Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
that would be 493.8 kmon a side. This area, compared to the area of the Sahara desert,
9
10
6
km
2
, is 2.7%.
Adetailed plan for providing renewable power to Europe has been given by Czisch.
This comprehensive plan
finds that transmission lines are essential to a plan that can
power all of Europe at similar to present rates, without coal or oil as source (http://
www.iset.uni-kassel.de/abt/w3-w/projekte/WWEC2004.pdf Dr. G. Czisch, Low cost
but totally renewable electricity supply for a huge supply area: a european/trans-
european
example
(http://www2.fz-juelich.de/ief/ief-ste//datapool/steforum/
Czisch-Text.pdf).).
The data in Figures 1.1 and 1.2 should be regarded as accurate numbers, and this
total consumption is reasonably extrapolated to double by 2050 and triple by 2100. To
make a difference in the global energy pattern, any new source has to be on the scale
of 1
-
5 TW, on a long timescale. The total geothermal power at the earths surface is
estimated as 12 TW, only a small portion extractable. It is said that total untapped
hydroelectric capacity is 0.5 TW and total power from waves and tides is less than
2 TW. These latter estimates are not so certain. See Basic Research Needs for Solar
Energy Utilization, Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solar Energy
Utilization, April 18
-
21, 2005, U.S. Department of Energy.
An overview of the potential renewable energy sources in the global environment
has been offered by Richter. The numbers in Table 1.1 are totals and do not indicate
what fractions may be extractable.
These numbers do not re
ect any estimate of what portion may be extractable.
Thus, Figure 1.1 indicates 1.07 TW global hydroelectric power, which is far short of
7 TW in this table for river
flow energy, and elsewhere it is estimated that untapped
hydroelectric power is only 0.5 TW. Such an estimate probably does not consider the
potential for water turbines, analogous to wind turbines, in worldwide rivers (based
on Table 8.1, Richter [3]).
Our interest is in the science and technology of long-term solutions to energy
production, with emphasis on the aspects that are addressed by nanophysics, or
quantum physics. Quantum physics is needed to understand the energy release in
the sun and in nuclear fusion reactors such as Tokamaks on earth, and also to
understand photovoltaic cells and related devices. It seems sensible to describe these
Table 1.1
Global natural power sources in terawatts (adapted from Ref. [3]).
Average global power consumed, 2008
14.7
Solar input onto land mass
a)
30 500
Wind
840
Ocean waves
56
Ocean tides
3.5
Geothermal world potential
32.2
Global photosynthesis
91
River
ow energy
7
a) Solar input onto land area assuming 205W/m
2
.
