbers, take the lower number
• When the hand of the dial is directly on a
number take the lower number,
• unless the hand of the dial to
the right is on or just past 0,
then take the number that the
dial is on

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Reading this meter you have 38,977 kWh

By subtracting the previous reading from your

present reading, you can calculate the number
of kilowatt hours used
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When reviewing your electric bill
• You will find the current meter
reading, the previous month’s
reading, and the difference
• The difference is the kilowatt-
hours you are charged for that
month
• Your bill will typically give you
a record of monthly usage for
the year

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Financing
• We have mentioned many forms of energy
other than those of fossil fuels, and we can
clearly see that they are there
• So, why are they not developed and more
technologically advanced?

• The answer is easy…MONEY

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• Development costs money, investment that
may or may not yield a return to the
investors
• Therefore industry, is not encouraged to invest
in the development of alternative energy
resources
• The financing of this development must come
from governments and other sources

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• Much of the current economy is based on the
current fossil fuels…for example,
– If gasoline was replaced with another fuel, what
would happen to all of the existing automobiles,
the gas stations, and all of the logistics used to
transport gasoline?
• This example is true for any of the fossil fuels we
currently use and, therefore, makes us realize
that, it will not stop with the development of
alternative energy sources, but we will also
need developments of industry and society for
the use of these new sources

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Work Cited
Da Rosa, A. V. (2005). Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Processes.
Burlington, MA, USA: Elsevier Inc.

Primary Energy Consumption by Source, 1949-2007. (2008, June 23).

Retrieved July 31, 2008, from Energy Information Administration:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec1_8.pdf

http://ans.engr.wisc.edu/eic/EnergyForm.html

http://ed.fnal.gov/ntep/f98/projects/nrel_energy_2/measurement.html

www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/science/imag

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