Renewable Energy and Policy Targets

Trevor Craig

Energy Science 110

Renewable Energy & Policy Targets 18

11/12/11         

This lecture was about renewable energy both the costs and uses, while keeping it in comparison to the fossil fuels we use today. We are using more fossil fuels every day and that is causing more CO2 emissions, which become part of the atmosphere, ultimately causing an increase in global warming. In 1960 our emissions were about 4 PgC year of CO2 and then in 2000 it was a little bit more than 8 PgC a year, that is a great increase in CO2, which now comes primarily from fossil fuels.

The United States used to be the largest contributor to CO2 emissions in the world but now China is starting to surpass us. It is highly likely that between the years 2006-2030 we will see China producing 2000 Mtoe of energy and a majority of that coming from coal and oil, approximately 1650 Mtoe of it. Coal and oil is a large contributor to CO2 emissions and in turn make global warming move faster. The United States has thought of many ways to make our emissions go down and still work at our current pace. In 2030 we are expected to reach 3000 million tons of CO2 but using different new techniques to reduce our emissions we could be down to about 1600 million tons of CO2.

Renewable energy is about 12.9% of energy used, renewable energy is a good way to cut down on our carbon emissions but it is not as effective as things like oil. Renewable energy used to be very expensive, in 1980 for wind energy it was about 50 COE cents/kWh but in 2010 it was about 5 COE cents/kWh, obviously costs are going down, this is also true for other types of renewable energy. Not all renewable energies are equal some are much more effective than others, solar radiation has the most potential for getting energy as seen on a log scale it is 10^16W where things like ocean currents are only about 10^9W, and global fuel consumption is about 10^13W.  

It looks like renewable energy especially solar power would be extremely beneficial but there is an unfortunate truth to these fossil fuels. Renewable energy has a lower power density than fossil fuels; most renewable energy sources need to go through some sort of converter to be able to be used by us, unlike oil. There are other problems like the cost of renewable energy being higher, and groups that do not want us to use renewable energy. There is a long road ahead of us before we will be using more renewable energy than oil or gasoline, but maybe someday we will get there.

Incremental- increasing gradually by regular degrees or additions.

Photovoltaic- Relating to the production of electric current at the junction of two substances exposed to light.

ENSC110 Craig Renewable Energy & Policy Targets 18