Electromagnetic radiation

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The solar irradiation curve outside the atmosphere approximates a
black body at 5900ºK. At the surface it is more ragged because of
some frequencies are selectively absorbed by gases in the
atmosphere. Note that CO2 absorbs longer wavelenth infrared
radiation. Ozone in the upper atmosphere blocks ultraviolet (at
ground level it is an unhealthy component of smog.

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This is the same as the previous plot but it highlights the band of EM
radiation that is visible

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This shows an energy budget for the earth. Half of the incoming
solar energy is absorbed by the ground. Only a tiny fraction is
absorbed by photosynthesizing plants.

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Most of the rest is radiated back to space. The earth acts as a black
body at ~300ºC.

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 US Energy Production and Consumption

This shows the US energy consumption and production for the past
50 years. In the late 50’s the US became a net energy importer and
since the m id-70’s our energy consumption has significantly
exceeded our production. Most of the short fall is oil

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 US Energy Consumption

This shows energy consumption by source. You can see the effects
of the the 1970’s energy crisis on oil and natural gas usage. Coal
use has increased steadily. Our use of nuclear power also
increased until very recently which is interesting since no new
nuclear power plants have been commissioned since the 3-mile
island accident in 1979. It demonstrates the long timelines involved
in bringing these systems on-line

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 US Energy Production and Consumption

US Energy Consumption

US Energy Production

This graph shows the our energy consumption and production by fuel
type in a bar graph format. NPGL should be NGPL and stands for
Natural Gas Plant Liquids. Note that our production and
consumption of Geothermal and Other sources (Solar, wind etc)
amounts to <0.5 Quadrillion BTU. Also note the mismatch between
petroleum production and consumption

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 US Energy Consumption

This shows how we use energy. Nearly all of the energy for
transportation comes from petroleum

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 US Energy Consumption

Non-primary consumption means the use of electricity Generation

This figure looks at energy production by sector and compares

primary production (i.,e., production on site) with the total production.
The difference represents usage of electricity.

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 US Fuel Use for Electricity Generation

Coal accounts for over half our electricity production.

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 US Fuel Use for Electricity Generation

Note how our use of coal for electricity production has increased
steadily over the past 50 years. Oil use for electricity production
decreased substantially after the 70’s oild crisis.

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 US Renewaable Energy Share

Renewable energy represents only 6% of the US energy budget.

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 US Renewable non-hydroelectric electricity sources

Note: we consume 20,000 Trillion BTU of coal for electricity generation

Our use of wind power is increasing rapidly but in 2003 it

represented about 100 trillion BTU or about 0.1% of our total usage
which is 100 quadrillion

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 Current consumption is ~90 trillion cubic feet per year

This just shows one estimate of our current gas reserves. The
reserves will last for 70 years at current consumption rates.

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 Current consumption is ~26 Billion barrels per year

Most of the world’s crude oil reserves are in the Middle East.
According to this estimate our current reserves will last for 40 years at
current consumption rates

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 Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Energy Consumption

Global emissions are ~25 billion metric tons

The US leads the World in carbon dioxide emissions

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