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EFFICIENCY

Efficieny
- effective operation as measured by a comparison of production with cost
Energy Efficiency
- convert the energy supplied to it with a minimal amount of heat returned as energy
2nd Law of Thermodynamics
- energy is converted from one form to another
Components
- Input is all components (matter and/or energy) entering the system.
- Throughput is the flow of all components within the system.
- Output is all components leaving the system
Measure of Efficiency
- % efficiency = (output input) x 100
Positive Feedback
- The action s repetead because of the input
Negative Impact
- The action is not repeated because of its output
High Throughput
- High output
- Generates a large amount of waste and pollution
- Energy output is low quality
Low Throughput
- Balance of input and output
- Generates little waste
- Maximizes energy efficiency
Reducing energy waste and improving energy efficiency
- 84% of all commercial energy used in the U.S. is wasted and 41% is lost due to 2
nd
law
- Incandescent light bulb: 95% is lost as heat.
- Internal combustion engine: 94% of the energy in its fuel is wasted.
- Nuclear power plant: 92% of energy is wasted through nuclear fuel and energy needed for waste
management.
- Coal-burning power plant: 66% of the energy released by burning coal is lost
Ways to improve energy efficiency
- Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) has not increased after 1985.
- Inflation of gasoline
- Have more hybrid cars
Hybrid Vehicles, Sustainable Wind Power, and Oil imports
- extra plug-in battery could be powered mostly by electricity produced by wind and get twice the
mileage of current hybrid cars
- wind farms in just four states could meet all U.S. electricity
Fuel-Cell Vehicles
- hydrogen gas are being developed
- (2H2+O2 => 2H2O)
- Emits air pollution
WAYS TO IMPROVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY
- getting heat from the sun, super insulating them, and using plant covered green roofs
Strawbale House
- f low-cost straw covered with plaster or adobe. thickness of the bales, its strength exceeds standard
construction
Living Roofs
- Roofs that has plant on it
Saving Energy in Existing Buildings
- Seal cracks and holes so air doent pass through one another
Why Are We Still Wasting So Much Energy?
- It is cheap
- Few government give fez incentives to use alternative energy
How Would You Vote?
- No. The free market already encourages investments in energy efficiency.
- Yes. Without government participation, there is little incentive to improve energy efficiency until a
crisis occurs.
USING RENEWABLE SOLAR ENERGY TO PROVIDE HEAT AND ELECTRICITY
- European nations 22%
- Costa Rica- 92%
- Chian aims 10%
- California 10% to 50% in 2030
- Denmark 20% to 50% in 2030
- Brazil 20%
- 2004 1.7 million jobs created
Passive Solar Heating
- absorbs and stores heat from the sun directly within a structure without the need for pumps to
distribute the heat
- Advantages
o Energy free
o Very low disturbance
o Moderate cost
- Disadvantages
o Needs the sun
o Need heat storage
Cooling Houses Naturally
- Taking advantages of breezes.
- Shading them.
- Having light colored or green roofs.
Using Solar Energy to Generate High Temperature Heat and Electricity
- Sunny deserts can produce high temperature heat to spin turbines for electricity
- Advantage
o Moderate net energy
o No CO2 emissions
o Fast construction
- Dis Advantage
o Low efficiency
o High costs
o High land use
Solar Cells
- Advantage
o High net energy
o No CO2 emssions
o Low land use
o Reduce dependence of fossil fuels
- Disadvantage
o Low efficiency
o High costs
o DC current must be converted to AC

PRODUCING ELECTRICITY FROM THE WATER CYCLE

- Dams that traps water to produce electricity
- Advantage
o High effiency 80%
o Long life span
o Provide flood control
- Disadvantage
o Decrease harvest of fish
o Decrease natural flow
PRODUCING ELECTRICITY FROM WIND
- 20% of the wind energy at the worlds best energy sites could meet all the worlds energy demands
- Europe leads
- European companies manufacture 80% of the wind turbines sold in the global market
- Advantage
o High efficiency
o Moderate to high energy
o Easily expanded
- Disadvantage
o Use of land
o Interfere and kill birds
PRODUCING ENERGY FROM BIOMASS
- Plant materials and animal wastes can be burned to provide heat or electricity
- Solid Biomass
o Advantage
No net CO2
Help restore degraded lands
Moderate costs
o Disadvantage
Moderate to high environmental impact
Competer with crop land
Soil erosion
o
Low photosynthetic efficiency
Case Study: Producing Ethanol
- Processing all corn grown in the U.S. into ethanol would cover only about 55 days of current driving
- Ethanol
o Advantage
High octane
Potentially renewable
Reduce CO emission
o Disadvantage
Higher NO emissions
Higher cost
Lower driving range
10% of the countrys
diesel fuel needs
Biodiesel
- Advantage
o Reduce CO and CO2 (78%)
o Better gas mileage (40%)
- Disadvantage
o Compete of cropland
o Loss of biodiversity
Methanol Fuel
- Advantage
o High octane
o Produce H2 for fuel cells
o Made from natural gas
- Disadvantage
o Larger fuel tanks
o Corrodes metal, rubber, plastics
o Expensive to produce
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
- Geothermal energy consists of heat stored in soil, underground rocks, and fluids in the earths mantle
- geothermal heat pump (GHP) can heat and cool a house by exploiting the difference between the
earths surface and underground temperatures
- Geothermal Heat Pump
o house is heated in the winter by transferring heat from the ground into the house
o Is reverse for summer
- Dry steam: water vapor with no water droplets.
- Wet steam: a mixture of steam and water droplets.
- Hot water: is trapped in fractured or porous rock
- Advantage
o High efficiency
o Low land use
o Low land disturbance
- Disadvantage
o Noise and odor
o CO2 emissions
o Depleted if used to rapidly
o
o
HYDROGEN
- best fuel to replace oil
- Advantage
o Renewable if from renewable resources
o No CO2 emissions if produced from water
- Disadvantage
o CO2 emissions if produced from carbon-containing compounds
o Not found in nature
o Negative net energy

ENERGY STAR
- is a joint program of the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the
environment through energy efficient products and practices

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