Chapter 2 - Alternative Energy Sources, Pages 33-56

33
CHAPTER 2
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES
"The question that comes up among policy makers, again and again is: - If not coal,
and if not nuclear, then what?"
Christopher Flavin, State of the World,
Penguin Books, Canada Ltd. 1988, pp 23
This chapter provides numerical data describing the magnitude of the energy required to sustain a high
standard of living. It includes a review of technical and environmental factors for energy sources that
are potential replacements for fossil fuels and examines their fitness to supply the energy for a high
standard of hving on a worldwide basis. Sources that have any likelihood of being used in the next 30
years are examined. One source is selected as the most suitable for future energy and the rationale for
its selection is provided.
ENERGY USE
Table 2.1 is presented to illustrate the magnitude of energy use in the United States.
1 Consumption
Fossil Fuels
Coal
1 Natural Gas
1 Petroleum
Nuclear Electric
Renewable
Hydroelectric
Geothermal
1 Biofuels
Solar Energy
1 Wind
1985
78.05
69.86
18.82
18.81
32.62
4.38
3.59
3.59
0.21
0.01
0.00
0.00
1990
88.71
75.91
20.15
20.36
35.40
6.50
6.51
3.27
0.37
2.49
0.07
0.02
1995
95.86
81.17
21.19
23.37
36.57
7.57
7.13
3.66
0.36
3.01
0.07
0.03
1998
99.77
84.94
22.78
23.13
38.96
7.55
7.37
3.75
0.36
3.15
0.07
0.03
1999
101.91
86.05
22.89
23.31
39.78
8.15
7.77
3.61
.35
3.70
0.08
0.04
2005
108
2010 1
114 1
1 Table 2.1 Energy Use in the United States (2005 & 2010 are estimated) |
Adapted from: The World Almanac, 2001,
Energy Consumption in units of 10^^ Joules (One Joule = one watt second)
Table 2.1 covers actual energy consumption in the United States from 1985 to 1999 with a linear projection through 2010.
34 An End To Global Warming
To place future energy needs in proper perspective, let us look at the natural energy flux on the earth.
The sun provides 8.38 Joules/cm^/min at earth's distance. ^"^ The earth intercepts a circular area of
4.068 X 10^^ cm^. There are 525,600 minutes per year. Thus, solar energy flux on earth is 1.792 x 10^"^
Joules per year. The 1999 United States Energy use from Table 2.1 is about 1.02 x 10
year. United States energy use is 0.00568% of the total solar flux.
Joules per
Table 2.2A, B & C lists the non-fossil energy sources that are potential candidates to fill all or part of
our future energy needs as defined in Table 2.1. They are divided into renewable sources, non-
renewable sources with relatively short lifetime and non-renewable sources with a long lifetime. In
this context, a lifetime less than 100 years is considered short.
Potential Energy Sources for the Replacement of Fossil Fuels
[SOURCE
Solar
1 Biomass
Geothermal
Wind
1 Hydropower
1 Ocean Thermal Gradients
1 Ocean Tides
1 Ocean Waves
POTENTIAL USE
Space heat, industrial process heat, and
Electric power generation.
Space heat, industrial process heat, and 1
Electric power generation. 1
Space heat, industrial process heat, and
Electric power generation |
Table 2-2A Renewable Sources
1 SOURCE """""
[Burner nuclear fission
^poTErmAL^us^^ ^ _| ^^^" ' "" 1
space heat. Industrial process heat
And electric power generation |
Table 2-2B Non-renewable sources with short use life
1 SOURCE 1
1 Breeder nuclear fission
fThermonuclear fusion
Table 2-2C Non-renewable s
POTENTIAL USE |
Space heat. Industrial process heat
And electric power generation. |
Space heat. Industrial process heat
And electric power generation. |
tources with long service life
This chapter will sketch the characteristics of each of these sources. The sketches are adequate to
provide for understanding the long-range utihty of each of the energy sources. All these sources
require a complex fixed facility to produce or harvest (in the case of the renewables) the energy. It
Weast, Robert, Editor, "Handbook of Physics and Chemistry", 67 edition, 1987
Alternative Energy Sources 35
should be noted, however, that none of the sources of energy hsted in Table 2.2 provides a portable
fuel of high-energy content, as is provided by gasoline, diesel or jet fuel.
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES ''
SOLAR ENERGY
An enormous amount of solar energy is available and it has been used for centuries. ^^ Because of the
history and great availability, harvesting solar energy has again attracted much attention. ^^ The
contiguous 48 states have a total area of 8,018,880 square kilometers (8.019x10^^ cm^). As described
earlier, the sun provides 8.38 Joules/cmVmin. There are 525,600 minutes per year. On the average,
the sun shines Vi the time. Thus, the 48 states receive 1.766x 10^^ Joules per year. From the Table 2.1
the 1999 United States energy use is 1.019 x 10^^ Joules per year; thus, the sun provides 1,733 times
more energy than we use in the United States.
Calculations indicate that if we can harvest solar energy at 5% efficiency then 1.12% of the area of
United States could provide all the energy we need. At first glance, 1.12% does not sound like a large
area. Expressing this area in other ways provides a feel for the immense scale of the collectors needed
if we are to supply all our energy needs from sunHght. This 1.12% of the United States is 89,811
square kilometers, or nearly the area of the state of Indiana, at 92,902 square kilometers. Of course,
sun does not shine all the time in Indiana; it is cloudy some of the time. The 89,000 square kilometers
must be located where the sun shines a good portion of the time. This means the collection sites must
be located in New Mexico, Arizona and southern California.
Dedicating 89,000 square kilometers to the production of energy might be a good investment if
practical solar energy conversion techniques can be developed. However, even with practical systems
to harvest the solar energy, remember solar energy is already in full use by the ecosystem. It drives the
weather, heats the oceans and grows the plants. For example, if a large part of the solar energy falling
on Arizona is converted to electric energy and moved out of state, Arizona will become cooler.
Significant cooling of Arizona will result in changes in the weather in Arizona and in all the
contiguous states. The weather change will likely bring more clouds that will reduce the efficiency of
the solar energy collectors.
World wide the change will be the opposite of that change in Arizona. Large scale solar energy
collectors will change the albedo of the earth, which is the amount of radiant energy the earth adsorbs
or reflects. As with artic ice, the change in the albedo will affect the heat balance of the earth. When
solar collectors adsorb light they reduce the albedo. This will have the same effect as carbon dioxide;
it will warm the earth. So Arizona will become cooler and the rest of the country will become warmer.
This will augment the changes in weather patterns.
Little will grow in the shade of a solar collector. Lack of plant cover under the solar collectors will
affect the stability of the soil and the absorption and movement of water. These environmental effects
are likely to prevent large-scale collection of solar energy in one place for use in other places. ^^
Brown, Kathryn S., "Bright Future-or Brief Flare-for Renewable Energy?", Science, Vol. 285, No. 5428, July 30,1999. Page 678
Buti, Ken, Perlin, John, "The Golden Thread", Van Nostrand Reinhold New York 1980
http://www.eren.doe.gov/csp
McVeigh, J. C, "Sun Power", Pergamon Press London, New York, 1977
Wholesale transfer of solar energy from one place to another may cause a level of environmental
damage similar to that caused by the combustion of fossil fuels.
In addition to the potential for environmental harm from large-scale collection of solar energy, grave
doubts exist concerning our ability to collect the energy. Solar energy researchers have been working
hard since the oil price crisis of the mid-seventies. Thus far, they have not found an economically
viable method of harvesting solar energy on an extensive basis.
"Point-of-Use" collection of solar energy is feasible in many circumstances. Small scale dispersed
solar heating of homes has been demonstrated as technologically feasible. ^^ A few such systems are in
use. The initial capital cost of solar energy collection equipment, adequate to provide year around
solar heating, is 3 to 5 times higher that a simple fossil fuel heat source. Because of its intermittent
nature, a method of heat storage is essential for a solar heated home. A large portion of the cost of
construction of full time solar heated houses is in the heat storage facility. This facility also takes a
large space. Much effort must be expended to keep the solar collectors clean, as modest amounts of
dirt dramatically reduce the collector's capability to efficiently collect energy. A reliable windshield
wiper, similar to those used on automobiles, is possible. Such wipers will add another increment to the
cost of the system and another mechanical system that must be maintained.
If the solar system is less ambitious and designed to provide only part of the heat, the cost of the solar
collecting system is less. In this case, the cost of the solar harvesting system must be added to the cost
a second heating plant to heat the house when solar heat is inadequate. With the combined costs of
solar and conventional heating systems, the dual system requires 15 to 20 years for the savings in
conventional fuel costs to equal the cost of the solar collectors. Because of the complexity,
maintenance problems and costs there is little incentive to install solar heating in homes. ^^
In the deep south of the United States, swimming pools are often solar heated. Plastic pipe collectors
are in common use. Rows of black plastic pipes are laid on the south-facing roof of the house. The
pipes are plumbed so that the pool pump can circulate some of the pool water through the pipes. The
black pipes adsorb the solar heat and warm the water. In Florida a well-engineered system allows the
use of pool a month or so earlier in the spring and a similar time later in the fall. Few solar systems are
capable of heating the pool to a satisfactory temperature all year round. People who like to swim all
year round use gas, oil or electric heat pump heaters in addition to their solar heaters.
SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRIC ENERGY
The use of solar thermal for the production of electricity has been demonstrated at several places.
Solar I is a 10-megawatt plant located near Barstow, California. It has 1818 heliostats with a total area
of 71,130 square meters and is one of the largest solar thermal plants in the world. ^' The hehostats
track the sun and reflect the solar energy into a central receiver. Here the highly concentrated solar
energy boils water, making steam to run the turbines. The power varies as the angle of the sun changes
throughout the day. When the sun is low in the sky, the heliostats shade one another. The shading
reduces the time the plant can produce energy to about 75% of the daylight hours.
Hellemans, Alexander, "Solar Homes for the Masses", Science, Vol. 285, No. 5428, July 30, 1999, Page 679
"Energy In Transition 1985 - 2010", The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington C. C. 1979
http://www.energy.sandia.gov/sunlab
The Solar Dish StirUng Electric Generating Module at Huntington Beach, California, has 82 curved
glass mirrors arranged to form a parabolic collection surface with a total area of 90 square meters. On
a clear day, this unit will produce 25-KWe (Kilo Watt electric). There is a similar plant at Santa Rosa
substation in Palm Springs, California. It uses an 87 square meter parabolic collector and a Stirling
engine to produce electricity. This installation has set records of 30% peak and 20% continuous for the
conversion of sunlight to electricity during cloud free daylight hours.
These solar plants are being tested to evaluate their desirability. One area of concern is how the output
from the plants can be integrated into the electric power grid. The midday peak of production does not
mesh well with the peak demand that occurs late in the afternoon. On some days, clouds prevent any
operation. On other days the power drops quickly when clouds drift in front of the collectors and
comes back abruptly when the clouds drift on past. These transients cause dramatic thermal expansion
and contraction shocks to the system. Accommodating for these shocks produces design challenges
and reduces the system lifetime.
These abrupt changes also cause a large drop in the output power. Even when they are only a small
part of the total power in the grid, these transients are difficult to handle. If the solar energy makes up
a large part of the power input to the grid, transients become impossible to handle. The sporadic nature
of solar energy limits its use to situations in which it only supplies a small part of the total energy or to
systems that have significant storage capability.
Another concern is keeping the solar collectors clean. Grime and dust deposited on the mirror surface
can rapidly reduce the amount of energy reflected. This in turn decreases the output of the plant. The
collectors require windshield wipers to perform frequent cleaning; cleaning and/or windshield wiper
maintenance causes a significant increase in operating cost.
Solar thermal technology has many problems. These are, cost of facilities, large areas of land required
for the hardware, unrehability of sunlight, and potential high continuous maintenance cost for cleaning.
It is clear that the cost of energy must increase significantly before solar thermal plants become
economical. Even when other fuel costs become high enough that solar is economical, the intermittent
energy production of the solar collectors will make their use very inconvenient.
It should be noted that all of the demonstration plants are located in the southwest United States where
solar energy is more reliably available than in other parts of the country. These southwest locations are
far from the major markets. Plants built close to the major energy markets in the north and east will be
more costly and less effective because the weather is less favorable for solar energy collection. In the
northern states, during the winter, weeks may pass without any direct sun light.
SOLAR VOLTAI C ENERGY
Photovoltaic cells convert solar energy directly to electricity. No thermal engines are required to
operate generators. Unhke the solar thermal technology discussed above, solar photovoltaic cells will
produce energy from diffuse sunlight as well as direct. With diffuse light, the power drops off
proportionally to the decrease in total light reaching the cells. As long as some light reaches the cells,
there will be energy production. ^^
Hamakawa, Yoshihiro, "Photovoltaic Power","Scientific American", Vol. 256, No. 4, April 1987, Page 86
NASA provides spacecraft with power by extensive use of photovoltaic cells. In this appHcation, the
Hghtweight of the cell, coupled with the almost continuous availability of sunlight in space, has made
the photovoltaic cell a bargain almost independent of the cost. In space applications, collectors made
from single crystals of silicon or gallium arsenide are used. These systems are very expensive.
Single crystal silicon cells have demonstrated efficiencies as high as 19%. These cells utilize single
crystal silicon of a grade similar to that used in computer chips. As a result, they are relatively
expensive. Potentially lower cost cells are being fabricated using continuously cast ribbons of silicon.
Because of the lower purity and crystal structure irregularity, cast silicon ribbons cells are less
efficient. They convert only 10 to 15% of the solar energy to electricity. Amorphous silicon cells have
been produced at much lower costs than the crystal or ribbon silicon, but they have only demonstrated
8% efficiency. ^'
Gallium arsenide is a semiconductor material that can be used to manufacture photovoltaic cells. The
gallium and arsenic needed to make these materials are rare compared to silicon. It is difficult, and
thus expensive to produce semiconductor gallium arsenide of proper purity for photovoltaic cells.
Despite the higher cost of gallium arsenide, it is of great interest because test photovoltaic cells have
shown sunlight to electricity efficiencies of over 20%. They have found some use in space
applications.
Several demonstration facilities use photovoltaic cells to collect solar energy. They provide electric
energy to existing power grids. The Carrisa Plains solar plant near San Louis Obispo, California,
consists of 756 pole mounted solar collectors. Each collector has a clock operated drive. The drive
rotates the collector about the horizontal and vertical axis to keep the flat surface facing the sun. Each
collector is enhanced with a set of flat mirror reflectors that approximately double the intensity of the
sunlight falling on the crystalline silicon solar cells. The individual collectors are rated at 5-KWe.
When the sun is shining, the plant produces 3.7 MWe of electric power that is fed into the existing
power distribution grid. Figure 6.5 shows a photovoltaic collector mated to an electrolyzer. This
system supplies fuel to operate an environmentally benign bus system.
Photovoltaic systems produce the maximum power when illuminated by direct sunlight. When
compared to solar thermal systems they have one large advantage. They can produce modest amounts
of electricity even when it is cloudy by the conversion of diffuse light to power. Like all solar
collection systems, photovoltaic systems cannot produce energy at night so that at least half of the
daily load must be provided by some other source or by some means of storing the solar energy. ^"^
Solar photovoltaic collectors can be mounted almost anywhere, in any size, and will require little
mechanical maintenance or supervision. Like the collectors for solar thermal power, the photovoltaic
power collector will require some method of regular cleaning if its production efficiency is to be
maintained. The shortcomings are continuous maintenance to keep them clean, cost and intermittent
energy production. With further research, it may be possible to produce a photovoltaic system that can
produce economic electric power from sunlight. ^^ The lack of a good bulk storage technology for
energy and the intermittent nature of sunlight currently restrict photovoltaic systems to specialized
applications or to providing supplementary energy to a much larger reliable system. The system
Chalmers, Bruce, "The Photovoltaic Generation of Electricity", "Scientific American", Vol. 235, No. 4, October 1976, Page 34
Hubbard, H. M., "Photovoltaics Today and Tomorrow", Science, Vol. 244, No. 4902, April 21, 1989, Page 297
Shah, A., Torres, P., Tschamer, R., Wyrsch, N., and Keppner, H., "Photovoltaic Technology: The Case for Thin-Film Solar Cells",
Science, Vol. 285, No. 5428, July 30, 1999, Page 692
described in "An End To Global Wanning" will remedy the bulk storage challenges and make the
collection of photovoltaic energy much more capable of supplying general purpose energy.
Collection of solar energy in space has been suggested. ^^ Some of the problems encountered in
collecting solar energy on the earth are not present in space collection. Most important is the
continuous availability of the sunlight when the satellites are in the proper high orbits. Collectors do
not become dirty in space. There is damage from solar wind charged particles and from impacts with
space dust, but these effects take a long time to significantly reduce the capabilities of the collectors.
Cost will always be a problem for systems placed in space. In addition, there are great barriers in
transmitting the energy collected in space, to the ground. There is ongoing research probing these
difficulties, particularly in Japan. ^"^ Unfortunately, tight beams of energy from the satellite, such as
laser beam or microwaves, are extremely dangerous. Anyone, any animal or bird that enters the beam
will be cooked as if they were in a microwave oven. The beam would be a powerful weapon and
nations that did not have control of the beam would strongly object to its existence. If the beam is
spread out to the point that it is not dangerous, then the collection antenna must be about the same size
as the nation. To make collection of solar energy in space practical two challenges must be overcome.
First, the cost of placing objects in orbit must be reduced and second, a wholly new technology for
moving energy from space to the ground must be developed.
SOLAR DERIVED BIOMASS ENERGY
Approximately fifty thousand years ago, some early genius developed the technology of a wood fire to
warm his family and cook his food. He collected wood, leaves, stems and the Hke, to use as an energy
source. The energy from the combustion of plant materials he used is derived from the sun. This solar
derived biomass energy was humanity's first purposeful use of energy generating technology. For
almost the entire history of humanity, this method of collecting solar energy has been implemented by
harvesting wild plants. Like other methods of collecting solar energy, it only recovers a small
percentage of the energy available from the sun.
Even today, in many parts of the world plant matter is the only available fuel for cooking. In these
places, the pressure of growing populations has overwhelmed the capacity of the local forests and
fields to renew themselves. ^^ The demand for fuel is destroying the remaining forests. In some places,
notably Brazil, it is practical to grow com or sugar cane and ferment it to alcohol for use as motor fuel.
In most places, no land is available for harvesting solar energy by growing plants for fuel.
There is consideration of purposeful growth of plants to provide a combustible fuel for energy
generation. ^^ The promoters have selected the term biomass energy technology for this ancient
method of collecting solar energy. In most parts of the world, all of the quaUty cropland must be used
for the production of food. Marginal land is devoted to timber producing forests or grazing cattle, all
irreplaceable uses. Only a small amount of land can be made available to grow crops for energy.
Today's farming practice recommends "no till" or plowing the stems and leaves back into the ground.
This conserves the soil nutrients and texture. However, there is ongoing research in use of non-food
parts of the current crops for the production of alcohol fuels and other chemicals. Consideration is also
Hadfield, Peter, "A Tankful of Sunshine", New Scientist, September 29, 2001 Page 18
^^ Normile, Dennis, "Japan Looks for Bright Answers to Energy Needs", Science, Vol. 294. No. 5545, November 9, 2001, Page 1273
Editors, "Bare mountains, poor people", The Economist, Vol. 361, No. 8246, Page 24
http://www.biomass.org
being given to harvesting the total plant to provide a source of combustible fuel. As might be
expected, the production of chemicals has been shown to be more profitable than the production of
alcohol for use as a fuel. ^ Both of these schemes increases the rate of soil nutrient depletion and
enhance erosion. When the energy inputs required to harvest the total plant and re-supply the soil
nutrients are examined it appears that there is little net energy gain. In many circumstances there is
probably a net loss in attempting to use this method to collect solar energy.
The harvesting of plant matter for use as fuel is widely practiced in less developed nations. This use of
plant matter causes many problems. They range from deforestation, increased erosion, and loss of
habitat for wild life. In some places, deforestation has progressed so far that the indigenous peoples
must hike for kilometers to obtain enough wood for cooking. Biomass technology cannot be expanded
very much beyond current uses and will very unlikely to become a large enough source of energy to
aid in the replacement of fossil fuels.
Currently solar energy collector systems are only practical when coupled to a large robust energy
source that can take over when there is no solar energy available. A good energy storage method will
improve our ability to utilize solar energy. Such a medium is required to couple the erratic energy
output of the solar generators with the varying user demand.
WI ND ENERGY
The harvesting of wind energy for the use of humanity has a long history. The first use was in
prehistoric times where wind was used to drive sailboats. Windmills came later. They were used to
pump water, grind grain and run early manufacturing equipment. For grinding grain and
manufacturing purposes wind has been largely replaced with fossil fuel energy sources. Even though
wind has been replaced in manufacturing operations, in many places it is still routine practice to use
windmills to pump water from wells for farm use.
For farm use, a windmill is attached to a well in the pasture and plumbed to a water trough for the
cattle. In this way, the farmer can be certain that the cattle have water with only modest effort on his
part. All that is required is to check the equipment now and then to ensure that it is still operating
properly. This is a valuable and practical use of wind power.
During the first half of the twenty-century it was possible to purchase a wind operated electric
generator. The generator was attached to a battery pack. When the wind blew, the generator would
charge the batteries. The energy stored in the batteries could be used whenever needed. At the peak of
their use, it was possible to purchase a standard system by mail order. The equipment included a set of
instructions and all the necessary equipment (wind turbine, generator, electric wires and batteries) to
equip a building with a modest amount of lighting. Today, these systems are still available but their
use is limited to very remote places. They are uneconomical and unreliable when compared to wire
electric power and the wide scale availability of small engine driven generators fueled with low cost
petroleum based fuels.
The resurgence of interest in wind energy over the last ten years is a continuation of the previous
technology with the application of modem materials and aerodynamic theories. ^'' ^^ As with solar
Thayer, Ann M., "Biocatalysis", Chemical & Engineering News, Vol. 79, No. 21, May 21 2001, Page 27
http://www.awea.org/index.htnil
http://www.britishwindenergy.co.uk/
energy collection, wind energy collection requires very large structures. With wind blowing at about
16 kilometers per hour, it requires a windmill 7.5-meter diameter to provide enough electric power for
a single-family dwelling. When the wind is not blowing, there is no power unless there is a storage
system. Therein lays the problem. The erratic variability shown by solar power is exaggerated with
wind power. Sometimes there will be little or no wind for a number of days, while at other times the
wind will blow so hard that the integrity of the windmill is threatened.
The Dutch are placing windmills off shore in the sea. Installing the windmills is the sea is difficult so
the Dutch firm Kema Environmental Engineering is designing a crawler vehicle that can travel across
the seabed. The crawler will position a prefabricated windmill over the pre-positioned pilings and
lower it into place. It will enable Mammoet Heavy Lift and Transportation Company to install
windmills in water deeper than the current limit of 20 meters. Kema also has new concepts for
windmill support structures that will counter metal fatigue caused by the pounding of the waves.
Fatigue is a significant problem for open ocean windmills. ^^
The amount of energy available from the wind is a function of the cube of the wind velocity. A 20-
kilometer per hour wind has 8 times more available energy than a 10 kilometer per hour wind. For the
wind harvester, the 20 kilometer per hour winds are much more rare and unpredictable than the 10
kilometer per hour wind.
The aerodynamic design of the windmill must be a compromise. Since the 16-kilometer per hour wind
is the most common, it is desirable to design the windmill to be most efficient at this speed. With this
design, the windmill will not be able to take full advantage of stronger winds. If designed to provide
optimum harvest of energy from the 16 kilometer per hour wind, the windmill would be blown to
failure by a 60 or 80 kilometer per hour wind. There are two solutions to this danger. The windmills
can be equipped with pitch control systems, as are done with aircraft engines. This works well but is
expensive. The other option is simply to protect the windmill from the rare days when wind speed is
high.
The recent research with windmills has not resulted in any breakthrough in design, efficiency or cost.
There have been incremental improvements in the aerodynamics of the blades and physical properties
of the construction materials used to make the blades. The use of advanced materials has reduced the
weight and increased the durability of the windmill structures. Several "wind farms" have been placed
in operation in California.
Several very large windmills have been built and are under test. One of these large windmills, called
WTS-4, has been installed at Medicine Bow, Wyoming. WTS-4 has a diameter of 78.2 meters. It has
two blades made from filament-wound fiberglass. The design operating speed is 30 rpm and is rated at
4.0 MWe. The tower supporting the blades and the generator is 80 meters tall.
A second group of large windmills were designated Mod-2. Five Mod-2 windmills have been built.
Three are located at a site overlooking the Columbia River 24 kilometers east of Goldendale,
Washington. The fourth is located near WTS-4 at Medicine Bow, Wyoming and the fifth is at a site 65
kilometers northeast of San Francisco in Solano County, Cahfomia. The diameter of the Mod-2
windmills is 91.5 meters. The blades are made of steel. The design operating speed is 17.5 rpm and
they are rated at 2.5 MWe. The first went into operation in 1980. The testing of the Mod-2 design has
Graham-Rowe, Duncan, "Monsters on the Move", New Scientist, September 29, 2001 Page 21
led to an improved design called Mod-5B, installed on the island of Oahu, Hawaii in 1986. This
activity has demonstrated that modem materials and aerodynamic design can offer improved
windmills. Table 2.1 shows that the wind farms produced a significant amount of energy.
The pace of construction of windmills has increased faster than that of solar energy plants because
wind power is costs competitive in some situations. All of these systems are coupled with a robust
base load system. Thus, disadvantages of intermittent operation and unreliability of the wind as an
energy source is not a large penalty. They have also demonstrated that large windmills produce a
powerful very low frequency sound that is extremely irritating. This sound seems to carry long
distances. Sir Bernard Ingham, former press secretary to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said "We
have only to see the appalling damage that wind farms are doing to our hills and landscapes to realize
these (Sources) are not benign" This quote comes from the Oxford Millennium Environmental Debate
June 2001 mentioned in Chapter 1.
In some places, the windmills seem to kill an unusually large number of birds, as though the birds were
somehow attracted to the sight or sound of the windmills. ^"^ As with the solar energy collector
systems, wind is currently only practical when coupled to a large robust energy source that can take
over when there is no wind. A good energy storage medium will also improve our abihty to utilize
wind power. Such a medium is required to couple the erratic energy output of the wind generator with
the varying user demand.
It must be noted that within the United States all projects to harvest wind energy on an intensive scale
are heavily subsidizes. Some of the subsidies are direct, as grants from the Federal or state
Governments for the construction of the facility. Others subsidies are indirect. These indirect subsidies
are in the form of regulations that require power grid operators to accept, and pay for, power generated
by the wind harvesting facility. It is likely that similar subsidies are in use in nations out side the
United States.
Some analysts argue that if the cost of electricity made with coal were based on a full systems analysis
the coal derived electricity would be more expensive than wind. ^^ In their systems analysis, they
burden coal with the cost of coal miners' black lung disease, and estimates of the cost of smog, acid
rain, global warming, and disease in the general population (including asthma, cardiovascular disease,
and mortality). They claim coal derived electricity costs $0,055 to $0,083 per kWh when computed on
the total cycle; wind derived electricity costs 0.040 per kWh. They do not burden wind with the costs
of wiring to the grid, bird kills, unreliability in time, or estimate the potential cost of changes in the
weather down stream from the windmills.
Wind shares with solar energy the danger that if harvested in large quantities it may affect the weather.
A large wind farm will extract energy for the wind. This will effectively slow the wind and change the
profile of wind velocity with height. If sufficient wind energy were harvested to have a large impact of
the United States energy needs, it would seem likely that the weather would be affected. Denmark is
installing many windmills off shore. They will be using themselves to experiment on how much the
weather is affected by a large number of windmills in one location. This experiment will begin to
supply the data that can tell if weather modification with windmills is to be a problem for the future
harvesting of wind energy.
Colson & Associates, "Avian Interactions with Wind Energy Facilities": a summary From the American Wind Energy Association,
Washington D. C.
Jacobson, Mark Z., Masters, Gilbert M., "Exploiting Wind Versus Coal", Science, Vol. 293, No. 5534, August 24, 2001, Page 1438
Today wind supplies a small modest amount of the energy throughout the world. It will be more
practical to collect wind energy if a method for bulk storing energy were available. The system
described in "An End To Global Warming" remedies the bulk storage challenges and makes the
collection of large amounts of wind energy more practical for supplying general purpose energy.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
Geothermal energy is obtained by extracting heat from water or rocks deep under the ground. It
requires facilities located in a suitable geological setting. The optimum sites are usually in
mountainous country that is difficult to develop and often far from the main energy market. It is
flexible in its output capability and can be turned up and down, or off and on, with little difficulty. ^^' ^^
The technology exists to drill geothermal wells a number of kilometers deep, but the cost of the well
increases with depth. As a result, practical geothermal sites require that there be high temperature
rocks and/or water within approximately 300 meters of the surface. If the temperature of the site is
high, the thermal energy can be used for heating or generating electric. Many sites have low
temperatures suitable only for heating buildings.
Some demonstrations have shown that the thermal mass of soil a few meters below the surface can be
used for low temperature geothermal energy recovery. In most places the soil reaches a constant
temperature between 18 and 20 degree at a depth of 5 to 10 meters. If a large heat exchanger is buried
at this depth then a heat pump can use the thermal mass of the ground as an energy storage device. In
the winter heat is pumped out of the ground to heat the house. This cools the soil. In summer heat is
pumped back into the ground. This cools the house in the hot weather. The heat from pumped from
the house for cooling is put back into the ground to warm it for the next winter cycle. The technique
works but has not been shown to be useful for home heating under most circumstances.
At a number of sites, the hot water produced by the well contains a high concentration of dissolved
mineral salts (brine) that cause operational and corrosion problems with the equipment. Disposal of
the brine can present a difficult environmental protection challenge. Despite these shortcomings,
modest geothermal electric power plants are in operation in New Zealand, Italy and in California.
Iceland satisfies much of their domestic heat requirements with hot water from low temperature
geothermal sources. ^^
In theory, a very deep well can provide a geothermal energy source any place in the world. Currently
this is not practical because the technology to bore very deep holes is quite costly and there is no
practical method of extracting the thermal energy from the bottom of the hole. It is difficult to pump
enough water down into and back out of a narrow hole to extract significant energy. The cost of
drilling the hole goes up dramatically as the size of the hole is enlarged. If water is pumped down into
very deep holes, much of the heat is lost as the hot water flows back to the surface through kilometers
of pipe that are surrounded by cool rock. If the tip of the pipe is the only place for heat exchange, the
rock in the immediate vicinity of the well cools and no more energy can be extracted. If the rocks are
broken with explosives to provide a much larger rock-to-water contact area, the amount of heat that
can be extracted increases. Under these conditions, the water can leak away and not be available to
Bamea, Joseph, "Geothermal Power", Scientific American, Vol. 226, No. 1, January, 1972, Page 70
Editors, "Caribbean Island Springs a Hot Surprise", New Scientist, Vol. 117, No. 1603, March 10,1988, Pg 37
http://www.volcanotours.com/iceland/introduction/geothermal_energy.htm
carry heat to the surface. The return water often becomes saturated with mineral salts. As it cools, the
salts precipitate as solids that clog the pipes and corrode the heat exchangers at the surface. These
minerals present a serious waste disposal problem.
Geothermal energy is currently produced in places where the geological conditions are suitable.
Calpine Energy Inc. San Jose California currently operates 850 megawatts of geothermal sources. ^ A
potential new site on the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean Sea was discovered in the nineteen
eighties. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, a team of engineers from the United States, Italy
and New Zealand has been successful in drilling a productive well. The 1500-meter deep well was
drilled in the Sulfur Springs area of the island. This well produces a mixture of water and steam
superheated to 300 degrees Celsius. It has the potential for the generation of about 10 megawatts of
electric power. It may be possible to increase the power production by drilling other boreholes. This
discovery may be of great value to the residents of St. Lucia. As with Icelandic exploitation, in special
circumstances geothermal energy is valuable. Table 2.1 shows that in the United States a small
amount of energy is produced by geothermal energy but there has been no recent growth because most
of the usable sites have been exploited. Unlike many other renewable energy sources, geothermal is
very reliable and will continue to be harvested at suitable sites. ^^
Other new sites are being evaluated and undoubtedly more facilities will be constructed, but there is
little chance for a large increase in the harvesting of geothermal energy. Like solar thermal energy,
geothermal energy can be used for heating or the generation of electric power, but it does not provide
energy that can be stored or transported.
HYDROPOWER ENERGY
Hydropower is obtained by allowing water to fall through a turbine to turn a shaft. Hydropower and
geothermal energy sources have a number of characteristics in common. Both require facilities located
in a suitable geological setting. Both are flexible in output capability and can be turned up and down
or off and on with little difficulty. For hydropower, optimum sites are usually in mountainous country.
These sites are difficult to develop and often far from the main energy market.
On a worldwide basis, hydropower installations produce more energy than do geothermal sources.
Table 2.1 shows that in the United States hydropower facilities produce about 10 times more energy
than do geothermal facilities. The wide scale use is the result of the relatively simple technology
required to harvest hydropower. The requirements for a hydropower site are: a river with a reliable
flow of water, in a canyon with high walls and a narrow spot at which a dam can be built. This site
should be selected to provide a maximum difference in the height of the water above and below the
dam. The canyon walls must have sufficient strength to support a dam. Large river flow produces
more potential energy. The higher the dam the less water required to produce a specific amount of
energy. This leads to the ideal dam site for the production of hydropower as a vigorous river flowing
in a narrow canyon with high rock walls.
The Hoover Dam site on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada and the Aswan Dam site on
the Nile River in Egypt are examples of good locations for the harvesting of hydropower. Today, most
of the good sites for hydropower are already developed. In most places, there is litde hope for further
significant expansion of this energy source. The only large hydropower facility currently under
http://www.calpine.com
http://geoheat.oit.edu
construction is in China. It is called the Three Gorges project. When completed in 2008 it will be the
largest such facility in the world.
Three Gorges has been strongly criticized. More than a million people are being displaced. Their
homes, religious sites, cemeteries and farms will be cover with water. Because river traffic will be
required to use locks, the cost of river transportation will greatly increase. It is located in an area of
significant seismic activity. Earthquake investigators speculate that the huge load placed on a potential
unstable spot in the earth's curst may actually trigger earthquakes. The Chinese Government has
rejected all the criticisms and is continuing the construction.
Because of environmental upset, there has been discussion about removing some existing dams. ^"^
Many dams have caused severe environmental damaged both up stream, because of flooding, and
down stream because of decreases water flow. Dams on both coasts have driven populations of
salmon to near extinction. Today dams are being examined on an individual basis and some may be
removed. Major production dams are unlikely to be removed but this change in guiding principles will
make the construction of future dams less likely. In common with other renewable energy sources,
hydropower is only suitable for the production of electricity and does not provide any direct source of
portable power.
OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION (OTEC)
The surface of the ocean in the tropics has a temperature of 24 to 28 degrees Celsius. The water at
depths greater than about 500 meters is at a temperature of about 4 degrees Celsius. This temperature
difference of 20 to 24 degrees can be used to drive power-generating equipment. When the size of the
ocean is taken into account, the total energy available is many times that used by humanity. ^^^
The efficiency of heat driven machines is dependent on the temperature difference between the heat
source and the coolant. With the maximum 20-Kelvin difference available from seawater, the peak
theoretical efficiency is 7%. The low efficiency results in a very large power plant if useful amounts
of energy are to be recovered. A 100 MWe electric plant must have a coolant pipe 10 meters in
diameter descending 400 to 500 meters. There must be millions of square meters of heat exchangers to
extract the heat from the surface water. All this equipment must be protected from the corrosive
effects of seawater and the growth of marine organisms. The problems of designing, operating, and
maintaining such plants are formidable. ^^^
The facilities used to harvest the ocean thermal energy are called OTEC plants (Ocean Thermal Energy
Conversion). To achieve their maximum potential they must be located in the open ocean near the
equator, far from any market. Several schemes to transmit their output to the market have been
examined. The most practical appears to be: use the electric power to electrolyze water to produce
hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen can be vented and the hydrogen liquefied for shipment to market.
This scheme allows the OTEC plant to produce a storable fuel that can be used for most energy needs.
Several small demonstration plants have been funded by the United States Department of Energy and
the State of Hawaii. ^^"^ These plants have proven the general technological feasibility of the concept.
http://www.damdecoimmssioning.org/bulletins/rrbl9.html
Penney, Terry R., and Baharathan, Desikan "Power from the Sea". Scientific American, Vol. 256, No. 1, January, 1987, Page 86
http://csf.colorado.edu/hypermail/eco-econ/dec96/0045.html
http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/ert/otec_hi.html
They have also helped to identify the following collection of severe problems. The optimum locations,
far out at sea in the equatorial ocean, make direct transport of electrical energy to the markets difficult
or impossible. The auxiliary equipment needed to produce fuels, such as hydrogen, will greatly
increase the complexity of the facility. The plants will be very costly when configured to produce
fuels. Biological fouling of the heat exchange equipment presents operational problems. Solutions,
such as chlorination of the water, introduce significant environmental pollution. Because of the large
area of heat exchangers required, storm resistance is difficult and costly to achieve. The environmental
impact of a large number of these plants on the open ocean ecosystem is difficult to assess. The
combined effect of cooling the surface and raising large amounts of deep water to the surface is likely
to change the plant and animal life in the zones where the OTEC plants operate. These difficulties
support the position that OTEC plants are unlikely to be a major long-term contributor to the world
energy supply.
TI DAL ENERGY
The capture of energy from the highly predictable tides has intrigued people for hundreds of years. ^^^
As a result, there have been development projects since the 18th century. Tide times can be predicted
with astronomical accuracy and the height can be predicted to within 0.1 meter except when the
weather is unusually violent. These characteristics could lead to a power source of great reliability.
The largest of the current tidal power plants is a 50-year-old facility located in the Ranee Estuary in
northern France. It produces 240 megawatts; it is coupled to the commercial grid.
The Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on the East coast of Canada, has very
high tides, in places more than 10 meters. This great height is the result of a match between the natural
period required to fill and empty the bay and the ebb and flow of the tides. A dam on the Cobequid
Bay, a small bay at the east end of the Bay of Fundy, could provide a potential site for a tidal power
plant. Preliminary studies indicate that the dam would be 5 to 10 kilometers long and its cost would
make the power uneconomical. A shorter dam would be cheaper, but would produce too little power
to be valuable. ^^^
Passamaquoddy Bay is located at the west end of the Bay of Fundy, on the border between the State of
Maine in the United States and the Province of New Brunswick in Canada. During World War II,
extensive studies were made of the requirements and costs for a tidal power plant at this bay.
Passamaquoddy is separated from Fundy by two channels on either side of Deer Island. The total
length of the dams for closing is less than 3 kilometers. The tidal rise and fall is not as great at
Passamaquoddy Bay as it is at other locations on the Bay of Fundy but it is adequate for power
production. This project is close enough to being economically feasible that it is still being discussed.
However, uncertainty about long-term success has seriously inhibited implementation. One of the
major concerns for these plants stems from the affect they will have on the ocean shorehne
ecosystems. Changing the rhythm of the tidal flow in the bay will change the rhythm of all Hfe forms
that live within its bounds. These effects are likely to be undesirable.
There is a 400-kilowatt tidal energy plant near Murmansk, in Russia. It was built by the Soviet Union.
This plant is about the same age as the French plant in the Ranee estuary. Russia has announced plans
to build a 40-megawatt plant at Mezen Bay on the Kola Peninsula and a 300-megawatt facihty at
Lumbovka on the White Sea. China has experimented with several small plants and brought a 10-
/iWp./Avww.phys.murdoch.edu.au/acre/refiles/tidal/text.html
Greenberg, David A., "Modeling Tidal Power", Scientific American, Vol. 257, No. 5, November 1987, Page 128
megawatt unit on-line in 1986. Canada installed an 18-megawatt plant in conjunction with an existing
flood control dam. It is located at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia; it began operation in 1984. Several
problems prevent large-scale exploitation of this energy source.
The potential energy in the tides is very difficult to harvest. ^^^ Even under the best conditions, the tidal
rise is no more than about 10 meters. In most places, the difference between high and low tide is only 1
to 2 meters. A height difference of only two meters produces Httle water pressure. Since the tides are
cyclic, the maximum pressure is only available for a short period when water stored at high tide is
allowed to flow out at low tide. The remainder of the time, the average pressure is about half the
highest. It is difficult to build turbines that operate efficiently at very low pressures. A very large flow
of water is needed to extract significant power from a low-pressure flow. These characteristics define
the type of facility required to extract tidal energy.
The first requirement is for a very large shallow reservoir that can be rapidly filled when the tide is
high. The second requirement is for inlet gates to control and trap the water at high tide. Since there is
little driving pressure to fill the reservoir, the inlet gates must be very wide. Finally, the reservoir must
be equipped with large turbines capable of extracting energy from a low-pressure head with large
volume flow. The cost of the very large facilities required for the harvesting of tidal energy has thus
far inhibited wide scale use of this type of facility.
Like other renewable energy sources, tidal energy is limited to a few places where the juxtaposition of
natural conditions makes them practical. The total amount of energy available is small compared to
the requirements. Ecological effects may negate the advantage of the use of this renewable source. ^^^
Tidal energy can be used for the production of electric power. Like most other renewables, it provides
no storable portable medium to match the output of the generator to the needs of the users or to provide
a storable fuel.
WAVE ENERGY
Energy can also be extracted from the non-tidal surface ocean waves. A number of different schemes
have been suggested for the harnessing of the up and down action of waves. Thus far, none of these
schemes has resulted in a utility power plant. In 1988, a contract was signed between a Norwegian
company, Norwave, and the government of Bali, in the South Pacific, to install a wave power plant.
This plant will use a "Tapchan" (tapered channel) device. It consists of a concrete slope with walls that
makes the waves run uphill. The waves enter the wide end of the tapered channel. As they are
squeezed together by the walls of the channel, the waves become higher. The bottom of the tapered
channel rises smoothly to a reservoir. The growing waves continue to push up the channel until they
spill into the reservoir. The water in the reservoir is allowed to return to the ocean through an electric
power-generating turbine. This system is relatively costly, but when compared to the cost of supplying
oil to a remote island in steel drums of oil for power generation, it may prove practical. ^^^ In 1982,
England officially abandoned their wave power plant demonstration program funded by the
government. In 1997 Osprey, a Scottish commercial wave power generator was wrecked by a storm.
The United States navy uses a buoy made by Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) of New Jersey to
supply 1 kilowatt of power for remote ocean sensors. OPT has plans to build 20 kilowatt plant to be
^ http://www.iclei.org/efacts/tidal.htm
Milne, Roger/Tidal Power Ruffles Feathers", New Scientist, Vol. 118, No. 1614, May 26, 1988, Page 38
Editors, "Norwegians Make Waves In Bali", New Scientist, Vol. 117, No. 1603, March 10, 1988, Page 37
installed off Australia's coast and is designing a 100 kilowatt version. ^^" Small scale harvesting of
wave energy, in special circumstances, appears to be marginally feasible. Wide scale use of wave
energy is unlikely.
NON-RENEWABLE SOURCES WITH SHORT SERVICE LIFE
BURNER REACTOR NUCLEAR ENERGY
The current nuclear power plants produce energy by causing uranium atoms to break into two atoms of
elements each about half the atomic weight of uranium. This process is called fission. When uranium
atoms fissions into two lighter elements the nuclear binding energy of the two lighter elements is
greater than the binding energy of the single uranium atom. This difference in energy is converted to
heat. '''''''''''
The uranium is consumed in the fission reaction. Energy generation by burning fossil fuels consumes
fossil fuel chemicals and converts them to harmful combustion products. Nuclear reactors "bum"
uranium and convert it to harmful fission products. Unlike fossil fuel materials, uranium has little
other use than for the production of energy. Like fossil fuels, there is a finite supply of the minerals
used to produce the uranium for the fuel cycle. The worldwide amount of potential energy available
by use of the burner reactor cycle is similar to that available from oil. If used at a high level the
supplies of burner reactor uranium could be depleted in the middle of the next century. ' ^"^
There are many different types of reactors. In the United States, the majority of the reactors are
pressurized water reactors with graphite moderators. The Canadians built the CANDU reactor using
heavy water as both moderator and coolant. Naval ship reactors are graphite moderated liquid metal
cooled reactors. The detailed differences between the reactor types will not be examined, but the
operating principal common to all will be discussed. "^
Uranium occurs as two types of atoms (isotopes), U and U . Isotopes are atoms of a chemical
element that have different atomic weights. The superscript gives the atomic weight. From natural
uranium, only U^^^ can be fission to release energy. Isotopes that can fission to produce energy are
termed a "fertile" isotope. Natural uranium contains only 0.7% fertile U^^^. To make uranium suitable
for a power reactor the amount of U must be increased, or enriched. Because U and U are
isotopes of the same element, they have identical chemical properties. The enrichment requires the use
of subtle separation processes that act on the slight difference in weight of the two atoms.
Enrichment is a very complex, energy consuming process. The amount of enrichment required is
dependent on the design of the reactor; it can range from 1.5% to 85%. Three processes have been
used for enrichment. Some of the very first separations were made with a device called a Calutron.
The uranium was ionized in a vacuum chamber. The ions were fired through a magnetic field where
they were separated based on their mass. This process was very energy intensive and slow. It was
abandoned in favor of gaseous diffusion and centrifugal separation. Both processes use the shght
Editors, "Power Buoys", The Economist, May 19, 2001, Page 78
Hogerton, John F., "The Arrival of Nuclear Power", Scientific American, Vol. 218, No. 2, February 1968, Page 21
Lester, Richard K., "Rethinking Nuclear Power?" Scientific American, Vol. 254, No. 3, March 1986, Page 31
Lewis, Harold W., "Safety of Fission Reactors", Scientific American, Vol. 242, No. 2, March 1980, Page 53
Bethe, Hans A., " The Necessity of Fission Power", Scientific American, Vol. 234, No. 1, January 1976, Page 21
Mclntyre, Hugh C, "Natural Uranium Heavy-Water Reactors", Scientific American, Vol. 233, No. 4, October 1975, Page 17
difference between the atomic weight of the two isotopes to effect separation. Light atoms diffuse
more rapidly through small holes than heavy atoms. When gaseous uranium hexafluoride is allowed to
diffuse through a porous barrier the U^^^ passes through the barrier more rapidly. Each time the
hexafluoride diffuses through the barrier the U^^^ is enriched. In a high-speed centrifuge, the lighter
atoms are concentrated in the center and the heavier at the rim. In both of these processes, it requires
many stages of separation to achieve relatively pure U^^^. When a large enough quantity of U^^^ is
assembled it becomes critical mass and energy is released by a chain reaction. This places severe
constraints on the design of the separation hardware. At all stages of the separation, great care must be
taken to ensure that a critical mass of U^^^ is not accumulated in one place.
Several years ago, there was a lot of excitement concerning a method of using lasers to separate
isotopes. A laser was adjusted to a very narrow wavelength that would excite only one of the uranium
isotopes. With only one isotope excited it was projected that a near single stage separation method was
possible. Little has been said about this method in recent years. The lack of the need for uranium
separation has placed a damper on the developments. ^^^
The heart of the energy generation process is the same in all reactors. A critical mass of uranium is
assembled in a tank with a moderator. One U^^^ atom fissions into two lighter atoms and several high
energy (high velocity) neutrons. A moderator slows down the neutrons without reacting with them.
U^^^ reacts best with slow neutrons. The neutrons strike other U^^^ atoms, causing further fission, and
the chain reaction is sustained. The tank is equipped with a heat exchanger for removing the heat
produced by the uranium fission. The amount of uranium required depends on the power rating of the
reactor, the enrichment level of the uranium and the types of control system used.
The rate of the reaction is modulated by controlling the number and energy of the neutrons allowed to
stay in the uranium filled core of the reactor. Control rods are used to modulate the nuclear reaction
rate. Control rods are made from an element (cadmium metal is often used) that strongly adsorbs
neutrons. The rods are installed in channels in the reactor. When the rods are fully inserted in the
reactor, so many neutrons are adsorbed that little reaction can occur. As the rods are withdrawn, more
and more neutrons can react and the reactions begin. The reaction rate is controlled by the depth and
number of rods inserted in the reactor.
When the uranium atom is broken apart, two new atoms and several neutrons are released. The new
atoms and neutrons, taken together, weigh sUghtly less than the weight of the original uranium atom.
The mass involved in the weight change is converted to energy. The energy is recovered as heat to
drive the generators. The new atoms remain in the fuel elements. The neutrons go on to cause further
fissions or are adsorbed by the atoms of the control rods or the reactor structure. Some of the atoms
produced are of the same type of strongly neutron adsorbing elements used in the control rods.
Virtually all are radioactive. The atoms of the construction materials also become radioactive when
they adsorb neutrons. Because of the consumption of U^^^ and the build-up of neutron adsorbing
fission products, the fuel elements are ultimately unable to produce further useful energy. When they
reach this state, they are removed and replaced with new fuel elements. The used fuel elements are the
source of many of the problems with fission nuclear power.
Used fuel elements still contain significant amounts of potentially useful U^^^. They contain plutonium
(several different isotopes), a synthetic element that can be used to produce energy in essentially the
http://www.llnl.gov/str/Hargrove.html
same manner as U^^^. The fission products in the fuel elements are intensely radioactive and will
remain so for thousands of years. Storage of the used fuel elements is costly because of the high level
of protection required. It also wastes the valuable U^^^ and plutonium. Handling and disposition of
waste fuel elements presents a difficult environmental protection problem. The fuel element problem
is a major barrier to more widespread utilization of nuclear power. ^^^
Nuclear fission energy of the type currently in use has the potential to provide enough energy for the
operation of civilization, but it presents much the same supply lifetime problem as fossil fuels. The
waste products present a severe environmental problem. The problem is very different from that
presented by fossil fuels but possibly more dangerous. Despite much criticism of the use of fission
nuclear power, its use may be preferred to fossil fuels because of the lack of other peaceful use for
uranium and the fact that the waste products can be confined. Remember, fossil fuels wastes are not
confined. They are dispersed through the ecosphere as acid rain and carbon dioxide. ^^*
Despite the barriers to the increase use of fission energy, it is being given serious consideration by
energy planners. James A. Lake, of the United States Department of Energy Idaho National
Engineering & Environmental Laboratory says, "The energy crisis has shined a spotlight right on us.
We are sitting at a point where the potential for future contributions is enormous. There are 103
reactors in the United States and 438 Worldwide, and people are thinking there should be 4,000 in the
next 20 years. ^^^
NON-RENEWABLE SOURCES WITH LONG SERVICE LIFE
Two energy sources can provide energy for a long time. Either could be implemented to provide
sufficient energy to power civilization for a period long enough that lifetime will be no concern. These
sources are the fission nuclear breeder reactor and nuclear fusion.
BREEDER REACTOR ENERGY
If the operational conditions and design of a reactor are adjusted to maximize the amount of Pu^^^
produced it is possible to operate the reactor to produce more fertile isotopes than were originally used
to start the reactor. This operational mode is called the breeder reactor. The breeder reactor can greatly
extend the amount of potential energy available from uranium because it is possible to use the 99.3%
U^^^ present in natural uranium, as fuel. It is also possible to use thorium (Th ^^) in a breeder reactor to
produce fertile U^^^. The use of the breeder reactor will extend the lifetime of the nuclear fission
energy source to several hundred years.
120, 121, 122
In the discussion of the current class of nuclear burner reactors, no mention was made of recovering
the residual fuel present in the exhausted fuel elements. Depending on many factors involved in the
operation of the reactor the fuel elements may contain from 5% to 30% of the original U^^^. In
addition, some of the neutrons produced by the fission of the U^^^ are captured by U^^^ converting it to
Bebbington, William P., "The Reprocessing of Nuclear Fuel", Scientific American, Vol. 235, No. 6, December 1976, Page 30
Cohen, Bernard L., "The Disposal of Radioactive Waste from Fission Reactors", Scientific American, Vol. 236, No. 6, June 1977,
Page 21
Johnson, Jeff, "Up From the Dead", Chemical & Engineering News, Vol. 79, No. 36, September 3, 2001, Page 29
Weinberg, Alvin M., "Breeder Reactors", Scientific American, Vol. 202, No. 1, January 1960, Page 82
Bump, T. R., "A Third Generation of Breeder Reactors", Scientific American, Vol. 216, No. 5, May 1967, Page 25
Seaborg, Glenn T. and Bloom, Justin L., "Fast Breeder Reactors", Scientific American, Vol. 223, No. 5, November 1970, Page 13
^239 ^239 j^^g ^ half-life of a little over 23 minutes and decays to neptunium 239 (Np^^^) with a half-
life of 2.3 days. Np^^^ decays to plutonium 239 (Pu^^^), Pu^^^ has a half-life of 24,000 years. Pu^^^ is a
fertile isotope and will fission when struck by neutrons. It can be used as the fuel for a reactor in the
same manner as U^^^. In a state-of-the-art burner reactor, the residual fertile U^^^ and Pu^^^ represent a
smaller source of energy than the original U^^^ present in the fresh fuel rod. This coupled with the
current policy of not reprocessing used fuel elements results in the relative short lifetime for the burner
fuel cycle.
In the burner fuel cycle, the uranium is cycled one time through the reactor. All the depleted fuel
elements and any remaining fertile U or Pu is stored. In the breeder reactor, design and operating
parameters are be adjusted to promote the production of more fertile isotopes than are consumed in the
reaction. This is the substance of breeder reactor technology.
In an energy system based on breeder reactors, it is necessary to process the used fuel elements to
recover the fertile elements and discard the waste products. The difficulty with this approach lies in
the handling of the uranium, plutonium and highly radioactive nuclear fission products.
The used fuel rods, removed from the breeder reactor, must be chemically processed to separate the
fertile materials from the fission products. To achieve this chemical separation the fuel rods are
dissolved in strong acid. As in working with the raw elements, great care must be taken to prevent a
critical mass of U ^^ and Pu^^^ to build up during the separation operation. Failure to prevent a critical
mass during processing is the reason the workers were killed in Japan in 1997.
The valuable fertile elements are recovered from the acid solution by extraction with an organic
solvent. The acid residue, containing the extremely radioactive fission products, is processed to
convert the waste into a stable solid form. The fission product waste, in a very concentrated form, is
stored for ultimate disposal. This waste represents a different problem than the waste from current
burner reactors. Because of the chemical concentration step there is less total mass of material. The
same concentration process that reduced the mass of the waste concentrates the radiation produced into
a smaller more intense package. This waste is so radioactive that it gets hot and must be actively
cooled or diluted to prevent meltdown. Safe storage and disposal methods are very difficult to design.
It has been suggested that the high level waste be packaged and used for heating. From the standpoint
of thermal conservation, this is an excellent concept. Packaging the high level waste and protecting,
the surrounding from the particles and gamma rays it would emit appears to be an insurmountable
barrier to this use of high-level waste in most heating applications.
The plutonium produced by the breeder reactor presents a problem in weapons' proliferation.
Separation of fertile U^^^ from natural uranium requires very expensive, complex and costly isotopic
separation plants. These plants can only be built by large wealthy nations that have a strong
technology base. When built, they are very difficult to hide because of their size, energy requirements
and waste heat output. Fertile Pu ^^ and U^^^ can be separated from fuel elements by relatively simple
chemical methods that do not require the complex isotope separation. If the breeder reactor cycle is
used widely there will be a lot of Pu^^^ and U^ ^ flowing in the energy infrastructure. The more there
is, the more difficult it will be to prevent its theft by terrorists. The amount of Pu^^^ required for the
fabrication of a bomb is less than 20 kilograms. Plutonium has a specific gravity of 17. Because of the
high specific gravity, a 1.2-Hter block will contain 20 kilograms. This relative small size and weight of
the materials necessary for the construction of a bomb make protection from theft more difficult. ^^^
The use of the breeder reactor energy generation system can provide civilization with a reliable source
of energy for several hundred years. It will also present civilization with an unprecedented waste
disposal problem in the form of highly radioactive fission waste, and a greatly increased problem of
protecting itself from the theft of fertile material suitable for the fabrication of bombs. Removing the
waste from the earth and disposing of it in space can solve the waste disposal problem. ^^"^ While
technically feasible and potentially able to protect the earth from any chance of contamination, it will
require a space launch capability of greater reliability.
Renewable energy sources do not couple well with the user because of the mismatch between the best
time for production of energy and the peak demand time. Nuclear fission cycles have a mismatch for a
different reason. One problem with renewable energy sources is erratic production that does not match
the demand curves. The nuclear reactors operate best at a constant flat output level. They are difficult
to turn up and down to match, the demand curves. As with renewable sources, an energy storage
medium is useful to match the output to the user. Fission burner and breeder reactor energy systems
can provide appropriate energy for space heating, process heat and the generation of electricity.
Neither has inherent a portable energy source suitable for storage of energy to power transportation.
On balance, a breeder-fission based energy system would appear to be sufficiently robust to provide an
energy source for the replacement of fossil fuels. The attendant problems of weapons proliferation and
fission product disposal are significant barriers to its use.
FUSION REACTOR ENERGY
Nuclear fusion reactions have excellent potential for the planet's energy source. Much research has
been performed leading to harnessing fusion reactions for the production of power. There are today,
four or five major, and a dozen secondary, research centers worldwide working on fusion technology.
Few researchers doubt that energy can eventually be produced by the use of fusion reactions, but there
is much disagreement about the nature of the facilities and the details of their engineering design. It
would fly in the face of experience to suggest that only one reactor type will be used in the future for
the production of fusion power. This discussion will show those characteristics that will be unique to
the fusion energy system, properties that reactors will have in common and a preliminary sketch of the
characteristics of reactors that appear likely to be used in the future. Fusion energy sources, while
nuclear, are very different from the fission sources now in use. The only common thread is that both
convert matter to energy by nuclear reactions. In a fusion reactor, light atoms are converted to heavier
atoms. The heavy atoms weigh slightly less than the sum of the weight of the light atoms from which
they are made. This mass difference is converted to energy. The most discussed fuel is a mixture of
two isotopes of hydrogen: deuterium and tritium. '^^ Deuterium is present in all water. Tritium is not
found in nature. It is manufactured by bombarding lithium with neutrons.
Rose, David J. and Lester Richard K., "Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons and International Stability", Scientific American, Vol. 238,
No. 4, April 1978, Page 45
Rosen, Stanley G., "Nuclear Waste Disposal in Space" Page 131 in Macro-engineering: The Rich Potential, Edited by Salkeld,
Robert, Davidson, Frank P., & Meador, Lawrence C, published by The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1981
Bromber, J. L., "Fusion: Science, Politics and the Invention of a New Energy Source", MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1982
Hydrogen is unique among the elements in having separate common names for its isotopes, deuterium
(symbol D, mass 2) and tritium (symbol T, mass 3). This combination of isotopes is the most Hkely to
fuel the first generation of fusion nuclear power plants, because the reaction between deuterium and
tritium is the most easily ignited. When the nucleus of a deuterium atom collides at high speed with a
nucleus of a tritium atom, the two atoms fuse to form a heUum atom and a free neutron. When this
reaction occurs a great deal of energy is released. The critical goal for the design of a fusion reactor is
to force a great many deuterium and tritium atoms to collide at high speed and capture the energy
released.
The temperature of a material determine by the velocity of its atoms. The temperature required for
deuterium and tritium atoms to move fast enough to cause a fusion reaction is approximately 100
million degrees Kelvin. All potential construction materials vaporize at temperatures less than 4,000
degrees Kelvin. To contain the high temperature of a fusion reaction it is necessary to confine the hot
hydrogen isotopes by means other than material walls. Two techniques are currently being
investigated: powerful magnetic fields and inertia.
At the fusion reaction temperature, all the electrons have been stripped from the atoms. The resulting
mix of negative charged free electrons and positive charged bare atomic nuclei are called plasma. The
electric charges of the electrons and nuclei allow the plasma to be manipulated with strong magnetic
fields. The charged particles spiral around and drift along the magnetic lines of force, but do not easily
cross them. A powerful magnetic field can hold the plasma while it is heated to the fusion
temperature. When the deuterium and tritium plasma reaches fusion temperatures energy is produced
by the fusion reactions. Many reactions can take place in deuterium-tritium plasma, all release energy.
The most important reaction is:
Deuterium + Tritium => Energy + Helium + neutron
The neutron carries much of the energy released by this reaction. The neutrons have no electric charge
so they are not contained by the magnetic field. They must be captured in a blanket material. When
the blanket material absorbs them, their energy is transformed into heat. The heat from the neutrons
and the radiant energy emitted from the hot plasma and directly adsorbed by the walls of the reactor
are the heat output of the fusion reactor. This heat can be used to produce steam for the generation of
electric power by conventional steam turbines.
Only a small amount deuterium is required to fuel a fusion reactor. Natural sources of hydrogen
contain 0.0156% deuterium. A metric ton (1000-kg) of hydrogen from any source contains 156 grams
of deuterium. Tritium is unknown in nature; however, the neutrons produced by fusion react with
lithium to produce tritium. There is sufficient deuterium and lithium to provide energy for thousands
of years. ^^^
There are no radioactive elements produced by the fusion reaction: the product is inert heUum.
However, the neutrons produced by the fusion reaction are adsorbed by the atomic nuclei of the
structure of the reactor and cause them to become radioactive. The tritium used as the reactant is
radioactive. In total, these two sources generate far less radiation than is produced by the radioactive
substances in a burner or breeder fission reactor. They are many-many times less hazardous than the
radioactive waste produced by a breeder reactor.
Holdren, John P., "Fusion Energy In Context: Its Fitness for the Long Term", Science, Vol. 200, April 14, 1978, page 168
Magnetic confinement fusion reactors use low-pressure hot plasma for the production of fusion energy.
A large chamber is equipped with magnetic coils to provide the strong fields necessary to hold the
plasma for a long period. The chamber has heat exchange equipment for the removal of the fusion
energy. The tritium and deuterium are introduced as gas and heated to fusion temperature with
auxiliary heaters to start the reaction. Neutrons from the reaction produce tritium in the heat exchange
blanket. Thermal energy is extracted from the reactor and handled in the same manner as heat from a
fission reactor or a coal fired power plant. This heat is used to raise steam to generate electricity.
Inertial confinement reactors use the opposite end of the density and time scale. A small pellet of
deuterium and tritium is frozen at a temperature a few degrees above absolute zero, say 2 to 3 Kelvin (-
272 degrees Celsius). The pellet is placed in the focus of several powerful energy beams. The beams
are pulsed at a high energy level for a very short time. The enormous pulse of energy heats and
compresses the pellet to a temperature and density high enough that the fusion reaction occurs. The
heating and compression happen so fast that much of the pellet reacts before it has time to blow up
from the energy pulse.
Several types of energy beams have been tested in research efforts to ignite inertial confined fusion
reactions. Multiple laser beams, electron beams and heavy ion beams have been tested. All have
shown that heating and compression is possible. Thus far, none have caused the release of more
energy from the deuterium tritium pellet than was present in the original laser beams.
The energy released from each pellet must be much larger than the energy of the ignition beam for
inertial confinement to be useful as an energy source. The output energy will be captured in a neutron-
adsorbing blanket and by the chamber walls in a manner very similar to that used in the magnetic
confinement fusion reactor. As with the magnetic fusion reactor the energy output will be used to
drive an essentially conventional generator to produce electric energy or the heat can be used directly
for the desired purpose.
With both Magnetic and inertial confinement, there is the possibility of extracting the energy directly
as electricity without the intermediate step of producing heat and using steam powered generators.
Research will undoubtedly produce a reactor using this principle someday but, while potentially highly
efficient, it is not essential for the use of fusion reactions as a future energy source.
The hydrogen bomb uses a similar type of fusion reaction as its source of energy. A conventional
nuclear fission bomb is used as the heat source to start the fusion (thermonuclear) reaction. It may
some day be possible to ignite a thermonuclear bomb reaction without a fission bomb, but at this time,
no one has a practical notion as to how it might be accomplished. As a result, fusion reactors cannot
lead to the production of hydrogen bombs.
A scheme has been proposed for using the neutrons from the fusion reaction to convert uranium 238 to
plutonium 239 or thorium 232 to uranium 233 for the manufacture of bombs. While in theory this may
be possible, it does not appear to offer an easier route to the production of bombs than the current
methods of separation of uranium 235, or the production of plutonium in a conventional reactor. As a
result of these factors, use of a fusion energy system will in no way add to the potential for further
nuclear weapons or provide a source for the unauthorized procurement of materials that might be used
to produce weapons.
SUMMARY
Renewable energy sources are useful for the harvesting energy under special circumstances. Because
of the difficulty in collecting them and their unreliability, they are unsuitable as the basis of an energy
system that can be used to replace fossil fuels. The burner reactor system has both a short life and a
nearly intractable waste disposal problem. The breeder reactor system has an adequate life, but
presents an even greater waste disposal problem than the burner reactors. In addition, breeder reactor
systems have the added problem of wide availability of materials suitable for the manufacture of
bombs. Adequate security would be a planet wide challenge
Of all the potential energy sources, the fusion reactor appears to have the most desirable set of
characteristics for the future energy source. It does not use large quantities of natural resources useful
to manufacture other products. The materials consumed in the production of energy, deuterium and
tritium derived from lithium, are available in such large quantities that exhaustion of supplies is, from
the viewpoint of humanity, impossible. It adds no harmful by-products to the environment. The by-
product, helium, is of value as an inert gas and for achieving very low temperatures.
A fusion reactor's impact on the environment will be limited to the site it occupies, and the waste heat
left over when the reactor heat is used to generate electricity. The only significant radioactive waste
disposal problems occur when the reactor has worn out and must be dismantled. In the
decommissioning of fusion reactors, the internal parts will be radioactive from years of exposure to the
neutrons released by the fusion reaction. The total amount of waste remaining will depend critically
on the materials used in the fabrication of the reactor. With selection of the proper elements the
radioactive waste disposal problem will be in the range of 10,000 to 1,000,000 times smaller than that
involved in the dismantling of a fission reactor and its waste.
A fusion reactor will be struggling at all times to keep running so that no action or combination of
actions by natural processes, such as earth quakes, can cause the reactor to blow up or melt down. If
someone tinkers with it to create a problem the worst that can be done is to turn it off, make it
inoperable, and release a small amount of tritium.
Fusion reactors will produce energy on smooth constant basis. As with all other future energy sources,
it will be necessary to provide a means of storing fusion energy. Storage is necessary for the reactors
to match the daily and longer cyclic variations in energy use. It will also be necessary to convert
fusion energy to a form that can be used in transportation. The later chapters show how one
manufactured fuel can serve both purposes, storage of energy to follow the changing use and to supply
transportation.
The fusion reaction system appears to have the qualities we are seeking in a power source for the
future. There is no shortage of the input materials, deuterium and lithium, and the power system will
use them in only small quantities. As a result, an energy system based on their use will have a long
life, potentially thousands of years. No by-product, such as carbon dioxide, will be placed in the
environment by the fusion reactors. The radioactive waste problem from fusion reactors will be ten
thousand to a million times less severe than that associated with a breeder reactor system. These
factors lead to the recognition of the fusion reaction as the best possible candidate for the base load
energy source to replace fossil fuels.
No power producing fusion reactors have been built. A number of research reactors have been
constructed and their operation has provided the data for the construction of the prototype power
reactor for the future. Options, problems and the promise for fusion reactors will be discussed in more
detail in Chapter 3.

Chapter 2 - Alternative Energy Sources, Pages 33-56

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