The Greener Truth » Environmentalism

Solving the Energy Crisis

Aaron Midgett — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:58:17 +0000

I apologize for not posting recently. As many of you may not know, I am a graduate student and I am defending my thesis in two weeks. This has meant that work has taken precedence over the more interesting task of blogging. Until I have more time, here is the beginning of the introduction to my dissertation that I thought would be interesting to the majority of you. Hope you get something out of it, and in a few weeks, I will try to get back to a regular blogging schedule.

The Energy Crisis

Coal Power Plant

The motivation behind the search for cost effective, carbon neutral, renewable energy sources is readily apparent in all areas of our daily life. Since the industrial revolution, the human need for high quality, inexpensive energy has driven both exploration and technology. For most of that time, that need was filled by fossil fuels, which today comprise 85% of the U.S. energy supply. Since their rise to power in the industrial revolution, fossil fuels have always been readily available and inexpensive. The problem with fossil fuels that the cost of mining and distributing coal and oil does not take into account is their cost to the environment and their finite availability. Because of these two missing factors, fossil fuels are sold for considerably less than their true costs, on a larger scale, meaning that other energy sources are not able to compete. This has meant that for the last two hundred years, fossil fuels have had a monopoly on the energy market, while slowly changing the climate of our planet. We have now come to expect an unlimited supply of relatively inexpensive energy, and therefore, any replacement must be cost effective, easily transportable and widely available.

Power of the Sun

Based on these criteria, there are a limited number of sources that are capable of providing the energy needed, and none that can do so for the same price that oil, coal and gas are sold for today. The most obvious untapped energy source is harnessing the power from the sun. More energy strikes the earth, in the form of sunlight, in a single hour (4.3 x 10²⁰ J) than humans consumed on the entire planet in 2001 (4.3 x 10²⁰ J). The current technology for collecting this energy is insufficient. While fossil-fuel-derived energy can be produced for as little as $0.02-0.05 (kW-hr)^-1, the average cost of solar cells, based on a twenty year lifetime, are in the range of $0.21-0.46 (kW-hr)^-1for a commercial utility scale power plant. Due to the large discrepancy between the costs of these two energy sources, incremental improvements to the cost of solar cells are not enough, and instead, new revolutionary ideas must be implemented that are not only more cost effective, but also more efficient. This is the area of solar research categorized as third generation.

Solar Cells: Generating Electricity from Light

Thanks to Tree Hugger and the Pope

Solar cells are designed to absorb photons from sunlight and convert that energy into electricity by taking advantage of the photovoltaic effect and separating an electron and hole across the bandgap of the semiconductor. If a photon does not have enough energy to excite an electron across the gap, it will either be transmitted or scattered. On the other hand, if the photon has more energy than the bandgap of the semiconductor, the excess kinetic energy is lost to heat as the high-energy electron and hole cool to the bandedge. Once the electron is separated from the hole, a built in asymmetry in the device (usually created with a junction of electrically different materials) causes the electrons to flow through an external circuit where they can be used to do electrical work.

The delicate balance of collecting the most photons possible while keeping the highest voltage based on the solar spectrum creates an upper limit to the theoretical efficiency of a traditional, single bandgap, terrestrial solar cell. This detailed balance calculation, originally defined in 1961, leads to the Shockley-Queisser limit of 30-33% for solar cells with bandgaps in the range of 1-1.6 eV. While some of the energy loss is due to the transmission of low energy photons, the majority of the lost energy (almost 50%) is due to heat created as the high energy charge carriers cool to the bandgap. By accessing this lost energy, the theoretical efficiency of a solar cell increases, and the goal of third generation solar is realized.

Peddle Power at the Copenhagen Crowne Plaza

Aaron Midgett — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:11:49 +0000

I have often fondly talked about my experience with biking in the Danish capital Copenhagen, but a the Crowne Plaza has come up with a great idea to take this to a new level. They have installed two bikes in the hotel lobby that are used to generate electricity. This by itself is a brilliant idea, not so much different from the idea of a gym powered by the patrons (one of our Greener Truth bloggers has always wanted to start a gym like this called the Powerhouse), but they have taken this idea a step farther and passed the savings along to the people doing the work. If you are staying at the hotel, a short workout on the bikes will earn you a free meal or drinks at the bar. This is the first such program that I know about and the Crowne Plaza is using this as a test program before expanding to other hotels. On top of this idea, the hotel was designed with energy saving in mind and uses 90% less energy than traditional buildings. Here are just a few of the energy saving ideas that have been implemented.

-solar pannels on the roof and exterior

-a geothermal well for heating and cooling

-the use of a biogas facility for organic waste

-organic food

-water saving faucets

-low energy lighting and electronics

I think that this is a great idea and would love to see these sorts of ideas catch on. To date, most business think of green practices as costly and unnecessary, but ideas like this will show that it is possible to run a greener business and save money as long as people are willing to think out of the box.

Lance Leads the Leaf Electric Car Charge

Aaron Midgett — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:38:41 +0000

Lance Armstrong may be 17 minutes behind the leaders in the Tour de France this summer, but that is ok with me, because he is stepping up to lead the charge for the Nissan Leaf. Not long ago, Lance was named the official spokesperson for the electric car, and now he stars in their new commercial about the clean design of the car.

While this may just be another paycheck for the cycling superstar, he is also set to be the first recipient of a Leaf and genuinly seems dedicated to the cause. More celebrities are standing up for causes they care about, and in a culture that is always trying to find the best deal, this is one way that alternative forms of transportation and renewable energy are going to take hold. Next time you see you see Matt Damon or Brad Pitt driving around in a sporty Tesla Roadster, don’t think about the $100K that they dropped to get the car, but the service they are doing to promote a cleaner driving experience for us all.

More Information about the Nissan Leaf and Electric Cars

-Wikipedia:Electric Car

The Starbucks Karma Cup

Aaron Midgett — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:49:10 +0000

I have railed on Starbucks (and all the other coffee stores) in that past over all of the wasted paper coffee cups, but after a long time coming, the company has joined with the Betacup program and decided to make some improvements. The Betacup program initially asked for sugestions from customers on how to fight the coffee cup waste. Here is a video explaining the problem and how to find the solution.
Now the winning idea has been chosen, and it is a brilliant one. Instead of redesigning the reusable coffee mug, the solution was simply to give folks an incentive to remember their mug. Every coffee addict that I know has multiple reusable mugs, but I don’t often see them being used. Reusable mugs are hard to clean and easy to forget, so to help people remember, the Karma cup idea will reward every tenth customer bringing a reusable mug with a free cup of coffee. This is so much smarter than a punch card, or a discount, because you never know when you are going to be a winner, so you always have to be on your toes and bring your mug. The only addition that I would make would be mug cleaning station. How many times have you had a reusable mug, wanted to use it, but just couldn’t stomach drinking out of the same cup for another day without washing it? So now, what if Starbucks had a quick wash station so that while you were waiting in line, you could wash out and sanitize your mug? Now that would be convenient, and with the addition of the Karma cup idea, could change some attitudes about coffee.

More information on Betacup and the coffee cup problem

-Betacup: Check out these other great solutions

-Treehugger

-Coffee Waste Calculator

-Sustainability is Sexy

Flaming Tap Water is Fracking Crazy!

Aaron Midgett — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:48:33 +0000

Considering all of the horrors of the gulf oil spill, I don’t think that there is an American left that doesn’t wish for a better alternative than oil. Then again, with some of the responses floating around lately, maybe I am wrong. Natural gas, which many tout as a greener alternative than oil, has become more popular and accounts for 17% of Us electricity and over 50% of heating. It is true, that natural gas releases less carbon dioxide and other pollutants per unit of energy released, but the consequences shown in this video from the new documentary Gasland blew me out of the water.
YES, if you were wondering, that is the tap water catching fire! And by the way, this is not because of some horrible spill, but just a normal (and expected) consequence of extracting natural gas from the ground. As explained in the video, this is caused when natural gas companies use a process called fracking (hydraulic fracturing) that releases the gas buried deep in the earth so it can be extracted. The side effect of this this process is that natural gas leaks into the water supply, leading to contamination and eventually tap water that catches fire. Here is a great article from the makers of the movie Gasland that explain fracking and natural gas production in more detail.

More Information about Natural Gas Production

-Gasland the Movie

-What is Fracking

-Wikipedia: Hydraulic Fracturing

-Wikipedia: Natural Gas

DOE asks for Suggestions on how to Stop Oil Spill

Aaron Midgett — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:17:30 +0000

It is hard to believe that the oil spill is still gushing as much as ever and that we still have no idea how to fix it . To top it off, our politicians are too busy arguing over money and apologizing to BP to do anything productive about the situation. We haven’t even effectively paused off-shore drilling in the gulf of mexico due to the recent legal setback. John Stewart says this better than I could.


Day 62 – The Strife Aquatic
www.thedailyshow.com

Because of my work at a national lab, I get e-mails from the Department of Energy, but this one from last week really surprised me.

Subject: DOE Email Address for Deepwater Horizon Solutions

Employees are encouraged to submit ideas and suggestions in topic areas including, but not limited to: sub-surface containment, surface containment, shoreline cleanup and remediation, safety improvements, and flow stoppage. Effective immediately ideas should be sent to oilspillsolutions@hq.doe.gov

As part of the Department of Energy’s response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf, the Office of Fossil Energy has established a new email address to collect the best ideas from within the Department’s research community (i.e. DOE labs, universities, contractors and others that interact with DOE) on how to stop or contain the oil’s release and mitigate impact on the environment. Please send ideas and suggestions directly to oilspillsolutions@hq.doe.gov. Submissions will undergo an internal vetting process and the most immediately applicable suggestions will be elevated to senior DOE leadership for accelerated consideration.

However, ALL suggestions will be placed in the Government’s public Deepwater Horizon database for evaluation by an interagency team. This will ensure that innovative ideas, which are directly applicable to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, receive the highest attention.

Working with the Department of Energy, I know how many smart people there are working here, but this seems a little desperate. The only thing that most people know about the spill is what we hear on TV and it seems a little unreasonable to expect us to be able to put fourth an effective solution without doing a better job of outlining the details of the problem. Here is a start at explaining the technical details if you happen to be up for taking on the challenge. This is a disaster on an unprecedented scale (I am not going to say how big because we can’t even tell you that accurately) and we need to learn something from it. Going forward, I think that it is important to learn from this mistake and in the short term use a lot more caution in oil exploration, while focusing on the long term goal of weaning ourselves off of oil and onto renewables. The cost of fossil fuels is much higher than the price that we pay at the pump and if this is the disaster that makes the world realize that, then maybe we can turn a horrible situation into a turning point for the energy economy.

More information about Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

-DOE

-Wikipedia

Most Honest Ad for Oil Ever!

Aaron Midgett — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:10:07 +0000

With all of the greenwashed adds for oil companies like BP, it is nice for a change to look at and add that really speaks the truth. This ad by Humble Oil (now part of Exxon) from 1962 is possibly the most honest straight forward add I have ever seen.

Maybe BP needs to take lesson from Humble and start putting out a little more honest ads too instead of hogwash like this.

Bike to Work Day Denver

Aaron Midgett — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:55:51 +0000

In many cities around the country, the official bike to work day has already passed, but here in Denver and many other mountainous cities, the weather is a little less predictable in May and so Bike to work Day is moved to late June. Here in Denver, I will be participating in Bike to work Day on June 23rd. As I have written before, I have a decent commute to work on the bike that takes about an hour each way, but I really enjoy it and on days where I bike, that is often the favorite part of my day. I actually biked to work today, and am looking forward to the ride home. Bike to work day, is just a normal day for many commuters, but if you choose to ride to work, there are some nice benefits like free breakfast and bike aid stations. If you are luck enough to live in the Denver area, go sign up for bike to work day right now, but if you aren’t, try biking to work anyway. I think you will like the nice change of pace to start your day.

More information on Commuting by Bike

-How to bike to work, from the Greener Truth

-Wikipedia: Bike to work day

-Denver Bike to work Day

-San Francisco Bike Coalition

-Commute by Bike

-Bike Commuters

California Bans Plastic Shopping Bags

Aaron Midgett — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:52:04 +0000

Well, the trend is catching on and it wont be long before it sweeps the nation. We told you when D.C. started the plastic bag revolution by putting a $0.05 tax on every bag used and now California has gone one step further: they have banned plastic bags all together. Last week, the California general assembly banned the use of plastic bags in grocery stores, pharmacies, liquor stores and gas stations and at the same time put a $0.05 tax on paper bags. The idea is both to encourage the use of reusable bags to help the environment and earn a little extra cash for the struggling state. I for one, think that this is a brilliant idea and I just hope that it catches on in more states. I try to remember my reusable bags when I go shopping, but a little extra incentive wouldn’t hurt. If you need to to get some bags, I like the Baggu, but it really doesn’t matter what you get as long as next time you go to the store, you remember those bags and hope that your state will follow D.C. and California so that everyone else will too.

More Information on the Bag Tax

-D.C. Bag Tax From the Greener Truth

-Green House

-Washington Post

-Wikipedia: Reusable Shopping Bags

-SeattleBagTax.org

-The Baggu from ebay

Reusing Empty Swimming Pools

Aaron Midgett — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:58:06 +0000

It is easy to get bogged down in the recession, espicially if you are out of work or livng in California. So it is important to think about some of the benefits that come from this crazy situation. I thought that this video showed not only the amazing amount of waste and overspending that was prevalent during the build up to the housing bubble, but also a really creative idea to reuse some of the wasted space.

The movie Cannonball was developed by California is a place.

Maybe in the future, we should learn something from these skaters and try to reuse what we have before spending above our means to build something that we can’t afford.