Transportation is another sector that has increased its relative share of primary energy use. This sector has serious concerns as it is a significant source of CO2 emissions and other airborne pollutants, and it is almost totally based on oil as its energy source. An important aspect of future changes in transportation depends on what happens to the available oil resources, production and prices. At present, 95% of all energy for transportation comes from oil. (more…)
Under both former President Bush and new President Obama, the U.S. government has vowed to reduce reliance on imported oil. The ...
Global energy consumption in the last half century has increased very rapidly and is expected to continue to grow over the next ...
From prehistory until the Industrial Revolution, most energy sources used by humans were localized (i.e., available within 5–10 mil ...
Do we have the resources? Rudolf Diesel developed the diesel engine which ran on biodiesel vegetable oil in the late 1800s. At the ...
One study that does address the peak-oil scenario directly is a 2005 report conducted for the National Energy Technology Labora ...
The focus of this section is on the quantitative assessment of the impact of oil price fluctuations on inflation. For that purpose, the empirical evidence provided by an OECD study is briefly described. The study considered a permanent oil price increase of about $10, vis-a`-vis a baseline where oil prices were projected to remain at the $20–25 level (this shock corresponds to a price increase of about 40–50%). The OECD study presents estimates of the impact on GDP, world trade growth, and inflation, for the G7 countries. The estimates were obtained through the simulation of the OECD macro-econometric model Interlink, assuming fixed nominal exchange rates, real interest rates kept at baseline levels, and unchanged real government expenditures. The main results of this exercise, with respect to the impact on oil prices inflation, are reported in Table I. (more…)
The volatility in oil prices since the early 1970s is a remarkable feature of energy economics. Annual fluctuations in the oil ...
The evolution of oil prices is typically subject to a very high degree of uncertainty, given the extremely volatile nature of c ...
In the post-World War II period, until the beginning of the 1970s, oil price fluctuations were very small. From 1949 to 1970, a ...
Most major oil and gas firms engage in both upstream (i.e., hydrocarbon exploration and production) and downstream (i.e., hydro ...
There are many possible reasons for suspecting market failure in a product like gasoline. Throughout the world, the exploration ...
Renewable energy generators are devices that convert energy from its original form in the renewable energy source into electricity. Renewable energy generators that are most likely to be found in hybrid energy systems include wind turbines and photovoltaic panels. Some hybrid energy systems use hydroelectric generators, biomass fueled generators, or fuel cells. It should be noted that many renewable energy generators include rotating electrical machines acting in the generating mode, which is also called a generator. It should be clear from the context what is meant. (more…)
In many countries of the world wind power expands and covers a steadily increasing part of these countries’ power demand. Growi ...
Wind energy alongside solar energy is one form of renewable energy and its supply is abundant in earth. Most people distinguish ...
In 2001, there were 14,000 small wind turbines for home/domestic use in the United States. The market potential for national an ...
Would it not be great to be able to produce your own electricity supply at home? The idea of being independently powered up without ...
Wind is a natural and inexhaustible source of energy, wind does not have to be imported or mined from deep down the earth. Wind ...
Although technology change (usually involving an improvement in energy efficiency) is not inherently a geographic process, it does not occur uniformly over geographic space. Consequently, mathematical modeling and behavioral and innovation diffusion studies by geographers have improved our understanding of the pervasive phenomenon of technology energy efficiency change in energy markets. Similarly, creative government policies in Germany since 1990 have led to a faster rate of adoption of renewable energy sources, compared to the United States. (more…)
The development of the ‘‘new’’ wind and solar technologies is of great importance for the future contribution of RESs to energy sup ...
Renewable energy sources cannot run out and causes so little damage to the environment that its use does not need to be restric ...
In Europe, modern renewable energy sources technologies were explored thoroughly for the first time after the oil embargo/ price cr ...
Government expenditures on energy R&D, energy conservation have risen steadily over the past decade, but only two countries, Japan ...
"Spain has great potential but lack geothermal legislation and investment." Besides being clean, renewable and friendly, easily man ...
Approximately 40% of Earth’s population is ‘‘off the grid,’’ mainly in developing countries. Wireless power transmission envisioned by Nikola Tesla a century ago is feasible today. Microwave beams can propagate power efficiently along lines-of-sight over long distances. Orbiting microwave reflectors could form the basis of a global electric grid.
An advanced technology path to electrification is the solar power satellite (SPS) proposed by Peter Glaser. Solar flux is about 10 times higher in space outside Earth’s shadow cone than the long- term average at the surface of spinning, cloudy Earth, and power from space can be beamed by microwave efficiently through cloudy skies to the surface where it is needed. (more…)
Advanced technology global electrical grids may be more promising for renewables energy. With current transmission lines, even if c ...
So you're finally tired of those exorbitant electricity bills, or, you're catching onto a "greener" way of life. Either way, solar ...
In today's tough economic times and with the increasing prices of gas and oil, finding alternative sources of energy should be ...
So-called thin-film photovoltaic devices are usually based on mixtures of elements other than silicon — most notably copper ind ...
The Home Solar Power System made its debut about two decades ago and has since flourished with the many advertisements touting ...
The global dependence on fossil fuels developed during the Industrial Revolution, two centuries of economic and social development that transformed the way modern humans work and live. Most historians agree that the Industrial Revolution began in the early 1700s in Great Britain when machinery began to replace manual labor and animal power, and fossil fuels replaced wind, water, and wood as main energy sources. Before this period in history, humans manufactured goods by hand or using very simple machines, and most people worked at their homes, which were typically located in rural areas. (more…)
Fossil fuels, had a broader impact in current society, still oil is the one that have far reaching effect. Oil, in all its forms is ...
The leading automotive brands are being focused to produce electric vehicles because they believe they represent a harmony to the e ...
From prehistory until the Industrial Revolution, most energy sources used by humans were localized (i.e., available within 5–10 mil ...
Tanker transportation and oil transport functions as an important link to facilitate the flow of oil and products from their li ...
Gasoline is used mainly by cars, motorcycles, and light trucks; diesel is used mainly by heavier trucks, buses, and trains. Togethe ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen with oxygen to generate electricity, heat and water to produce. In many ways, the fuel cell is similar to an electrochemical cell. Instead of a regular charge, a continuous supply of oxygen and hydrogen is supplied from outside. Oxygen is produced in the control of air and hydrogen as a fuel made from a pressure instrumentation container. Alternatively, methanol, propane, butane, natural gas supply and diesel are used. (more…)
Alkaline fuel cell, often known as the Bacon fuel cell following the British inventor’ name. It has become the most created fue ...
The fuel cell can trace its roots back to the 1800s when a Welsh-born, Oxford-educated barrister, Sir William Robert Grove, realize ...
Fuel cells are typically classified according to type of electrolyte. While many varieties of fuel cells have been demonstrated ...
Transport applications tend to demand rapid start-up and instant dynamic response from fuel cell systems, so a high-temperature ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that directly converts a fuel to electricity by means of reactions on the surfaces of ...
Transport applications tend to demand rapid start-up and instant dynamic response from fuel cell systems, so a high-temperature fuel cell is unlikely to be competitive as the main engine in applications such as cars and buses. The prime candidate for these vehicle propulsion systems is the Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells, which exhibits both of the above characteristics while also having very high power density. This is important as it must also occupy a similar amount of space to an internal combustion engine. Of recent interest has been the development of auxiliary power units for vehicles, in which the fuel cell meets the onboard electric load of the vehicle. Both Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and ITSOFCs are under development for this application. (more…)
Fuel cells are typically classified according to type of electrolyte. While many varieties of fuel cells have been demonstrated ...
Alkaline fuel cell, often known as the Bacon fuel cell following the British inventor’ name. It has become the most created fue ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen with oxygen to generate electricity, heat and water to produce. ...
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells have high-power density, rapid startup, and low-temperature operation (around 80 to 120 C), and ...
The fuel cell can trace its roots back to the 1800s when a Welsh-born, Oxford-educated barrister, Sir William Robert Grove, realize ...
Gasification is a thermo chemical process that has been exploited for more than a century for converting solid feedstocks to gaseous energy carriers. The first gasifier patent was issued in England at the end of the 18th century and producer gas from coal gasification was mainly used as lighting fuel throughout the 19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, the main use of producer gas, obtained essentially from coal, switched to electricity generation and automotive applications via internal combustion engines. The use of producer gas was gradually supplanted by the use of higher energy density liquid fuels and as a result confined to areas with expensive or unreliable supplies of petroleum fuels. (more…)
The product gas can be burned in boilers to generate heat and raise steam, in internal combustion engines to generate electricity a ...
Thermo chemical processing of biomass yields gaseous, liquid, and solid products and offers a means of producing useful gaseous ...
Biomass Storage Biomass storage is required to ensure the continuous operation of the facility. To limit the space required for ...
Estimation of the future technical potential of biomass as an energy source is dependent on assumptions with respect to land av ...
The moisture content of the feedstock affects the gas composition and the energy balance of the process since gasification is an en ...
In most countries, geothermal resources are classified as natural resources belonging to the government. Since the 1980s, there has been a worldwide trend to corporatize and/or privatize government commercial activities. Whereas the geothermal resources in the United States have been commercially developed by the private sector since the 1960s at The Geysers, other countries, notably The Philippines, Indonesia, and New Zealand, did not started private commercial geothermal projects until the 1980s. These private power developers are known as independent power producers (IPPs). There is a perception that the private sector is more efficient than the public sector. The efficiency arises from the increased flexibility of the private sector and its accessibility to commercial funding. (more…)
"Spain has great potential but lack geothermal legislation and investment." Besides being clean, renewable and friendly, easily man ...
The Geologists Association president advocates the use of geothermal energy by its high durability and low maintenance. Besides a r ...
Geothermal drilling technology is adapted from the oil industry. Most of the geothermal wells are drilled with a rotary-type drilli ...
The total installed geothermal power generating capacity in the world is approximately 9000 MWe from 21 countries, with the United ...
According to the German standard VDI 4640 geothermal energy is stored energy as heat beneath the Earth's solid surface, encompa ...