Chapter 1. Comparative Impacts of Fossil Fuels and Alternative Energy Sources

Author(s):  
Klaus S. Lackner
Author(s):  
Kau-Fui Vincent Wong ◽  
Guillermo Amador

As society continues advancing into the future, more energy is required to supply the increasing population and energy demands. Unfortunately, traditional forms of energy production through the burning of carbon-based fuels are dumping harmful pollutants into the environment, resulting in detrimental, and possibly irreversible, effects on our planet. The burning of coal and fossil fuels provides energy at the least monetary cost for countries like the US, but the price being paid through their negative impact of our atmosphere is difficult to quantify. A rapid shift to clean, alternative energy sources is critical in order to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. For alternative energy sources to replace traditional energy sources that produce greenhouse gases, they must be capable of providing energy at equal or greater rates and efficiencies, while still functioning at competitive prices. The main factors hindering the pursuit of alternative sources are their high initial costs and, for some, intermittency. The creation of electrical energy from natural sources like wind, water, and solar is very desirable since it produces no greenhouse gases and makes use of renewable sources—unlike fossil fuels. However, the planning and technology required to tap into these sources and transfer energy at the rate and consistency needed to supply our society comes at a higher price than traditional methods. These high costs are a result of the large-scale implementation of the state-of-the-art technologies behind the devices required for energy cultivation and delivery from these unorthodox sources. On the other hand, as fossil fuel sources become scarcer, the rising fuel costs drive overall costs up and make traditional methods less cost effective. The growing scarcity of fossil fuels and resulting pollutants stimulate the necessity to transition away from traditional energy production methods. Currently, the most common alternative energy technologies are solar photovoltaics (PVs), concentrated solar power (CSP), wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, tidal, wave, and nuclear. Because of government intervention in countries like the US and the absence of the need to restructure the electricity transmission system (due to the similarity in geographical requirements and consistency in power outputs for nuclear and traditional plants), nuclear energy is the most cost competitive energy technology that does not produce greenhouse gases. Through the proper use of nuclear fission electricity at high efficiencies could be produced without polluting our atmosphere. However, the initial capital required to erect nuclear plants dictates a higher cost over traditional methods. Therefore, the government is providing help with the high initial costs through loan guarantees, in order to stimulate the growth of low-emission energy production. This paper analyzes the proposal for the use of nuclear power as an intermediate step before an eventual transition to greater dependence on energy from wind, water, and solar (WWS) sources. Complete dependence on WWS cannot be achieved in the near future, within 20 years, because of the unavoidable variability of these sources and the required overhaul of the electricity transmission system. Therefore, we look to nuclear power in the time being to help provide predictable power as a means to reduce carbon emissions, while the other technologies are refined and gradually implemented in order to meet energy demand on a consistent basis.


Author(s):  
Jude Iyinbor ◽  
Ogunrinde Abayomi

Negative environmental effects, diminishing fossil fuel sources and soaring oil prices are some of the pertinent factors militating against the long term usage of fossil fuels. These make the introduction of alternative energy sources an integral part of our global energy plan. On the contrary, established fossil fuel infrastructures, flexibility of fossil fuels and economic gains from the oil sector are a few reasons why there is a global attitude of ‘drill the last drop before developing sustainable alternatives’. There are various energy sources that have little environmental effects and are sustainable (e.g. wind, geothermal, solar, hydro, biomass, e.t.c.), but the potentials they do have when it comes to the major energy utilization forms (heat, electricity and liquid and gaseous fuels) will be a key determinant of how alternative energy sources will be able to match the seemingly invincible presence of fossil fuels. The biomass option is examined in this report considering its potential with respect to heat, electricity and liquid and gaseous fuels market. Factors that may favour or hinder its potential and suitable solutions on how the potential can be increased are also discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Kris Hariyanto ◽  
Benedictus Mardwianta

Biogas is an alternative energy sources as a substitute for fossil fuels in household activities daily, but there are obstacles in the use of biogas, namely the difficulty of arranging a flame that is stable and fuel consumption relatively less efficient biogas. So it takes a design development system that will produce a burning stove produces biogas-fueled stove fits the purpose of research, on the other hand biogas stove should be simple, cheap production price, maximum efficiency and safe to use. Stages in the study include: desk assessment, creation of objective requirements design, manufacture conceptual and basic design, manufacture real stove. As for knowing the performance of the stove carried stove performance tests are: test flame stability and efficiency. The results showed that the efficiency of the biogas stove design results in only 31 percent higher than the efficiency of biogas stoves old design, while the fuel consumption of biogas stoves new design is 16 percent lower when compared with fuel consumption of biogas stoves old design. In terms of manufacture and ease of repair and maintenance of gas cookers new design is more easily repaired and easy to make and simple in form compared with the old design biogas stoves.


2013 ◽  
pp. 261-278
Author(s):  
Abdeen Mustafa Omer

In the recent attempts to stimulate alternative energy sources for heating and cooling of buildings, emphasis has been put on utilisation of the ambient energy from ground source and other renewable energy sources. Exploitation of renewable energy sources and particularly ground heat in buildings can significantly contribute towards reducing dependency on fossil fuels. This paper highlights the potential energy saving that could be achieved through use of ground energy source. It also focuses on the optimisation and improvement of the operation conditions of the heat cycles and performances of the DX GSHP. It is concluded that the direct expansion of GSHP are extendable to more comprehensive applications combined with the ground heat exchanger in foundation piles and the seasonal thermal energy storage from solar thermal collectors. This article discusses the principle of the ground source energy, varieties of GSHPs, and various developments.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cui Quan ◽  
Ningbo Gao

Concerns in the last few decades regarding the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the dependence on fossil fuels have resulted in calls for more renewable and alternative energy sources. This has led to recent interest in copyrolysis of biomass and coal. Numerous reviews have been found related to individual pyrolysis of coal and biomass. This review deals mainly with the copyrolysis of coal and biomass and then compares their results with those obtained using coal and biomass pyrolysis in detail. It is controversial whether there are synergistic or additive behaviours when coal and biomass are blended during copyrolysis. In this review, the effects of reaction parameters such as feedstock types, blending ratio, heating rate, temperature, and reactor types on the occurrence of synergy are discussed. Also, the main properties of the copyrolytic products are pointed out. Some possible synergistic mechanisms are also suggested. Additionally, several outlooks based on studies in the literature are also presented in this paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 244 ◽  
pp. 01007
Author(s):  
Svetlana Ovchinnikova ◽  
Aleksandr Borovkov ◽  
Galina Kukinova ◽  
Nina Markina

An overview of the substantiation of the relevance of the transition to mass ecological housing construction, which is determined by an acute shortage of housing and a high increase in the cost of electricity, is given. The development of an ecological substantiation of an energy-independent house using the example of a one-story house, taking into account natural and climatic conditions, is presented. The characteristics of the work of all utilized engineering systems are considered. It has been established that the housing and utilities sector, being one of the main sources of air and groundwater pollution, creates a large amount of household waste, which has a detrimental effect on the environmental situation. Renewable energy sources have an inexhaustible supply, since they are obtained from natural processes that will not be exhausted in the foreseeable future. Thus, the prospects for renewable energy sources are in considering them to replace fossil fuels. Economic efficiency is defined, which implies that the energy source is economical both in relation to the net cost of production and in relation to supply. The development of renewable energy sources will play an important role in the transformation and digitalization of the Russian power industry. Technologies of energy storage, intelligent systems for forecasting production and demand, predictive analytics of equipment condition, consumption management and many others will be developed.


The United Kingdom grows a little more than one half of its food and it is shown that agriculture uses 4 % of national energy to make this unprocessed food available at the farm gate. Small though this may be, it is absolutely vital to British agriculture, for present levels of productivity are highly dependent on its use, principally through the media of mechanization and fertilizers. The prospects for the United Kingdom’s indigenous energy supplies are examined and it is shown that while self-sufficiency seems assured in the 1980s, before the turn of the century we may once again be competing in world markets for scarce and expensive fossil fuels. The prospects for making better use of existing and alternative energy sources in agriculture are discussed. It is shown that conservation measures may be practised in relation to existing energy sources in respect of powered machines, cultivations, drying of crops and glasshouse heating and that there are also possibilities in respect of fertilizers. New and under-used sources considered include solar energy by direct and photosynthetic means (energy crops), crop residues, animal wastes, wind power, industrial waste heat, and geothermal energy, and some examples are given of their application to agricultural systems. Some of these new and under-used sources of energy appear to offer some prospects of supplementing present sources but their future will be critically dependent on the availability and cost of energy from these more conventional sources.


2019 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 04018
Author(s):  
E. A. Konnikov ◽  
K. V. Osipova ◽  
N. A. Yudina ◽  
E.P. Korsak

The energy crisis of 1973-1974 showed that it is difficult to constantly increase the power supply of production, based only on traditional energy sources. The power supply of society is the basis of its scientific and technological progress. It means that it is necessary to introduce unconventional, alternative energy sources more widely. Unlike fossil fuels, unconventional forms of energy are not limited to geologically reserves. Their use and consumption does not lead to the inevitable exhaustion of stocks. However, currently, the reform of world energy markets and increasing the share of renewable energy sources in their structure is a long and innovative process. Lots of countries (Russia in particular) bear significant risks because of reforming their own energy market, which causes a slight increase in the share of renewable energy sources. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of environmental factors on the development of renewable energy sources in Russia. The result of this study is a system of econometric equations, which allows to evaluate the impact of changes in key drivers of the development of the renewable energy market.


Author(s):  
Sophie Anderson ◽  
Pattanathu K.S.M. Rahman

This chapter discusses alternative energy sources and the advantages of biofuels over fossil fuels. It outlines the main steps of bioethanol production and suggests some alternative sources as potential feedstock. The core focus of this chapter is to examine new research which considers the use of agricultural waste as a feedstock for bioethanol production rather than conventional feedstocks such as sugarcane and corn. The advantages of sugarcane bagasse as a feedstock are discussed in detail and the bioprocessing requirements are studied in comparison to traditional methods that use sugarcane as the feedstock. The chapter concludes by briefly outlining further research that could potentially improve these processes.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document