Chapter 10 frontispiece.Trains loaded with coal departing from the Rawhide coal mine near Gillete, Wyoming

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Photograph by J. Foster

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Figure 10.1. The fuels used to produce all energy worldwide, 2005

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Data from Energy Information Agency, DOE

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Table 10.1. Some common units of energy and power

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press.

Prefixes

Kilo (K) 103 Giga (G) 109 Peta (P) 1015

Mega (M) 106 Tera (T) 1012 Exa (E) 1018

Units and Some Common Amounts

Joule (J) = basic unit of energy

exajoule = 1018 joules

British thermal unit (Btu) = energy needed to heat 1 pound of water 1°F = 1,055 joules

1.055 exajoule = 1015 (1 quadrillion [quad]) Btu

Toe = tons of oil equivalent = 41.868 x 109 joules

1 million toe = 41.868 petajoule

Watt (W) = unit of power (work) = energy per unit time = 1 joule/sec

kilowatt = 1,000 watts, megawatt = 106 watts, gigawatt = 109 watts

Watt hours (WH) = energy = 1 W delivered over 1 hour = 1 joules/sec x 3,600 sec/hr = 3,600 joules

1 kilowatt hour = 3.6 x 106 joules, 1 megawatt hour = 3.6 x 109 joules, 1 gigawatt hour = 3.6 x 1012 joules, 1 kilowatt hour = 3,413 Btu

Metric ton (t) = 1,000 kilograms

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Figure 10.2. Emissions of CO2 from fossil-fuel burning according to fuel type, 2000-2005 and projected to 2030

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Data from Energy Information Agency, DOE

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Figure 10.3. Annual emissions of CO2 from various sectors

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: Rogner et al., 2007

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Table 10.2. World’s recoverable coal reserves in gigatons as of January 2003

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: Energy Information Agency, DOE

United States 112.2 100.1 30.4 250.9

Russia 49.1 97.4 10.4 157.0

China 62.2 33.7 18.6 114.5

India 90.1 0.0 2.4 92.4

Non-OECDb Europe, Eurasia 45.4 17.0 28.4 90.8

Australia, New Zealand 38.6 2.4 38.0 79.1

South Africa 47.2 0.2 0.0 47.3

OECD Europe 17.7 4.5 17.1 39.3

Brazil 0.0 10.1 0.0 11.1

World total 479.7 270.4 155.0 905.1

aAnthracite, bituminous, and lignite are different coal types with decreasing carbon and heat contents

bOECD = Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Region/CountryBituminous and

Anthracitea

Sub-bituminous Lignite Total

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Figure 10.4. Current and projected coal consumption in India, the United States, China, and the rest of the world

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: Energy Information Agency DOE

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Table 10.3. Comparison of performance and cost of some coal-fired, electricity-generating technologies

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: MIT

CO2 capture? No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes

Efficiency (%) 34.3 25.1 38.5 29.3 43.3 34.1 34.8 25.5 30.6 38.4 31.2

CO2 emitteda 931 127 830 109 738 94 1,030 141 104 832 102

Costb 4.84 8.16 4.78 7.69 4.69 7.34 4.68 7.79 6.98 5.13 6.52

aIn units of grams per kilowatt hour.

bCost of electricity (COE) in cents per kilowatt hour. The COE is the constant dollar electricity price required over the life of the plant to provide for all expenses and debt and bring in an acceptable rate of return to investors.

SubcriticalPulverizedCoal (PC)

Super-Critical

PC

Ultra-Super-

Critical PC

Sub-critical PC-oxy

SubcriticalCirculatingFluid Bed

IntegratedGas CombinedCycle (IGCC)

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Figure 10.5. Simulation of the shape of a CO2 plume as it spreads through a porous layer over a 20-year period

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: Doughty and Pruess, 2004

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Figure 10.6. Schematic cross section and location of the Sleipner Project, Norwegian North Sea

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: Benson et al., 2005

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uranium-235 + slow neutron

barium-144 + krypton-90 + 2 neutrons + 200 megavolts

Uranium-235 fission (example reaction)

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. p. 198

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E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Photograph by J. Newman, American Museum of Natural History

Figure 10.7. Metatorbernite

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Table 10.4. Generating costs of wind and solar power in 2007 for three different amounts of sunlight received and wind velocities

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: Edmonds et al., 2007

Received irradiance (watts per square meter per year) 1,700 2,000 2,300

Solar photovoltaic (cents per kilowatt hour) 29 25 21

Solar thermal (cents per kilowatt hour) 26 22 19

Wind velocity (meters per second at 50 meters

above ground) 7.0-7.5 7.5-8.0 8.0-8.8

On-shore turbines (cents per kilowatt hour) 4.6 3.8 3.4

Off-shore turbines (cents per kilowatt hour) 5.3 4.5

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Figure 10.8. Renewable sources of power as proportions of total U.S. electric net summer capacity, 2006

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: Energy Information Agency, DOE

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Figure 10.9. Wind farm

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, DOE

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Figure 10.10. The growth of global installed wind power capacity, 1996-2007

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press.

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Table 10.5. National installed wind power capacities as of the end of 2007

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Source: Global Wind Energy Council

Germany 22,247 23.6 7.0

United States 16,818 17.9 1.2a

Spain 15,145 16.1 11.8

India 8,000 8.5 4.0b

China 6,050 6.4 6.4

Denmark 3,125 3.3 21.2

Italy 2,726 2.9 1.7

France 2,454 2.6 1.2

United Kingdom 2,389 2.5 1.8

Portugal 2,150 2.3 9.3

Canada 1,846 2.0 1.1b

Netherlands 1,746 1.9 3.4

Japan1,538 1.6 0.5b

Total Europe 57,136 60.7 3.8

World total 94,123 100.0 1.8b

Note: Data are for countries with capacities greater than 1,000 megawatts.

aFor 2006; bAs a proportion of total national electricity generation.

Capacity(Megawatts)

Percentageof World Capacity

Percentage of NationalElectricity Demand

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Figure 10.11. An array of photovoltaic panels

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, DOE, photograph by S. Wilcox

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Figure 10.12. Parabolic troughs

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, DOE, photograph by W. Gretz

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Figure 10.13. The worldwide growth of capacity from photovoltaic cells

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press. Data from British Petroleum 2007

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Figure 10.14. The stabilization triangle and wedge: a way of thinking about how to solve the emissions problem

E.A. Mathez, 2009, Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future, Columbia University Press.

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