Energy, Climate, and Society – Lecture 22 Review and Summary

Energy grand challenges: net-zero

A five points “climate haiku”

It’s warming
It’s us
We’re sure
It’s bad
We can fix it

Energy vs power

Energy is the ability to do work. Energy is power integrated over time.
Basic unit: joule = watt·second

Power is the rate at which work is done, or energy is transmitted.
Basic unit: watt = jourle/second

We need to know what we are talking about!

Common sources of energy and climate data

Energy:
- IEA (OECD)
- EIA
- UN
- WB
- BP Statistical Review of World Energy

Climate:
- NASA
- NCAR
- EUCCI
- UNEP
- NOAA

Carbon:
- CDIAC (Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center)
- EDGAR (emissions database for global atmospheric research system)
- Carbon Budget Project
- Carbon Monitor

Human component is the major driver of warming

Social cost of carbon

Marginal cost of carbon
Cost included:
- Net agricultural productivity
- Human health
- Property damage
- Energy system costs
Cost not included:
- Unknown impact: physical, ecological, economic
- Unknown cost: information

Kaya identify

$F=P \times \frac{G}{P} \times \frac{E}{G} \times \frac{F}{E}$

Where:

F: global CO2 emissions from human sources
P: global population
G: world GDP
E: global energy consumption

And:

G/P: GDP per capita
E/G: energy intensity of the GDP
F/E: emission intensity of energy

Risks and resilience

Energy systems

Energy project economics

NPV, discounting, LCOE, learning rate
Project economics is useful for basic cost-benefit analysis
Getting the price (discounting) right
Understanding technology dynamics will help to model future projections
Aware of the limitations

Thermodynamics

Thermodynamic efficiency
Comparing different technologies
Thermodynamics provides physic limits

Brayton cycle vs. Rankine cycle

Brayton Cycle	Rankine Cycle
Jet, Gas turbine	Steam turbine
Open	Open/closed circuits
Working fluid in gaseous phase	Working fluid phase change

Defining a Rosenfeld Plant

500 MW
c.f.: 70%
T&D losss: 7%

Results:

3 TWh/year
3 MtCO2/year
NYC electricity use: ~4 TWh/year

P-N Junction

Wind

$P=\frac{1}{2}\rho \pi r^2 v^3$

Where,
$\rho$ = Air Density ( $kg/m^3$ )
$A$ = Swept Area (m2) = $\pi r^2$
$v$ = Wind Speed (m/s)
$P$ = Power (W)

Nuclear

Nuclear fission

Nuclear fussion

Hydro

Hydropower

Pumped storage hydropower (PSH)

$E=\rho mg(h_2-h_1)$

Energy demand

Energy demand is shaped by dynamic factors: populations, GDP, technology, regulation, and human behavior
Understanding those drivers will help us learn the magnitude and profile of our demand
Load forecast integrates all insights to the show

Energy efficiency

There are barriers for energy efficiency and inforamtion and standards can help address the energy efficiency gap
Human behavior is complicated, and understanding it will help us to design policy
Rebound is real but might be overplayed, rebound could be good if improve welfare
Sustainable consumption and production within the limit

Energy access and energy justice

Electricity/energy access is fundamental to other modern services: education, health, and information
Energy access also has gender equity, health cobenefits, and other implications
Energy justice is important to achieve just transition
An reflection on our approaches to energy justice

Energy, environment, and human health

Environmental and health impacts are the externalities of energy systems
Energy-air-pollution-human health framework of analysis
Energy-water-carbon nexus
System impacts show the constraint in systems modeling

Energy transition

Diverse factors that drive energy transition
Common and differentiated solutions to energy
Leverage the advantages
Addressing uncertainties: geopolitics, wars, pandemic, and more

Power sector decarbonization

Power sector’s central role in decarbonization
Capacity expansion model to analyze the optimized investment decisions
Decisions in the real world is much more complicated
Emerging trends in the power sector

Big data and AI

AI and big data has transformed how we live, and how can we save the planet
AI does not automatic add new insights, but it provides powerful tools to analyze increasingly available big data
Learning those new tools and skills becomes necessary to work in the field
The potential of using AI/big data to analyze our understanding of energy supply/demand and human behavior is enomorous.

LCA

System thinking and LCA thinking
LCA could offer insights
Learning those new tools and skills to do basic LCA
LCA is a system think to address energy and climate challenges.

Uncertainies and limitation

Know the limitation of models
Use model appropriately
Interpret/communicate the results effectively
Models for social good

References

IEA. 2021. “Net Zero by 2050.” International Energy Agency.

Kaya, Yoichi, and Keiichi Yokobori, eds. 1997. Environment, Energy, and Economy: Strategies for Sustainable. Tokyo: United Nations Univ. https://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu17ee/uu17ee00.htm.

Koomey, Jonathan, Hashem Akbari, Carl Blumstein, Marilyn Brown, Richard Brown, Chris Calwell, Sheryl Carter, et al. 2010. “Defining a Standard Metric for Electricity Savings.” Environmental Research Letters 5 (1): 014017. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/014017.

Macknick, Jordan. 2011. “Energy and CO2 Emission Data Uncertainties.” Carbon Management 2 (2): 189–205. https://doi.org/10.4155/cmt.11.10.