Sustainability Analysis in Energy Systems Overview
William Kisker
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07/28/2020
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An overview of the methods and assessments used when determining if an energy system is sustainable.
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- [00:00:00.850]Hello, my name is William Kisker
- [00:00:02.932]and today I will be presenting an overview
- [00:00:05.669]of Sustainability Analysis in Energy Systems.
- [00:00:09.262]This is a research project I have been working on this summer
- [00:00:12.079]overseen and directed by Dr. Yasar Demirel.
- [00:00:16.277]First off, what are energy systems?
- [00:00:18.911]Energy systems are regions in which there is
- [00:00:21.391]capacity to do work.
- [00:00:23.143]Now specifically, we are talking about electricity generation and energy use.
- [00:00:27.865]What is sustainability in energy systems?
- [00:00:31.024]Well, sustainability is defined as
- [00:00:32.447]"maintaining or improving the material and
- [00:00:35.097]and social conditions for human health and
- [00:00:37.070]the environment over time without exceeding
- [00:00:39.655]the ecological capacities that support them."
- [00:00:42.237]For example, this would include using nonrenewable
- [00:00:45.380]resources effectively and efficiently
- [00:00:48.036]without harming the environment.
- [00:00:53.676]How do we quantify sustainability?
- [00:00:56.203]Sustainability is quantified using cost,
- [00:00:58.367]environmental impact, resource allocation
- [00:01:00.731]and usage, and energy use.
- [00:01:04.132]So this is again, using our resources
- [00:01:06.932]in a renewable and efficient way.
- [00:01:10.999]Why does sustainability matter?
- [00:01:13.181]Sustainability matters because roughly
- [00:01:15.588]two-thirds of all greenhouse gas emissions
- [00:01:17.724]are attributed to energy use
- [00:01:19.836]across the globe.
- [00:01:21.360]Not only that, but fossil fuels are also
- [00:01:23.388]becoming more difficult and
- [00:01:24.745]expensive to access.
- [00:01:27.835]The purposes of this research have been to
- [00:01:29.953]learn what it means for a system
- [00:01:31.520]to be sustainable and how to calculate and
- [00:01:34.108]quantify sustainability.
- [00:01:37.798]There are three aspects to sustainability.
- [00:01:40.038]These are social, environmental, and economic
- [00:01:43.241]Individually, each of these present just
- [00:01:45.815]one view of sustainability. But it takes
- [00:01:49.299]all three to get a complete
- [00:01:50.763]three dimensional picture.
- [00:01:54.617]Knowing how each is quantified
- [00:01:57.007]also contributes to understanding sustainability.
- [00:02:02.967]Sustainability methods.
- [00:02:06.560]Carbon capture storage and utilization
- [00:02:09.155]technology is a promising technology that
- [00:02:14.129]captures carbon dioxide using an
- [00:02:17.231]oxygen carrier and keeps it from entering
- [00:02:19.613]the atmosphere.
- [00:02:21.183]Now once it has been captured, there is
- [00:02:22.943]the option to move it to long-term storage
- [00:02:25.048]or recycle it in other ways such as
- [00:02:26.893]commercial products.
- [00:02:28.671]Now the biggest issue with carbon capture
- [00:02:30.661]systems is how expensive these are.
- [00:02:32.655]For example, the Petra Nova project in
- [00:02:34.715]Texas cost over $1 billion to install the
- [00:02:37.225]emissions reduction technology.
- [00:02:41.369]Now another method is renewable energy
- [00:02:44.719]system implementation.
- [00:02:47.215]Decreased costs in
- [00:02:48.170]the renewable energy sector coupled with
- [00:02:50.879]increased generation capacity have greatly
- [00:02:53.775]raised the appeal of building renewable
- [00:02:56.027]generation stations and will continue to
- [00:02:58.626]do so as the consumer base pushes for
- [00:03:00.995]cleaner energy.
- [00:03:03.873]Next we have increased energy storage and
- [00:03:06.567]energy efficiency.
- [00:03:09.568]So, as battery technology and efficiency
- [00:03:12.361]continues to grow, more and more people
- [00:03:14.981]will begin to make the switch
- [00:03:16.861]if they have not already.
- [00:03:19.543]This can be seen in the way major car
- [00:03:23.473]manufacturers are following the lead of
- [00:03:25.965]Tesla and producing electric vehicles.
- [00:03:29.083]Sustainability metrics
- [00:03:31.706]Sustainability metrics are the ways in
- [00:03:34.203]which we measure whether a system is
- [00:03:35.981]sustainable or not.
- [00:03:37.535]For example, material intensity is the
- [00:03:39.471]amount of nonrenewable resources used.
- [00:03:42.379]Energy intensity is the amount of energy
- [00:03:44.341]harvested from the nonrenewables used
- [00:03:50.397]per unit mass.
- [00:03:52.815]Now these two metrics deal with the inputs
- [00:03:54.858]while the following two pertain to the
- [00:03:56.839]outputs from the process.
- [00:04:01.582]Potential environmental impact is the
- [00:04:03.442]amount of emissions given off per unit mass
- [00:04:06.490]from the energy conversion.
- [00:04:10.032]Potential chemical risk is the amount of
- [00:04:12.668]toxic emissions released per unit mass
- [00:04:15.175]from the system.
- [00:04:18.062]Sustainability assessments
- [00:04:19.899]Carbon tracking calculates the CO2
- [00:04:22.036]emissions from various fuel sources.
- [00:04:25.172]The amounts are based upon the numbers
- [00:04:26.985]provided by the European Commission or
- [00:04:29.867]the United States Environmental Protection
- [00:04:32.255]Agency
- [00:04:33.507]Global warming potential is an estimate of
- [00:04:36.062]how much a chemical contributes to global
- [00:04:38.166]warming over time.
- [00:04:39.703]It uses Carbon Dioxide as a baseline of 1
- [00:04:41.973]and other chemicals are compared to it.
- [00:04:46.613]Heat integration is a measure of how
- [00:04:48.463]efficiently a system utilizes heat throughout.
- [00:04:50.925]This can be used to reduce energy
- [00:04:53.128]consumption and waste.
- [00:04:56.568]Now these statistics from the
- [00:04:59.133]International Energy Agency show
- [00:05:01.066]the breakdown of electricity generation
- [00:05:02.865]by source.
- [00:05:03.880]What the statistics don't show however,
- [00:05:05.952]is the decline in coal use and the increase
- [00:05:08.907]in natural gas use in electricity
- [00:05:11.746]production over recent years.
- [00:05:14.869]This is especially true in the United States
- [00:05:17.732]The graph on the right, provided by the
- [00:05:19.694]United States Energy Information Administration
- [00:05:22.132]shows the breakdown of U.S. total energy
- [00:05:24.470]consumption, not just electricity generation
- [00:05:32.452]In Conclusion
- [00:05:33.637]The path to sustainable energy generation
- [00:05:36.158]is one that will take time and effort to
- [00:05:38.396]achieve.
- [00:05:39.314]There is no overnight solution,
- [00:05:41.051]only a series of steps that can be taken
- [00:05:43.222]to reduce our footprint.
- [00:05:44.541]Driving new technology and pushing for
- [00:05:47.196]sustainable energy solutions will be the
- [00:05:49.644]key to our increasing energy needs.
- [00:05:52.467]Thank you
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