Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
choice in Kansas; New Mexico will not depend on biomass; and geo-
thermal energy is not the best bet in Ohio. But these sources of energy
can be generated in other areas of the country and, assuming electrical
transmission lines are available, can be transmitted to wherever they are
needed, so geography is not an insurmountable barrier to the use of any
of these alternative energy sources anywhere in the United States. But
adequate transmission lines will not be available for many years to come.
However, it is not clear that coast-to-coast transmission lines are
needed because renewable energy sources exist everywhere in the country.
The West has abundant supplies of geothermal energy; the Southwest
can develop solar power; the Northeast has strong winds offshore; the
Midwest is rich in land-based wind power; several areas have abundant
hydrothermal resources for power. In each area, developing these power
sources and using them locally would be less expensive than piping in
clean energy from thousands of miles away. The cost of building new
power lines is estimated to be $2 million to $10 million per mile. And
the farther electricity is transported, the more of it is dissipated, analo-
gous to friction losses in objects moving along the ground. This “line
loss” gobbles up an estimated 2 to 3 percent of electricity nationally.
2
Current Development: Where Are We Now?
The tide of energy sources has begun to change across the country.
Alternative and renewable resources made up 11 percent of U.S. energy
sources in 2008 and are on a sharply upward trajectory, led by increases
in wind power and biomass.
3
Renewables accounted for over 50 percent
of new capacity in 2009. The federal government also forecasts that
nonhydropower renewable power will meet one-third of total generation
growth between 2007 and 2030, with natural gas from domestic uncon-
ventional sources supplying most of the remaining growth (fi gure 7.2).
Oil use is forecast to stagnate, and oil imports are forecast to decline, as
will natural gas imports.
Clean energy is a major focus of President Obama's administration, the
fi rst administration since the Arab oil embargo in 1973 that has identifi ed
sustainable energy as an important goal. Although President Carter had
declared oil independence the “moral equivalent of war,” nothing was
accomplished in his administration. In the stimulus bill passed in 2009,
the administration inserted about $70 billion in grants, loans, and loan
guarantees for Department of Energy head Steven Chu to award for high-
tech research and commercial projects for renewable energy. This is nearly
