Our Clodhopper Footprint:Some Hows and Whys

ANTH 210

17 November, 2005

Topics to Cover

• Energy use– World patterns of energy use– National variation– Comparison of energy sources– Individual sources for renewable energy

• American culture and energy– Car culture and car advertising– Bigger and bigger houses– Industrial agriculture– Freedom and property rights

Contributions to our Footprint(average Canadian, from book)

Type of land Average hectares

Energy 2.34

Degraded 0.20

Garden 0.02

Crop 0.66

Pasture 0.46

Forest 0.59

Total 4.27

Livingstandard

s

Energy Usage: 1750-2000Energy Usage: 1750-2000

Coal

An Energy Dependent SocietyAn Energy Dependent Society

Steam Steamlocomotive

Powerstations

Internal combustion engine

Airtravel

Populationgrowth

Globalmarkets

1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

Telecommunications

WWIWWII

Satellite

Environmental issues

Micro-processor

InternetE

ner

gy

Usa

ge

En

erg

y U

sag

e

?

Modifiers

Drivers

Cook and Sheath, 1997Cook and Sheath, 1997

Hydrocarbons Nuc

lear

LivingStandards

GDP and energy consumption

024839-2

Projected World Supplies

19001900 19201920 19401940 19601960 19801980 20002000 20202020 20402040 20602060 20802080 2100

2020

4040

6060

8080

100100100 BILLION

BARRELS

Billion Barrels

of Oil Equivalent

per Year (GBOE)

Billion Barrels

of Oil Equivalent

per Year (GBOE) Natural

GasNatural

Gas

HydroelectricHydroelectric

Crude OilCrude Oil

Solar, W ind Geothermal

Nuclear Electric

1993

CoalCoal

24929

Decreasing

Decreasing

Fossil F

uelsF

ossil Fuels

Ne

w T

echno

logies

Ne

w T

echno

logies

World Energy DemandWorld Energy Demand

after Edwards,AAPG 8/97

Bioenergy

China, 1999

India, 1999

USA, 1999

Sectoral Comparisons

Transport Energy

Use, US, 2003

Feel good about taking

the bus?

Feel good about taking

the train?

Energy Intensity: Developed Economies

Energy Intensity: China

Lifecycle Greenhouse EmissionsLeague Table

* Lifecycle emissions are the sum of emissions from the point of extraction up to and including

emissions from end-use.

Energy Source Lifecycle Emissions(tonnes Co2e/MWhr)

Coal (Hunter Valley to Japan) 865Coal (IGCC, future technology) 766Oil (Middle east to Japan) 728LNG (NWS to Japan) 442Pipeline Natural Gas (NWS to Perth) 493Fuel cell using natural Gas ~380Nuclear (Japan) 40Wind 12.2Solar 13.7Biomass (IGCC) 36

Title :By :

Date :Location :Slide No: 23

Natural GasNatural Gas - A New Energy Paradigm for the Asia/Pacific RegionA New Energy Paradigm for the Asia/Pacific Region

Cost and Greenhouse Emission fromCost and Greenhouse Emission fromEnergy ProductionsEnergy Productions

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

Brown Coal PFAdv Black Coal(IGCC ect)

Gas, combined

cycle

Dist. Energy(FC, Turbines)Biomass

Combustion Wind Solar ThermalPhotovoltaics0

10

20

30

CO 2 emissions(Tonnes/MWh)

Generating Costs(AUSc/kWh)

Source: from Lockhart 2001 (Energy News Vol.20 No.2 June 2002)

Diminishing Oil Supply

Probable Production Rates

• Hubbert’s methods estimate future production.• Discoverable Oil scenarios = areas under curve

World Oil Production to Year 2000

1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2025 2050YEARS

40

30

20

10

0

World Oil Production to Year 2000

2.1 trillionbarrels

1.8 trillionbarrels

Crude Oil Prices 1860 - 1996Crude Oil Prices 1860 - 1996

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2007

$90+

Coal: Cheap, Dirty, Dangerous

Coal: Cheap, Dirty, DangerousPeat: Like Coal, only more so

Coal: Cheap, Dirty, Dangerous

Strip mine

Coal in the U.S. and China

Why is Coal so Attractive?

Nuclear energy: Who needs it?

Nuclear energy:Will it last?

Known Recoverable Resources* of Uranium

tonnes U percentage of worldAustralia 989,000 28%Kazakhstan 622,000 18%Canada 439,000 12%South Africa 298,000 8%Namibia 213,000 6%Brazil 143,000 4%Russian Fed.158,000 4%USA 102,000 3%Uzbekistan 93,000 3%World total 3,537,000

Thus the world's present measured resources of uranium in the lower cost category (3.5 Mt) and used only in conventional reactors, are enough to last for some 50 years. This represents a higher level of assured resources than is normal for most minerals. Further exploration and higher prices will certainly, on the basis of present geological knowledge, yield further resources as present ones are used up. A doubling of price from present levels could be expected to create about a tenfold increase in measured resources, over time.

This is in fact suggested in the IAEA-NEA figures if those covering estimates of all conventional resources are considered - 14.4 million tonnes, which is over 200 years' supply at today's rate of consumption. This still ignores the technological factors mentioned below. It also omits unconventional resources such as phosphate deposits (22 Mt) and seawater (up to 4000 Mt), which would cost two to six times the present market price to extract.

What about Wind?

Pros:Seems to be approaching economic viabilityCleanLarge supply

Cons:Noisy?Birds?

What about biomass: due for another increase?

Share of Woodfuels in National Energy Consumption

Two Emerging Ideas

Biodiesel Alcohol from Wood

Biodiesel- food oil based fuel

• Can be used in all diesel engines

• Slightly lower BTU than conventional diesel

• Comes from short term C cycle so positive impact on carbon credits

• Significantly lower emissions than conventional diesel

Biodiesel materials courtesy Professor Sally Brown, CFR/Pavilion Pool

Environmental aspects

• Reduced net CO2 (not quite 100%)• Reduced of SO2 by 100%• Reduction of soot emissions by 40-

60%• Extremely non-volatile, easily

decomposable (spills!)• And it even lubes your engine better!

Biggest Barrier(s)

• High cost of raw materialsHigh cost of raw materials– (ever bought a gallon of vegetable oil???)

• Lack of infrastructure• Lack of subsidies (unlike petroleum)• Lack of raw materials

What's being used?

Austrian Biofuels Institute

World production (1000's tons)

Austrian Biofuels Institutue

Biosolids for Biodiesel

• By using biosolids as fertilizer growing costs can be reduced

• Provide a non food chain crop for biosolids

• Provide a means for cities to contract to grow their own fuel

Let’s put this in perspectiveEnergy Consumption by Source, 1000t oil equivalent, 1999

Europe World

Biodiesels again, 000t

Let’s put this in perspectiveEstimated production from rapeseed: 2t/ha

Total US Petroleum consumption, 1999: 868 Mt

Energy ratio of biodiesel to petroleum: ~ .9

Land area necessary to produce enough biodiesel to replace all U.S. petroleum: 482 Mha

Total U. S. arable land, 2005 175Mha

Go figure, s’il vous plait.

Potential Bio-Energy Technology Solutions Based Potential Bio-Energy Technology Solutions Based on Biomass from Forest Thinningson Biomass from Forest Thinnings

Kevin T. Hodgson

Michael Andreu, Kristiina Vogt, Daniel Vogt, Robert EdmondsForest Systems and Bio-Energy Group

College of Forest Resources

University of Washington

Seattle, WA

http://www.cfr.washington.edu/research.Forest_Energy/

41.1 million acres of treatable timberland in WA & OR

20.7 million acres: considered to be overly dense (red, yellow)

~532.6 million bone dry tons of biomass can be removed in WA & OR.

~28% is in trees 2 – 8” DBH

Equivalent ~149 million tons USFS 2003 A strategic assessment of forest biomass and fuel

reduction treatments in western states

Total Cost of Fire Suppression, US

$0

$200,000,000

$400,000,000

$600,000,000

$800,000,000

$1,000,000,000

$1,200,000,000

$1,400,000,000

$1,600,000,000

$1,800,000,000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

2003, Biggest Insurance Losses ($ billions)

0 1 2 3 4

US, Winter Storm

S. Korea, Typhoon Moemi

US, Thunderstorms with hail

US, Thunderstorms, hail

US, "Old fire", wildfire

France, Floods, heavy rain

US, "Cedar Fire" wildfire

US, Thunderstorms, hail

US/Canada, Hurricane Isabel

US, Tornadoes, hail

The Economist, March 20, 2004

Wildfires

Options for bio-fuels from wood

1. Bio-oil Pyrolysis oil (fast pyrolysis process) Substitute for #6 residual fuel oil? High water content (20-30%)

2. Alcohols Ethanol: gasoline extender; transportation fuel; fuel

cell Methanol: transportation fuel; chemical feedstock;

IDEAL fuel for PEM fuel cell

Alcohols from wood

1. Ethanol (EtOH) C2H5OH

Produced by fermentation of wood sugars Compete against EtOH from corn, etc.?

2. Methanol (MeOH) CH3OH

Feedstock produced by gasification reactions Compete against MeOH from natural gas

Methanol from wood

• Wood is a mixture of C, H, and O• Gasification (controlled oxidation) produces a

mixture of:– H2, CO, CO2, H2O, CH4, “tars”, char, ash

– “Synthesis gas”: CO + H2

– tars are light hydrocarbons (benzene, napthalene, etc.)

– Tars can be reformed into CO and H2

• Ni cell catalyst

Carbon Additions to Atmosphere1

Biomass to energy cycle Combustion of Fossil Fuels

1 Ohlström, et. al: “New Concepts for Biofuels in Transportation”, VTT Research Notes #2074 (2001)

Biomass to Liquid Fuel

Gasifier

Crude Syngas

Syngas = CO + H2

Clean Syngas

Gas Cleanin

g

Bio-Methanol

Methanol

Reactor

Wood Biomass

(Wood Alcohol)Ash

Current methanol market

• MeOH made from natural gas (CH4)• Very large facilities: > 800,000 mt/year• Cost comparison:

– ~ $6/GJ from natural gas– ~ $21/GJ from wood (Finnish case)

• Until CH4 price “skyrockets”, need some type of government intervention

– tax incentive– subsidy

So why are we such clodhoppers?

The open road…

Ford SUVS

Ferrari USAQuickTime™ and a

TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.

Cadillac

So why are we such clodhoppers?

Mileage of cool cars

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Model City Mileage

Highway Mileage

Ford Expedition

14 18

Ferrari Maranallo

10 16

Cadillac CTS-V

15 23

So why are we such clodhoppers?

Recreational off-highway use…

So why are we such clodhoppers?Bigger and bigger houses

So why are we such clodhoppers?Bigger and bigger houses

So why are we such clodhoppers?Bigger and bigger houses

So why are we such clodhoppers?Bigger and bigger houses

So why are we such clodhoppers?

Sun

energy: PlowingHarrowing, PlantingFencing, WeedingHarvesting, Pest Control, Storage, etc.

Industrial Monocrop Agricultural Ecosystem

FARMLAND

Air

Energy

Carbon,Oxygen

Humans

Singlecrops

NutrientsWater

Watersource

Irrigation

Fossil Fuel

Machinery

Fertilizer

Nutrients

$-cides

Exchange Value

Consumer goods