B.A., University of Chicago, 2006; J.D. , Chicago-Kent College of Law, Expected May

2011

Rebuilding the Electrical Grid

Aaron Midlerahmidler@gmail.comEnergy Law, Fall 2010

Chicago-Kent College of Law

II. What are semiconductors and what do they do?

II. II. Why do we care about semiconductors (how do they relate to our electrical grid) ?

III. III. Challenges to implementing new semiconductor technology/ environmental costs of semiconductor production

IV. IV. Avenues for New Semiconductor Technology

•First need to describe:•Electrons/Electric Current•Insulators•Conductor

• Electric current is the free movement of electrons between the nuclei of atoms.

•Electrons are negatively charged particles

•Conductors allow electricity to pass through them, and level of conductivity is determined by the arrangement of electrons

•Copper is a good conductor

•In contrast to conductors, insulators resist electric current; electrons do not flow between nuclei easily in insulators

•Glass is a good insulator

•Semiconductors possess qualities of both insulators and conductors

•Silicon is a good semiconductor—after some processing.

•“Doping” during crystal growth creates N-type or P-type semiconductors•N-type= Negative charge, P-type= Positive charge

Valve

Switch

Amplifier

Transistor

How do we make our electrical grid go from this

To this?

Improvements needed in:

•Transmission/Distribution•Energy lost transmitting and distributing electricity

Since 1982, growth in peak demand for electricity has exceeded transmission growth by almost 25% every year.

Improvements needed in:

•Power Storage•Very few options to store electricity

•Metering•All passive•Provides little information to providers and consumers

U.S. demand for electricity expected to grow by 30% by 2030

Improvements needed in:

•Monitoring•No active monitoring of grid for malfunctions/outages

•Renewables •Poor integration into existing electrical grid

Electricity prices predicted to increase 50% over next five years.

New semiconductor technology expected to improve:

•Transmission/Distribution•HVDC lines instead of AC lines for transmission

•Renewables•HVDC integration

New semiconductor technology expected to improve:

•Metering•Advanced Metering Infrastructure•2-waycommunicationbetween producerand consumer•Smart meters and appliances

•Monitoring•Real-time analysis (phasors/sensors)

•Power Storage• Integrated circuits for batteries•Converters/Inverters for electric cars and dedicated batteries

•Predicted that:•Smart grid technologies will lower grid congestion losses• Renewables and distributed power sources will save billions

•2009 study suggests improved semiconductor technology will save us 399 billion kilowatt hours of electricity by 2030, even assuming increased demand

•Limited investment in research and development

•The “moving car” problem•Change is expensive•See Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Ill. Commerce Comm’n, 2010 Ill. App. LEXIS 1057

•Regulations and market in flux—discouraging investment

•Atmospheric contaminents•Trichloroethane regulated under Montreal Protocol

•Contamination of the environment •e.g., 1981, IBM and Fairchild Semiconductor in San Jose, CA. Trichloroethane and Freon contaminated drinking water.

•How should we weigh environmental and health risks against improved energy efficiency?

Producing a 1/8 inch silicon wafer requires 3,787 gallons of waste water, 27 pounds of chemicals, 29 cubic feet of gases.

•Nanotechnology and Semiconductors•Smaller is better•Carbon-based, not silicon based•Inkjet printers instead of industrial solvents •Cheaper and environmentally friendly

•Photonics—light as data!

Semiconductors•Are a basic category of materials in nature

•Are integral components of modern electronics, including components of the so-called smart grid

•May provide energy efficiency benefits but still require significant investment by power producers

•Have unquantified environmental and human health costs for society

•Will drive development of cutting-edge nanotechnology and photonics

•Transistorized, PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE, http://www.pbs.org/transistor/science/info/conductors.html (last visited Dec. 6, 2010).

•Marshall Brain, How Semiconductors work, HOWSTUFFWORKS, http://www.howstuffworks.com/diode.htm (last visited Dec. 6, 2010).

•History of the Integrated Circuit, NOBEL PRIZE, http://nobelprize.org/educational/physics/integrated_circuit/history/index.html (last visited Dec. 6, 2010).

•John “Skip” Laitner, et al., Semiconductor Technology: The Potential to Revolutionize U.S. Energy Productivity, AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY, http://www.aceee.org/node/3078?id=114 (May 1, 2009).

•Eric D. Williams, et al., The 1.7 Kilogram Chip: Energy and Material Use in the Production of Semiconductor Devices, 36 (24) Environ. Sci. Technol. 5504 (2002).

•Technology Providers—What the Smart Grid Means to America’s Future, United States Department of Energy, www.oe.energy.gov/DocumentsandMedia/TechnologyProviders.pdf (last visited Dec. 6, 2010).