Energy resources,

production and consumption

Part III of
Foundations of Energy
 Finite and Renewable resources

 Finiteresources: fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil)

and nuclear fuel
 Renewable fuels: biomass on a seasonal
cycle
 Continual energy currents: sun, wind,
currents, waves, …

2 Autumn 2006 Foundations of Energy Pt III

 Resources

 Fuels
– Biomass 10 – 20 MJ/kg
– Coal 30 MJ/kg (5000 tonnes; 150,000 GJ/day)
– Oil 48 MJ/kg
– Gas 54 MJ/kg
– Nuclear 600 GJ/kg non-enriched uranium
 Energy currents
– Sun light GS= 1356 Wm2; 0.5 – 1kW/m2; 7 – 22 MJ/m2/day
– Rivers 10kW/ m/(m3/s): e.g. 300m; 20m3/s: 5000 GJ/day
– Wind: 50 – 1000 W/m3; e.g. 1MW turb: 26 GJ/day
– Waves: 50 – 100 kW/m wave front
3 Autumn 2006 Foundations of Energy Pt III
 Carbon-based fuels

Coal 15 – 35 MJ/kg
C + O2  CO2
Biomass 10 – 20 MJ/kg
 CH2O + O2 ↔ CO2 + H2O
Methane ~ 54 MJ/kg
 CH4 + 2 O2  CO2 + 2 H2O
Alkanes ~ 48 MJ/kg
 CnH2n+2 + 2n O2  n CO2 +2n H2O
4 Autumn 2006 Foundations of Energy Pt III
 Fuel emissions

Fuel MJ/kg kg CO2/kg fuel kg CO2/ MJ

C 15 – 35 3.67 0.1 – 0.24

CH2O 10 – 20 1.47 0.07 – 0.15

CH4 54 2.75 0.05

CnH2n+2 48 44n / (14n+2) ~ 0.065

n=8: 3.09
n= 16: 3.12
5 Autumn 2006 Foundations of Energy Pt III
 Global emissions

 420EJ per year

– 20% coal: 12.6 × 1012 kg
– 35% oil: 9.6
– 20% gas: 4.2
– 10% bio: 4.2
– Total: 30.6 × 1012 kg
– Atmosphere 5.2 × 1018 kg
– Addition 5.9 ppm per year

6 Autumn 2006 Foundations of Energy Pt III

 Who is the culprit in the world/UK?

Coal

Oil

Gas

Electricity

Manufacturing

Service
Industry
Coal Oil Gas Electricity Transport

Domestic

7 Autumn 2006 Foundations of Energy Pt III

 International and national policies

 Rio - Kyoto Protocol – Montreal

 EU directives
 UK White papers
 UK commitments to exceed Kyoto target to
reduce CO2 emissions
 Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs)

8 Autumn 2006 Foundations of Energy Pt III