Powering the Future: A Scientist's Guide to Energy Independence

by Daniel B. Botkin

  9 EIA, International Energy Annual 2003, July 2005.

  10 EIA, System for the Analysis of Global Energy Markets, 2006.

  11 Nuclear Energy Information Service, “Nuclear Power Has Cost This Country over $492,000,000,000.” www.neis.org/literature/Brochures/npfacts.htm. Accessed 25 April 2008.

  12 Smith, Rebecca, “U.S. Chooses Four Utilities to Revive Nuclear Industry,” Wall Street Journal, 17 June 2009, A1.

  13 World Health Organization, www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr38/en/index1.html. Accessed 1 June 2009.

  “The total number of deaths already attributable to Chernobyl or expected in the future over the lifetime of emergency workers and local residents in the most contaminated areas is estimated to be about 4,000. This includes some 50 emergency workers who died of acute radiation syndrome and nine children who died of thyroid cancer, and an estimated total of 3,940 deaths from radiation-induced cancer and leukemia among the 200,000 emergency workers from 1986–1987, 116,000 evacuees, and 270,000 residents of the most contaminated areas (total about 600,000). These three major cohorts were subjected to higher doses of radiation amongst all the people exposed to Chernobyl radiation.”

  14 Patel, Julie, “FP&L Might Be Fined over Nuclear Plant Security: Security Workers Dozed, Regulators Say,” Sun-Sentinel, 11 April 2008. www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzfpl0411sbapr11,0,2008712.story South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

  15 World Nuclear Organization, “Waste Management in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle,” www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf04.html.

  16 IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency. “South Africa Hosts Global Workshop on Radioactive Waste: Looking to Forge Common Approach for Management and Disposal Policies Staff Report.” June 25, 2007. IAEA News Center. The report states that there are 200,000 metric tons of wastes, which I have converted to British tons (2,000 pounds each). See www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2007/saradwaste.html.

  Note that this information comes from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which describes itself as being “set up as the world’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ organization in 1957” within the United Nations.

  17 World Nuclear Association, “Waste Management in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle.” www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf04.html. Accessed 16 May 2008. The World Nuclear Association gives a much higher figure for total nuclear wastes in storage: 270 metric tons.

  18 OECN, International Conference on Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors, Vienna, Austria, 19–23 June 2006.

  19 World Nuclear Organization, 2007.

  20 Richardson, Ingela, “Filthy Lucre—Nuclear Waste Costs Lives,” Coalition Against Nuclear Power, 10 September 2007. Once again, the report is in metric units, so it gives 2 million metric tons.

  21 World Nuclear Organization, 2007.

  22 Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, 2008. For the mission statement, see http://a4nr.org/elements/elements/mission. For information on decay rates, see http://a4nr.org/library/lowlevel/nirs.lowlevelradioactivewaste.

  23 Kestenbaum, David, “EPA Expected to Issue Million-Year-Long Regulation,” National Public Radio, 24 November 2006. http://mustv.com/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6525491.

  24 CBS News story on Yucca Mountain (July 25, 2004). www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/23/60minutes/main579696.shtml.

  25 Halstead, Bob, Dave Ballard, Hank Collins, and Marvin Resnikoff, State of Nevada Perspective on the U.S. Department of Energy Yucca Mountain Transportation Program (Phoenix, Ariz.: Waste Management, 2008).

  26 CBS News, Yucca Mountain, 2004.

  27 Hughes, Siobhan, “U.S. House Votes Against Eliminating Yucca Mountain Funding,” Wall Street Journal online, 17 July 2009. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090717-711221.html.

  28 Halstead, et al., State of Nevada Perspective, 2008.

  29 Matthew L. Wald, “Obama Acts to Ease Way to Construct Reactors,” New York Times, 29 January 2010.

  30 Godoy, Julio, “Environment: France’s Nuclear Waste Heads to Russia,” Inter Press Service, Dec 17, 2005. The Inter Press Service, headquartered in Rome, calls itself “a communication institution with a global news agency at its core,” raising “the voices of the south and civil society.” See http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31466. Accessed 16 May 2008. “According to the study ‘La France nucléaire,’ published in 2002 by the World Information Service on Energy (WISE), each year the French nuclear station Eurodif, situated on the banks of the Rhone River, 700 km south of the French capital, produces 15,000 tonnes of depleted uranium. “Most of that waste is of no further use, and is simply stored at the nuclear plant. Today there are an estimated 200,000 tonnes of this nuclear material being warehoused there.”

  31 World Nuclear Association, “Radioactive Wastes,” March 2001. www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf60.html?terms=vitrified+wastes. “High-level Waste (HLW) contains the fission products and transuranic elements generated in the reactor core which are highly radioactive and hot. High-level waste accounts for over 95% of the total radioactivity produced though the actual amount of material is low, 25–30 tonnes of spent fuel, or three cubic metres per year of vitrified waste for a typical large nuclear reactor (1000 MWe, light water type).”

  32 Greenpeace International, “Illegal French Nuclear Waste Dump Must Be Removed and Decontaminated.” www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/illegal-french-nuclear-waste-d. Accessed 29 May 2006.

  33 Greenpeace International, “Radioactive Waste Leaking into Champagne Water Supply Levels Set to Rise, Warns Greenpeace.” www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/illegal-french-nuclear-wasted.

  34 The actual quote from Greenpeace is, “On April 22, 2005, ANDRA informed the French nuclear safety authority DGSNR that the wall of a storage cell fissured while concrete was added on the last layer of wastes stored in the CSA disposal site. The origin of the fissure was a ‘water corner’ phenomenon resulting from the hydrostatic pressure of a water column formed with the infiltration and which could lead to the breaking of the wall. The DGSNR have admitted that this ‘water corner’ phenomenon was under-evaluated during the conception of some cells. The nuclear safety Authority demanded that all these cells be from now on conceived to resist the most severe ‘water corner’ phenomenon. Regarding the cells already built, the setting of a surrounding waterproof joint at each concrete layer will prevent this phenomenon from happening. This event revealed a flaw in the conception of the storage cells of the site.” Full copy available in French and English at www.greenpeace.fr.org and www.stop-plutonium.org.

  35 World Health Organization, www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr38/en/index1.html. Accessed 1 June 2009.

  36 See www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/March-April-08/On-this-Day-Chernobyl-Nuclear-Power-Plant-Melts-Down.html?gclid=CN7mu6Hiq5MCFQKaFQodg3nu3g.

  37 For updates on Chernobyl, see the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) website; such as “The Enduring Lessons of Chernobyl by IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei.” 6 September 2005. www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2005/ebsp2005n008.html.

  Section II

  1 DOE EIA. Table 1. U.S. Energy Consumption by Energy Source, 2003–2007. www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/renew_energy_consump/table1.html.

  2 DOE EIA. www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/prelim_trends/rea_prereport.html.

  Chapter 6

  1 In a west Texas field, wind turbines generate electricity (© iStockphoto.com/chsfoto).

  2 Dodge, Darrell M., Illustrated History of Wind Power Development, Chapter 1. http://www.telosnet.com/wind/.

  3 Wind Power History, “Wind Power’s Beginnings (1000 B.C.–1300 A.D.).” www.telosnet.com/wind/early.html.

  4 SkySails website, www.skysails.info/index.php?id=64&L=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=98&tx_ttnews[backPid]=6&cHash=c1a209e350. Accessed 31 March 2008.

  5 Information about the SkySails project comes from the company’s website and press release; www.skysails.info/index.php?id=64&L=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=98&tx_ttnews[backP id]=6&cHash=c1a209e350 and
www.skysails.info/index.php?id=64&L=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=104&tx_ttnews[back Pid]=6&cHash=db100ad2b6; and Herron, James, “Wind Makes a Return to Power the Beluga on ‘Greener’ Journey,” Wall Street Journal, 21 January 2008.

  6 The United States uses 1.42 thousand billion kilowatt-hours a years (1.42 × 1,012 kilowatt-hours).

  7 FPL, Mountaineer Wind Energy Center, Florida Power and Light, 2008. www.fplenergy.com/portfolio/pdf/mountaineer.pdf.

  8 DOE Photograph. http://www.doedigitalarchive.doe.gov/SearchImage.cfm?page=search.

  9 Gipe, Paul, “One Million Megawatts of Wind Capacity for the USA: A Target Worthy of a Great Nation,” www.wind-works.org/LargeTurbines/OneMillionMegawattsofWindCapacity.html. Accessed 23 January 2008. For further information, see Gipe’s revised book, Wind Energy Basics, Second Edition: A Guide to Home- and Community-Scale Wind Energy Systems (Chelsea Green Publishing 2009).

  10 Infoplease, “Top 50 Cities in the U.S. by Population and Rank.” www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html. Accessed 17 June 2008. (© 2000–2007 Pearson Education).

  11 Texas Energy Conservation Office, “2008 Texas Wind Energy.” www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_wind.htm. Accessed 30 April 2008.

  12 The calculation gives 1,035,294 of these turbines needed.

  13 Tegen, S., M. Goldberg, and M. Milligan, “User-Friendly Tool to Calculate Economic Impacts from Coal, Natural Gas, and Wind: The Expanded Jobs and Economic Development Impact Model (JEDI II)” (paper presented at WINDPOWER 2006, Pittsburgh, Penn., June 2006). “For example, a new coal plant in South Dakota (Big Stone II) is priced at approximately $1,900 per kilowatt, whereas a new coal plant in Colorado (Comanche III) is estimated to cost less than $1,500 per kilowatt.

  14 Florida Power and Light, “Economics of Wind Energy.” www.fplenergy.com/portfolio/wind/economics.shtml. Accessed 25 April 2008.

  15 DOE EIA Table ES1. Summary Statistics for the United States, 1994 through 2005 in computer file DOE Statistics Copy of epaxlfilees1.xls.

  16 The total capacity for the production of electrical energy in the United States is 978,020MW. Of this, 754,989MW comes from fossil fuel power plants.

  17 Stiglitz, Joseph E., “The True Costs of the Iraq War,” Project Syndicate, 2006. www.project-syndicate.org or www0.gsb.columbia.edu/ipd/pub/JES_paper.pdf. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, is a professor of economics at Columbia University and was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to President Clinton, as well as the chief economist and senior vice president at the World Bank.

  18 World Wind Energy Association website stated that the Worldwide capacity in 2007 was 93,8 GW with 19,7 GW added in 2007. http://www.wwindea.org/home/index.php Accessed 21 February 2008.

  19 Ibid.

  20 www.wwindea.org/home/index.php.

  21 Anonymous, “Enron Acquires Zond, a Major Wind-Power Company,” New York Times, 7 January 1997.

  22 www.awea.org/projects/.

  23 Between 1999 and 2008, wind-power generation capacity in the United States increased sixfold, from 2,500 million watts to more than 16,000 million watts, and more than 3,600 million watts are under construction. Only 11 states had large-scale wind-power installations in 1999; today more than 30 states have them.

  24 Some European nations are committed to wind energy, including Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Most impressive is Spain’s use of wind energy. A major milestone was reached for world wind energy on April 19, 2008, when wind produced 10,879MW in Spain, more than one-third of the nation’s total electricity production; nuclear power was second.

  25 Spanish Wind Energy Organization. See www.aeeolica.org/ and http://actualidad.terra.es/nacional/articulo/record_absoluto_produccion_eolica_porcentaje_2411417.htm.

  26 Landler, M., “Sweden Turns to a Promising Power Source, With Flaws,” New York Times, 23 November 2007.

  27 Childress, S., “Electrifying a Nation, Mr. Kamkwamba’s Creation Spurs Hope in Malawi; Entrepreneurs Pay Heed,” Wall Street Journal, 12 December 2007, A1.

  28 William Kamkwamba’s blog, http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba/2007/06/welcome_to_my_b.html.

  29 Also see Stimmel, R., Small Wind Turbine Global Market Study (American Wind Energy Association, 2007). www.awea.org/smallwind/documents/AWEASmallWindMarketStudy2007.pdf.

  30 Ibid.

  31 Galbraith, Kate, “North Carolina: Effort to Ban Wind Turbines,” New York Times, 8 August 2009.

  32 Cassidy, P., “Wind Farm Generates More Than 40,000 Comments,” Cape Cod Times, 23 April 2008.

  33 Reuters, “Wind Farm Clears Hurdle,” 15 January 2008.

  34 Galbraith, Kate, “Texas Is More Hospitable Than Mass. to Wind Farms Economy, Culture Fueling a Boom,” The Boston Globe, 25 September 2006.

  35 Cassidy, P., “Floating Wind Farm Plan Dealt Blow,” Cape Cod Times, 19 April 2008.

  36 Zezima, K. “Interior Secreatary Sees Little Hope for Consensus on Wind Farm,” New York Times, 2008.

  37 See Senator Lamar Alexander, “Blueprint for 100 New Nuclear Power Plants in 20 Years: How Nuclear Power Can Provide Enough Clean, Cheap, Reliable, American Energy to Create Jobs, Clean the Air, and Solve Global Warming,” prepublication draft report, 29 July 2009.

  38 Gipe, Paul, www.wind-works.org/articles/NRELBirdReport04.html.

  39 Nijhuis, Michelle, “Selling the Wind,” Audubon Society, 2008. http://audubonmagazine.org/features0609/energy.html. Accessed 28 April 2008.

  40 Ibid.

  Chapter 7

  1 Panasonic World Solar Challenge official final results.

  2 Energy Information Administration, www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/solarphotv/solarpv.html. Accessed 2 June 2009.

  3 Photovoltaic thin films use very small amounts of certain rare metal compounds, including cadmium telluride (a compound of cadmium and tellurium), CIGS, and microcrystalline silicon. Arguably, the most successful of these to date is cadmium telluride because it is less expensive to manufacture than other photovoltaics (First Solar Corporation, www.firstsolar.com/material_sourcing.php, accessed 2 June 2009). Both cadmium and tellurium are obtained as byproducts in the mining of other metals. Although cadmium is toxic to many life forms, the amount used is small and embedded in glass. According to a study done at Brookhaven National Laboratory, this compound is not a significant pollution problem. See Fthenakis, Vasilis M., “Life Cycle Impact Analysis of Cadmium in CdTe PV Production,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 8 (2004): 303–334.

  CIGS is a chemical compound of copper, indium, gallium, and selenium. Amorphous silicon and microcrystalline S (very small crystals of silicon) are also being used to make thin film photovoltaics, but at the time of this writing, they are more experimental than crystalline silicon or cadmium telluride. An efficiency of 19.9% has been achieved with CIGS, much higher than “Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) or amorphous silicon (a-Si).” (See Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_indium_gallium_selenide; High-efficiency CDTE, accessed 2 June 2009; and Noufi, Rommel, and Ken Zweibel, CIGS Thin-film Solar Cells: Highlights and Challenges, [undated] National Renewable Energy Laboratory Report). But this is still lower than the maximum efficiency of 24% obtained from the more conventional crystalline film silicon oxide photovoltaics (Green, M.A., Jianhua Zhao, A. Wang, and S. R. Wenham, “Very High Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells—Science and Technology,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices 46, no. 10. [1999]: 1940–1947).

  4 Lenardic, D., “Large-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plants: Cumulative and Annual Installed Power Output Capacity,” 2008. http://pvresources.com.