Watching America’s Waste

America’s Waste Line: (57.7%) Power: 38.19 quads 12.08 quads delivered Residential gets 38.1%/Commercial 36.9%/Industrial 24.6% 26.10 quads lost (68.3% loss) Transport: 26.98 quads 6.74 delivered & 20.23 lost (74.9%) Residential: 11.26 quads 9.02 delivered & 2.24 lost (19.8%) Commercial: 8.49 quads 6.79 delivered & 1.70 lost (20.0%) Industrial: 21.78 quads 17.42 delivered & 4.36 lost (20.0%)

Waste Not (Watt not) America’s Opportunity: 57% of the energy is wasted 68% of the primary energy used to make electricity is lost 26 out of 38 quadrillion BTUs (quad) At a cost of $4 billion per quad (natural gas @ $4/mBtu) = $104 billion per year 75% of the energy used for Transportation is lost 20 out of 27 quadrillion BTUs At a cost of $17 billion per quad (oil @ $100 per barrel) = $340 billion per year There is a better way

The Big Switch We use Oil for Transportation When Electricity is cheaper and better We use Electricity for air conditioning When Heat is cheaper and better solar steam

How Can That Be? Electricity is cheaper and better for Transportation: Electric motors are 85% efficient Autos are 15% efficient Electric miles cost < 3 cents Gasoline miles cost > 15 cents Electricity is produced domestically and there are multiple sources Heat is cheaper and better for Air Conditioning: Capital cost for solar steam (thermal) kW < $500 No fuel, higher efficiency No transmission lines needed Capital cost for natural gas kW = $1,000 Plus fuel, CO2 & methane Ideal set-up may be solar steam/natural gas hybrid chillers on site

Using Chillers for AC Absorption chillers generate chilled water (45o F = 7o C) to provide space cooling for buildings Conventional refrigeration units use electricity to drive water cooling – absorption chillers use thermal energy, i.e., steam or hot water

Chiller Flow Diagram Sanyo

Putting the Sun to Work Thermal: Solar Steam AC The sun is out during peak hours No need for storage Electric: PV4EV (in sunny climates) Provides over 1 million miles per acre per year 6 cents per mile from expensive PV (which will get cheaper) vs 10,000 miles per acre per year for corn ethanol 16 cents per mile (likely to get more expensive) Ethanol has only 70% of the energy content per gallon

Another Promising Switch Solar heat for buildings instead of natural gas Europe gets 25% of its gas from Russia Summer heat stored in the ground is cost-effective for space heating needs (as far north as Norway & Sweden) Hybrid solar steam/natural gas power systems Using troughs to pre-heat steam for turbines Next Era (FPL) 75 MW solar steam/ natural gas hybrid plant (3,800 MW) -- operational in 2010

Conservation vs Efficiency Conservation means . . . Don’t use it Efficiency means . . . Use it better or more effectively Warning Label Whenever a process becomes more efficient, we use more of what it has to offer Demand usually rises as a result

“What this Country needs is a good 5-cent kilowatt-hour” The marginal cost of the next kWh of wind power is roughly 1 cent (cost of operations & maintenance -- offshore likely to be higher) Wind could set the price for electricity worldwide At 5 cents per kWh it provides fuel for electric cars at 1.2 cents per mile (New Energy Research projection)