Professional Documents
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Renewable Energy Sources
Renewable Energy Sources
Sources
Temperature stabilization:
a few centuries
CO2 stabilization:
100 to 300 years
CO2 emissions
Today
100 years
1,000 years
Chu
700
600
History
Projections
500
400
300
200
100
0
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1999 2005 2010 2015 2020
2010
Electrical generation
recoverable
Coal
125
1300
Petroleum
50?
Natural gas
50?
Oil shale
2500
Conventional reactors
15
Breeder reactors
115
750
Fusion
106 to 109
Geothermal surface
deep rock
0.2
60
600
Tidal energy
0.1
Organic Waste
0.1
Photosynthesis
0.23
Hydropower
0.14
Wind Power
Solar radiation
740
25-50
Cost, /kW-hr
25
20
15
Cost
10
5
0
1-4 2.3-5.0
Coal
Gas
Oil
6-8
5-7
Wind
6-7
Nuclear
Solar
Energy Costs
Brazil
Europe
$0.05/kW-hr
www.undp.org/seed/eap/activities/wea
Courtesy Nate Lewis
Nuclear
Fission
Magnetic Plasma
Confinement,
Inertial Fusion
Waste &
Nuclear Proliferation
10 TW = 10,000 new 1 GW
reactors: i.e., a new
reactor every other day for
the next 50 years
Geothermal
CO
2
O2
H2
Sugar
sc
H2 O
sc
H2 O
O2
Photosynthesis
Semiconductor/
liquid junctions
Photovoltaic and
electricity to
chemical
Although hot areas near surface are limited, the earth is hot
everywhere if you go down far enough.
Bright idea!? drill deep enough to find heat. Since rock is a poor conductor of
heat, set off a big bomb to crack the rock and allow heat to move then pump
down water to make steam.
Hydropower = dams
Norway,
Zambia,
Ghana big
users
Tidal Power
1. In areas of large tides
2. Anywhere build
offshore dam
Problems:
1. Corrosion
2. Navigation
3. Appearance
4. Amount of energy available
is low
5. Best tides are near poles
away from people.
Banning Pass
Netherlands =
coastal
development
Big Plants
2. Solar Photovoltaics
Soft =
1. Big plants
1. Decentralized
2. Centralized production
Big Plants
Decentralized