ES427: The Natural Environment and Engineering

Global Warming and

Renewable Energy

Philip Davies
Room A322

philip.davies@warwick.ac.uk
 Overview of Topic
Four lectures:
1. The global warming problem and some
options for mitigation: renewable energy
2. The nature of sunlight and its availability
for solar energy applications
3. Photovoltaics: turning sunlight directly
into electricity
4. Wind energy
 Overview of 1st lecture

• Relative impacts of greenhouse gases

• Sources and sinks of CO2
• Options for reducing global warming
• Overview of some renewable energy
technologies
 Radiative forcing
Definition: The change in net (down
minus up) irradiance (in W/m2) due to
the change in the amount of an
agent, with surface temperature
assumed constant.

earth
 Global Warming Potential
(GWP)
A measure of the future impact of emitting unit mass of
a particular greenhouse gas today. It is normally
measured relative to CO2 and is calculated for a
specified time horizon (e.g. 100 years).

GWP = time-integrated radiative forcing for the gas

time-integrated radiative forcing for CO2

The mass of gas is assumed to be released instantaneously at the

beginning of the time period. Its concentration then decays gradually.
 Current levels of radiative forcing

Current
GWP Lifetime Abundance
Gas radiative forcing
(100 year) years ppm
(Wm-2)

CO2 1 5 to 200 365 1.5

Methane CH4 23 12 1.7 0.48

Nitrous oxide
300 114 0.3 0.15
N 20
Refrigerant
10600 45 0.0005 0.17
e.g. CFC-12
 Impact vs time
2.5
Radiative forcing W/m 2

Halocarbons

2 N2O
CH4
1.5

0.5 CO2

0
1850 1900 1950 2000
Source: IPCC
 Other greenhouse gases
• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and SF6: these have the
highest of all GWP’s but at the moment are only
present in very low amounts:
– Manufacture of aluminium and magnesium
– Semiconductor processing

• Aerosols: Effects are complex and not fully understood.

May decrease warming. Sources include:
– Anthropogenic: smoke from burning fossil fuels; sulphates
– Natural: volcanoes, dust-storms
 Sources of CO2
• Most CO2 comes from the burning of fossil fuels
• Cement production also emits significant CO2
• Some fuels contain more carbon than others:
Fuel Formula kg of carbon per
(main constituent) GJ of energy
Carbon C 24
Oil ~CH2* 19
Gas CH4 15
Hydrogen† H2 zero

* Indicating that crude oil contains about 2 atoms of H for each of C

Energy profile: UK example
More CO2 intensive Less CO2 intensive
 Sinks of CO2
• Land sinks:
– Photosynthesis
– Respiration/decay Land

– Fossilisation occurs over very

long time scales >1000 yrs Atmospheric
increase

• Ocean sinks
Ocean
– Plankton
– Sediments of CaC03 are
formed, eventually becoming
Total 6.3 GTC/yr
rocks
 Country comparisons
CO2 emissions Population
Total 6.3 GTC/year Total 6 billion
USA
Western
Rest USA Europe

Rest

India
China
Japan

Russia Western
Russia
Europe India
China Japan

Notes: C02 emissions have been extrapolated from primary energy usage
Units: GTC – gigatonne of carbon, i.e. amount of CO2 containing 1015 g of carbon
Projected rate of CO2 emission:
Rate of emission of CO2 GTC/yr
‘Business as Usual’

All fossil fuel reserves

exploited

Only conventional
fossil fuel reserves
exploited
 Temperature increase:
‘Business as Usual’
All fossil fuel reserves
exploited
Temperature increase / deg.C

Only conventional fossil fuel

reserves exploited
 Negative effects of global warming

Process Quantity Consequence Severity Likelihood

(by 2100)
Sea level rise 0.1–0.8 m Destruction of V.High High
habitat
Mass 1/3 of Loss of High High
extinctions species biodiversity
More intense – Loss of life and High Medium
hurricanes property
Atlantic – Catastrophic V.High Low/
conveyor shut climate change? Uncertain
down
 Sea level rise:
‘Business as Usual’

All fossil fuel reserves

exploited
Sea level rise / m

Only
conventional
fossil fuel
reserves
exploited
 General outlook
• Significant global warming and sea level rise
are almost inevitable because:
– Time delays: Greenhouse gases have lifetimes of
many years and the ocean react to atmospheric
changes over decades
– Improvements in energy efficiency and cleaner
means of electricity generation are likely to be
offset by population growth and industrialisation in
developing countries
 Mitigation options: sinks
Approach Details Advantages Drawbacks

Biological Reforestation. Plants can Large land areas

sequestration Different provide biofuels required.
agricultural Conflicts with
methods. other uses.

Geological Bury CO2 in Can be used to CO2 may leak out

sequestration rocks or capture CO2 over time
aquifiers before it
reaches the
atmosphere
Marine Seed the oceans Could be very Science not fully
sequestration with chemicals large sink; a established; side
that will increase quick fix? effects on
CO2 uptake ecosystem
 Mitigation options: sources
• Improved energy efficiency in buildings
• Improved efficiency of electricity generation
with fossil fuels e.g.
– Combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT)
– Combined heat and power (CHP)
• Transport:
– More efficient prime movers
– Alternative fuels: LPG, fuel cells …
• Nuclear Energy
• Renewable Energy
 Space heating in buildings
Very high solar gain ,
low insulation or …

low solar gain with

very high insulation

Which is better ?
See Boyle Chapter 2
Improved generation efficiency with gas:
(a) Conventional power plant

Work out
η = 30%

Heat from conventional

source e.g. coal
(b) Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT)

Work out
η = 50%
 Combined Heat and Power (CHP)

T0
η = 1−
T1

Sadi Carnot
1796-1832
CHP: University of Warwick
Micro CHP: Stirling Engine
Rev. Robert cold
Stirling hot
in 1876

regenerator

www.sesusa.org
 Micro CHP: Stirling engine

heating

electricity
Whispergen wobble yoke
gas
www.whispergen.com
Comparison of transport efficiency
Utilization of different types of transport UK
Comparison of car CO2 emissions
Solar car?
Hybrid petrol/electric Large petrol car

Methanol fuel cell

Small diesel or LPG

Carbon emissions g/km

0 1 2 3
 Nuclear fusion

Ultimate solution or red herring?

 Renewable Energy

Definition:
A renewable energy resource is
one that is replenished at the
same rate as it is used.
 Movement of earth,
moon & sun Energy flows
3 TW atmosphere

wind
Long-wave
hydrosphere radiation
tides rain waves

Sun space
biosphere
plants animals

Short-wave lithosphere
radiation fossil fuel
173000 TW
Thermal energy
25 TW
mantle
 Photovoltaics
• Converts sunlight directly
into electricity.
• But still expensive
(£2.50/peak W) and
efficiencies quite low
(<20%). Up to 70% of cost
comes from raw material.
• Extensive subsidies in some
countries.
• Rapidly growing market,
supply limited.
Solar thermal energy
• Sunlight is concentrated
by mirrors and used to
heat oil, then fed to
steam turbine plant.

• Could be used in
conjunction with other
fuels.

• Only works with clear

skies
• 80 MW plant operational
reaching 20% efficiency
 Hydroelectricity
• Contributes about 16% to world electricity
production: much larger than any other
renewable such as wind.
• In industrialised countries most suitable sites
have already been exploited.
• Some large projects planned elsewhere e.g.
China
• Can cause social conflicts: displacement of
may people, conflicts over water …
 Hydroelectricity

Itaipú, the largest power

station of any sort in the
world. It generates 13 GW,
enough to supply 95% of
Paraguay’s electricity and
25% of Brazil’s.
Wind energy: traditional
Vertical axis wind turbines
(VAWT)
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
(HAWT)
Almost all modern turbines follow this design
Very rapidly growing market: 35% per year
Costs have fallen to about 3p per kWh
 Tidal power

Severn Estuary
could provide 8600 MW
La Rance, 240MW, 1967 = 5% of UK electricity
Tidal Energy: tidal currents

www.marineturbines.com
Wave energy
• Very intense energy
source: 50 kW/m
common
• UK very good site
• Survival of devices
can be an issue
• High efficiencies
possible: > 80%
achieved

Salter Duck
 Conclusions
• Radiative forcing and GWP are useful in pinpointing the causes
and effects of global warming
• CO2 accounts for >50% of radiative forcing
• We can either increase sinks (sequestration) or decrease
sources of CO2
• Since fossil fuels are the main source of CO2, the problem is
connected to energy policy and technologies
• Alternative energy supplies include mainly nuclear and
renewable energies
• There are many sources and concepts of renewable energy
each with its own issues.
• So far only hydropower has made a significant impact on global
energy supply among renewables
• But others such as Wind and Photovotaics are growing rapidly
 References
www.ipcc.ch authorative site on global warming. Free
download of extensive reports – Technical Summaries are
more concise

www.nrel.gov one of the best sites for learning about

renewable energy, very many links to other sources.

G. Boyle: Energy Systems for a Sustainable Future, OU

2003, ISBN 0-19-926179-2. Good overview. UK bias.

G. Boyle: Renewable Energy, OU 2004,

ISBN 0-19-926178-4. Also a good overview and well
illustrated.
 Assignment
• Have a look at
http://www.nrel.gov/sitemap.html
• Follow the link “What is renewable
energy?”
• See what you can find out about
different forms of renewable energy,
especially Solar and Wind energy.