1

Chapter 1
Introducing renewable
energy
By Godfrey Boyle, Bob Everett and Gary Alexander

1.1 Introduction
Renewable energy sources, derived principally from the enormous power
of the Suns radiation, are at once the most ancient and the most modern
forms of energy used by humanity.
Solar power, both in the form of direct solar radiation and in indirect forms
such as bioenergy, water or wind power, was the energy source upon which
early human societies were based. When our ancestors first used fire, they
were harnessing the power of photosynthesis, the solar-driven process
by which plants are created from water and atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Societies went on to develop ways of harnessing the movements of water
and wind, both caused by solar heating of the oceans and atmosphere, to
grind corn, irrigate crops and propel ships. As civilizations became more
sophisticated, architects began to design buildings to take advantage of the
Suns energy by enhancing their natural use of its heat and light, so reducing
the need for artificial sources of warmth and illumination.
Technologies for harnessing the power of Sun, firewood, water and
wind continued to improve right up to the early years of the industrial
revolution. However, by then the advantages of coal, the first of the fossil
fuels to be exploited on a large scale, had become apparent. These highly-
concentrated energy sources soon displaced wood, wind and water in the
homes, industries and transport systems of the industrial nations. Today
the fossil fuel trio of coal, oil and natural gas provide over 80% of the
worlds energy.
Concerns about the adverse environmental and social consequences of fossil
fuel use, such as air pollution or mining accidents, and about the finite
nature of supplies, have been voiced intermittently for several centuries. But
it was not until the 1970s, with the steep price rises of the oil crisis and the
advent of the environmental movement, that humanity began to take more
seriously the prospect of fossil fuels running out, and the possibility that
their continued use could be destabilizing the planets natural ecosystems
and the global climate (see Section 3 below).
The development of nuclear energy following World War II raised hopes of a
cheap, plentiful and clean alternative to fossil fuels. However, nuclear power
development has stalled in some countries in recent years, due to increasing
concern about safety, cost, waste disposal and weapons proliferation,
although in other countries nuclear expansion is continuing.

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 2 Renewable Energy

Continuing concerns about the sustainability of both fossil and nuclear

fuel use have been a major catalyst of renewed interest in the renewable
energy sources in recent decades. Ideally, a sustainable energy source is
one that:
is not substantially depleted by continued use
does not entail significant pollutant emissions or other environmental
problems
does not involve the perpetuation of substantial health hazards or social
injustices.
In practice, only a few energy sources come close to this ideal, but as this
and subsequent chapters will show, the renewables (see Section 4 for an
explicit definition) appear generally more sustainable than fossil or nuclear
fuels: they are essentially inexhaustible and their use usually entails fewer
health hazards and much lower emissions of greenhouse gases or other
pollutants.
Before going on to introduce the renewables in more detail, it is first useful
to review some basic energy concepts that may be unfamiliar to readers
who do not have a scientific background. For a more detailed discussion of
basic energy concepts, see, for example, Energy Systems and Sustainability
(Everett et al., 2012).

Force, energy and power

The word energy is derived from the Greek en (in) and ergon (work). The
scientific concept of energy (broadly defined as the capacity to do work)
serves to reveal the common features in processes as diverse as burning fuels,
propelling machines or charging batteries. These and other processes can be
described in terms of diverse forms of energy, such as thermal energy (heat),
chemical energy (in fuels or batteries), kinetic energy (in moving substances),
electrical energy, gravitational potential energy, and various others.
In the main, this book uses the international SI system of units. The
conversion factors between these and other units commonly used in the
field of energy can be found in Appendix A.
The scientific world agreed on a single set of units, the SI system (Systme
International dUnits) in 1960. There are seven basic units, of which the
three which are relevant here are the metre (m), the kilogram (kg) and the
second (s). The units for many other quantities are derived from the basic
units. For some of the derived units, such as metres per second (m s1), the
unit for speed, the base units are obvious. Others have been given specific
names, such as the:
newton (N) for force
the joule (J) for energy
the watt (W) for power.
Large quantities are specified using multipliers (see Table 1.1 for some
examples). Thus, a kilowatt (written as 1 kW) is a thousand watts.
Note that, unless otherwise stated, in this book the multiplier M and the
terms billion and trillion are as defined in Table 1.1 (Appendix A has more
details about international variations in definition).

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 Chapter 1 Introducing renewable energy 3

Table 1.1 Multiplier prefixes

Symbol Prefix Multiply by as a power of ten
K kilo- one thousand 103
M mega- one million 106
G giga- one billion (one thousand million) 109
T tera- one trillion (one million million) 1012
P peta- one quadrillion (one billion million) 1015
E exa- one quintillion (one billion billion) 1018

In order to change the motion of any object, a force is needed, and the
formal SI unit for force, the newton (N), is defined as that force which will
accelerate a mass of one kilogram (kg) at a rate of one metre per second per
second (m s2). Expressed more generally:
force (N) = mass (kg) acceleration (m s2).
Thus the derived unit, the newton, is equivalent to kg m s2
In the real world, force is often needed to move an object even at a steady
speed, but this is because there are opposing forces such as friction to be
overcome.
Whenever a force is accelerating something or moving it against an opposing
force, it must be providing energy. The unit of energy, the joule (J) is defined
as the energy supplied by a force of one newton in causing movement
through a distance of 1 metre. In general:
energy (J) = force (N) distance (m).
So a joule is dimensionally equivalent to one newton metre (N m).
The terms energy and power are often used informally as though they were
synonymous (e.g. wind energy/wind power), but in scientific discussion
it is important to distinguish them. Power is the rate at which energy is
being converted from one form to another, or transferred from one place to
another. Its unit is the watt (W), and one watt is defined as one joule per
second (hence a watt is equivalent to one J s1). A 100 watt incandescent
light bulb, for example, is converting one hundred joules of electrical energy
into light (and waste heat) each second. In popular speech, power is often
taken to denote electricity, but scientifically it applies to any situation where
energy is transferred or converted. Occasionally (for example in Chapter
9) a power rating maybe specifically defined as MWe or MWt where the
subscripts e and t refer to electrical and thermal energy respectively.
In practice, it is often convenient to measure energy in terms of the power
used over a given time period. If the power of an electric heater is 1 kW, and
it runs for an hour, we say that it has consumed one kilowatt-hour (kWh)
of energy. As 1 kilowatt is 1000 watts, from the definition of the watt this
is 1000 joules per second. There are 3600 seconds in an hour, so:
1 kWh = 3600 1000 = 3.6 106 joules (3.6 MJ).
Energy is also often measured simply in terms of quantities of fuel, and
national energy statistics often use the units tonnes of coal equivalent
(tce), tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) or even barrels of oil equivalent

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 4 Renewable Energy

(boe). The most common units and their conversion factors are listed in
Appendix A.

Energy conservation: the first law of thermodynamics

The renewable energy technologies described in this book transform one
form of energy into another (the final form in many cases being electricity).
In any such transformation of energy, the total quantity of energy remains
unchanged. This principle, that energy is always conserved, is expressed
by the first law of thermodynamics. So if the electrical energy output of
a power station, for example, is less than the energy content of the fuel
input, then some of the energy must have been converted to another form
(usually waste heat).
If the total quantity of energy is always the same, how can we talk of
consuming it? Strictly speaking, we dont: we just convert it from one form
into other forms. We consume fuels, which are sources of readily available
energy. We may burn fuel in an a vehicle engine, converting its stored
chemical energy into heat and then into the kinetic energy of the moving
vehicle. By using a wind turbine we can extract kinetic energy from moving
air and convert it into electrical energy, which can in turn be used to heat
the filament of an incandescent lamp causing it to radiate light energy.

Forms of energy
At the most basic level, the diversity of energy forms can be reduced to
four:
kinetic
gravitational
electrical
nuclear.

Kinetic energy
The kinetic energy possessed by any moving object is equal to half the mass
(m) of the object times the square of its velocity (v), i.e.:
kinetic energy = mv 2
where energy is in joules (J), mass in kilograms (kg) and velocity in metres
per second (m s1).
Less obviously, the kinetic energy within a material determines its
temperature. All matter consists of atoms, or combinations of atoms called
molecules. In a gas, such as the air that surrounds us, these move freely.
In a solid or a liquid, they form a more or less loosely linked network in
which every particle is constantly vibrating. Thermal energy, or heat, is
thename given to the energy associated with this rapid random motion.
The higher the temperature of a body, the faster its molecules are moving.
In the temperature scale that is most natural to scientific theory, the Kelvin
(K) scale, zero corresponds to zero molecular motion. In the more commonly
used Celsius scale of temperature (written as C), the size of one degree is
the same as 1 kelvin, but zero corresponds to the freezing point of water

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 Chapter 1 Introducing renewable energy 5

and 100 C to the boiling point of water at atmospheric pressure. The two
scales are therefore related by a simple formula: position 2
temperature (K) = temperature (C) + 273.

Gravitational energy
A second fundamental form of energy is gravitational energy. On Earth, an 1 metre
input of energy is required to lift an object because the gravitational pull of
the Earth opposes that movement. If an object, such as an apple, is lifted
above your head, the input energy is stored in a form called gravitational
potential energy (often just potential energy or gravitational energy).
That this stored energy exists is obvious if you release the apple and
position 1
observe the subsequent conversion to kinetic energy. The gravitational
force pulling an object towards the Earth is called the weight of the object,
and is equal to its mass, m, multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity,
g (which is 9.81 m s2, although for rough calculations needing less Figure 1.1 The amount of
than 2% precision a value of 10 m s2is often used). Note that although energy required to raise a
everyday language may treat mass and weight as the same, science does 100 g apple vertically through
not. The potential energy (in joules) stored in raising an object of mass m 1 m isapproximately one
(in kilograms) to a height H (in metres) is given by the following equation joule(1 J)
(see Figure 1.1): Figure 1.1 shows a hand raising a red apple from position 1 to position 2 through a vertical distance of 1 metre.

potential energy = force distance = weight height = m g H.

Electrical energy
Gravity is not the only force influencing the objects around us. On a scale
far too small for the eye to see, electrical forces hold together the atoms
and molecules of all materials; gravity is an insignificant force at the
molecular level. The electrical energy associated with these forces is the
third of the basic forms. Every atom can be considered to consist of a cloud
of electrically charged particles, electrons, moving incessantly around a
central nucleus. When atoms bond with other atoms to form molecules,
the distribution of electrons is changed, often with dramatic effect. Thus
chemical energy, viewed at the atomic level, can be considered to be a
form of electrical energy. When a fuel is burned, the energy liberated (the
chemical energy) is converted into heat energy. Essentially, the electrical
energy released as the electrons are rearranged (that is, the net release
of energy from the breaking and forming of bonds) is converted to the
kinetic energy of the molecules of the combustion products.
A more familiar form of electrical energy is that carried by electric currents
organized flows of electrons in a material, usually a metal. In metals, one
or two electrons from each atom can become detached and move freely
through the lattice structure of the material. These free electrons allow
metals to carry electrical currents.
To maintain a steady current of electrons requires a constant input of energy
because the electrons continually lose energy in collisions with the metal
lattice (which is why wires get warm when they carry electric currents).
Voltage (in volts) is a measure of the electrical potential difference between
two points in an electrical circuit, analogous to height in the measurement
of gravitational potential energy (see above). The power (in watts) delivered

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 6 Renewable Energy

by an electrical supply, or used by an appliance, is given by multiplying

the voltage (in volts) by the current (measured in amperes, or amps):
power (W) = voltage (V) current (I).
In a typical power station, the input fuel is burned and used to produce
high-pressure steam, which drives a rotating turbine. This in turn drives an
electrical generator, which operates on a principle discovered by Michael
Faraday in 1832: a voltage is induced in a coil of wire that spins in a
magnetic field. Connecting the coil to an electric circuit will then allow a
current to flow. The electrical energy can in turn be transformed into heat,
light, motion or whatever, depending upon what is connected to the circuit.
Electricity is often used in this way, as an intermediary form of energy: it
allows energy released from one source to be converted to another quite
different form, usually at some distance from the source.
Another form of electrical energy is that carried by electromagnetic
radiation. More properly called electromagnetic energy, this is the form
in which, for example, solar energy reaches the Earth. Electromagnetic
energy is radiated in greater or lesser amounts by every object. It travels as
a wave that can carry energy through empty space. The length of the wave
(its wavelength) characterizes its form, which includes X-rays, ultraviolet
and infrared radiation, visible light, radio waves and microwaves.

Nuclear energy
The fourth and final basic form of energy, bound up in the central nuclei
of atoms, is called nuclear energy. The technology for releasing it was
developed during the Second World War for military purposes, and
subsequently in a more controlled version for the commercial production
of electricity. Nuclear power stations operate on much the same principles
as fossil fuel plants, except that the furnace in which the fuel burns is
replaced by a nuclear reactor in which atoms of uranium are split apart in
a fission process that generates large amounts of heat.
The energy source of the Sun is also of nuclear origin. Here the process is
not nuclear fission but nuclear fusion, in which hydrogen atoms fuse to form
helium atoms such enormous numbers of these reactions take place that
massive amounts of solar radiation are generated in the process. Attempts
to imitate the Sun by creating power-producing nuclear fusion reactors
have been the subject of many decades of research and development effort
but have yet to come to fruition.

Conversion, efficiencies and capacity factors

When energy is converted from one form to another, the useful output is never
as much as the input. The ratio of the useful output to the required input
(usually expressed as a percentage) is called the efficiency of the process:
percentage efficiency = (energy output/energy input) 100.
This efficiency can be as high as 90% in a water turbine or well-run electric
motor, around 3540% in a coal-fired power station (if the waste heat is
not put to use), and as low as 1020% in a typical internal combustion
engine. Some inefficiencies can be avoided by good design, but others are
inherent in the nature of the type of energy conversion.

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 Chapter 1 Introducing renewable energy 7

In the systems mentioned above, the difference between the high and low
conversion efficiencies is because the latter are heat engines involving
the conversion of heat into mechanical or electrical energy. Heat, as
already indicated, is the kinetic energy of randomly moving molecules,
an essentially chaotic form of energy. No machine can convert this chaos
completely into the ordered state associated with mechanical or electrical
energy. This is the essential message of the second law of thermodynamics:
that there is necessarily a limit to the efficiency of any heat engine. Some
energy must always be lost to the external environment, usually as low-
temperature heat. (Box 2.4 of Chapter 2 looks at the efficiency of heat
engines in more detail).
When considering the economics of a power plant, rather than just its
efficiency, it is useful to have a measure of its productivity in practice.
One measure of this is the plants capacity factor (CF): its actual output
over a given period of time divided by the maximum possible output. The
units for the output quantities can be kWh, MWh, GWh, etc., and the result
can be expressed as either a fraction or a percentage.
There are 8760 hours in a year (365 days 24 hrs/day = 8760 hours), so
a 1 MW plant running constantly at its full rated capacity for one year
would generate 8760 MWh of output, and would have a capacity factor
of 1, or 100%.
A 1 MW wind turbine might, in practice, typically produce 3000 MWh
of electricity in a year (because the wind doesnt always blow at the full
rated speed for which the turbine is designed) in such a case its capacity
factor would be:
(3000/8760) = 0.342 = 34.2%
The period to which a capacity factor relates is not always a year weekly
or monthly capacity factors are often quoted.
The terms plant factor and load factor are also sometimes used as
synonyms for capacity factor in the context of power systems.

1.2 Present-day energy use

World energy supplies
The energy used by a final consumer is usually the end result of a series
of energy conversions. For example, energy from burning coal may be
converted in a power station to electricity, which is then distributed to
households and used in immersion heaters to heat water in domestic hot
water tanks. The energy released when the coal is burned is called the
primary energy required for that use. The amount of electricity reaching
the consumer, after conversion losses in the power station and transmission
losses in the electricity grid, is the delivered energy. After further losses
in the tank and pipes, a final quantity, called the useful energy, comes out
of the hot tap.
World total annual consumption of all forms of primary energy increased
more than tenfold during the twentieth century, and by the year 2009 had
reached an estimated 502 EJ (exajoules), or some 12 000 million tonnes of

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 8 Renewable Energy

oil equivalent (Mtoe) (Figure 1.2). As the figure reveals, fossil fuels provided
more than four fifths of the total. The world population in 2009 was some
6.8 billion, so the annual average energy consumption per person was
about 74 GJ (gigajoules), equivalent to the energy content of approximately
5.5litres of oil per day for every man, woman and child.

other sources oil

4.7% 32.4%

traditional biomass
6.0% natural gas
22.1%
hydro**
2.3%
coal
nuclear * 27.4%
5.1%
*The nuclear contribution is the notional primary energy that would be
needed to produce the actual output at an efficiency of 38%.
** The hydro contribution is the actual electrical output.
Total: about 502 EJ equivalent to12 billion tonnes of oil, or an average
continuous rate of energy consumption of 15.9 TW.

Figure 1.2 Percentage contributions to world primary energy consumption in 2009, other
sources are new biomass, solar and geothermal energy, and energy from wind, wave, tide
and wastes (sources: authors estimates based on BP, 2010; IEA, 2009; WWEA, 2010)
Figure 1.2 is a pie chart showing the percentage contributions to world primary energy consumption in 2009. The contributions are as follows: oil: 32.4%, natural gas: 22.1%, coal: 27.4%, nuclear: 5.1%. This has a footnote saying that The nuclear contribution is the notional primary energy that would be needed to produce the actual output at an efficiency of 38%. The chart continues: hydro 2.3%. This has a footnote saying The hydro contribution is the actual electrical output. The chart continues: traditional biomass: 6.0%, other sources, 4.7%. The chart has a footnote saying Total: about 502 exajoules equivalent to 12 billion tonnes of oil, or an average continous rate of energy consumption of 15.9 terawatts.

But these figures conceal major differences. The average North American
consumes more than 250 GJ per year, most people in Europe use roughly
half this amount, and many of those in the poorer countries of the world less
than one fifth much of it in the form of local biofuels (see Chapter 4).
How much do renewables contribute to world energy supplies? As Figure1.2
shows, traditional biomass, hydro power and a range of other renewable
sources contributed an estimated 13% of world primary energy in 2009.
Figure 1.3 gives a more detailed breakdown, for the year 2008.

energy from hydro

wastes 18.0% geothermal
2.4% 3.8%
solar
new biomass 0.8%
27.6% wind, wave,
tide, etc
1.2%

traditional biomass
46.2%
Total consumption: 65 EJ

Figure 1.3 Chart showing percentage breakdown of individual renewable energy

sources contributions to world primary energy supplies (sources: authors estimates
based on IEA, 2009; BP 2010)
Figure 1.3 The chart takes the form of a pie chart. Reading clockwise from the top the percentage contributions from the various renewable energy sources are: Hydro 18%; geothermal 3.8%; solar 0.8%; wind, wave, tide etc. 1.2%; traditional biomass 46.2%; new biomass 27.6%; energy from wastes 2.4%. Underneath the chart a total consumption of 65 EJ is given.

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 Chapter 1 Introducing renewable energy 9

The largest contribution is an estimated value of 30 EJ from traditional

biomass (wood, straw, dung, etc.) mainly used in developing countries.
Since most of this isnt traded, it often doesnt enter into national economic
statistics and its true magnitude is only known approximately. The next
largest category is new biomass. This includes wood and other crops
specifically grown for energy purposes, biogas, and biofuels such as
ethanol and biodiesel. This is a commodity that is likely to be traded and
so its magnitude is more certain. Hydro power is the next largest category,
supplying over 2% of the worlds primary energy. New biomass, together
with energy from wastes, geothermal energy, solar energy and energy
from wind, wave and tidal power make up the other sources shown in
Figure1.2.
In practice, many electricity generating fossil fuelled and renewable energy
technologies produce large amounts of unused waste heat. Renewable
energy proportions based on primary energy may thus give a misleading
picture. Proportions of renewable energy in national (and global) statistics are
now often quoted in terms of gross final energy consumption (see Box1.1).

Box 1.1 Primary energy, delivered energy and gross final energy
Figure 1.2 showed the estimated total global primary energy consumption for
2009. About 2530% of this was turned into waste heat in power stations,
most of which is dumped uselessly into seas, lakes or the sky via cooling
towers. Only a small percentage of this waste heat is put to good use in
district heating schemes. This wastage occurs in fossil fuelled power stations,
nuclear power plants and renewable power plants fuelled by wood or landfill
gas. For example a landfill gas plant may consume 4 kWh of (primary) gas
to produce 1 kWh of output electricity. However, other technologies such
as wind, PV and hydro power can generate useful electricity directly with
minimal losses.
When comparing technologies or compiling national statistics, those based on
delivered energy, i.e. the fuel, useful heat or electricity actually received by an
end user probably give a better representation of the overall picture.
The 2009 European Union Renewable Energy Directive (CEC, 2009) sets out
requirements for expressing future national renewable energy contributions
in terms of the gross final energy consumption. This is the defined as the
delivered energy to the end users but with two additional small contributions:
firstly, the losses in transmission of electricity and heat (in district heating
schemes); and secondly the electricity and heat consumed in energy
industries (such as in oil refineries or within power stations). However, it
does not include the very large waste heat losses in electricity generation that
feature in primary energy figures.
The overall effect of using statistics based on gross final energy is to give more
prominence to hydro, wind and PV technologies and less to low efficiency
electricity generation technologies based on fossil fuels, nuclear power
or renewables where the waste heat is not put to good use. It also focuses
attention on the need to improve electricity generation efficiencies.

How long will the worlds fossil fuel reserves last? At current consumption
rates, it is estimated that world coal reserves could last for about 120
years, oil for approximately 45 years and natural gas for around 60 years
(BP, 2010). However, in the more immediate future there are likely to
be serious constraints on the rate at which fossil fuels can be produced,

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 10 Renewable Energy

particularly oil. Existing oilfields have a limited life; once exhausted they
have to be replaced with new ones. In order just to maintain the worlds
oil production at its current level, a large number of new oil fields will
have to be developed. Even more challenging is the need for new fields
to be continuously discovered (Figure 1.4). According to the International
Energy Agency, the easy oil has been largely used up. What remains is
likely to be more expensive and in difficult areas such as the Arctic or in
deep offshore wells (IEA, 2010a).

actual data projection

100
unconventional oil
million barrels per day

80 natural gas liquids

crude oil: fields yet
60 to be found
crude oil: fields yet
40
to be developed
20 crude oil: currently
producing fields

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035
year

Figure 1.4 An International Energy Agency chart indicating the challenges involved in
maintaining current levels of conventional oil production (source: IEA, 2010a)
Figure 1.4 is an area chart showing actual and future projected values for world oil supply from 1990 to 2035. It shows the world oil supply broken into five categories: crude oil: currently producing fields; crude oil: fields yet to be developed; crude oil: fields yet to be found; natural gas liquids; unconventional oil. It has a vertical axis labelled million barrels per day, and a horizontal axis labelled year. A vertical line indicates the year 2009 with a label and arrow to the top left reading actual data, and a label and arrow to the top right reading projection. The overall chart shows a slow rise in world oil supply from 65 million barrels per day in 1990 up to 81 million barrels per day in 2009, and steadily rising to 95 million barrels per day in 2035. The world data for the category: crude oil: currently producing fields starts at 58 million barrels per day in 1990 and rises up to 70 million barrels per day in 2009. The curve continues into the projection zone by steadily falling to 15 million barrels per day in 2035. The data on crude oil: fields yet to be developed starts from zero in 2009 and increases steadily to 30 million barrels per day in 2035. The data on crude oil: fields yet to be found starts from zero in 2015 and rises steadily to 20 million barrels per day in 2035. Data from natural gas liquids begins at 7 million barrels per day in 1990, increases very slowly up to 10 million barrels per day, and continues up to 20 million barrels per day in 2035. Unconventional oil starts at zero in 1990, rises very slowly to 3 million barrels per day in 2009, and steadily up to 10 million barrels per day in 2035.

According to a study of global oil depletion by the UK Energy Research

Centre:
a peak of conventional oil production before 2030 appears likely
and there is a significant risk of a peak before 2020.
(Sorrell et al., 2009)

So although large worldwide reserves of oil will remain, the overall

production of conventional oil seems likely to plateau or even decline.
This has serious implications for the UK, where oil production peaked in
1999 and gas production peaked in 2000.

Energy use in the UK

In the UK, as in most countries, energy demand is categorized in official
statistics into four main sectors: domestic, commercial and institutional
(or services), industrial and transport.
As Figure 1.5 shows, almost one third of UK primary energy is lost in the
process of conversion and delivery most of it in the form of waste heat
from power stations. These losses are greater than the countrys demand for
space and water heating energy. Even when energy has been delivered to
customers in the various sectors, it is often used very wastefully. The UK
energy system is described in more detail in Chapter 10 of this book.
In the UK, the contribution of renewables to primary energy supply in 2009
was quite small: some 3.3% (see Figures 1.5 and 1.6(a)). The percentage

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 Chapter 1 Introducing renewable energy 11

renewables
primary
energy
coal oil gas nuclear heat

delivered
energy solid liquid gas electricity renewables and heat

by fuel

lost in conversion and delivery

domestic services transport industry
by sector

heat >100C transport machinery

by end use

space and cooking lights and

water heating appliances

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000

petajoules (PJ)

Figure 1.5 UK primary and delivered energy use, 2009 (sources: DECC, 2010a, DECC, 2010b) Note: in the second bar,
electricity includes renewable electricity; renewables and heat includes biofuels for transport and heat from CHP plants
Figure 1.5 shows the primary and delivered energy consumption of the UK for 2009, split by fuel, by sector and by end use. It has four horizontal bars. The x-axis is marked in petajoules and runs from 0 to 9000. The top bar shows primary energy. It starts with about 1300 PJ of coal use, plus a further 3000 PJ of oil use, plus a further 3600 PJ of gas use, plus a further 640 PJ of nuclear heat, plus a further 320 PJ of renewables giving a total primary energy demand of about 8800 PJ. The second bar shows delivered energy broken down by fuel. It starts with 100 PJ of solid fuel, plus a further 2700 PJ of liquid fuel, plus a further 1900 PJ of gas, plus a further 1160 PJ of electricity, plus a further 150 PJ of renewables and heat, giving a delivered energy total of about 6000 PJ. The difference between this 6000 PJ and the 8800 PJ in the top bar is 2800 PJ marked as lost in conversion and delivery. The third bar shows delivered energy broken down by sector. The domestic sector consumes about 1800 PJ, the services sector consumes a further 700 PJ, the transport sector a further 2400 PJ, and the industrial sector a further 1100 PJ, giving a total of about 6000 PJ, i.e. the same as in the second bar. The fourth bar shows delivered energy by end use. Space and water heating uses about 2100 PJ, heat above 100C uses about a further 700 PJ, cooking uses about a further 130 PJ, transport uses about a further 2400 PJ, lights and appliances use about a further 560 PJ and machinery uses a further 170 PJ, giving a total of about 6000 PJ, i.e. the same as in the second and third bars.

contribution of renewables to electricity supplies was somewhat larger,

however. Some 6.7% of UK electricity came from renewable and waste
sources, mainly in the form of wind power, with smaller contributions from
biomass, waste and landfill gas combustion and hydro power (DECC, 2010b).
The UK Government aims to increase the proportion of primary energy from
renewables to 15% by 2020 (see Section 5).

1.3 Fossil fuels and climate change

Societys current use of fossil and nuclear fuels has many adverse
consequences. These include air pollution, acid rain, the depletion
of natural resources and the dangers of nuclear radiation. This brief
introduction concentrates on one of these problems: global climate change
caused by emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion.
The surface temperature of the Earth establishes itself at an equilibrium
level where the incoming energy from the Sun balances the outgoing
infrared energy re-radiated from the surface back into space (see Chapter2,
Figure2.5). If the Earth had no atmosphere its surface temperature would be
18C; but its atmosphere, which includes greenhouse gases principally,
water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane acts like the panes of a
greenhouse, allowing solar radiation (which lies in the range UV short-
wave infrared) to enter but inhibiting the outflow of long-wave infrared
radiation. The natural greenhouse effect that these gases cause is essential

FX15_Renewable_Energy_ch01.indd 11 2/20/2012 4:29:26 PM

 12 Renewable Energy

landfill gas
23.8%
sewage gas
hydro 4.0%
6.6% wood
wind and wave 7.9%
biomass
11.6% municipal waste
80.7%
geothermal 9.5%
and solar heat liquid biofuels
1.0% 14.7%
other biomass
20.8%
Total contribution: 288 PJ or 3.3% of UK primary energy consumption

total wind other biomass landfill gas total hydro

30

25
contribution of renewable
sources to electricity
generated/TWh

20

15

10

0
1990 1995 2000 2005 2009
year

Figure 1.6 (a) Primary energy contributions from renewable energy in the UK, 2009.
The total, 6875 Mtoe, is equivalent to 288PJ. The main contributors were wind, biomass
in various forms, and hydro power (b) Growth in electricity generation from renewable
sources in the UK 19902009. In 2009 renewables contributed 6.7% of UK electricity
(source: DECC 2010b)
Figure 1.6a shows the percentage contributions to UK renewable energy in 2009. It is in the form of a pie chart, with the biomass entry further broken down as a stacked bar chart to the right. The entries for the pie chart are as follows: biomass: 80.7%, geothermal and solar heat: 1.0%, wind and wave: 11.6%, hydro: 6.6. The biomass contribution is further broken down into different categories as follows: landfill gas: 23.8%, sewage gas: 4.0%, wood: 7.9%, municipal waste: 9.5%, liquid biofuels: 14.7%, other biomass: 20.8%. There is a footnote which reads: Total contribution 258 PJ or 3.7% of UK primary energy production.

Figure 1.6b The chart takes the form of a stacked bar chart with each bar representing from bottom to top total hydro, landfill gas, other biomass and total wind. The vertical axis represents the contribution of renewable sources to electricity generation in TWh and the horizontal axis represents the year, one bar per year with five year intervals being marked. Total hydro has remained relatively constant at about 5 TWh over the total period though there were noticeable dips to 4 TWh in 1996and 2001 and to 3 TWh in 2003. In 1990 the total of the other three renewables added a further 1 TWh to bring the total to about 6 TWh. Landfill gas started to increase in 1992 but remained relatively constant at about 1TWh until about 1997 after which it grew steadily reaching about 5 TWh in 2009. Other biomass started to increase from 1991 when it contributed about 1 TWh and grew steadily to about 6 TWh in 2009. Wind power started growing in 1994 when it contributed about 1 TWh growing slowly until 2003 when it was contributing about 2 TWh then more rapidly after that so that it was contributing about 10 TWh in 2009. Thus the total contribution from renewables was about 26 TWh in 2009 which represented about 6.7% of total UK electricity.

in maintaining the Earths surface temperature at a level suitable for life

at around 15 C.
Since the industrial revolution, however, human activities have been adding
extra greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The principal contributor to
these increased emissions is carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil
fuels. Humanitys rate of emission of CO2from these fuels has increased
enormously since 1950 (see Figure 1.7).
There have also been significant additional contributions from emissions
of methane.
Scientists estimate (IPCC, 2007a) that these anthropogenic (human-induced)
emissions caused a rise in the Earths global mean surface temperature of
approximately 0.8 C between 1950 and 2005 (Figure 1.8). If emissions are
not curbed, the IPCC estimates that the Earths surface temperature could

FX15_Renewable_Energy_ch01.indd 12 2/20/2012 4:29:27 PM

 Chapter 1 Introducing renewable energy 13

35
30
CO2 emitted/Gt y 1

25 natural gas
20 oil
15 coal
10
5
0
1850 1900 1950 2000
year

Figure 1.7 CO2emissions from the burning of fossil fuels 18502009 (sources: Boden
et al., 2010; IEA, 2010b; BP, 2010)
Figure 1.7 The graph is a line graph with lines representing coal, oil and natural gas. The area under each line and above the line below is shaded to represent the contributions of coal, oil and natural gas to total CO2 emissions. CO2 emissions in Gt per year are on the y-axis with the scale being from zero to 35 Gt y-1 in 5 Gt intervals. The year is on the x-axis and is marked in 50 year intervals. In 1850 total CO2 emissions were below 1 Gt, almost entirely from coal. These grew slowly reaching about 2 Gt in 1900 and 3 Gt in 1920. Emissions then remained relatively constant until about 1945 when emissions from coal grew steadily from about 4 Gt in 1950 to about 9 Gt in 2000 then more rapidly reaching about 12 Gt in 2009. Emissions from oil were zero or negligible until about 1925 when they started to grow, slowly at first so that the total for coal plus oil had reached about 12 Gt in 1950 The total then climbed steadily until 2000 when it had reached about 19 Gt then more rapidly reaching 23 Gt in 2009. Natural gas only started showing on the graph after 1950. The total of coal plus oil plus gas grew from about 12 Gt in 1950 to 19 Gt in 2000 then more rapidly reaching 24 Gt in 2009.

rise by between 1.4 and 5.8 C (depending on the assumptions made) by

the end of the twenty-first century. Such rises would probably be associated
with an increased frequency of climatic extremes, such as floods or droughts,
and serious disruptions to agriculture and natural ecosystems. The thermal
expansion of the worlds oceans could mean that sea levels would rise by
around 0.5 m by the end of the century, which could inundate some low-
lying areas. Beyond 2100, or perhaps before, much greater sea level rises
could occur if major Antarctic ice sheets were to melt.

decadal averaged data from thermometers

95% confidence range

0.8
from 1961 to 1990 average/C

0.4
temperature difference

0.4

0.8
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
year

Figure 1.8 Observed changes in global average surface temperature 18602005, relative
to corresponding averages for the period 19611990. The term 95% confidence range
indicates that there is only a one in 20 chance of a measurement lying outside this range
(source: IPCC, 2007b)
Figure 1.8 is a line graph with temperature on the y-axis. The scale is based on the difference between the actual temperature and the average temperature between 1961 and 1990, with zero being in the centre and the scale ranging from 0.8 C to +0.8 C in 0.1 C increments. The year is on the x-axis and is marked in 10 year intervals. The line itself represents the measured difference in decadal average temperature from the 19611990 average. A shaded area either side of the line represents the 95% confidence limits i.e. there is only a one in 20 chance of a measurement lying outside this range. In 1860 the decadal average temperature difference (datd) was about 4.5 C this rose to -1.5C in 1880, fell to -5.0 C in 1910 then rose to zero in 1940, fell to 2 C in 1950 and has then risen steadily since then reaching about +5.0 in 2005. The 95% confidence interval was about 1.0 C in 1860 and remained at about that until about 1935. Over the period to 1940 it fell to about 0.75 C where it remained until 2005.

The threat of global climate change, mainly caused by carbon dioxide

emissions from fossil fuel combustion, is one of the main reasons why

FX15_Renewable_Energy_ch01.indd 13 2/20/2012 4:29:28 PM

 14 Renewable Energy

there is a growing consensus on the need to reduce such emissions. In order

to ensure that global mean temperature rises do not exceed 2 C above
pre-industrial levels by 2050, studies show that global carbon emissions
will need to be reduced by approximately 80% by that date. This implies
that global CO2 emissions need to peak almost immediately and then
fall sharply over the course of the rest of this century (Allen et al., 2009).
Emission reductions on this scale will inevitably involve a switch to low-
or zero-carbon energy sources such as renewables.

1.4 Renewable energy sources

Renewable energy can be defined as:
energy obtained from the continuous or repetitive currents of energy
recurring in the natural environment.
(Twidell and Weir, 1986)

or as
energy flows which are replenished at the same rate as they
areused
(Sorensen, 2000).

From Figure 1.9, which summarizes the origins and magnitudes of the
Earths renewable energy sources, it is clear that their principal source is
solar radiation. Approximately 30% of the 5.4 million EJ per year arriving
at the Earth is reflected back into space. The remaining 70% is, in principle,

direct conversion solar radiation:

to heat in air, 5.4 million EJ y 1 short wave radiation
earth and oceans: direct reflection to space:
(47%) 2.55 million EJ y 1 (30%) 1.64 million EJ y 1
hydrological cycle
(evaporation, precipitation):
(23%) 1.26 million EJ y 1
wind, waves
convection and currents:
(<1%) 11.7 thousand EJ y 1

convection in
volcanoes
and hot springs:
9.36 EJ y 1
photosynthesis:
1260 EJ y 1

hydroelectric
power
ocean tides:
93.6 EJ y 1

conduction in rocks: 1008 EJ y 1

Figure 1.9 The various forms of renewable energy depend primarily on incoming solar
radiation, which totals some 5.4 million EJ per year
Figure 1.9 is a drawing showing the fate of the Earths incoming solar radiation, which totals 5.4 million EJ per year. Coloured arrows show it split into five portions over a landscape of greenery, rivers, volcanoes and the sea; a dam on a river is labelled hydroelectric power. The rock substrate is also visible at the front of the drawing. The five arrows are labelled: short wave radiation direct reflection to space (30%) 1.64 million EJ per year; direct conversion to heat in air, earth and oceans: (49%) 2.65 million EJ per year; hydrological cycle (evaporation, precipitation): (20%) 1.08 million EJ per year; photosynthesis: (less than 1%) 1260 EJ per year. The ocean is labelled ocean tides: 93.6 EJ per year. The rock substrate is labelled conduction in rocks: 1008 EJ per year.

FX15_Renewable_Energy_ch01.indd 14 2/20/2012 4:29:30 PM

 Chapter 1 Introducing renewable energy 15

available for use on Earth, and amounts to approximately 3.8 million EJ,
more than 8200 times the rate of consumption of fossil and nuclear fuels in
2009, some 462 EJ. (If biofuels and hydro power are included, total world
energy consumption was 502 EJ, as stated earlier.) Two non-solar, renewable
energy sources are also shown on the figure: the motion of the ocean tides
and geothermal heat from the Earths interior, which manifests itself in
convection in volcanoes and hot springs, and in conduction in rocks.

Solar energy: direct uses

Solar radiation can be converted into useful energy directly, using various
technologies. Absorbed in solar collectors, it can provide hot water or
space heating. Buildings can also be designed with passive solar features
that enhance the contribution of solar energy to their space heating and
lighting requirements.
Solar energy can also be concentrated by mirrors to provide high-temperature
heat for generating electricity. Such solar thermal-electric power stations
are in commercial operation in countries like the USA and Spain. Solar
thermal energy conversion is described in Chapter 2.
Solar radiation can also be converted directly into electricity using photovoltaic
(PV) modules, normally mounted on the roofs or facades of buildings. At the
time of writing, electricity from photovoltaics is more expensive than that
from conventional sources, but prices are falling fast and the industry is
expanding rapidly. Solar photovoltaics is described in Chapter 3.

Solar energy: indirect uses

Solar radiation can be converted to useful energy indirectly, via other
energy forms. A large fraction of the radiation reaching the Earths surface
is absorbed by the oceans, warming them and adding water vapour to the
air. The water vapour condenses as rain to feed rivers, into which dams and
turbines can be located to extract the energy of the flowing water.
Hydropower, described in Chapter 5, has steadily grown during the
twentieth century, and at the time of writing provides about a sixth of the
worlds electricity.
Sunlight falls in a more perpendicular direction in tropical regions and
more obliquely at high latitudes, heating the tropics to a greater degree than
polar regions. The result is a massive heat flow towards the poles, carried
by currents in the oceans and the atmosphere. The energy in such currents
can be harnessed, for example by wind turbines. Wind power, described in
Chapter 7, has developed on a large scale only in the past few decades, but
is one of the fastest-growing of the new renewable sources of electricity.
Where winds blow over long stretches of ocean, they create waves, and a
variety of devices can be used to extract that energy. Wave power, described
in Chapter 8, is attracting new funding for research, development and
demonstration in several countries.
Bioenergy, discussed in Chapter 4, is another indirect manifestation of
solar energy. Through photosynthesis in plants, solar radiation converts
water and atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbohydrates, which form the
basis of more complex molecules. Biomass, in the form of wood or other

FX15_Renewable_Energy_ch01.indd 15 2/20/2012 4:29:31 PM

 16 Renewable Energy

biofuels, is a major world energy source, especially in the developing

world. Gaseous and liquid fuels derived from biological sources make
significant contributions to the energy supplies of some countries. Biofuels
can also be derived from wastes, many of which are biological in origin.
Biofuels are a renewable resource if the rate at which they are consumed
is no greater than the rate at which new plants are re-grown which,
unfortunately, is often not the case. Although the combustion of biofuels
generates atmospheric CO 2 emissions, these should be offset by the
CO2absorbed when the plants were growing, but significant emissions of
other greenhouse gases can result if the combustion is inefficient.

Non-solar renewables
Two other sources of renewable energy do not depend on solar radiation:
tidal and geothermal energy.
Tidal energy, discussed in Chapter 6, is often confused with wave energy,
but its origins are quite different. Ocean tides are caused by the gravitational
pull of the Moon (with a small contribution from the Sun) on the worlds
oceans, causing a regular rise and fall in water levels as the Earth rotates.
The power of the tides can be harnessed by building a low dam or barrage
behind which the rising waters are captured and then allowed to flow back
through electricity-generating turbines.
It is also possible to harness the power of strong underwater currents, which
are mainly tidal in origin. Various devices for exploiting this energy source,
such as marine current turbines (rather like underwater wind turbines) are
at the demonstration stage.
Heat from within the Earth is the source of geothermal energy, discussed
in Chapter 9. The high temperature of the interior was originally caused
by gravitational contraction of the planet as it was formed, but has since
been enhanced by the heat from the decay of radioactive materials deep
within the Earth.
In some places where hot rocks are very near to the surface, water is
heated in underground aquifers. These have been used for centuries to
provide hot water or steam. In some countries, geothermal steam is used
to produce electricity and, in others, hot water from geothermal wells is
used for heating.
If steam or hot water is extracted at a greater rate than heat is replenished
from surrounding rocks, a geothermal site will cool down and new holes
will have to be drilled nearby. When operated in this way, geothermal energy
is not strictly renewable. However, it is possible to operate in a renewable
mode by keeping the rate of extraction below the rate of renewal.

1.5 Renewable energy in a sustainable

future
Renewable energy sources are already providing a significant proportion
of the worlds primary energy; Chapter 10 Integration will describe a
number of long-term energy studies suggesting that renewables are likely
to be providing a much greater proportion of the worlds energy by the

FX15_Renewable_Energy_ch01.indd 16 2/20/2012 4:29:31 PM

 Chapter 1 Introducing renewable energy 17

second half of the twenty-first century. However, this introductory chapter

concludes with a very brief look at the prospects for renewable energy in the
European Union (EU) as a whole, and in the United Kingdom in particular,
in the coming decades.
The EU in its 20:20:20 Directive, passed in 2009, set a target for Europe
to achieve by 2020 a 20% reduction in carbon emissions combined with
a 20% contribution to gross final energy consumption from renewable
sources. Within this overall target, individual member states have been
given different specific targets suited to their climates and circumstances:
the target for the UK is to produce 15% of primary energy from renewables
by 2020 (European Union, 2011).
EU member countries have been directed to produce National Renewable
Energy Action Plans showing how they propose to achieve their 20:20:20
targets. The UK Governments Action Plan (DECC, 2010c) concludes that
delivering 15% of UK gross final energy consumption by 2020 is likely to
involve renewables generating approximately:
30% of electricity demand, including 2% from small-scale sources
12% of heat demand
10% of transport demand.
To ensure that these targets are met, the UK government has put in place a
number of support measures which include the following.
A Renewables Obligation (RO): an obligation on large-scale electricity
suppliers to source a significant proportion of their supplies from
renewable sources.
A Clean Energy Cash-Back scheme (similar to the feed-in tariff schemes
operating in Germany and some other countries), under which premium
prices are paid to small-scale generators of renewable electricity.
A Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), offering incentives to encourage the
use of heat producing renewables.
A Renewable Transport Fuel obligation, in which road fuel suppliers
are obliged to blend in a proportion of biofuels.
A Green Investment Bank to channel capital towards renewable energy
and energy efficiency projects.
Looking a little further ahead, to 2030, the UK Committee on Climate
Change in its 2011 report on Renewable Energy (CCC, 2011) envisaged the
renewable energy contribution rising to:
between 35% and 65% of electricity supplies
between 35% and 50% of UK heat demand
between 11% and 25% of transport energy needs.
The precise values achieved will depend on the policies pursued and
their effectiveness. The total contribution of renewables to gross final
consumption could be between 28% and 46% (Figure 1.10).

1.6 Summary
The analysis on which Figure 1.10 is based, together with other similar
analyses, suggests that the prospects for renewable energy in the coming

FX15_Renewable_Energy_ch01.indd 17 2/20/2012 4:29:31 PM

 18 Renewable Energy

decades look bright. Chapter 10 examines in more detail the future prospects
for renewables in the UK, the EU and the World as a whole.
In the chapters that follow, each of the principal renewable energy sources
are examined in turn: in each case their physical principles, the main
technologies involved, their costs and environmental impact, the size of
the potential resource and their future prospects are discussed. To start,
we discuss the renewable source that is the basis of most of the others:
solar energy.

non-renewable renewable
1 800 renewables
3% 6 000
1 600 15% 28% 31% 34% 46%
gross final consumption/TWh

gross final consumption/PJ

1 400 5 000
1 200
4 000
1 000
800 3 000

600 2 000
400
1 000
200
0 0
2009 2020 2030 2030 2030 2030 year
E = 6.6% E = 30% E = 30% E = 40% E = 50% E = 65%
H = 1.6% H = 12% H = 35% H = 35% H = 35% H = 50%
T = 2.5% T = 8% T = 11% T = 11% T = 11% T = 25%

Figure 1.10 Scenario from the UK Committee on Climate Change illustrating the potential contribution of renewables to UK
heat (H), electricity (E) and transport energy (T), and to overall gross final energy consumption, by 2020 and 2030, compared
with the contributions in 2009 (adapted from, CCC, 2011). Note: gross final consumption shown above is approximately
equivalent to delivered energy, excluding losses in conversion and delivery, as shown in the last three bars of Figure 1.5 above
Figure 1.10 takes the form of a stacked bar chart showing the contribution of renewables and non-renewables to total energy consumption. The vertical axis has delivered energy in TWh and ranges from zero to 1800 TWh in 200 TWh increments. There are bars representing delivered energy in 2009 and projected figures for 2020 and for four different scenarios for 2030 with the contribution of renewables and fossil fuels to total delivered energy shaded in different colours. Above each bar, the contribution of renewables to total delivered energy is given as a percentage and below each bar the total contribution of renewables to electricity supply (E), heat demand (H) and transport energy needs (T) are given as percentages. For 2009, the total delivered energy is 1600 TWh with 3% from renewables. Underneath the contributions are given as E=6.6%. H=1.6% and T=2.5%. For 2020 the expected delivered energy is about 1500 TWh with renewables contributing 15%. The contributions are given as E=30%, H=12% and T=8%. For 2030 the total delivered energy is about 1500 TWh for all four scenarios. For scenario 1), renewables are 28% of delivered energy with the contributions being E=30%, H=35% and T=11%. For scenario 2) renewables are 31% of delivered energy and contributions are E=40%, H=35% and T=11%. For scenario 3) renewables are 34% of delivered energy and contributions are E=50%, H=35% and T=11%. For scenario 4) renewables are 46% of delivered energy and contributions are E=65%, H=50% and T=25%.

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