CFHD.org | Renewable Energy

Let us begin with a definition for "Renewable Energy":

Renewable Energy - a method for producing energy (electrical or mechanical) which does not require the use of a consumable or non-renewable fuel source. Any by-products of the production of energy must also be capable of being recycled or reused.

The ultimate goal is to have 100% renewable energy with the smallest ecological impact. You may ask: "How can a renewable energy source have a serious ecological impact?" All renewable energy sources have some form of serious ecological impact. Wind and Water Generators use aluminum, steel, and copper which must be mined and refined. Solar Cells use silicon and gallium which must be purified and processed. We need to expose the life cycle of each energy production method to understand the complete ecological impact of each renewable energy source.

To truly have renewable energy resources, there must be some process for recycling the waste products when repair or replacement of worn-out parts occurs. Otherwise, our garbage dumps continue to grow and we continue to strip the Earth of valuable resources.

A significant issue with most renewable energy sources is the consistency of the output power. An individual off-grid user relies on banks of batteries to store sufficient power for use during low or no energy production. This is not a practical solution for supplying the power for a large city.

Electrical utilities engineer a power plant to supply a consistent base load of power with some capacity to increase output on demand to meet peak load requirements. Brown-outs occur when peak load generation capacity falls short of demand. The electrical network grid of power lines has some ability to ship power from areas with surplus power to areas with deficit power. But the existing grid is not capable of massive redistribution of power.

How do you design for base load and peak load power demand with renewable energy resources? You must be able to distribute the power from where it is being produced to where it is needed over large distances. New High Voltage DC (HVDC) transmission lines can be built to provide this service. This relies on differing weather conditions across the country and allows for peak power generation areas to distribute their excess power to areas with usage below base load power.

Most power today is purchased at a fixed price. The cost of peak load power generation and distribution is built into this fixed price. The reduction of energy production and distribution costs requires the difference between base load and peak load to decrease. Power meters can be installed to measure power consumed during base load verses peak load periods. The end user can be billed more for peak load power consumption. The end user would then ask for products to assist in reducing peak load power in order to also reduce their power bill.

Conservation of power in all of its aspects is the most powerful form of energy saving today. Installation of insulated windows and increasing the amount of insulation in homes can provide a huge return on investment. Switching out incandescent bulbs for Compact Fluorescents or LED lamps is another step. Improving energy efficiency of any product or process ends up reducing both the base and peak load requirements for energy production. Even conservation of water conserves energy. Energy is used to purify and pump water to the user, and again to process the waste water at the sewage treatment facility. All forms of conservation should be considered.

Today we rely on Coal, Nuclear Energy, Natural Gas, and Oil to provide most of our energy resource. Oil is used to make gasoline and diesel fuel. Hydrogen or Electrical vehicles are envisioned to replace gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles. The power grid would again require major expansion to supply the additional energy requirements to support Hydrogen and Electrical vehicles.

Coal is a low cost, but dirty fuel. Carbon sequestration can be done, but requires additional energy and water at the generation site. Lower grade coal also contains large amounts of mercury and sulfur. Coal provides the largest percentage of electrical power produced. However, cleaning up coal does not make it renewable. Natural Gas is cleaner, but still creates carbon and other by-products. It also is not a renewable resource.

Nuclear power has received a very bad reputation, due to the failure to complete the planned program to recycle fuel. France is the only nation with a full nuclear program in place. They recycle spent nuclear fuel rods in fuel enrichment facilities. Long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste is still a problem with the current program. Existing reactors rely on a slow neutron reaction with moderators in the core to control the fission reaction. This form of reactor only uses about 2% of the fissionable material in a fuel rod before it is "used up". A fast neutron reactor can be engineered to use up 98% of the fuel in the fuel rod. Most nuclear reactor sites already provide for multiple reactor installations, which were never built. The used f uel rods are stored on-site, due to the lack of a recycling facility. The new fast neutron reactor can be built next to the existing nuclear reactor(s) on the unused sites at the same facility. The stored "used up" fuel rods can be used on-site to fuel the new fast neutron reactor.

The resulting high level nuclear waste is significantly reduced. Older reactors can be shut down, and uranium mining could be significantly curtailed if not eliminated completely. The downside is the time to develop and deploy a new fast neutron reactor. China and India are planning to build many new nuclear reactors. The new reactors being built are still of the slow neutron style. The increased need for fuel in existing and new reactors will cause additional Uranium mining. The fast neutron reactor is required to clean up the high level waste these new reactors will produce and to curtail uranium mining.

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